To be honest, until now I had no idea how much electricity we consume every month in a 72 square meter apartment blessed with one child. Of course, I was happy that I had to pay less and at first I looked at the numbers highlighted in color in the rectangle at the bottom of the monthly bill, which let me know how much better off I was with the utility reduction thanks to the state care. But after that I didn't even care.

That was the case until Wednesday of this week. At that time, it was announced in the government information that from the first of August the utility reduction is only valid up to the average consumption, and I will have to pay the market price for the amount above that.

Ah - I thought - it's quite certain that we are average consumers.

Barely 2-3 hours passed and I found the latest electricity bill for HUF 14,507 in my mailbox, which I have to pay by July 29. There was no problem with that either, approx. I always count that much, the previous electricity bills were all HUF 14,000.

Yes, but in the letter attached to the invoice there was the consumption of the last month: 363 kWh.

Well, that really scared me, because then I already knew that - at least in the last month - we consumed much more than the 210 kWh per month indicated as an average. I quickly calculated that according to them, the bill for August (if 363 kWh is also the average of the past months) will be 363-210 = 153 kWh x 252.4 = HUF 38,617 more than the current amount. 14 thousand. So overall, this is roughly HUF 53,000. Good God! (I haven't received the gas bill yet.)

Of course, a lot is still unknown for now. Most of all, what will happen to the so-called "system usage fee" included in the electricity price, which itself consists of several items: transmission fee, distribution fee, which is also linked to the amount consumed, and there is also a basic distribution fee, which is a fixed amount.

According to the countless articles published since then, they account for approx. 75 percent, and it would not be fair to include them one by one in the above-average consumption, since they are already included in the average consumption. This is a matter of state competence and decision.

In any case, the first lesson: don't think that you "fit" into the national monthly average. If you are not an enemy of your own money, be sure to check the July bill.

Countless articles published in the opposition press could now be cited, all of which - falsely - explained that with this step the government had "completed" the utility reduction. This is, of course, a lie, just like the articles that said that the runaway energy prices are the result of Fidesz's mismanagement, and so on. The most disgusting of them were still those that predicted in large tables who would pay how much in August; according to other sources, in September.

As if it were fate, an irreversible fact against which we can do nothing. Well no!

So, at 11 a.m. on Thursday, I bought a blank piece of paper and checked the readings of our electric meter every two hours, then wrote it down. During the day, only the PC and the refrigerator were on, and in the evening the family came and we also used some (usually energy-saving) burners and turned on the television. On Friday at 11, it turned out that we had consumed 11 kWh in 24 hours.

This is still an awful lot, because it would be 330 kWh in 30 days. And the goal is 7 kWh per day, since 7 x 30 = 210. There is no fairy tale, you have to save.

In the meantime, I looked at various professional websites to see what, how much do you consume in 24 hours? A 3-4 star cooler costs approx. 1 kWh, a desktop PC approx. 2 kWh (I was surprised!), only 0.2 kWh of an inverter (modern) air conditioner (I was even more surprised). Between 11:00 p.m. and 11:00 a.m., our consumption was 2 kWh. Of course, this is not much, but it is still 60 kWh in 30 days, i.e. it already takes 28 percent of the average consumption of 210 kWh!

I spent all day on Friday thinking about what the hell could be done, and then I changed a few things for Saturday.

From 11 o'clock to three, "nothing" worked (except for the refrigerator). I removed the mobile phones and the landline phone that had already been charged (at night) from each charger, pulled the plug of the large distributors from the wall. And while walking the dog, I turned off the light in the hall. I only turned on the PC at three in the afternoon and then turned it off again at half past six.

After nine in the evening, the same thing happened as always. The (small) family gathered, we turned on the TV, the PC and, if necessary, the light bulbs. At 11 am yesterday, I summarized the data read from the digital clock.

I didn't want to believe my eyes myself, but as a result of the many small modifications, only 5 (ie five!) kWh were consumed in the apartment in 24 hours! The clock seems to be terrified of me watching it all the time!

It's true: I haven't counted on the "energy vampires" yet. But yesterday after 11 we started the dishwasher, twice the washing machine and twice the dryer. And we found the "main culprit"!

Compared to the time of day in the morning, the dishwasher and PC did not affect the consumption much, but the double use of the washing machine and dryer is even more so!

I checked afterwards: per previous wash approx. It consumes 0.8 kWh, and a condensing dryer occasionally consumes 2 kWh until the "cupboard-dry" state is reached and at least 3 kWh until the "extra-dry" state is reached! (This also depends on the type of machine and its charge.)

So compared to only 2 kWh used yesterday between 11:00 and 19:00, mainly due to the washing machine and dryer, it increased almost fivefold, to a total of 9 kWh! Thus, even though the electricity consumption of family life in the evening will be low, within 24 hours we are again only at 12 kWh! This can explain the fluctuation between daily consumptions, which of course balances out within a month. One solution is obvious: you have to settle for the "cupboard-dry" setting in the dryer. Or, if there is such a setting, with "hang-dry".

Whatever the next few days bring, one thing is for sure: it was worth thinking about what I hadn't paid enough attention to, and it's also a fact that these are all small things, previous habits that I could easily change in just one day.

If you think so, try it yourself!

Image: eon.hu