Gas and Electricity usage

thevinternet

Hello everyone - I've not been on this part of the forum before, and I'm looking for a little help please.

My boyfriend has asked me to help and see if we can get the electricity and gas bills down. Our central heating and shower and oven are on gas, the rest of the house is powered by electricity. We don't have any other heating than the central heating (ie no electric or gas fires). Our gas is powered by a new combi boiler that was fitted a couple of months ago only.

We are with Scottish Power for both gas and electricity, and we live in a 2 bedroom, semi-detached house, complete with loft insulation, which we've lived in for the last two years. There's only me and him in the house.

Our electricity bill remains fairly steady throughout the year, and it's showing an average of around 16 kWh per day.

Our gas bill varies massively throughout the year, as you'd expect:

In summer it is 14 kWh per day;
In spring (Feb to July) 32 kWh per day;
But in winter (this year and last) it is 53 kWh per day!! :eek:


1. Are my gas and electricity readings horrendous, or fairly average? If they are bad, can anyone please suggest ways that we could get them down please? There might be something I haven't thought of!

2. Is it worth looking around for cheaper deals at the moment, or is it a time when I should be holding off switching in case prices drop?

Many thanks. xx

Cardew

The UK average is 3,300 kWh electricity and 20,500kWh gas PA.

Your electricity @ 16 kWh a day is close to 6,000kWh pa which is obviously high. Generally devices that involve heating are the culprits for high consumption - dryers, dishwashers etc.

However Plasma TV's use a lot, as do lights with 'normal' bulbs, desktop PCs left on.
Despite what a lot of people will state, standby consumption is not a major cause.
You should get a power monitoring meter from Lidl/Maplins(not an Owl type meter) and you can see what all your plug in appliances are using.

You gas consumption seems to be pretty good. Even if you used 53kWh every day of the year you would still be below average.

dannymccann

As Cardew says, your gas consumption is REALLY good, especially during those below freezing days just gone, thats not what you need to worry about though from you readings. Electricity is more expensive per unit to pay for, so look at reigning that spending in first

thevinternet

Ah - how interesting - so it's the electricity we need to work on then!! Thanks for that. How expensive are the power monitoring meters please?

And are Scottish power an expensive company to be with? Should I think about switching? xx

Vestra

Your electric at 16 units a day seems high at a glance, the two of us in a 3 bedroom (2 bedroom, 1 office) average 10 units a day in winter (don't know summer as I only recently started checking).

Magentasue

Yes, think about switching - your tariff might be really good but it does no harm to check every now and again. Cheapest tends to be online paying by monthyl DD. All suppliers have range of tariffs.

Plug in monitors about £7-£10 - Lidl had them recently. Read your meter every day at the same time for a few days noting what's used and aim for less than 10kwh a day. Should be easy for two of you with no electric heating.

percy22

you think you have problems theres only 3 of us at home just got this through today for a quarter read by them both times so neither estimated

Gas previous
6148 read by us on 19 November 2008
Gas current
6765 read by us on 23 February 2009


Difference
617 units
with multiplier value 2.83
conversion value 1.02264, calorific value 39.1

19394 Gas kWh (kilowatt-hours) used
Converted into






Charges
Gas primary units used
734 kWh at 5.061p each

37.15

Gas secondary units used
18660 kWh at 3.226p each

601.97









Total gas charges £639.12







and another £389 electric

got to be wrong surely

jd87

Definitely all about your electricity. Replace all your light bulbs with energy saving ones. Even if you don't like them at first you will soon get used to them. You can get them for pence in supermarkets now. When you do your laundry remember that most things only need to be washed at 30 degrees on a short cycle. Only boil what you need in the kettle!

It's all basic advice but so many people don't know these things so Id don't blame you if you don't. You just really need to start to think about the way you use your electric.

thevinternet

Okey-dokey - thanks for all the great advice!! We have a lot of expensive tv and audio equipment that apparently costs a lot to run - but other than that I think we're going to make a big effort to cut back on the electricity. I shall be implementing your tips and I'll let you know how we get on!! xx

Cardew

percy22 wrote: »

you think you have problems theres only 3 of us at home just got this through today for a quarter read by them both times so neither estimated

Gas previous
6148 read by us on 19 November 2008
Gas current
6765 read by us on 23 February 2009


Difference
617 units
with multiplier value 2.83
conversion value 1.02264, calorific value 39.1

19394 Gas kWh (kilowatt-hours) used
Converted into






Charges
Gas primary units used
734 kWh at 5.061p each

37.15

Gas secondary units used
18660 kWh at 3.226p each

601.97









Total gas charges £639.12







and another £389 electric

got to be wrong surely

You are sure you have an Imperial(cubic feet) meter? and not a metric meter

http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/consumer_advice/latest_meters_pic.shtml

The number of people in a property doesn't have a significant effect on gas consumption. It is mainly the size of house, efficiency of boiler and standard of insulation as well as how warm you have rooms.