Energy usage comparison

dyrniboy

Hi, I have an approx. 100m2 detached house built around 1986, cavities filled, energy saving bulbs in all fittings, oil central heating etc, I use a wood burner for approx. 90% of my heating the remainder from the oil boiler. water is generally heated by the immersion in a normal sized tank. I live with my wife and two sons so the usual laptops, games consoles, phone charges on the go, My eldest comes home from uni about 5 weeks a year. middle son has trouble sleeping so its not uncommon for me to get up in the night to find his bedroom light on. My electric provider (eon) estimates that I use over 8,000 khw of electric a year ,as it is said the average is about 3,500khw I am asking, do you think my estimated usage is about right ?.What is your usage ?. Many thanks in anticipation

I_have_spoken

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1328353

Immersion heater with two lads sounds expensive for baths and showers, plus your washing machine (and tumble dryer and dishwasher?). Is your cooker electric too?

flashg67

Perhaps not a direct comparison, but there are four of us in a modern 3 bed house with probably 3-4 laptops and TVs on most of the time, Sky boxes, mobile chargers etc and we use nearly 6000kwh per year, so yours doesn't seem impossibly high - presumably the immersion uses quite a bit? (I have a combi boiler, so no water tank to heat)

dyrniboy

Hi, thank you, yes my cooker is electric and I don't have an electric shower at the moment just baths!. washing machine doing approx. 2 loads a day and dryer on most days in the winter. Electric bill approx. £1500 a year now !.Might have to look at solar PV panels to heat water during the day !.

Norman_Castle

Fitting a shower could be cheaper. Two washing machine loads per day for four people?. Do you fill the washing machine fully?. Using the fastest spin will reduce drying times

I_have_spoken

Might have to look at solar PV panels to heat water during the day

Economy 7 for the immersion and washing machine/dryer during the night may be a simpler option.

Also, I'd look at options for taking waste flue heat from the wood stove to pre-heat water for use with a hot-fill washing machine.

Frugalsod

Your usage does seem high. I live alone but am at home all day, with two computers on all day. My energy usage is 3500 KWhr per year so average but as I said I am home all day whereas most are only home for a few hours per day.

I read my meters daily, and as a result know what causes my electricity to climb. I was running a distributed processing algorithm on both machines for a month and that alone pushed my electricity usage up by 2KWhr per day. If I do not open the fridge all day that will cut 3 KWhr off the days usage. All my lights combined only use 88W so I can leave them on without too much impact.

My advice would be to read your meters daily to get a hang of what is using the electricity. If you have a smart phone get an app to help. Then switch all your lights to LED. You can slash power needs that way, especially if your middle son needs it on at night. Look at how the kettle is used. I suspect that you might be all overfilling it, and that costs money.

Check the power needs of the TV's some can be as high as 450W. Same if you have halogen bulbs. If you can set up an energy monitor on to the mains and then turn off everything and watch what the base load is. That would probably be things on standby and fridges and freezers etc. Then see what the impact is with every device in the house.