Is this abnormally high electricity usage?

pigeonpie

There's 2 of us in this flat. We keep getting huge electricity bills for usage of 1000kWh (is that quarterly - EDF don't say and I can't get through).
usage baffles me as we don't appear to use that much lecky...
dishwasher once a day or once every 2 days on economy setting (95% time)
washing machine 2-3 x per week on 30 or maximum 40 degs
boiler hot water left on 24/7. heating's been off for months.
one laptop left on standby most of the day and generally at night as takes 15 mins to reboot these days
one light on in the lounge in the evenings and light left on in hallway
kettle used about 5x a day
oven maybe 4-5 times a week (av 200 degs for 25 mins)
microwave 3x daily for about 5 mins.
2x daily showers plus normal amount of water for washing up, cleaning.

I haven't lived in England for some years and know prices have gone up a lot, but does this sound right?
Where I was before (France) we paid EDF about 60€ quarterly for lecky.
Not sure what I can do to lower the consumption really. I can't run dishwasher or washing machine at night as the neighbours would complain.
Plus we haven't got to hot summer yet when this (top) flat needs a fan and occasionally a few hours of air con from a free standing unit! :eek:

Ken68

Boiler hot water left on 24/7 is where it's going, and the Techie Board should help you sort out the slow computer boot up.

wills34

3300 annual is the national average wouldn't expect 2 people in flat to be much over that a few energy efficiency measures and quarterly meter reads should help. Boiler on a timer for hot water??? Energy efficient light bulbs??? Standby device for laptop

thescouselander

1000 kwh per quarter doesn't sound too far off the mark although we (2 of us) use about 840 kwh per quarter in our house - Our electricity usage is pretty similar to yours but all of our appliencs are A rated for efficiency.

Also, almost half of our daily electricity usage is due to the electric shower. Its rated at 10kw so it doesn't take long to munch through the electricity.

pigeonpie

It may be the boiler as the British Gas bloke was none too complimentary about it and it takes up a whole cupboard. I need hot water during the day. Someone (might have been at EDF??) told me that it costs more to heat the water than leave it on. We start using it at 6am and use hot water until 11pm. What times do you suggest as it does have a timer - if it is more economic to let it get cold and heat it up again.
Can't find the boiler make but think it's a Powermax. Let's just say the developers won't have put in top of the range.
Do you pay more for lecky in London?

scope

pigeonpie wrote: »

What times do you suggest as it does have a timer - if it is more economic to let it get cold and heat it up again.

We got ours set to 1 hour in the morning, and one hour in the evening.. That supplies us with more than enough (at this time of the year) hot water for 2 people and 2 kids.. Try and see if it is enough for you, if not increase to 2-1, 2-2, etc..

Biggles

pigeonpie wrote: »

Someone (might have been at EDF??) told me that it costs more to heat the water than leave it on. We start using it at 6am and use hot water until 11pm. What times do you suggest as it does have a timer - if it is more economic to let it get cold and heat it up again.

This is a can of worms, I've seen threads running to several pages on that subject alone!

The concensus seems to be that it is just possible, if your insulation is practically perfect, for it to be cheaper left on.

But for an old, inefficient boiler, probably with poor insulation, if would almost certainly save a great deal of electricity on the timer.

But there should be a thermostat; can you get away with the water turned down to a lower temperature?

But how much water do you use? If you are getting through a lot of hot water, it won't be just a matter if keeping the water hot all day, you'll continually be heating cold water you've drawn in and there's no way round that. If it's only washing, washing up, cleaning, then what you've heated that morning should last through the day.

But either way, there's no need to have the water on all night, at the very least turn the element off at 4(ish)pm and back on a 4(ish)am ready for the next day.

dc

It would seem that 10 units a day is round about the average UK useage, so 1000 a quarter is only just above that.
I find useage is difficult to pin down, and just put it down to modern living, multiple TVs, entertainment units, computers and peripherals, extension leads everywhere, hardly an empty socket in the house.
Despite checking things are switched off and not left on standby we still average 16 a day

pigeonpie

It's a flat combi boiler so there's no hot water tank. The cat turned the water off once and there was absolutely no cold water in the morning (think kitty turned it off for 5 hours or so). The brochure says keep it on 24/7. Think we may try the timer to shut it off at 11pm and on again at 5.30am and see if it makes any diff to the bill at all. Flipping scary bills. Only thing is: if the boiler's very energy inefficient (huge, horrible, cheap thing acc to one plumber) why's the gas bill not so bad?

Woby_Tide

if its a combi then it isn't the issue I think you just confused people with your terminology by including it in your elctric figures

Biggles

Ah, yes. The hot water boiler, being gas, would have very little effect on the electricity bill.....

As mentioned above, I would think you're very much around the average usage.