#EstimationNation Bake Off with Smart Energy GB

In early May I was invited by Smart Energy GB to attend an event organised to highlight the absurdity of estimation in our daily lives. We don’t and wouldn’t accept it in other parts of our lives yet seem to have no problem using estimation to pay for one of the largest household bills, our gas and electricity.

On 19 May the date had arrived, hubby had managed to say nothing of what was in store* and I made my way through the streets of trendy Hoxton, dodging hipsters, the pools of beard wax on the pavement outside overpriced bars and artisan coffee houses to Open Kitchen.

So, what was on the cards? Well, it was described as a strange an unusual punishment in a jokey way, but it actually turned out to be four hours of fun, laughter and a great chance to see how other bloggers coped with the challenges. Hosted by Ian Cumming of chocolate well fame from a certain baking show had developed two recipes for us to try and bake, the twist being that the recipes didn’t have any measurements, we had no way of measuring anything and we had no idea what temperature and for how long they had to be baked for – everything was to be done using estimates.

As we had an odd number I had the beauty of lots of advice and assistance from Ian. Without it I would have been lost, completely lost and despite his expert help I have to say the first challenge resulted in lovely looking cakes but on tasting them they had a sharp taste. Way too much bi-carbonate of soda!

As the chefs from Open Kitchen made their way around the work stations to judge the offerings we had come up with we adjourned downstairs to a beautifully decorated area where we learnt more about smart meters and how they will bring an end to the age of estimation and drag one of the last analogue industries into the digital age. We even got to watch a short hidden camera video showing the reaction of shoppers when a supermarket estimates their final bill. I had seen it before but it still makes me laugh. You can see it here:

After taking on some tea it was time for Ian to set the second challenge. Cheese and herb scones! I’ve never made a scone in my life and dreaded this section! After much tutting and deliberation it became clear that I had to get a move on and again I was pulling my scones out of the oven as time was called. These were much worse than the cupcakes and it took about five minutes to chew one bite – not good.

There were prizes for the best estimator bake and to my surprise the worse bakes also received vouchers for cooking lessons with the excellent chefs at Open Kitchen.

I didn’t win, I couldn’t (see the disclosure at the bottom) but that didn’t take anything away from the day which I thought was a fantastic way of bringing energy and an energy related topic to life, brilliantly organised and well executed.

Three things I learnt on the day:  

• Estimation sucks and smart meters will finally bring this to an end for my bills
• Ian Cumming is not only a great baker but also he is a genuinely lovely man and it was an honour to cook with him
• Smart meters will show me, in pounds and pence what I’m spending on my electricity at home - we don’t have a gas supply.

Smart meters are being offered to every household in England, Scotland and Wales between now and 2020 at no additional cost. They show how much energy you are using and do so in pounds and pence so you can use the display to make energy efficiency savings around the home, easy steps like changing to energy efficient light bulbs, turning off lights when leaving rooms and switching devices off standby.

*it’s an obvious disclosure but hubby does work for Smart Energy GB, he offered no help on the day and he even excluded me from the possibility of winning or losing so there could be no accusations of bias. It was fun though and an experience I’ll never forget.

 For added fun you can see how hard this challenge was:

*this post contains PR samples unless indicated otherwise