Help! I'm using about 12,000 kWh per year!

Fire_Fox

jasondainter wrote: »

Hi All,

I've just received my electricity bill for Npower who charge me 15.8p on the first 190 kWh and then 14.72 kWh on anything above.

My bill from between 29/09/08 and 05/01/09 was a whopping 628.87 pounds, and we've used 4055 kWh apparently of energy.

After getting that shocker - I did some Google to find that the UK average for kWh seems to be around the 4,800 kWh per year mark, with high energy spenders coming in at around 7,000 kWh per year.

By my shoddy maths, given that our bill was only for around a 3 month period, our energy usage is going to be around 16,000 kWh per year which is INSANE!

Our average bill current is 41.38 kWh per day. (again, insane!)

There are three of us living in a city centre 2 bed apartment in Leeds, and what worries me is we are quite (or at least thought we were) energy aware and always turn lights off after leaving rooms etc. The only other useful piece of info I have is that last year when our landlord was living in the flat (again, quite an energy aware chap) the average was a little lower at 35.45 kWh per day, which is lower - but still massively higher than the UK average.

I’m concerned that it may be the flat itself that is really energy unfriendly.

To give you an idea of factors here here's a few bullets to describe the flat and energy usage:

- We have a thermostat, its currently set to being permanently on at around 22 degrees. (I'm going to try bringing the heat down through the night and in the morning to see if that helps). I could potentially turn down the average to about 20 degrees, and perhaps set this to go off at some point during the day (I work from home so it’s a bit hard to completely turn it off, I'll freeze!)
- I use a laptop which is on most of the day (eg on and using it, rather than being on standby)
- the whole flat has halogen lights throughout. I wonder if this could be a main factor? There’s not a lot I can do about that as it’s not my flat so I’m stuck with those.
- all the rooms have brick walls (well normally in each room one side is brick and the other is painted). Could this be causing so much loss in energy?
- I have a few electrical bits and bobs (printer, etc) that occasionally gets left on standby, planning to turn these off (but can’t see that being the sole cause).

Hello and welcome! There is loads of information about this issue on the Electricity and Gas forums so do read around there. Without meaning to be rude, neither you nor your landlord sound at all energy aware! But that's a good thing, as it means there is lots you can do to reduce this horrendous usage.

Firstly you need to check if you have estimated or actual readings on your bill. Secondly NPower is very expensive - Scottish Power is usually the cheapest for all electric properties in Yorkshire. Switch via a cashback website (e.g Wepromiseto) and you will get a cool £30 as well as a cheaper bill.

I am paying a standing charge of 14p a day and less than 10p dayrate and less than 5p nightrate (Economy 7). We are two in a two bed flat using 11.5kwh per day at the moment - about 1000 kwh per quarter all year round. My last bill was £101. Again without being rude, it's unlikely to be the flat. Most flats in Leeds are pretty modern, and there are rules governing how energy efficient they are.

The most energy hungry processes are heating, hot water and tumble dryers. 22C is very warm, and will massively increase your usage if the heating is on 24/7!! A small heater is 1kw so if you have several running pretty much all the time .... ouch! I am a student so in and out a fair bit. We try to maintain our living room temperature about 18C in the day, no heating anywhere else. We don't bother with the heating at night either - as long as you have a decent duvet you are fine.

Getting used to 18C requires nothing more than a change of attitude - basically dressing for the season. Fleeces are very cheaply available (Primark, supermarkets) and you can comfortably layer two without feeling restricted. Two pairs of socks and, when it's really cold of an evening, a fluffy blanket on the sofa. You will only freeze if you expect to wear a t-shirt or light sweater (spring/ autumn wear) around the house in the middle of winter.

Then buy a £20 sturdy upright folding airer from IKEA instead of using your tumble dryer. These only take up about 2 square foot and hold two loads of laundry so are brilliant for flat sharing. Set your washing machine to wash no hotter than 40C or use the Eco button if it has one. Ditto if you have a dishwasher.

Lastly look at the settings on your immersion heater to see if you can either turn down the temperature, or use the timer function to heat overnight (assuming you all shower in the morning). You may find you have it set to 'on' permanently! If you run out of hot water, boil a kettle to wash up rather than reheating an entire tank.

:money:

exil

Heating is by far the biggest chunk of energy bills in the UK due to our superb climate.

My own gas bills during the winter are TEN TIMES what they are in the summer (as they cover just heating, hot water and cooking)

So - anything else you try will be insignificant compared to savings you make on heating.

22 C is remarkably warm - in offices the minimum temp. is 16C. Turn it down to 18 - and OFF when you're not going to be sitting in the house. I suspect you'll see the bills drop significantly.

MoradoJess

Turn the heating off of a night, if it is too copld for you to sleep buy an electric blanket. I have one as my bedroom is in the roof and of a night the coldest room in the house. It only costs 2p a night and I find I only use it for 3/4 months of the year. Far cheaper than leaving the heating on:money:
Alternatively, find someone to share the bed with and let them keep you warm;)

belfastgirl23

How are you getting on OP?

outkastchris

your heating does use a fair few kw in electricity 100w max speed on the pump alone plus a ranging watt use on the boiler depending on the make and system you have so put it on a timer and as mentioned above check you don't have the immersion heater on too if you have one,
other tip if you the only one working from home and you have the heating on all day turn the radiators off in the rooms your not using and keep the one on in the room you are working plus the one in the room where the thermostat is positioned bonus if it's the same room and close the doors.
I'd propbally say if you have your heating at 22c you like it hot or you sit at home in a t-shirt put a jumper on