Is My Gas / Electricity Usage Average?

anotheruser

Can anyone tell me what the average gas and electricity usage is per year in kWh?

I have differing values all over the place so sorting out my actual kWh usage from my bills.

macman

UK average is 16,500Kwh for gas and 3,400kWh for electricity.
One phone call to your supplier will give you your annual usage-or it's on your annual statement.

dogshome

There ain't no average
The 'Average' used by the industry and approved by the regulator of 16,500 Kwh Gas & 3,400 Kwh Elec, is just a notional measure by which one suppliers costs can be judged against another - I'm sure you've seen the Ads - but even that is flawed as suppliers charge different prices for the same product in different areas.

A 'true' average would be the total domestic Kwh used a year divided by the total number of Domestic consumers, which is just as worthless as it includes some poor soul living in one room with a gas ring and a single light bulb, and the top tier with a 10 bedroom pile that has a heated pool, garage and lavatory seats.

Forget average and concentrate on your own annual Gas/Elec Kwh consumption, and if you think something isn't right post your query here

matelodave

as dogshome says an average is virtually meaningless, but it give you a starting point to see if your usage is anywhere close. You must measure your own consumption at least weekly and put it into a spreadsheet then you'll know what you use and you will be able to use a comparison sites correctly. You will also know what your consumption is and have information which allows you to monitor it, reduce it and most of all know how much you should be paying for.

95% or more of the problems that people have with their suppliers & bills is down to the fact that they don't know what they are using, what tariff they are on' They then get hit with a bill that they can't afford because they've used a lot more than they either realise or been paying for on their direct debits.

anotheruser

Good.

My gas is currently ~14,000 with electric at 2118 per year, based on last year.

Scottish Power gives a text based version of usage spread over when you are billed. But if I gave two readings before a bill was produced, it would show these separate so it all got a bit messy when trying to work out what kWh I have actually used. However the above values are good.

The reason I asked is that potentially 14,000 might seem really high for gas, especially considering I use more electric and that is a lot lower, so any sort of average or "recommended use" value is a starting point.

Now to change suppliers (maybe) and get either a free hotel stay plus £30 or a box of 6 wines....

Wywth

macman wrote: »

UK average is 16,500Kwh for gas and 3,400kWh for electricity....

dogshome wrote: »

There ain't no average
The 'Average' used by the industry and approved by the regulator of 16,500 Kwh Gas & 3,400 Kwh Elec,...

Has it changed?

Only last May Ofgem confirmed the typical domestic consumption values for a medium user was 16,500kWh for gas and 3,300kWh for electricity.

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Markets/RetMkts/rmr/Documents1/Review%20of%20typical%20domestic%20consumption%20values.pdf

macman

The reason gas usage is much higher than electricity is simply because you are using gas to heat and hot water your property. That's what costs you, not switching on a couple of lights.
And remember that gas is around a third of the cost of standard rate electricity.

macman

Wywth wrote: »

Has it changed?

Only last May Ofgem confirmed the typical domestic consumption values for a medium user was 16,500kWh for gas and 3,300kWh for electricity.

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Markets/RetMkts/rmr/Documents1/Review%20of%20typical%20domestic%20consumption%20values.pdf

3,400 is the figure that sticks in my brain when this question is asked (frequently).
What's 100kWh's between friends?.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Jan 2013 figures, 3,300 kWh for electricity and 16,500 kWh for gas, averaged across all big six suppliers and across Great Britain.

- everyone is correct ± equivalent to, but not identical