Working from home, Computer running costs

[UKSBD]

I work from home, just in corner of a room, not even separate office.
My PC usually goes on at about 7:00am and off again about 1:am
Is there way of measuring how much electric this uses or is there a going rate HMRC allow for this?

[skyhi2]

Very interesting question UKSBD,as i too am curious about the running costs.

Is yours a lap or tower ?

BTW,sometimes i leave mine ( laptop ) on 24/7.

Skyhi2.

[MASSEY]

They give set percentages, from what i remember or what i was told about heating is you can claim 30% because there is no way of them calculating the heat one raidiator in your (office or corner) is putting out to the rest,

I presume there is a figure for electricity claim i would imagine it will be less than the 30% for gas,

Hopefully some one in the know can elaborate :)

[UKSBD]

Very interesting question UKSBD,as i too am curious about the running costs.

Is yours a lap or tower ?

BTW,sometimes i leave mine ( laptop ) on 24/7.

Skyhi2.

I have 1 tower with dual monitors that is probably on 18 hours a day during the week and another 12 hours a day at weekends.

I have another tower with single monitor which is on for at least 10 hours a week and a laptop which is probably only on 5 hours a week.

I would imagine this uses a fair ammount of electricity over a year, but have never bothered claiming anything in previous years.

[elainec100@cheapaccounting]

You would need to be able to obtain a measure of the electricity used. For example by reference to bills prior to the business or a meter reading when in use v when not in use.

There is not 'right' answer for this.

You prepare a calc with supporting evidence and go with that. As long at it can stands up to HMRC review then that is the way to go.

As with most things a common sense approach normally works best.

[GaryMc]

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=223573&C=brilliant1&U=P5%202010&T=energy%20meter&gclid=CJPlxuOml6ECFdlw5QodqjlLOA

Would these help? Take some readings and use them to calculate how much you use in a week - you then have some evidence of a methodology for the claim.

[UKSBD]

As with most things a common sense approach normally works best.

Thanks,
yes that's why I want to know approx how much a system like mine costs to run (that would be more accurate than comparing bills prior to having it) I woluld then use the lower approx cost to be on the safe side.

At the moment I have absolutely no idea, it could be £1 a week or it could be £10, I honestly don't know.

I know my electricity bill is about £50 a month higher than it used to be 3 or 4 years ago (when I was working part time from home and it was only on 3 hours a day), but how much of this is down to working from home full time now I have no idea.

Do accountants here usually recommend an approx figure??

[UKSBD]

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=223573&C=brilliant1&U=P5%202010&T=energy%20meter&gclid=CJPlxuOml6ECFdlw5QodqjlLOA

Would these help? Take some readings and use them to calculate how much you use in a week - you then have some evidence of a methodology for the claim.

Thanks, any idea if you can plug a surge protecter in to them and then measure about 5 or 6 things at the same time?

[GaryMc]

I don't know but my guess would be that it would measure the usage for the whole thing.