Gas and electricity usage?

anon_ymous

Hi,

Ill be moving in to a house in September but I have no idea how much gas and electricity we're going to use, so that we can compare deals online.

Obviously you'll all have different amounts used, but it should say on your gas and electric bills how much the company/s estimate you use throughout the year.

If I can get a few people to give us some figures, I can take a more educated guess at what we might use to try and find some cheaper deals online

Could you also tell us how many people live in your house? We have a four atm

Thanks

jennifernil

Gas central heating? Gas or electric cooker? Electric shower or off heating? Dishwasher? Tumble dryer?

All these things will affect what you use.

So will how long housemates are at home, how good they are at turning off lights etc.

Really you need to look at tariffs and see who has the lowest unit prices. Dual fuel is not always cheapest. Some tariffs have a daily standing charge and cheaper units. Some have all units at the same, higher, price.

You could assume some average useage and base quotes on that.

anon_ymous

jennifernil wrote: »

Gas central heating? Gas or electric cooker? Electric shower or off heating? Dishwasher? Tumble dryer?

No idea, but Im guessing we're going to have to make do with what's there but if not probably gas central heating, gas cooker, shower heated by gas, dishwasher may be, tumble dryer maybe

I say that because gas is much cheaper than electricity, so it's likely that we'll do the above

jennifernil wrote: »

All these things will affect what you use.

So will how long housemates are at home, how good they are at turning off lights etc.

Really you need to look at tariffs and see who has the lowest unit prices. Dual fuel is not always cheapest. Some tariffs have a daily standing charge and cheaper units. Some have all units at the same, higher, price.

You could assume some average useage and base quotes on that.

Yeah, that is slightly weird but meh. At home, I "save" my parents £180/year by switching suppliers to two separate ones. I think I read that the average 4 bedroom house uses 29000kWh of gas/year and 3500kwH of electricity?

At (my parents) home (5 people), we use 4703kWh of electricity and about 32000kWh of gas

Do those figures seem accurate?

jennifernil

Not bad....we used 23000 kwh of gas (big house but only 2 people), but we use well above average on electricity as we have a few freezers.

We pay £85 for gas and £75 for electricity monthly. Gas CH but everything else electric.

anon_ymous

jennifernil wrote: »

Not bad....we used 23000 kwh of gas (big house but only 2 people), but we use well above average on electricity as we have a few freezers.

We pay £85 for gas and £75 for electricity monthly. Gas CH but everything else electric.

This is where I found the info:
http://www.gare.co.uk/gas.htm

Though at home we do live in a terraced house, so that might help with reducing costs

jennifernil

Heating costs will also depend on how cold it is, we are in central Scotland. Large detached house but very well insulated, but we are home all day in winter and like to keep warm!

Your use of gas at home is quite high,I would go with the average figures you found.

It will give you a good basis for comparison anyway, let you see who might be cheapest. But September is still a long way off, I would wait till about August to get prices. You cannot swap supplier until you are moved in, then it will take a few weeks to organise.

anon_ymous

jennifernil wrote: »

Heating costs will also depend on how cold it is, we are in central Scotland. Large detached house but very well insulated, but we are home all day in winter and like to keep warm!

Your use of gas at home is quite high,I would go with the average figures you found.

Yup, thats what I thought but that's what you get when most of my meals are cooked on a gas cooker

jennifernil wrote: »

It will give you a good basis for comparison anyway, let you see who might be cheapest. But September is still a long way off, I would wait till about August to get prices. You cannot swap supplier until you are moved in, then it will take a few weeks to organise.

Right, thanks for that

atypical

All of the comparison sites will estimate your energy usage if you don't have the exact figures to hand. They ask how many bedrooms, how many people living there, when occupied etc.

HappyMJ

waqasahmed wrote: »

Hi,

Ill be moving in to a house in September but I have no idea how much gas and electricity we're going to use, so that we can compare deals online.

Obviously you'll all have different amounts used, but it should say on your gas and electric bills how much the company/s estimate you use throughout the year.

If I can get a few people to give us some figures, I can take a more educated guess at what we might use to try and find some cheaper deals online

Could you also tell us how many people live in your house? We have a four atm

Thanks

3,600kWh of electric and 1,100kWh of gas. Just me occupied on most evenings and weekends. Electric convector heating mainly and a gas fire occasionally. Heated to 18 in lounge whilst I am in it only and 12 in bedroom overnight. Bathroom fan heater used on auto switch off timer when required. Electric shower daily. Hot water cylinder heated once per week for dishwashing, general house cleaning and a bath. Kettle heated water during the week when required for a few dishes. So far this winter I have not used the gas fire and have changed the thermostat on the convector heater so that when it switches off it stays off until I turn it on again. I use an E-on Powerdown device which has a button on a lead going to the sofa to press when I want more heat. Last year I forgot to turn it off quite often wasting a lot of energy. Now I can just walk out of the house safe in the knowledge that if I have left the heater on when the room gets to 18 it'll just turn off and stay off. It only stays on for about 5-10 minutes (heating from 16 to 18) then probably won't come on for another 15 minutes so it was very easy to forget it was actually switched on.

woodenstreets

I find if you allow £10 per person per week that should cover it

anon_ymous

woodenstreets wrote: »

I find if you allow £10 per person per week that should cover it

Hi, thanks for that.I think we did work out that it would cost around £10/person/week but I was just trying for a more accurate guesstimate by finding out how many kWh's are being used,but thanks nonetheless