How much electricity do you use in a day?

the_optimist

Ok, I'll have a go, too. Read the thread yesterday but forgot to take the meter reading today. I did run downstairs, though, after reading the OP, to switch off all the lights as nobody there - that should be a saving!

moonrakerz

tr3mor wrote: »

If you boil the same amount of water then you'll still be using 1KWh per day. You'll just be using gas as the source rather than electricity.

In fact, it may well be more efficient to use the electricity, as the heating element is in the water you are heating and there are few losses.
With gas you are first heating the kettle, then the metal bars the kettle is sitting on and finally a lot of the heat is heating the kitchen.

SusanCarter

navig8r wrote: »

When you record daily you can use that info to get weekly/monthly figures if needed ,you see which days you use the most and if you can make savings but if you record over longer periods you can't because of the fluctuations of daily use

Dave

Hadn't thought of that. I guess you'd need to make a note of what electrical appliances you used to match it with the usage figures? (Except things which are on all the time like the fridge which wouldn't vary from day to day and you can't really reduce much anyway.) Sounds like a really good idea although I don't think I could do it at the moment as my husband is doing all the housework at the moment (due to my illness) and I've only just had him record all rubbish thrown away for a fortnight so would be pushing it a bit to expect more recording. If I get well enough before the baby comes will definitely give it a go and post on how it goes.

anthonymobee

hey, can anyone offer any help. trying to compare with other companies for gas electricity but dont know what to look for or what all the numbers and figures mean. any help??? confused and looking to save money.

Maddie

moonrakerz wrote: »

In fact, it may well be more efficient to use the electricity, as the heating element is in the water you are heating and there are few losses.
With gas you are first heating the kettle, then the metal bars the kettle is sitting on and finally a lot of the heat is heating the kitchen.

My understanding is that when use energy to heat, it is always more efficient to use gas. The reason is that the initial conversion from gas to electricity is very inefficient.

Most(?) electricity comes from gas, which is converted to heat then converted to electricity which (if used to heat) is then converted to heat again.

Although you will require more energy to boil the water using gas, this will be less than the gas energy initially used to produce the electrical energy used to boil the kettle.

Does that make sense?

penrhyn

Interesting thread, I'm very sad 'cos I take weekly meter readings and graph my consumption on a spreadsheet.

I use between 35 and 46 Kwh a week which costs me £3.28 - £4.31 so that averages out at 0.54 pence a day.

SusanCarter

penrhyn wrote: »

Interesting thread, I'm very sad 'cos I take weekly meter readings and graph my consumption on a spreadsheet.

That makes me sad too. I take my readings rather randomly (on average every 12 days) but I do have a spreadsheet with a multitude of graphs.

moonrakerz

Maddie wrote: »

My understanding is that when use energy to heat, it is always more efficient to use gas. The reason is that the initial conversion from gas to electricity is very inefficient.

Most(?) electricity comes from gas, which is converted to heat then converted to electricity which (if used to heat) is then converted to heat again.

Although you will require more energy to boil the water using gas, this will be less than the gas energy initially used to produce the electrical energy used to boil the kettle.

Does that make sense?

Yes ! and No !

Gas is an inefficient fuel in most cases, because you have to convert it to something else (usually heat) to make use of it; electricity is very efficient because it is ready to use.
As you correctly say there will be losses in converting gas to electricity before you use the electricity. But this is taken into account when electricity and gas is priced. I should imagine it would be quite a long complicated mathematical process to work that out. Also I should imagine there are quite large differences in efficiencies between, gas, oil, coal, hydro and nuclear power stations.

This is why (BG Click 2 prices) electricity is 8.0950/kWh and gas is 2.2103p/kWh.

My gas fire sends 45% of the heat it produces straight up the chimney but it is still a lot cheaper to use that than an equivalent electric fire. However gas is not so good for powering your TV or PC, so really it is a case of using the best, and if possible the cheapest, fuel to suit your needs.

ScoobieGirl

SusanCarter wrote: »

On average, we use 5.2 units per day.

That's pretty good. There are two of us in a 2 bed house and we use 7.5 (averaged over 1 year). I think I might use your average as my target. Do you use a tumble dryer or dishwasher at all?

I thought I was quiet good until I read your post!

bigpaws23

:eek: :eek:
Well, I *really* hope I did something wrong.
In the past 24 hours, we have got through 3983 units _pale_ I mean, that can't possibly be right can it??

I noted that in the past 24 hours we've had 2 baths, 1 load of washing has gone through (new machine with an economy cycle that I always use), I used the oven for 1/2 hour and we had an electric heater running for 2 hours.
I have always blamed my oven for eating electricity (it;s very old and has those dreadful solid plates on the hob) but this is utterly ridiculous.
I can't imagine how much that is in money.

There is only 3 of us living here fer cryin' out loud!! I feel so embarassed.

I need one of these gadgets people are talking about to find out what it is that is using so much (can anyone tell me where to get one and how much they are please?) and I *really* hope I'm just rubbish at reading meters and got it wrong.

ho hum
Salad for lunch then

Bigpaws x