Need to cut my energy usage

applepad

Please move if I am on the wrong board.

Got an email yesterday saying First utility want to increase my DD by £41 a month! I am on a fixed tariff, but my usage has gone up!

We did have a hot tub til last summer but got rid of it as illness ment we were not using it plus the cost of Electric kept going up. We now have a Conservatory which had 2 x electric heaters in it, these were on in the winter- not all the time, and not now. We were also given a small tumble dryer in Jan which was being used 5 x a week, no longer being used.

Have not had a bill from FU since Nov- long story! Computer problem at there end. But there're site shows a graph showing our usage is going up, despite getting rid of the hot tub?

It was 400kWh in Aug but had risen to 800kWH in April, could a tumble dryer and heaters caused such an increase? Or it it a problem with my meter?

I have taken a reading today and will read again in 24 hours. I am not going to use my washing machine-12 mths old or my dishwasher 24 mths old- both A rated. So it will just be lights,tv,Xbox,induction hob and oven, plus fridge freezer- again appliances 24mths old and A rated. No heating is on and hot water is from an instant gas boiler- shower- from bath taps runs off this.

How much should I be using? We are a family of 4, 2 adults, 1 a stay at home mum and 2 teens on school holiday, my husband works so out all day.

Thanks in advance

Nada666

applepad wrote: »

2 teens on school holiday

There's your problem. Possibly.

But seriously it's difficult to give any specific advice - as you're a stay at home parent the easiest strategy will be to be diligent (and tiresome and boring) with noting meter reads for various sessions until you have an idea of how much your home is using. You can then filter out the catch-up bill and see if ongoing usage makes sense.

800 kWh is viable for heating and cooking - but xbox, drier and washing machine are not enough to account for an extra 400 kWh per month.

[STRIKE]Electric showers are also [/STRIKE]

Make sure you do read your meters and compare with last bill so that when FU do sort things out you know how much they will be demanding.

macman

Quote your annual kWh usage (not monthly or daily) and proper advice can be given. As a guide, the UK average for a property with gas CH and DHW is around 3,300kWh pa.
The increase in your DD is not just due to increased ongoing consumption, but presumably recovery of some large arrears-how often are you submitting readings?

Nada666

(Also watch out for non-CFL or LED bulbs, especially halogen arrays (although they wouldn't account for a change in usage.))

applepad

I am on a fixed rate and when I last spoke to FU I was £85 in credit. They have agreed not to increase my DD after I emailed them yesterday.

I give readings every month, but have not kept note of these and as I have not had a bill since last Nov I can not tell you what my annual consumption is. I get the 800kWh amount from the graph on there website of my account.

Sorry what is DHW?

It 3300 kWh pa for electric? We live in a 1960 4 bed semi, with double glazing and central heating, although guess that's irrelevant as apart from the new heaters no other electric heating.

applepad

Found last Mays bill, we used 9050 kWh in the last 12 months!

greyteam1959

DHW=Domestic Hot Water

Robwiz

9050 kWh is amazingly high!

An Xbox used 450 W and the display it's connected to could easily use the same again.

As nada666 suggests, get a little notebook and make a note of your electricity meter (and gas) readings every day. It takes no time and you can spot trends (like wash days and ironing).

Do you turn everything off when it's not in use? TVs, computers, satellite boxes, etc., all draw a fair bit of power when on standby – could cost you as much as 2 kWh per day.

applepad

An Xbox used 450 W and the display it's connected to could easily use the same again. Is that per hour?

As nada666 suggests, get a little notebook and make a note of your electricity meter (and gas) readings every day. It takes no time and you can spot trends (like wash days and ironing). Will be doing that from now on.

Do you turn everything off when it's not in use? TVs, computers, satellite boxes, etc., all draw a fair bit of power when on standby – could cost you as much as 2 kWh per day.[/QUOTE] I do now!

Had words with the boys over the dinner table, they will be losing pocket £ from now on if I find stuff left on.

I email Beko and now know which programmes use the least elec, so will make sure they are only used on these.

Thanks guys and gals

Smiley_Dan

An Xbox used 450 W and the display it's connected to could easily use the same again. Is that per hour?

Watts is a unit of power, so it means the instantaneous draw at a given moment. To work out the cost you need to convert to energy by combining with the time.

If it drew 450W for an hour it would be 450Wh or 0.45kWh. Your electricity unit rate is in kWh so you can multiply that by the unit rate to work out the cost. E.g. if your unit rate is 15p it's 0.45*15 = 6.75p to run for that hour.

IANAP (I Am Not A Physicist) btw so apols for any crappy use of language above.

450W is a lot btw! A modern computer before monitors at idle should be ~50W, when at full power more like double that.

matelodave

An original Xbox or Playstation use about 180 watts when in use, even more if you are using the disk drive, The Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 take about 90watts each. A kitchen full of 50watt downlighters can use 500watts in an hour. A big plasma TV can easily use 200+ watts and a Sky box another 30-40, surround sound can be 50-100watts so an evenings entertainment can easily cost you 2kwh = 750kwh a year = £90 at 12p a unit. Not a lot I grant you but it all adds up.
Do a bit of monitoring and see where it all goes, then you can do something about it