Why are my Electricity and Gas costs so high?

thearcher

Hi All.

This is my first post on MSE and hope you can all give me some advice on my energy bills.

I moved into a new house 2 years ago and feel as though I am paying way too much for my fuel. I live in an old building, built circa 1850. It has high ceilings but is well built with thick carpets and new doors which all have draught excluding strips around them so there is little loss of heat within the rooms. There are 4 of us living in the house - 4 bedrooms with a large kitchen and living room and medium sized bathroom. Pretty typical family home in my eyes.. but my bills are very high, or so I believe.. can anyone advise if they think the same?

I have an electric shower and all my heating is done by Gas. I have a washing machine and a dishwasher which are both used on average once every 2 days. I use an electric oven/hob and have a microwave and toaster. My fridge is a big American style thing with ice dispenser. I have a flat screen LED TV but it is hardly on. There are 3 laptops in the house and a projector that gets used a few hours each week. The Gas boiler is set to low unless it is a particularly cold day but due to our high bills we always keep an eye on the heating ensuring it isn't blasting out too much. Other than that there is very little more usage.

So based on the last 2 years here are my average annual usage amounts. I am with EON for Gas and Scottish Hydro for Electricity.

Gas - 23'130 kWh (approx. £90 per month on average)

Electricity - 12'512 kWh (approx. £145 per month on average)

Do these amounts seem high to you or am I just used to living in a better insulated and smaller home?

shortchanged_2

I would say your gas usage is on the average to low size for a large older property but your electricity use seems horrendous. It's double what would be classed as general high usage 5-6000 kwh per annum.

You definitely need to investigate your electricity usage more closely, particularly as your heating is gas.

anotheruser

Your TV isn't LED.
It might be LED side-lit or back-lit if at all. The screen you see is still LCD. Wikipedia will assist you there.

Electric shower (used by 4 people everyday?) will suck in energy.

I have heard projectors aren't the most energy saving devices in the world but they could bump your cost up.

What about hair straighteners?
Hair dryers?
Phone charging?
Mowing the lawn?
Tumble dryer?
Washing machine on a long cycle?

All these can contribute.

What sort of bulbs do you have? If you're running all of the older style, they will be eating electric too compared with LED bulbs.

Maybe buy an energy monitor that you plug in, then plug the device into that to see how much energy is being used.

If you're feeling brave, check out the nPower website. They did have energy monitors for "customers only" but I managed to get one sent to a house when I wasn't a customer. Alternatively, call up your own supplier and see if they have one.

shortchanged_2

Are you an obsessive compulsive cleaner and do the vacuuming constantly? Do you use an electric immersion heater?

Do you keep lots of reptiles?

macman

Someone growing skunk in the loft?
Backup immersion heater left on 24/7?
Consumption is 400% what might be expected, so if you can't trace it, get a sparky in-now.

thearcher

Thank you very much for your response, just to respond to your points..

anotheruser wrote: »

Your TV isn't LED.
It might be LED side-lit or back-lit if at all. The screen you see is still LCD. Wikipedia will assist you there.

- My TV is a low energy TV, manufacturer website says 93kWh per year.

Electric shower (used by 4 people everyday?) will suck in energy.

- Yes, I agree but keeping clean is worth it!

I have heard projectors aren't the most energy saving devices in the world but they could bump your cost up.

- Projector gets used no more than 3hrs a week so not much.

What about hair straighteners? - Nope.
Hair dryers? - Nope.
Phone charging? - Would that make such a big difference?
Mowing the lawn? - No lawn
Tumble dryer? - No dryer
Washing machine on a long cycle? - I have a Miele washer that weighs the clothes to ensure least amount of energy used.

All these can contribute.

What sort of bulbs do you have? If you're running all of the older style, they will be eating electric too compared with LED bulbs.

- 20% of bulbs are energy saving and the remainder are LED bulbs.

Maybe buy an energy monitor that you plug in, then plug the device into that to see how much energy is being used.

- I monitor my usage manually on a very regular basis, I have readings that I have taken every 2-3 days for the past 2 years.

If you're feeling brave, check out the nPower website. They did have energy monitors for "customers only" but I managed to get one sent to a house when I wasn't a customer. Alternatively, call up your own supplier and see if they have one.

- I called my supplier who just said that because I live in an old building this would be the reason to why the usage is so high, I felt as though they were just trying to fob me off though.

thearcher

shortchanged wrote: »

Are you an obsessive compulsive cleaner and do the vacuuming constantly? Do you use an electric immersion heater?

Do you keep lots of reptiles?

We have 1 pet, a cat, and although I do keep my house clean hoovering is kept to once or twice a week. I'm stumped!

thearcher

macman wrote: »

Someone growing skunk in the loft?
Backup immersion heater left on 24/7?
Consumption is 400% what might be expected, so if you can't trace it, get a sparky in-now.

Dont have a loft, I have neighbours living above me.

Dont have an electric immersion heater, boiler is gas and is on a timer and turned down to low.

I'm thinking an electrician probably will be a good idea based on what most people have said.

molerat

One hour in the shower will cost £40 per month. I can never understand why electric showers are fitted in gas heated houses.

As a comparison my daughter, 4 in the house, gch, electric shower, loads of halogen bulbs, always using the tumble drier uses around 6000 kWh pa.

molerat

thearcher wrote: »

Dont have a loft, I have neighbours living above me.

I would be tempted to flick the main switch off and see if the neighbours start screaming or the meter carries on counting up, are you sure the meter is yours and / or only connected to your property, if your building is a conversion mistakes (laziness) in the wiring and allocation of meters is often made.

lstar337

thearcher wrote: »

Dont have a loft, I have neighbours living above me.

Are they horticulturalists?