Monthly Electric bill....

TheGMan

Hi All,

Am just trying to gauge what the average electric bill is these days to see if we're somehow using too much. Our electric seems to be around the £60 a month mark (use about 380 kWh a month) got one of those 'owl' energy meters. Our house is a small three bed townhouse - two adults, no kids. All light bulbs changed to LED several years ago. Central heating, Gas hob/electric oven. We're out at work between 8am and 6pm. Use TV in evening and try not to burn away the electric by lighting tea lights for ambient lighting.

Per the 'Smarter Business website' it states that 2,000 kWh per year is low usage, 3,100 kWh is the norm and 4,600 kWh is high usage. Based on our 380 kWh a month (4560 kWh a year) we're in the high usage bracket but I don't understand as we're out most of the time and wouldn't say we waste electricity.

So, what do you pay for your electric per month?

TIA

Robin9

I use 4200 kwh a month so your usage isn't particularly high.

Get into the habit of reading your meter perhaps daily to see where the consumption is - keep a diary.

I assume your bills are based on ACTUAL readings and not ESTIMATES

RelievedSheff

We pay about £30 a month for our electric (190kwh).

We have two adults in a 3 bed detached house, no children, are out for work 5 days a week 7am until 6pm. Similar to yourself all bulbs are LED, electric oven, gas hob, gas combi boiler, washer dryer used a few times a week, dishwasher used once a week, electric shower which we both use every day, etc.

It does sound like your usage is a little on the high side of what would be expected.

Are you using modern appliances?

We have found that our new Samsung american style fridge freezer uses far less than the 5 year old Hotpoint standard fridge that is has replaced for example.

halogen

My bill has been everything from £60/month to £300/month. Was with Eversmart where it was 11p/KWhr.
not sure what that works out at though. I do puzzle why it is so high. I do have electric storage heaters but i only have them on 5 months of the year. Rest of the house is the normal 3 bed semi set up.

Talldave

For a couple out at work so much you are using a bit more than I'd expect. Family of two adults and one child here, both work from home, large OLED TV on a lot and yet 3550 kWhr per year.

As already alluded to above, old fridges or freezers can quietly gobble large amounts of juice.

Does your meter have a flashing LED? If so, get a Geo Minim+ monitor to monitor what you're using. It's the things that stay on 24/7 that really add up over the year. With a monitor you can trying switching stuff off to work out where the watts are going.

TheGMan

Thanks for the replies

Yep, actual meter readings. Been good over the last three weeks switching stuff off and being extra careful - we've moved to a better tariff with Avro energy from beginning of September as we we're still on last years tariff and paying over the odds. Also, last month (for some unknown reason) our electric bill shot up to £96 (before the switch of tariff)! The dog must've been watching TV all day! Haven't found out what caused that yet and it definitely was kWh usage as I read the meter and we'd used around 600 kWh!!

The trouble with keeping a diary of meter readings is our gas and electric meters are under the stairs and not easily accessible to read them hence the energy meter.

I think you might be on to something there RelievedSheff when you say "modern appliances", our Fridge freezer is probably about 6 years old now and the washer drier - well, that's still going despite being purchased in 2004 thanks to replacement parts from ebay! Oven is probably about 14 years old. Dishwasher is me ;D

I've just been on ebay and got one of those Onzo energy monitors to replace the old Owl energy monitor. The new one is not state of the art but does have a useful 'target' figure which the Owl doesn't have (so you can try and beat the previous days target) I think I need to switch everything off and then switch things on one at a time and see how much energy is being used by each device.

Gerry1

Robin9 wrote: »

I use 4200 kwh a month so your usage isn't particularly high.

50,400 kWh of electricity per year? Shurely shome mistake?

Robin9

Gerry1 wrote: »

50,400 kWh of electricity per year? Shurely shome mistake?

Whoops - correct figure is 4200 kwh a year

matelodave

we use around 7200 a year but we are all electric with electric heating and hot water.

However that said our consumption in the summer months when heating is not in use (but hot water is) works out at around 8kwh a day except on washdays when the washer and dryer are going flat out (approx 5 washing.drying cycles) when it peaks at around 20kwh.

if we discount heating but include hotwater we probably average around 300-350kwh a month (3600-4200 month) - thats two adults at home all day.

Gerry1

matelodave wrote: »

if we discount heating but include hotwater we probably average around 300-350kwh a month (3600-4200 month) - thats two adults at home all day.

43,200 - 50,400 kWh of electricity per year? Shurely shome mistake? Do you share with Robin9?

Carrot007

matelodave wrote: »

we use around 7200 a year but we are all electric with electric heating and hot water.

Which you must admit is VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY 9and a few more) low for an all electric house.


I used around 6900 in my last house which had gas, thoug the electric shower was the downfall.