Is this excessive usage?

ally18

Hi,

I was just wondering if this sounds like excessive usage to others please - During February I have used the following -

Electric day units - 455
Electric night units - 140
Gas units - 55

I'm turning all the sockets I can off every night and during the day when I'm not in, haven't used the central heating excessively either and don't cook that often.

I would be interested to know what other peoples usage is.

Thanks

Stonk

I use about 2200 electricity units over a quarter, and I'm a moderately high user (baseline includes a 250W pond pump and a 120W server both on permanently). So I wouldn't say you are excessive.

You gas usage seems very conservative. I used 616 units in the quarter from mid-October to mid-January, and I expect February will have been at about the same rate, i.e. about 200 units. I don't think you need to worry if you're using 55.

By the way - if you're on a two-rate tariff for electricity, do some calculations to see if you are better off on a single rate tariff. You can still use a two-rate meter - they just add the numbers together. Historically, I've been told that two-rate tariffs are better if 25% or more of your usage is at night (typically midnight to 7am), but when I helped my parents switch supplier, I found that EON's two-rate tariffs are only worthwhile if your night-time usage exceeds a whopping 45% of your total usage, which surely very few people can achieve.

JennyR68

Can't comment on usage not having gas myself to compare with but would just like to query your E7 tariff.

Are you sure yu should be on it? Those figures on E7 on my tariff would generate a bill of £58 for the month but on a single tariff it would only be £49.89. You maybe need to look in to whether being on the 2 rates is working out best for you.

kjsmith7

Very low consumption - I know that obviously we are still in the middle of the freeze, but that would work out as only 1785 elec kWh (night+day) over 3mo. If your units are imperial/ft3/four black numbers, 55 units is roughly 1712kWh/about £90 (very roughly), if your units are metric/m3/five black numbers, 55 units is roughly 605kWh/about £30 (very roughly). £30 would be VERY low if you have gas central heating, so I presume you have imperial/ft3/four black numbers on the meter.

clayre6173

the average per year is20500kwh for gas and 3300 for ele or 6600 for e7. If you have gas you shouldn't have E7 theres no point.

Stonk

clayre6173 wrote: »

If you have gas you shouldn't have E7 theres no point.

Technically that isn't really the defining factor, although in many cases it will boil down to roughly the same thing. There is a point if you can find ways to draw a lot of your electricity in the wee hours but not during the day. I couldn't do it, myself, but maybe a night-worker could.

ally18

Thanks for your replies everyone, I'm with Scottish Power and only just moved to them in November so wasn't sure if I was on a good tarriff or not. My bills for the usage I mentioned came to -

£42.87 for gas and
£59.76 for the electric

As I am only paying £75 each month by DD and if this usage keeps up, it looks like I may be constantly in debit and I didn't want that.

Yes its a four digit gas meter.

Again thanks.

JennyR68

Your usage shouldn't keep up at that as the warmer weather comes it should drop. My usage is falling steadily each week now. You can input your reads each week and keep an eye on it at http://www.imeasure.org.uk