Living on your own? How much energy do you use? Am I using too much?

TomsMom

I'm wondering if my energy consumption is excessive and if anyone has similar circumstances would you be willing to compare please?

I live on my own and have a house with two bedrooms and a loft conversion with bedroom and ensuite, living room, dining kitchen/sun room (L-shaped), small utility room, bathroom and downstairs toilet. I have gas central heating and gas cooking (but I don't do a massive amount), plus microwave, washing machine and a tumble dryer which is used for towels and smalls.

I am retired so I'm in most of the day. During the winter my heating comes on at 7.30 am and goes off at 10.30 pm. Spring and autumn I alter it to suit.

I have a combi boiler (4 years old) and thermostatic radiator valves which number from * to 5. The water temperature for the hot water is set at 45 degrees which is plenty for the hot tap for washing up (washing machine is cold fill) and the water temperature for the central heating is set somewhere between 42 degrees and 50 degrees (I turn it up to 50 when it gets really cold).

Unused rooms I have the TRVs set on number 1 (loft bedroom/ensuite and unused bedroom) so rads don't really come on much.

Little used rooms are set on 1.5 to 2 (downstairs toilet, utility room, dining area, landings), these rads have a just warm feel.

My bedroom is set on 2.5, rad is warm.

Lounge is set on 4, rad is warm.

Sun room/kitchen is set on 5 (most used room during daytime), two rads nicely warm, but can keep hand on.

Bathroom is the room where there is no TRV, it's the rad that has to have the valves open all the time (if that's the right explanation) and that rad is warm, I'd say equivalent to the rad set at 2.5.

There are no cold tops to the rads so no air, they are bled from time to time. No rad is ever too hot to leave hand on.

I'm with British Gas for dual fuel and they've just increased my DD - gas £99 p.m. and electricity £43 p.m., up from £91 and £34 respectively.

I've checked my consumption and for the last 12 months I appear to have used GAS - 24,978 KwH and ELECTRICITY - 3,241.3 KwH.

Does this seem a lot?

I'm unsure where I can save. Living room temp is no more than 20C/68F and if I feel cold in the evening I put a fleece over my legs rather than turn heating up. The rooms I use aren't heated to excess, just comfortably warm, and the unusued rooms the rads are set at 1 so more frost protection than anything.

Would appreciate any thoughts or comparisons with someone in a similar position.

Nada666

For your pattern of useage it is not a lot. As you are retired then this seems reasonable. You have to accept that as you have the heating on all day during winter then you have to pay for this.

Do you really stay in that often over winter? If you do go out you may want to turn the heating off - if you never go out for more than an hour or three it will not make much difference but if you are out for the day then turn the heating off.

The important thing is to keep warm. I would question the balance between kitchen and sitting room - as I tend to be standing and on the move and doing stuff in the kitchen I would tend to have its radiator a notch or two lower and have the sitting room a touch higher. Of course if you are sitting in the kitchen for hours then that is not sensible.

You should, of course, make sure you claim all your benefits - council tax, pensions guarantee and cold weather. (Apologies for mentioning this if you are on a private pension or at the threshold and don't qualify for a single penny.)

MillicentBystander

Way too much (certainly the gas anyway). I live in a 4 bed (extended) semi with at least one person in during the day invariably. My EDF statement tells me I have used 9800KwH in the last 12 months so way less than half your consumption. My set up is (intentionally) rudimentary and we don't actually use a timer at all. We simply turn the heating on when it's needed, the house has full insulation, both cavity wall and loft (the 10" depth recommended) so the house never gets really cold so heats up quickly one the boiler is fired. Yes, the room isn't toasy warm immediately we walk in it but you have to understand that sort of 'comfort' costs money - and the costs are rising all the time. The bedroom TRV should imo be set to 0 until maybe 30 mins before you go to bed and turn the heating off for the night. Heating a room you only sleep in is wasting heat/money. Similarly I would set those little used downstairs rooms to 0.5 , you'd be surprised how much difference it makes to your bills.

Again, don't set the TRVs temps in stone, adjust them during the day/night according to use - absolutely no use having your lounge toasty warm whilst you are using another room predominantly. Plus the exercise involved in getting to the TRVs will make you feel much warmer anyway

Edit: The loft extension will be adding to your bills quite a lot, do you keep the door to it shut at all times? It would make a difference to heat lost certainly.

macman

16,500 kWh for gas is the UK average (for a 3 b/r property). Since you are retired and have the heating on in the day, it's not exceptionally high. Your electricity is slightly less than average (3,400 kWh).
You have a fairly modern system with good controls, but what about insulation, which you don't mention? Do you have, at the very least, proper loft insulation and cavity wall insulation? Then double glazing and draught proofing?
Which BG tariff are you on? If it's Standard, that's the most expensive, so hit the comp sites today with your annual kWh figures.

DUTR

TomsMom wrote: »

I'm wondering if my energy consumption is excessive and if anyone has similar circumstances would you be willing to compare please?

I live on my own and have a house with two bedrooms and a loft conversion with bedroom and ensuite, living room, dining kitchen/sun room (L-shaped), small utility room, bathroom and downstairs toilet. I have gas central heating and gas cooking (but I don't do a massive amount), plus microwave, washing machine and a tumble dryer which is used for towels and smalls.

I am retired so I'm in most of the day. During the winter my heating comes on at 7.30 am and goes off at 10.30 pm. Spring and autumn I alter it to suit.

I have a combi boiler (4 years old) and thermostatic radiator valves which number from * to 5. The water temperature for the hot water is set at 45 degrees which is plenty for the hot tap for washing up (washing machine is cold fill) and the water temperature for the central heating is set somewhere between 42 degrees and 50 degrees (I turn it up to 50 when it gets really cold).

Unused rooms I have the TRVs set on number 1 (loft bedroom/ensuite and unused bedroom) so rads don't really come on much.

Little used rooms are set on 1.5 to 2 (downstairs toilet, utility room, dining area, landings), these rads have a just warm feel.

My bedroom is set on 2.5, rad is warm.

Lounge is set on 4, rad is warm.

Sun room/kitchen is set on 5 (most used room during daytime), two rads nicely warm, but can keep hand on.

Bathroom is the room where there is no TRV, it's the rad that has to have the valves open all the time (if that's the right explanation) and that rad is warm, I'd say equivalent to the rad set at 2.5.

There are no cold tops to the rads so no air, they are bled from time to time. No rad is ever too hot to leave hand on.

I'm with British Gas for dual fuel and they've just increased my DD - gas £99 p.m. and electricity £43 p.m., up from £91 and £34 respectively.

I've checked my consumption and for the last 12 months I appear to have used GAS - 24,978 KwH and ELECTRICITY - 3,241.3 KwH.

Does this seem a lot?

I'm unsure where I can save. Living room temp is no more than 20C/68F and if I feel cold in the evening I put a fleece over my legs rather than turn heating up. The rooms I use aren't heated to excess, just comfortably warm, and the unusued rooms the rads are set at 1 so more frost protection than anything.

Would appreciate any thoughts or comparisons with someone in a similar position.

I'm in a 3 bed traditional semi, 20+year old boiler 11.5kwh output for 16.5kwh input, so not the most efficient.
I have had 2 weeks off in Jan and 3 weeks in Feb, so the heating has been on more than usual, gas for the year this time is 23,300kwh and electric 2800kwh, the rads are on full in all the rooms, as at my previous house I tried just the living room and main bedroom rads on, and there was no saving but a loss in comfort as the other rooms seemed to be draining the heat from the heated rooms.
Other than that usually my heating is on 1700-2300 M-F and before midday to 2300 weekends.

victor2

As macman says, your gas usage is a little high, but not exceptionally so, especially considering you're in all day. Electricity usage sounds pretty good though.
How well is the loft area insulated? Even with the rads on low, if they are in a very poorly insulated area, they could still be on more than necessary. What does your gas usage look like in the summer months? Should be extremely low if the only other thing it supplies is hot water through a combi boiler. Or do you take a lot of baths or showers (if not electric shower)?

MillicentBystander

The OP lives alone in a 3 bed property in which only one bedroom is used, doesn't state that they have a medical condition which requires constant warmth, is clearly spending over £1,000 per year on gas alone and posters are advising her gas usage isn't high? :eek: Crikey. No wonder the energy suppliers are doing so well.


Just had a thought - does the sum room/kitchen have a standard tiled, pitched roof or is it 'part conservatory'? Reason i ask is my sister's kitchen is, bizarrely 'part conservatory', they spend a lot of time in there and her bills are horrendous.

TomsMom

It will only let me do 3 multiquotes so I'll answer with two messages.

Nada666 wrote: »

Do you really stay in that often over winter? If you do go out you may want to turn the heating off - if you never go out for more than an hour or three it will not make much difference but if you are out for the day then turn the heating off.

The important thing is to keep warm. I would question the balance between kitchen and sitting room - as I tend to be standing and on the move and doing stuff in the kitchen I would tend to have its radiator a notch or two lower and have the sitting room a touch higher. Of course if you are sitting in the kitchen for hours then that is not sensible.

You should, of course, make sure you claim all your benefits - council tax, pensions guarantee and cold weather. (Apologies for mentioning this if you are on a private pension or at the threshold and don't qualify for a single penny.)

Yes, I am in a lot. I live fairly rural so just a very small town which I can walk to the few shops so don't get out to do any type of city shopping, just nip to the local shops for essentials and the odd Asda delivery. I have a dog so am out a couple of times a day for up to an hour each time. Other than that it's out with friends one evening a fortnight and friends come to the house. So not out much really.

I use the kitchen/sun room during the day as the sun room was a conservatory which, when the house was renovated, had a slate roof put on and a wall knocked out to make an L shape with the kitchen. Because it has one wall with three windows and gets the sun all day it is the warmest room in the daytime. The living room is quite dark and, being behind the sun room, the sun doesn't reach it so it doesn't warm up.

I don't qualify for benefits as I have my late husband's private pension.

MillicentBystander wrote: »

Way too much (certainly the gas anyway). I live in a 4 bed (extended) semi with at least one person in during the day invariably. My EDF statement tells me I have used 9800KwH in the last 12 months so way less than half your consumption. My set up is (intentionally) rudimentary and we don't actually use a timer at all. We simply turn the heating on when it's needed, the house has full insulation, both cavity wall and loft (the 10" depth recommended) so the house never gets really cold so heats up quickly one the boiler is fired. Yes, the room isn't toasy warm immediately we walk in it but you have to understand that sort of 'comfort' costs money - and the costs are rising all the time. The bedroom TRV should imo be set to 0 until maybe 30 mins before you go to bed and turn the heating off for the night. Heating a room you only sleep in is wasting heat/money. Similarly I would set those little used downstairs rooms to 0.5 , you'd be surprised how much difference it makes to your bills.

Again, don't set the TRVs temps in stone, adjust them during the day/night according to use - absolutely no use having your lounge toasty warm whilst you are using another room predominantly. Plus the exercise involved in getting to the TRVs will make you feel much warmer anyway

Edit: The loft extension will be adding to your bills quite a lot, do you keep the door to it shut at all times? It would make a difference to heat lost certainly.

Loft door is shut at all times, it's only used when I have visitors so I don't go in at other times.

I haven't really found it necessary to adjust the TRVs to be honest, it never gets too warm anywhere. Even though the little used rooms are set on 1, those rads don't seem to come on. I could turn the bedroom one down, will give that a try, must remember to go up and turn it up before I go to bed

macman wrote: »

16,500 kWh for gas is the UK average (for a 3 b/r property). Since you are retired and have the heating on in the day, it's not exceptionally high. Your electricity is slightly less than average (3,400 kWh).
You have a fairly modern system with good controls, but what about insulation, which you don't mention? Do you have, at the very least, proper loft insulation and cavity wall insulation? Then double glazing and draught proofing?
Which BG tariff are you on? If it's Standard, that's the most expensive, so hit the comp sites today with your annual kWh figures.

The house is double glazed, the sun room also has double glazing and reflective blinds, I keep the blinds down on some windows and partially down on a couple if it's very cold.

There's no cavity wall insulation that I know of as it is a strange mixture of external walls. Part of it is an old stone cottage so I have two partial walls of very thick stone. The rest is extensions, most of which were done I think about 1950. If it's solid walls then of course there couldn't be insulation. When the loft was converted the builders used those insulation boards, blocks of foam with silver covering that you saw to size. For under the eaves I think it was those rolls of insulation, can't be sure but as it was only done 4 years ago and all done to current building regs at the time I would imagine it was done to the right spec.

Interesting to note that two of you say it's fairly average for someone in my position but the other says it's way to high. I know some people feel the cold more than others and I think I come into that category but I don't have the house excessively warm, like I said the living room is 68F and if I feel cold I use an extra layer or a fleece blanket.

daveyjp

I'm sure an expert will advise further, but less than 50 degrees for a heating circuit doesn't seem very high to me. If its too low the radiators may not be giving enough heat to raise the room temp so the boiler is heating the water circuit for longer periods.

TomsMom

victor2 wrote: »

As macman says, your gas usage is a little high, but not exceptionally so, especially considering you're in all day. Electricity usage sounds pretty good though.
How well is the loft area insulated? Even with the rads on low, if they are in a very poorly insulated area, they could still be on more than necessary. What does your gas usage look like in the summer months? Should be extremely low if the only other thing it supplies is hot water through a combi boiler. Or do you take a lot of baths or showers (if not electric shower)?

I've mentioned the loft insulation in my reply above. I can't get in to see exactly what is under the eaves but as the property was reroofed when the renovation was done four years ago I believe it it will be to the correct standard.

For the months of June-September inclusive I used approx 4566 KwH.

No electric shower, shower is from the boiler and I average 3 a week, never have a bath.

MillicentBystander wrote: »

The OP lives alone in a 3 bed property in which only one bedroom is used, doesn't state that they have a medical condition which requires constant warmth, is clearly spending over £1,000 per year on gas alone and posters are advising her gas usage isn't high? :eek: Crikey. No wonder the energy suppliers are doing so well.


Just had a thought - does the sum room/kitchen have a standard tiled, pitched roof or is it 'part conservatory'? Reason i ask is my sister's kitchen is, bizarrely 'part conservatory', they spend a lot of time in their and her bills are horrendous.

As mentioned in previous reply, sun room was a conservatory but when the property was renovated four years ago the builders replaced the old poly roof with a pitched slate roof and knocked through to the kitchen to make an L shape. It already had two rads in there.

I don't have a medical condition which requires constant warmth but as I am hypothyroid I do seem to feel the cold more than some people but not to the extent that I need to have the heating very high, as mentioned the living room is 68F.

TomsMom

daveyjp wrote: »

I'm sure an expert will advise further, but less than 50 degrees for a heating circuit doesn't seem very high to me. If its too low the radiators may not be giving enough heat to raise the room temp so the boiler is heating the water circuit for longer periods.

That's interesting. I have my boiler serviced every year and it's due in April. The chap is someone I know well and very honest and reliable so I will ask him about that.

Hopefully a heating engineer might read the thread and comment, if not I may make another thread about that.