It's time to start digging up those Squirrelled Nuts!!!!

Pat38493

cfw1994 said:

Sea_Shell said:

In energy news...well my news anyway...

Just goes to show how mild October has been, as going by my spreadsheet, we used only 24m³ of gas this October, as opposed to 31m³ last October.

This equates (roughly*) to a saving of £6.68.


7m³ x 11.2 = 78.4 kwh x 8.53p = 668.75p = £6.68


*This isn't the technical calculation, but close enough.  

Electricity was unaltered at 125 kwh for the month.

Wowsa...that is impressive.  I know everyone's house is different, but I think we use around 6-8x your amount of gas 😱

However....since having 15kW of batteries installed recently, it looks like we now get 97% of our electricity at our Octopus off-peak rate....which is pretty acceptable!

Similar here - we used less than half as much gas in October compared to last year, but the price was almost the same to within about £0.50 due to the price more than doubling by the same portion.

pensionpawn

Sea_Shell said:

In energy news...well my news anyway...

Just goes to show how mild October has been, as going by my spreadsheet, we used only 24m³ of gas this October, as opposed to 31m³ last October.

This equates (roughly*) to a saving of £6.68.


7m³ x 11.2 = 78.4 kwh x 8.53p = 668.75p = £6.68





*This isn't the technical calculation, but close enough.  



Electricity was unaltered at 125 kwh for the month.

I have 7.12 kWs of East - West facing solar panels and imported (used more!) 263 kWhrs of electricity. Did you accidentally leave the freezer door open? How you manage to survive on 4 kWhrs a day is incomprehensible to me.

I had a new gas boiler installed at the beginning of the month however as the company we used just set it to 82c burner temp and walked away I've spent most of the month investigating how to get it to an optimal setting (maximum condensing) with the new Nest thermostat. This meant we used 472 kWhrs, which is still less than last Oct (down 33%) though not yet the reduction I believe the boiler is capable of. November will be a proper test.

Out of interest, did you sit staring at a candle during October?

Sea_Shell

Well, take just now for instance...

We're both sitting watching (sky) TV, in the same room with a lamp with an 11w CF bulb.   The rest of the house is in darkness.

As for gas, we hardly needed any heating during October, and just one "charge" of hot water each morning, plus some cooking (hob).

We don't run the hot tap to wash our hands, and don't have long showers.   I do have a weekly bath after a long run treat!! when we need to reheat a tank full.

When it's sunny and mild, we get a lot of solar heat from a west facing conservatory.    It gets shut off in cold weather.

We had a new boiler last July, so already in place for last October.


I don't feel we do anything extreme, and haven't really changed our habits since last year.

We're naturally 😇

RobM99

Same here really - lap top, TV, two lights, hifi (internet radio).

Sea_Shell

Just looked up the figures and our annual usage to date is roughly...

Gas - 8000 kwh
Elec - 1500 kwh

2 adults, 1990s 4 bed detached, East Midlands

System Boiler (2021)
Dual fuel oven/hob
No Dishwasher
No Tumble Dryer
No electric shower


So as you can imagine, I'm just as flabbergasted at those who use shed loads more than us, as those who are flabbergasted at us!! 


It seems, like all our other costs, they are just low.  We don't actively try to make them low, they just are, because of how we live/are.

So, how low could we get everything IF we HAD to!!!?

westv

No dishwasher?! I'd be losit without ours.

Audaxer

Sea_Shell said:

Just looked up the figures and our annual usage to date is roughly...

Gas - 8000 kwh
Elec - 1500 kwh

2 adults, 1990s 4 bed detached, East Midlands

System Boiler (2021)
Dual fuel oven/hob
No Dishwasher
No Tumble Dryer
No electric shower


So as you can imagine, I'm just as flabbergasted at those who use shed loads more than us, as those who are flabbergasted at us!! 


It seems, like all our other costs, they are just low.  We don't actively try to make them low, they just are, because of how we live/are.

So, how low could we get everything IF we HAD to!!!?

Well done @Sea_Shell, I'm amazed that your electricity usage is so low as just looked at our last monthly bill and it shows our estimated annual usage as:
Gas - 7409 kwh
Elec - 3403 kwh

2 adults and one dog, 1990s 3 bed semi

Combi boiler - 2015
We have two Ninja Foodies for cooking, so hardly ever need to use the oven now.
No dishwasher
No tumble dryer. We do have a heated airer which has been needed in last few days.
We do have an electric shower

I have been quite pleased as our Direct Debit has actually been reduced last month, due to our usage combined with an increasing credit balance, helped by two monthly £66 credits now having been received. 

Daffodil1234

Interesting comments on gas / elec usage, this does vary so much.

We had smart meters installed earlier this year, which led to a decrease in the monthly direct debit.  Our estimated annual usage for 2022 is:
Gas - 3115 kwh
Elec - 2605 kwh

2 adults, 1910 3 bed detached.

Combi boiler - 2014
Elec oven / grill and gas hob, plus gas fire in living room

We do use a dishwasher and also dehumidifiers sometimes when needing help with drying washing.
No tumble dryer.

We do have an electric shower

However we do have a LOT of thick socks, base layers, fleecy throws etc for sitting on the sofa, and some blankets for layers on the bed. I work from home and one of the biggest differences for me is wearing slippers and thick socks - slippers with a thick sole - once my feet are warm, I stay warm !

Sea_Shell

westv said:

No dishwasher?! I'd be losit without ours.

Well, I do have one.  He's about 5'10, 56 yrs old, answers to the name of...

😉


We also use our main electric oven for probably 50% of our main meals.   But no roasts etc.  35 mins max.   Fan assisted, so most stuff can go in from cold as it heats up quickly.

Also our DD bears no resemblance to cost as we're overpaying for Santander cashback 😉.   We've asked for (and had) two refunds as credit has built up.

I know exactly what is should be! 😇


Our water use is low too.  Only about 70m³ a year.

westv

Sea_Shell said:

westv said:

No dishwasher?! I'd be losit without ours.

Well, I do have one.  He's about 5'10, 56 yrs old, answers to the name of...

😉

Hehe! 
I'd no more give up our dishwasher then give up our vacuum or freezer and at 6', washing up manually gives me back ache.