Gas and Electricity Usage

matelodave

The only way to take control of your energy consumption is to monitor it regularly. Both your gas and leccy consumption figures look very high when compared to the "average" which is about 3500kwh/yaer for leccy and 12500kwh for gas. Obviously we are all different and an average is just that, but yours is way over. (we are all electric - heating as well and only use 7000kwh in a year)

However you don't know what is using it all or when it's being used if you don't check your meter readings regularly and make sure that your bills and statements are actually using accurate readings.Ideally you should read your meters and check your bills every month and get any bills corrected if they are based on estimates. 

Many suppliers are still using estimated readings, even though customers have got smart meters so you need to check that your bills are using actual readings (usually with an A next to the reading), C means that the customer has sent in a reading and E means they have had a guess.

Do as MWT suggests and make sure that your gas bills are based on the actual meter units and readings (cubic metres or cubic feet) as it makes a big difference if the bills are using the wrong conversion factor and get into the habit of checking and sending in readings every month.

There's a lot you can do to reduce your consumption but you need to know whats using it and when rather than waiting for a bill to come in

Talldave

For energy monitors - I like the Geo Minim+.

Switching - you'll probably be better off with separate suppliers.  Check out Ebico's limited 12 Summer Saver offer for gas.  Cheapest for electricity will probably be Symbio or Neon Reef.  Warning Symbio are incompetent but cheap.

I'm struggling to think where all your electricity is going - some of it could be a lot of halogen lights, but also maybe an old fridge or freezer on its last legs with its compressor running 24/7?  It can't be an immersion because you don't have a hot tank. Any electric underfloor heating anywhere??  Once you have an energy monitor, you can do some serious detective work.

Emma137

The boiler was replaced just before we bought the house with a Worcester combo boiler. The gas meter had m3 on the front but I can’t see anything on our bills to check it’s measured correctly. 

I have nearly always sent meter readings every month, it’s rare for them to do an estimated one. 

Talldave

For a m3 meter your bill should show a kWh figure about 11 times the number of m3 used.

Emma137

We do have underfloor heating in the kitchen. The fridge freezers are quite new. I’ll look into a monitor later

Talldave

Emma137 said:

We do have underfloor heating in the kitchen. The fridge freezers are quite new. I’ll look into a monitor later

Is the kitchen underfloor heating electric (wires under the floor) or gas (water pipes in the floor)?  If it's electric, that'll account for the high consumption.

We're renting a 1930's house that's been extended with a massive kitchen with (gas) underfloor heating.  Our annual gas consumption has come in at 42,000kWh for both heating and hot water.  At the moment we use 50kWh a week for water, but in the height of winter we're getting through 1500kWh a week because of the heating.  Being a rental I can't really do much to modify the system but I do wonder if the boiler is running efficiently, particularly when it's just running the underfloor heating - this winter might be an experiment with flow temperature tweaks on the boiler!

Gerry1

Emma137 said:

Unfortunately I wasnt left with an in home display so can't go round to check and turn things off.

You don't need an expensive shiny toy to go through the house and unplug everything that's not being used !

macman

My money is on electric u/f heating and an array of 50W halogen downlighters in the kitchen and bathroom. A dozen or so of those  left on most of the day will be using maybe 8kWh daily? Swap them all out for 5W LED's, save 90%.
It always amuses me when people stress about the number of phone chargers or yogurt makers they have, but then mention almost as an afterthought the underfloor heating that uses ten times more...
As for the above average gas usage, the next question to ask is: for how many hours per day (during the heating season) is it set to 20C? If it's left on overnight, that's your answer.

MWT

Gerry1 said:

Emma137 said:

Unfortunately I wasnt left with an in home display so can't go round to check and turn things off.

You don't need an expensive shiny toy to go through the house and unplug everything that's not being used !

That is true, and I know you are not a fan of the smart meters Gerry, but when you want to work out how much power an appliance is drawing the IHD is very useful, much easier than staring at the meter and counting light pulses.

Emma137

The downlighters in the kitchen are all 4w led's. I'll check the bathroom later - most of those bulbs have been in since we bought the house so might not be energy efficient. I've just turned off the underfloor heating which is electric.
The heating is never left on overnight. Its usually on for an hour in the morning and every evening aswell as weekends (during the winter). Its sometimes on in the summer if its cold but usually only boosted for an hour. The gas fire is often on in the evenings in winter too.
I've been round and turned off all the radiators that are in rooms that are not used frequently. I've already been round and checked plugs on things a few days ago.