how much electricity?

mr_mitch

I've been searching online for a household average... But I'm coming up with all sorts of figures, so maybe I can ask you guys?

Despite all my trying, I can't get our electricity usage much lower than 15kwh a day.

That is for a 3 bed detached with 3 adults. Gas boiler, but all electric cooking.

How does that compare? It seems fairly high to me...

macman

The benchmark figure used in the industry for a property with gas CH and DHW is 3,200kWh pa. Just under 9 kWh per day.
Your leccy usage will be higher at this time of year because lights will be on for longer-you can't calculate annual usage from a few weeks in winter, if that's what you are doing.

mr_mitch

OK well I have just found this information on my online account...


Your previous 12 months usage: 8492.50 kWh •Your previous 12 months total cost: £1133.36 (period 9 January 2014 to 8 January 2015)

Although I think I've reduced the usage quite a bit, I still think we are using far too much..

CashStrapped

Do not always go by their previous year usage figures. Sometimes they can be incorrect, especially if they have used a lot of estimated readings.

What you need to do is look back in your bill history for two confirmed (not estimated) readings that are nearly one year apart. Then you can make your own, more accurate calculation.

If you are using 15kwh per day now, and that is a recent average (during in winter) then I do not see how over the course of a year you would approach the figure above.

Even if you continued to use 15kwh per pay for the next year, that would only amount to 5475KW, which is considered high/above average.

So assuming your usage reduces in summer, you should use less than this.

System

You need to look at your high energy appliance use. For example, a plasma TV can use about 0.3kWs per hour compared to a modern LED TV that consumes only 0.08kWs. Do you tumble dry your washing and use a dishwasher? Lighting is also a big energy consumer. Fifteen years ago, my 8 Halogen GU10 kitchen lighting consumed 0.4kWs per hour. Using LED bulbs, this is no down to .028KWs per hour.

This table lists common appliances and a typical power rating or a range (the actual power rating can vary a lot depending on size and model).

Appliance Rating Appliance Rating

Immersion heater 3000W Fridge 40-120W
Electric fire 2000-3000W Fridge-freezer 200-400W
Oil-filled radiator 1500-2500W Freeze 150W
Electric shower 7000-10,500W Electric mower 500-1500W
Dishwasher 1050-1500W Electric drill 900-1000W
Washing machine 1200-3000W Hairdryer 1000W
Tumble dryer 2000-4000W Heating blanket 130-200W
Iron 1000-1800W Plasma TV 280-450
Vacuum cleaner 500-1200W LCD TV 125-200W
Towel rail 250W Video, DVD or CD 20-60W
Deep fryer 1200W TV box 30-40W
Toaster 800-1500W Games console 45-190W
Kettle 2200-3000W Laptop 20-50W
Microwave 600-1500W Desktop computer 80-150W
Oven 2000-2200W Tablet (charge) 10W
Grill/hob 1000-2000W Broadband router 7-10W
Dehumidifier 300-700W Smart phone (charge) 2.5-5W
Extractor fan 1-36W

dogshome

Hmmm - 8492 Kwh a year works out to 23 kwh a day

Might be a finger slip when posting, but if that's in B&W as the consumption for the previous year, something is seriously wrong either with the suppliers numbers, your meter or household wiring

matelodave

The only way to reduce your consumption is to turn stuff off or use it less. Try reading your meter yourself every day for a couple of weeks to find out what you are actually using and see what is using it all.

The guide from Hengus shows what stuff uses so make sure heavy users like washing machines, dryers, dishwashers etc are only used with full loads. Make sure the immersion heater isn't switched on if you've got a gas boiler.

Electric showers use lots so reduce the amount of time you use them a 5 minute shower uses half the energy and water as a 10 minute one.

Turn stuff off at the wall when it's not in use especially stuff like computers, TVs, Playstations, printers and all the other stuff that has a standby button.

Clocks on cookers, microwave ovens etc all use a few watts continuously so if you don't need them switch them off at the wall, likewise phone chargers etc. Only fill the kettle with as much water as you need.

Turn lights off and as suggested replace the heavy use lights with LEDs. My kitchen had 10 x 50watt halogens = 500wats, it's now 10x4 watt LEDs = 40watts x 2 hrs/day, saving a kwh a day. The lounge had about 300watts of tungsten lighting which is now down to 20 watts of LED saving 280w x 4hrs/day = another 1kwh/day.

Our summer average electric use is about 8-9kwh a day and that includes heating our hot water and all our cooking, 2-3 computers on most days, TV, Sky box, surround sound, washing machine, tumbledryer and dishwasher etc.

It's a lot more in the winter as we are all electric (heating as well) and we are at home all day - our total energy use in in 2014 was 5599kwh £693 but it was a very mild - our average is 7500-8000kwh/year, still only about £900 a year and that's for a fairly large (140sq.m) detached bungalow out in the Cambridgeshire fens.

polymaff

mr_mitch wrote: »

I've been searching online for a household average... But I'm coming up with all sorts of figures, so maybe I can ask you guys?

Despite all my trying, I can't get our electricity usage much lower than 15kwh a day.

That is for a 3 bed detached with 3 adults. Gas boiler, but all electric cooking.

How does that compare? It seems fairly high to me...

Our profile is very similar to yours - gas for CH and DHW, electricity for cooking, detached house. The wife feels the cold and so uses, I reckon, about 1500kWh per annum of local electric heating.

With this, our annual electricity consumption is just under 6,000kWh per annum, so your 50% higher figure suggests that you need to validate that 8492 figure and to work through Hengus' list.

Norman_Castle

Appliance Rating Appliance Rating

Immersion heater 3000W Fridge 40-120W
Electric fire 2000-3000W Fridge-freezer 200-400W
Oil-filled radiator 1500-2500W Freeze 150W
Electric shower 7000-10,500W Electric mower 500-1500W
Dishwasher 1050-1500W Electric drill 900-1000W
Washing machine 1200-3000W Hairdryer 1000W
Tumble dryer 2000-4000W Heating blanket 130-200W
Iron 1000-1800W Plasma TV 280-450
Vacuum cleaner 500-1200W LCD TV 125-200W
Towel rail 250W Video, DVD or CD 20-60W
Deep fryer 1200W TV box 30-40W
Toaster 800-1500W Games console 45-190W
Kettle 2200-3000W Laptop 20-50W
Microwave 600-1500W Desktop computer 80-150W
Oven 2000-2200W Tablet (charge) 10W
Grill/hob 1000-2000W Broadband router 7-10W
Dehumidifier 300-700W Smart phone (charge) 2.5-5W
Extractor fan 1-36W

These appear to be maximums provided to prevent socket overloading. My 120 watt fridge uses between £45 and £65 per year whereas my washing machine, max 2200 watts, used about 75 times per year, costs around £12.50 annually.

Unexpectedly expensive items to run include the fridge, Kettle at £22 per year and vacuum at 1p per 5 minutes, £22 annually.
Old style, non low energy lighting is expensive and long showers are likely to be expensive.

mr_mitch

CashStrapped wrote: »

Do not always go by their previous year usage figures. Sometimes they can be incorrect, especially if they have used a lot of estimated readings.

What you need to do is look back in your bill history for two confirmed (not estimated) readings that are nearly one year apart. Then you can make your own, more accurate calculation.

If you are using 15kwh per day now, and that is a recent average (during in winter) then I do not see how over the course of a year you would approach the figure above.

Even if you continued to use 15kwh per pay for the next year, that would only amount to 5475KW, which is considered high/above average.

So assuming your usage reduces in summer, you should use less than this.

OK. Well I must be honest, we did have 2 extra people living with us for most of last year... So I can see that adding extra, but still surely not that much?!

Even so, it says that the the same period for the year before that we used 6,257.74 so I still think that is pretty high....

Hengus wrote: »

You need to look at your high energy appliance use. For example, a plasma TV can use about 0.3kWs per hour compared to a modern LED TV that consumes only 0.08kWs. Do you tumble dry your washing and use a dishwasher? Lighting is also a big energy consumer. Fifteen years ago, my 8 Halogen GU10 kitchen lighting consumed 0.4kWs per hour. Using LED bulbs, this is no down to .028KWs per hour.

This table lists common appliances and a typical power rating or a range (the actual power rating can vary a lot depending on size and model).

Appliance Rating Appliance Rating

Immersion heater 3000W Fridge 40-120W
Electric fire 2000-3000W Fridge-freezer 200-400W
Oil-filled radiator 1500-2500W Freeze 150W
Electric shower 7000-10,500W Electric mower 500-1500W
Dishwasher 1050-1500W Electric drill 900-1000W
Washing machine 1200-3000W Hairdryer 1000W
Tumble dryer 2000-4000W Heating blanket 130-200W
Iron 1000-1800W Plasma TV 280-450
Vacuum cleaner 500-1200W LCD TV 125-200W
Towel rail 250W Video, DVD or CD 20-60W
Deep fryer 1200W TV box 30-40W
Toaster 800-1500W Games console 45-190W
Kettle 2200-3000W Laptop 20-50W
Microwave 600-1500W Desktop computer 80-150W
Oven 2000-2200W Tablet (charge) 10W
Grill/hob 1000-2000W Broadband router 7-10W
Dehumidifier 300-700W Smart phone (charge) 2.5-5W
Extractor fan 1-36W

Hi. I've done as much as I possibly can. Our TV is led anyway and uses about 58 watts.

We don't have a tumble dryer, but we do have a dishwasher... Although we set that to come on overnight when the electric is cheap.

I've swapped most of our lights to led already. Others are normal energy savers (cfl?) Or low voltage ones.

dogshome wrote: »

Hmmm - 8492 Kwh a year works out to 23 kwh a day

Might be a finger slip when posting, but if that's in B&W as the consumption for the previous year, something is seriously wrong either with the suppliers numbers, your meter or household wiring

Its not a finger slip unfortunately. That's what it says. The year before we used a lower amount. But still a lot...

saveallmymoney

23 kWh a day is a LOT, that what we use on washing day when there are multiple loads through the tumble dryer.

could you have a faulty fridge or freezer with the compressor stuck on all time?