New build house using a lot of energy

AlphaJGamma

Hi all, hoping you can help. I moved into a new build property in West Yorkshire in Aug 2020. This is a five bedroom detached house and has higher ceilings than most new builds so I expected a larger bill than my previous house which was a four bed detached new build in Oct 2013. However the sheer difference between the bills is a little unsettling and I’m wondering if it’s just what I should expect or if I’m correct in thinking something is amiss

Meter readings below. There was an issue where the incorrect meter was referenced for the electric so that’s why the readings look odd but it’s the gas I’m more concerned about
Electricity:

Date	Reading	Consumption
04/03/2021	04427	212 kWh
22/02/2021	04215	788 kWh
12/01/2021	03427	186 kWh
31/12/2020	03241 (estimated)	1800 kWh
13/08/2020	01441	0 kWh
12/08/2020	00175	0 kWh
11/08/2020	00175 (estimated)	0 kWh

Gas:

Date	Reading	Consumption
04/03/2021	01269	763 kWh
22/02/2021	01202	4111 kWh
12/01/2021	00842	7624 kWh
09/10/2020	00171	1766 kWh
11/08/2020	00016 (estimated)	0 kWh

Gerry1

Nothing remotely wrong with those gas figures considering it's a large house in a cold winter.

Robin9

Agree with Gerry - 1250 m3 in 7 months, after a cold winter - you are heading for 1700/1800 m3 and that's 20,000 kWh @3p thats £600

milgo

Don't forget, even if you are using the same amount of gas and electricity now as you were in the old house the costs per kWh have probably increased so would be costing you more. 

Cardew

5 bed detached new build houses these days say little about the size of the property. Many are smaller than the 3 bed detached of yesteryear!

Not only size, but number of occupants, determine consumption. You can have the best insulation available but if, say, 6 people are having baths/long showers evey day you will use a lot of gas heating water.

AlphaJGamma

Thanks all. It’s only two people and a dog in the house, not many baths ran and heating generally on the cooler side (18/19). I’m going to put this down to coronavirus keeping us inside more than previous along with the size of the property compared to previous but neighbours in similar size properties seem to be using around 15% less gas though their use of their houses could be different (i.e. we use the ground floor office and some don’t) 

macman

You haven't actually confirmed how the property is heated and hot watered, but it is assumed that this is mains gas with a wet CH and hot water system?

MWT

Just to add some weight to what has already been said, we are in a 5 bed detached house, room sizes larger than most new-builds, traditional construction (1980's). Cavity wall insulation, recent double glazing (A rated) so reasonably comparable to your home I'd hope...

You averaged around 68kWh a day since you moved in, we were at 65kWh per day for the same period.

Reed_Richards

I think a 15% difference with your neighbours can easily be accounted for by different patterns of usage.  So you and your neighbours are all in the same boat.  It's sad that a new build property does not appear to be better insulated than an older one; what did the sales documentation say?  

MWT

Thermostat settings alone can easily account for a 15% variation.

fred246

We live in a similar size house and use 30,000kwh per year. I never really thought of high ceilings using more but it makes sense. Ours was new and the high ceilings in the show house gave it a very grand feeling. Later on a different developer came along and built normal height houses. It looks funny the step between tall and normal houses. The show house was very average. What amazed the residents was that when they came to sell the normal height ones sellers tried to charge the same and managed it. Buyers just say same road, 5 bedroom detached. So the tall ceilings don't really seem to add value to the house.