My Gas and Electricity Consumption - What do you think?

sho_me_da_money

BG is my supplier for Duel Fuel and here is break down of my quarterly G+E charges:

Gas

20 Nov 2008 Gas Charges 207.25
17 Feb 2009 Gas Charges 419.65
16 May 2009 Gas Charges 226.08
22 Aug 2009 Gas Charges 88.41
17 Nov 2009 Gas Charges 112.22
18 Feb 2010 Gas Charges 267.23
22 May 2010 Gas Charges 192.12
17 Aug 2010 Gas Charges 64.18
26 Nov 2010 Gas Charges 171.38

Electricity

24 Aug 2009 Electricity Charges 129.60
18 Nov 2009 Electricity Charges 161.19
18 Feb 2010 Electricity Charges 292.49
24 May 2010 Electricity Charges 211.31
18 Aug 2010 Electricity Charges 129.87
27 Nov 2010 Electricity Charges 178.74

Looks like I'm paying £1000 for each per year!

What do the experts think of that? Is that low, medium, high or very high for a quarterly bill?

Thanks!

Hen_Step

Over the last year, I have paid about the same, although my electric was £875 and the difference was the gas. This was not dual fuel but with British Gas and Npower.

Just switched and supposedly!!! (1st time of doing so), I am going to save £500.

HappyMJ

sho_me_da_money wrote: »

Looks like I'm paying £1000 for each per year!

What do the experts think of that? Is that low, medium, high or very high for a quarterly bill?

Thanks!

I'm not an expert just comparing your figures to everyone elses. Your gas is high but your electric is very high. However, you may have a reason it's so high. For that price you are using about double the national average. Do you use anything more than the average family would have?

daveyjp

Without knowing what you live in, how many people live in your propety and your typical day these figures mean nothing. If you live in a studio flat you have a problem, if you live in Buckingham Palace, well done.

My last gas bill was the first time any of our utility bills has broken the £100 barrier, electricity is never more than about £70.

sho_me_da_money

Hen_Step wrote: »

Over the last year, I have paid about the same, although my electric was £875 and the difference was the gas. This was not dual fuel but with British Gas and Npower.

Just switched and supposedly!!! (1st time of doing so), I am going to save £500.

Ha. I've done the same and switched to EDF. Apparently I am going to save four hundred and fifty squids.

I reckon I am going to save big time this year as I've put the following measures in place:

1. PCs will not be powered on 24/7 like they used to be. I have installed a free screensaver that will shut down the systems after 30 mins of inactivity.

2. I have killed using the Gas fire that was on 24/7. Instead, I have set the boiler timer to turn on and off the rads at certain times in conjunction with the Thermostat. I have also set the TRVs to a lower setting for the rads in use and completely turned off the rads that were just pumping heat for nothing.

3. Might buy one of those standby power thingy's. I don't think we need them for the TV stuff but defo for the washing machine and tumble dryer. Mother always leaves the cycles to run, then goes out and comes back hours later.

Anyone got one of those standby killer devices? Do you reckon they're worth it?

penrhyn

Most modern TVs etc use very little power on standby, standby savers themselves consume power, their time has passed.
They are not designed to be used with washing machines, in any event when the machine has finished its cycle it not drawing much if any power.

BTW EDF has not increased its prices yet, due in March if I recall. So you might not save any money unless yopu got a fixed rate or cashback offer.

PPS in evaluating your gas and electricity consumption its better to use Kwh.

sho_me_da_money

HappyMJ wrote: »

I'm not an expert just comparing your figures to everyone elses. Your gas is high but your electric is very high. However, you may have a reason it's so high. For that price you are using about double the national average. Do you use anything more than the average family would have?

It's defo the computers. They are virtually constantly on!

Live in a 3 bedroom council house with 5 people in it total.

victor2

I have a couple of those standby adapters on my computer and TV. When I shut down the computer, the power to the monitor and attached amplifer get cut. When I switch off the TV, the power to the satellite receiver and Wii gets cut - but not the power to the PVR (with its own receiver) for obvious reasons. They work well. I don't mind leaving the TV on standby, as it uses less than a watt and costs me about 20p a year, which I can handle!
The adapters themselves do use a little power, but only around a watt, so aren't going to break the bank. I do have a couple of surge protected exstension leads, which use about 3 watts each, even with nothing plugged in. That surprised me at first, but I suppose it makes sense and they were cheap. Maybe a better quality, more expensive, one would use a bit less.

macman

It's not your PC's. If you post your actual kWh consumption figs then meaningful advice can be given.

sho_me_da_money

macman wrote: »

It's not your PC's. If you post your actual kWh consumption figs then meaningful advice can be given.

Thanks Buddy.

You can find 2 pages for meter readings/consumption on Gas and 2 pages for Elec here:

http://img146.imageshack.us/g/averageusagecomparedele.jpg/

FYI:

Gas Page 1 starts with 190929.0 kwh (earliest date)
Gas Page 2 starts with 4309.0 kwh (earliest date)

Electricity Page 1 starts with 1630.0 kwh (earliest date)
Electricity Page 2 starts with 50063.0 kwh (earliest date)

Geez, my electricity is super high when compared to the average use. I think that came from the PC's being left on (2 of them) and the use of electric heaters being used frequently during the day/night.

Is there any sure fire way of me determining the devices using the most electricity?

Me and wifey have moved out of there about a month ago, so I am hoping to see a very low bill (I hope)

penrhyn

The most power hungry devices would be Electric Showers 7-10 Kw, Electric Kettles 3Kw, Electric Heaters 2- 3 Kw, Electric cookers, Tumble Driers, Washing Machines etc. By comparison computers take next to nothing.

If you want to monitor you overall usage get hold of an Owl or similar device, it maybe that your electricity supplier will send you one for free.