I have been considering, for the past 3 months, of OPENING a pinball parlour on the Gold Coast. One of the biggest considerations was the amount of ELECTRICITY that all the machines would use. After seeing first hand the power usage of one pin today, the costs can now be worked out and budgetted for over a day, week and month.

After playing with the smart meter all day, I have found the following

oven usage works out to be around 60 cents per hour
hot water (shower) works out to be 80 cents per hour (as the hot water service reheats for many many hours after a shower)
large 42 inch LCD TV works out to be 3 cents per hour (note- plasma TV is 2.5 times worse usage than LCD)
26 inch LCD computer monitor is 1 cent per hour
fridge works out to be 5cents per hour etc

By becoming a electricity nazi, I have taken my bills from $650 per quarter to $350 per quarter.
How did I do it ? TURN EVERYTHING OFF, incl all lights, and pretend everything is costing you stupid money, so nothing gets used electricity wise, unless it is absolutely needed.  Therefore, I can put $300 per quarter away to buy pinball parts from Mark C instead of some dam electricity company.  Long live cheap pinball running costs !