average consumption

rowandr

Hi, long time user had to select new username.

Basically i want some advice on how to proceed.

I have looked at the average house useage from ofgen and cannot work out whats going on with ours.

we have solar panels fitted and also run a hot tub, other than that were a regular 3 bed bungalow with all current insulation done , walls and extra in loft, 1/2 has the new regs underground as well. 3 adults , one of whom is a 20 lad that only knows how to switch lights on

our useage last year was

gas 11588 elec 7142

so whist i would say medium house we are a good bit under on the gas but more than double the electric , in fact we are way over the large house average electric.

we have a 12 panel solar fitted for 2 1/2 years and have generated 7382 units


(2) Medium House - gas usage of 13,500kWh and an electricity usage of 3,200kWh
(3) Large House - gas usage of 19,000kWh and an electricity usage of 4,900kWh

espresso

The average property does not have a hot tub.

How much of your consumption is used to heat it?

Presumably you have been paid by us for your 7382 generated units?

lstar337

Gas should be easy to trace, you can usually count the number of gas appliances on one hand, and you should know how often you use them. If you don't use them much, or have few of them you can easily be below average.

On your electric (your post sounds familiar so I may have asked this before), are you sure that your meter is not reading your generation as extra import? Some meters will read power moving in either direction which means you could be paying for energy you export as well as import. If you take a years worth of generation off of a years worth of import, does it bring you back in line with average figures?

Have you started taking regular reads to help pinpoint your usage?

If you take daily reads you get a lot more usable data which can help track down rogue appliances or illegal taps.

Once you find the cause you may be able (depending on the cause) to reclaim some of your money from your supplier.

Andy_WSM

lstar337 wrote: »

If you take a years worth of generation off of a years worth of import, does it bring you back in line with average figures?

Because of the hot tub you are looking for above average figures anyhow. Hot tubs aren't cheap to keep heated to 37-38C 24 hours a day, even with good insulation mine used to add at least £5 a week to my consumption.

sheffield_lad

electric usage works to just under 20upd I would say you are getting away with having a hot tub owing to the solar PV. Without PV your usage with a tub would be far higher.

rowandr

espresso wrote: »

The average property does not have a hot tub.

How much of your consumption is used to heat it?

Presumably you have been paid by us for your 7382 generated units?

I would say the average properties are getting tubs. A survey published by Lloyds Insurance this week indicated that 10 per cent of the country now has a hot tub.

consumption is something to research, hence this post

yes you have all paid for my feed in, i did invest 6 grand of my own at the start, ( you choose where you spends it, mines not at the pub ) and of course it has zeroed my carbon footprint on my energy useage. so you can thank me for saving a tiny little bit of the planet for you.

i realise now why after being a member for almost 9 years and then having my username questioned and banned i didnt bother for 8 months. your response even if TIC to a newbie was rather short to say the least.

Andy_WSM

rowandr wrote: »

I would say the average properties are getting tubs. A survey published by Lloyds Insurance this week indicated that 10 per cent of the country now has a hot tub.

You should work in Government (maybe you do?) because 10% is NOT average! There are probably more households in fuel poverty now than there are running hot tubs!

Not that you're sticking around to see the answers, likely because the answers aren't what you wanted to hear. Perhaps you're Cameron? He's good at that.

chrisreboot

I would advise getting a monitoring unit such as the GEO Chorus (find it on Amazon). It will help you to visually see in real time, and through graphs over time, your electricity generation and consumption. It's ideal for solar PV installations. Basically you'll know when you can power the hot tub/kettle/toaster etc to maximise your PV generation.

chrisreboot

You may also be interested in solar switch devices too that divert excess solar generated power that would otherwise be sent to the grid into appliances of your choice i.e. hot tub. My friend uses one to power his electric vehicle charging for example.

Martyn1981

rowandr wrote: »

I have looked at the average house useage from ofgen and cannot work out whats going on with ours.

we have solar panels fitted and also run a hot tub, other than that were a regular 3 bed bungalow with all current insulation done , walls and extra in loft, 1/2 has the new regs underground as well. 3 adults , one of whom is a 20 lad that only knows how to switch lights on

Do you know what your consumption was before the hot tub?

I don't think you can say "... other than that we are a regular ..." the tub is such an enormous consumer of energy, that trying to make comparisons to general household consumption (whilst it's included) must be next to impossible*.

* Unless, as suggested, you can monitor it's consumption and then compare non-hot-tub consumption to other households.

Mart.