Avoid using Gas and Electricity

cw18

Just logged into my gas & electricity account to check my daily averages. Electricity says I've used 3,189.427 kWh in the last 12 months which calculates to 8.7kWh/day when divided by 365.

That's for 2 adults in a 4 bedroomed house with electric oven(s) and grill but gas hob (and gas heating). Washing machine always runs on a 30 degree quick wash and only when I have a full load (takes 56 minutes). I have a tumble drier, but only use it for double/king sheets and quilt covers and towels (though I'm starting to change over to microfibre towels as mine wear out, and those don't go through a drier). No dishwasher. No power shower (both are gravity fed).

I'm home pretty much full time (with laptop on while I am), whilst DS1 is out at work from 7pm until 8am for 7 nights a fortnight - and the nights he's not at work he tends to stay up playing xB0x games which means his bedroom light's on a lot. He's also a swine for leaving the hall and/or landing lights on!! My OH is here for 24 hours or so each weekend, but I doubt he makes much of an impact on the usage.

samanthaneww2d

I have just checked mine and
My electricity for the year gone is 6,521.479 kWh and
my Gas 7,849.150 kWh:o:o:o

Next years WILL be lower:T once I start implementing all the great know how from people on here

mardatha

Should have said we are two adults home 24/7, but my heating is coal! Was just trying to show you how much you can cut down

Ilona

Just had my gas and electricity bills from Ebico. They are quarterly and I pay at the bank. Electricity, total used 126 kWh, charges with vat £21.04. Gas 10 units or 111.85 kWh, charges with vat £6.04.

I am very careful with my usage, have no telly, no drier, use the dyson when the floors look a bit mucky, wash clothes when they are visibly dirty or smelly, only put lights on in the room I am in, nothing left on standby, don't use the oven, only top gas rings, grill, and microwave used for cooking, and put more clothes on if I am cold.

I expect my bills to creep up slightly over the winter months, switch light on when it gets dark. You can save a lot of money if you are very careful and monitor carefully.
Ilona

camNolliesMUMMY

We are a family of four also with ebico our gas was £15 from June to sept only for hot water and heating<not had on. Electric £70 this is got 11kg washer, dishwasher on twice a day, oven <all energy rated A. but now using my sc everyday enjoying new recipes and warming food.
We are pleased with our bill and recommend to everyone.
Only had heating on to warm house up abit when gone below 18c in the mornings, we have a 7 year old end a toddler.

dingdongsaving

I think they (Ebico) give a big duel fuel deal. They are £190 more expensive for my exact annual electricity usage for the last 12 months. Our village is not on mains for gas, so we have electricity only and have tanks for gas if we want it. Glad they're cheaper for you though...they're just not even comparable for us/single fuel users it would appear.

Jo_King

I have severe fibromyalgia, and getting cold can really make me worse - to the point of not being able to work. I also work from home, which means that I've got to have some heating on during the day. I also don't have huge amounts of money!


I've recently moved to a new house. There's cavity wall insulation. I've put up curtains with thick linings. I'm in the process of putting silicone sealant around the double glazed windows where it's needed. I've bought reflective panels for behind the radiators to fit this weekend, and rugs to cover the floors in the two rooms with bare boards. I'm also going to put curtains over the front and back doors - as soon as I get a chance to make them! I also need to get a balloon to put up the chimney in the living room to block drafts. I do wear several layers when I'm at home, and I have one of those wonderful old stone hot water bottles that I rest my feet on when I'm working.


So what have I missed? Any other tips on keeping my poor achy joints warm?

moments_of_sanity

We are a house of 3, 4 when wondering DD returns from Uni and we use about 8kwh per day which I think is quite high!

I am at home all day as I have CFS & Fibromyalgia so unable to work at the moment, DD is in 6th form and spends a lot of time at home only popping in for lessons (generally a couple of hours a day) but I don't have the telly on in the day, I turn the cooker and microwave off when not in use and if I do use the main cooker (I have a smaller one which i usually use), I make sure i fill it with food to put in the freezer or cakes as I hate switching it on for just one food item.

We have LED bulbs in all the living room lights and God help anyone who dares to leave a light on if they aren't in the room! I am hoping to get the usage down another kWh or so a month but with the darker days coming our way, this might be a challenge. On the up side, I still haven't put the heating on (I am always the one complaining it's too hot) :rotfl:

GreyQueen

dingdongsaving wrote: »

I think they (Ebico) give a big duel fuel deal. They are £190 more expensive for my exact annual electricity usage for the last 12 months. Our village is not on mains for gas, so we have electricity only and have tanks for gas if we want it. Glad they're cheaper for you though...they're just not even comparable for us/single fuel users it would appear.

Ebico has a flat rate tariff with no standing charges, which makes it very very useful for light users like myself.

I live in a tower block flat and my heating and hot water come off a communal boiler house which is paid for by a service charge, which comes in at just over £1 a day. My gas bill is thus exclusively for my gas cooker (use 1 unit per month which includes making a helluva lot of tea on there) and the leccy is for small, very energy efficient appliances, used cannily.

Before I switched to Ebico I was paying more in standing charge than for the actual gas (two-thirds of the bill was standing charge :mad:) and my last quarterly bill worked out at 44p a day for electricity and 6p a day for the cooker gas, for the quarter to mid-August.

I'd recommend that anyone who is a light user at least look at Ebico, it was a tip got from a top bloke called nuatha on another OS thread. I'd never heard of them before and was very pleased to see how much I'd save. HTH.

nursemaggie

CW18 my DS says he does not need the light on for computer games, he never has one on.