Estimating my yearly usage when I only know my Winter usage?

audigex

Hi

I'm looking at switching my energy, but all the "comparisons" (including MSE's own) ask for me to enter how much I spend a year.

The thing is, I don't really know what I spend a year. I've only owned the house for ~6 months and the first 3 months (Sept, Oct, Nov) meter readings were read as one, so I can only guess at how they broke down. So I only really have that guess, plus Dec, Jan, Feb bills readings to base it on. Before living in this house alone I've only ever lived in a 2 person, electrically heated flat with an ex who was home most of the day and two large fish tanks, which is a totally different usage scenario to now!

So, how do I estimate what I'll pay?

I'm on some kind of standard rate, so I'm definitely paying more than I need to be paying - but I've no idea which option is "best" out of the better options.

Currently I'm paying £90/month DD per month, but my bills are slightly higher than this, I'd estimate at £100/month (my current company expects the summer bills to make up for this). That puts me at £1200 over the year... but only accounts for September-February, and I'll obviously use less power in summer for heating.

Is there any kind of rule of thumb on how much more/less power I'm likely to use in winter/summer? Some kind of ratio or rough percentage of how much higher winter bills are than summer?

I'm a single guy, working full time (so out of the house ~40 hours a week), in a fairly well insulated, entirely LED-lit ~1970's semi, with a ~30 year old boiler. I like to be warm, but I don't use massive amounts of power other than my PC running 4-6 hours a night.

So, any ideas on a rough rule of thumb for my annual usage?

And, as an aside, which companies offer smart meters? I'm fed up of clambering into the under-stairs cupboard....

Bark01

Your bill will contain a projection of future usage. Look for the 'About your tariff' section, it should be on the right of the 2nd page of your bill.

Provided you've provided a few actual readings to your supplier the projection will take into account seasonality and should also account for weather correction (this winter was a lot warmer than usual). The last 6 months have been far from typical so on their own they wouldn't be a good starting point for the next 6 months as you'd need to factor in the impact of the weather.

CashStrapped

What is your current use for electric and gas?

The typical average for UK are around 12,500 KWH Gas and 3100 KWH electric.

Low users use around 8000KWH Gas and 2,000KWH electric.

Se experiment with those numbers in a compairson site and see what comes up. Use both sets, you may get the same result for both.

Only when you have been in the propety for a year, with annual readings 1 year apart will you have a better idea.

One thing is for sure, I would not stay on a standard tariff for long.

matelodave

Most people use about 65% of their annual energy in the five months November to March and the other 35% in the seven spring/summer months.

But, as said above, this winter hasn't really been typical so wouldn't be a good example.

A reasonable guess is about 3500kwh for leccy and about 12500 - 13500 for gas. Electricity is fairly even across the year unless you use it for heating or hot water but gas varies a lot across the seasons.

£90-£100 a month is a good estimate and should ensure that you don't end up with a ginormous bill at the end of a year. If you keep an eye or your meter readings you should be able to see if you are running up a big credit. If so get the DD reduced.

audigex

Thanks, I thought the £90-100 a month seemed about right, but uSwitch and MSE seem to think they can get that down to more like ~£60-70 a month, which seemed suspiciously good even though I'm not on a fixed plan.

I'll use both ends of the estimates you guys have given and see what the difference is: I like to estimate pessimistically then be pleasantly surprised anyway!

And now I've just found this Flow Boiler thing, too... damnit, I need less options, not more!

Edit: Never mind, the flow boiler doesn't look as good as I first thought

My estimated Electricity use is down as 3158 kWh, with 168 kWh used this month. As you say, I'm unlikely to use much more in summer, so I actually estimate this as being more like 2000 kWh! That's £20/month plus £9 standing charge right now.

Gas I'm currently using 1516 kWh, with a yearly estimate of 18,000 kWh which would be in line with me using as much in summer as I am now... that seems unlikely! If I did keep using it at that rate, I'd be looking at £50/month (£42 + £8 standing charge).

I'll use the 3,100 and 18,000 figures as my maximum, though, and then try again with 2,500 and 13,500 which I suspect should be closer to the mark (1500/month for 6 months being 9000 as the 2/3 for winter, plus 1/2 of that for the 1/3 in summer). That should give me a pessimistic "low" number, hopefully!

Usefully, both of my "best results" come back as the same provider, so it looks like switching to them will save me money regardless of whether my, or Ovo's prediction is right!

My gas plan appears to be a "fixed" plan, but is this actually binding on me? I've never agreed to use this plan with them, as far as I know, I just told them who I was and started paying the bill when I bought the house... I don't recall agreeing to any type of fixed term plan.