Moved from flat to house and my energy bills have tripled?! How can I be using so much more?

Wolff

I'm hoping someone can give me a bit of advice on how I could be using so much more energy having moved from a 2nd floor flat to a 3 bed house in September as my bills have skyrocketed. I lived alone in the flat and live with my friend/lodger in the house.

When I was living in the flat I was paying £33 a month direct debit based on my previous year's usage after switching companies to a better deal. My account was in credit when I moved which I got refunded.

I was expecting to pay a little bit more due to living in a house and having extra rooms to heat but not as much as I have been.

My two bills from Shell since moving have both been over £75 vs. £25 for August in the flat based on actual usage and I can't believe how much more expensive it is. I switched to Shell earlier in the year so I only have full month bills from my flat from June-August and for the new house for October and November.

For the flat, usage was
JUN - Electricity: 124 units, Gas: 4.2 units
JUL - Electricity: 99 units, Gas: 2.5 units
AUG - Electricity: 87 units, Gas: 2.4 units

For the house, usage was
OCT - Electricity: 245 units, Gas: 54 units
NOV - Electricity: 216 units, Gas: 104 units

I realise that I'd be using less gas in the summer since I barely (if at all) had the heating on, but I still don't understand how the difference can be so drastic. Especially for electricity as the usage should be fairly similar.

The flat had gas heating and a gas hob. It had a condenser boiler that heated hot water on command, so I didn't have to have to heat a hat water tank in advance. It had single glazed windows vs double glazed in the house.

The house is gas heating but electric hob, and has a hot water tank that requires heating. It is set on a timer to heat 4 times a day. To my knowledge, the gas isn't used for anything else.

I have the same washing machine and I do not find myself doing any extra loads despite my friend living with me than when I lived by myself. I also have a tumble dryer which I had in the flat. I use it as often as I did then. The only difference is I have a larger fridge-freezer (albeit a newer one so I expect it to be more energy efficient), electric hob instead of gas, and a slim dishwasher which is run approximately one load every two days. All the bulbs are LED. My friend is only working part time and is in the house a lot but mainly only runs his PC. He has a couple of small kitchen appliances (smoothie blender, coffee machine). Apart from that, my usage of electrical items are pretty much exactly as they were.

So what sort of things might account for the electricity usage doubling between June (most expensive month in the flat) and October (in the house)? And can the heating and hot water really account for that much gas usage? And for it to double from October to November? I do tend to put the heating on in the evening now it's cold and leave it on until I go to bed. There's been a few nights I've forgot to switch it off and left it on overnight.

Can anyone offer me any insight on what could be causing the drastic increase and any tips to get these bills down before I go into geek mode and put my data analysis skills to use...

Robin9

For a gas heated house your electrical consumption is absolutely typical - about 3000 kWh a year.

You cannot move from a flat to a house and expect similar utility bills - the house is bigger, more walls, more rooms.

Now are these consumptions based on your ACTUAL rather than ESTIMATED meter readings- are they your meter readings ?

notbritishgas

Did your flat have an imperial gas meter and the house a metric one?

[Deleted User]

Your gas usage is typical of mine ..a couple of units in August, more in October when I m trying to hold out, then November I think I m not going to be cold so on go s the boiler for at least 8 hrs a day..
Electric use has gone up but possibly you have gone from a gas heated shower to an electric shower which uses the most electricity of any appliance in the property 8kw to 12 kw an hour

Cardew

As said above, based on your Oct/Nov figures your consumption looks to be roughly average for a 3 bed semi.

lindens

I'm surprised you need to heat your water 4 times a day. My whole adult life I have only heated hot water twice a day. Maybe reduce it to twice a day and see how you get on. The tank presumably is insulated and will keep it warm for many hours,

RelievedSheff

As above you don't need to heat the water four times a day. Twice should be more than adequate and depending on the tanks insulation you may find you can get away with once.

Other then that your bills look normal.

Gerry1

Wolff wrote: »

For the flat, usage was
JUN - Electricity: 124 units, Gas: 4.2 units
JUL - Electricity: 99 units, Gas: 2.5 units
AUG - Electricity: 87 units, Gas: 2.4 units

For the house, usage was
OCT - Electricity: 245 units, Gas: 54 units
NOV - Electricity: 216 units, Gas: 104 units

Oh dear, it'll always go wrong if you compare cubic apples with inches of sliced pears...

In general, the only way to get meaningful usage and price comparisons is to use annual kWh figures based on actual annual meter readings. NOT estimated readings, NOT monthly DD amounts (which may or may not cover your actual usage and may include repaying arrears), NOT projected amounts. It really isn't difficult.

Obviously it's less straightforward if you've recently moved, but you can still compare actual monthly meter reads. You can convert gas volumes to kWh here.

Houbara wrote: »

Your gas usage is typical of mine ..a couple of units in August, more in October when I m trying to hold out, then November I think I m not going to be cold so on go s the boiler for at least 8 hrs a day..
Electric use has gone up but possibly you have gone from a gas heated shower to an electric shower which uses the most electricity of any appliance in the property 8kw to 12 kw an hour

It's not 8kW an hour or per anything, it's 8kW full stop. Or 8kWh per hour if you really want to think of it that way.

notbritishgas wrote: »

Did your flat have an imperial gas meter and the house a metric one?

It's the other way round, that mistake would make the consumption seem much smaller.

Cardew

Gerry1 wrote: »

Oh dear, it'll always go wrong if you compare cubic apples with inches of sliced pears...

In general, the only way to get meaningful usage and price comparisons is to use annual kWh figures based on actual annual meter readings.
much smaller.

With respect there is no ambiguity in the OP's post, and no confusion in the replies given by other posters.

The OP is comparing like with like.

For electricity they are comparing units with units, and a unit can only be a kWh. It wouldn't matter if the OP thought it was a cubic apple! they have used 124/99/87 cubic apples in the flat and 245/216 cubic apples in the house.

Similarly with gas the OP is comparing like with like.*

The OP hasn't mentioned looking for a better tariff which is when converting m3 to kWh is needed.

* In case anyone wishes to be pedantic, I do appreciate that the kWh value of an m3 can alter a tiny amount - but let's no go there!

McKneff

:Just heat the water when you need it.

As now, if it costs you 25p a time, thats £1 day, £7 a week, £364 a year:eek:

Wolff

Houbara wrote: »

Electric use has gone up but possibly you have gone from a gas heated shower to an electric shower which uses the most electricity of any appliance in the property 8kw to 12 kw an hour

I have a non-electrical shower that uses hot water from the tank.

notbritishgas wrote: »

Did your flat have an imperial gas meter and the house a metric one?

I'm not sure. The one in the flat was the old style meters and the one in the house has smart meters. But the units and what I'm being charged per unit is the same on both the bills for the house and the flat.

Robin9 wrote: »

For a gas heated house your electrical consumption is absolutely typical - about 3000 kWh a year.

You cannot move from a flat to a house and expect similar utility bills - the house is bigger, more walls, more rooms.

Now are these consumptions based on your ACTUAL rather than ESTIMATED meter readings- are they your meter readings ?

They are actual readings from the smart meter. The ones from the flat are manual readings. I did fully expect to pay more but not that much more. Electricity especially I would have expected to be only slightly more. The gas maybe double I guess based purely on heating alone as each floor is equivalent in size to the whole of the flat. Hopefully it'll go down in the summer! I chose one of the best energy deals I found so I'd hate to see what someone who hasn't switched in a while would be paying. 😖

Thanks all for your responses. I guess it's somewhat reassuring my usage seems typical of a 3 bed house.