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Too much electricity usage.

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  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,060 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Rampant Recycler
    Good morning all,
    we have had a high electricity bill for many years, the last years consumption was 5948KW whereas the average for a large house is 4900KW. Our house is not that big-3 bedrooms, gas heating and cooking, energy saving bulbs etc. We are careful with usage, not leaving lights on etc. We are at a loss as to how we are using so much electricity.


    Any ideas on how to solve this would be more than welcome.


    Regards


    Steve


    Unless you heat with electricity, the size of the house is not really a factor - it is the number of occupants.


    More people means more use of washing machine, dishwasher, cooker, lights/appliances on in bedrooms etc.
  • Pincher
    Pincher Posts: 6,552 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    There is a baseline figure, though.


    In my house, two people is around 5,000kWh annually.


    When we had two lodgers one year, it was just over 7,000kWh.
    Gas central heating is separate, of course.


    Hence, I was delighted to pay a higher standing charge for a lower unit rate.
  • Robin9
    Robin9 Posts: 12,782 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Cardew wrote: »
    Unless you heat with electricity, the size of the house is not really a factor - it is the number of occupants.


    More people means more use of washing machine, dishwasher, cooker, lights/appliances on in bedrooms etc.
    And its the lifestyle you lead that counts as well. We are a 2 person senior citizen household home during the day, eating in
    Never pay on an estimated bill. Always read and understand your bill
  • MallyGirl
    MallyGirl Posts: 7,201 Senior Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    agreed there - I work from home in IT with a fair amount of kit running, have an office down the garden with UFH and we use 10,000 kW a year. Only 2 adults and 1 child in the house :(
    I’m a Senior Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Pensions, Annuities & Retirement Planning, Loans
    & Credit Cards boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.
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  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,060 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Rampant Recycler
    Robin9 wrote: »
    And its the lifestyle you lead that counts as well. We are a 2 person senior citizen household home during the day, eating in


    Agreed, but my point was that the consumption for that 2 person lifestyle would be the same regardless of living in a one bed or 4 bed property.
  • keicar
    keicar Posts: 76 Forumite
    I'm amazed by some of the usage here, modest three bed, two people, one working from home, two freezers, washing machine, all modern gizmos, large screen TV's Freesat, Freeview, not excessively anal about leaving lights etc on, though admittedly all LED bulbs and our usage averages out at less that 6.5 kw/h's per day (2400 per year).

    One thing we do is to plan meals trying to avoid using the oven more that is necessary and cooking all we need to in one go and cooking hob meals where we can.

    One thing I would advise the OP is to get a plug in monitor, and measure things that are plugged in 24/7 like mentioned above microwaves, fax machines, PC's on standby, TV's on standby, things that don't need to be on, but are!

    Its not rocket science.
  • matelodave
    matelodave Posts: 9,079 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    We've managed to use less than 6000kw in the last 12 months mainly due to the mild weather. Our daily average is 8-9kw including hot water but without heating.

    Both heating & hot water are produced by an Air Source Heat Pump and so our consumption during the winter increases significantly (it's been as high as 60kwh when it's been everso cold)

    We are all electric, hot water, heating, cooking, lighting etc.
    My wife doesn't stint on using the tumble dryer or washing machine but they are always full - no half loads, same with the dishwasher.

    We are at home all day and there are three laptops on all day together with an extra 22" monitor, two printers, routers & IP camera. We watch TV every night (42" LED) however everything except the router, SKYbox, camera, fridge and freezer get switched off (at the wall) overnight and when we are away.

    Even the cooker, microwave, washing machine, dishwasher & tumble dryer use power when just switched of at the front so we switch them off at the wall when not in use. Most of our lights are either low energy or LED.

    As keicar says, we aren't obsessive about it but we just turn stuff off when it's not being used.
    Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers
  • I have fitted a loop meter last week and can see that when I have my washer on it costs a lot ( in comparison to non washer days if that makes sense ) I have now decided when the weather improves to turn the spin speed down for days when I can peg the washing out to dry( if that makes sense) and to make sure I only wash clothes ( unless in dire extremis when its full) I try to use under 3 kwh of electricity which with my supplier is about 45p but with the gas its harder to budget if its v cold I do put the heating on ( my husband has a multitude of health problems) but not on high if it can be helped and if its just me in ill sit with a blanket whilst everyone else is out at work and college etc and then put it on half an hour before people are due back
  • lstar337
    lstar337 Posts: 3,443 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Got any teenagers?

    They use tons of energy.
  • All this useful information but the OP hasn't been back to comment since 21 December.
    Are you for real? - Glass Half Empty??
    :coffee:
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