Crazy Energy Bill

smartn2

Haven't seen it mentioned anywhere but one of the biggest uses of Electric in my household was the old tumble dryer. I've replaced that with a heat pump tumble dryer and the savings are significant. How many loads of washing do you do a week and is it tumble dryed or hung out on a line? Also the electric oven and hob in our house use a lot of electric. 

QrizB

Happy_Sloth said:

QrizB said:

Your bill and tariff looks like EDF, which means you're probably only being billed every 6 months or so.

As someone else asked, could you read your meters today and tell us the readings? We can see how much you've used since September.

Yes it's EDF

Ok todays Readings...

• Electric 34572 KWH  -- ( +2,853 since last reading,110 days,25 KWH per day so about the same)  

• Gas 11575 -- (+ 1,036 since last reading, they do some calc on it... i think that means about 11,683 KWH)

So that's looking like.. so far this period 

2,853 x 21p = £599 electric  (£5.40p per day, £162 per month)
11,683 x 4p = £467.32 gas  (£4.24p per day, £127 per month)

So yeah my £300 ish per month during the winter doens't seem to far off.

... and your gas is around 100kWh/day, roughly 3x mine

Considering how little of your house you're heating I'm amazed by how much gas you're using. What is your thermostat set to, and where in the house is it?

Happy_Sloth

QrizB said:

Happy_Sloth said:

QrizB said:

Your bill and tariff looks like EDF, which means you're probably only being billed every 6 months or so.

As someone else asked, could you read your meters today and tell us the readings? We can see how much you've used since September.

Yes it's EDF

Ok todays Readings...

• Electric 34572 KWH  -- ( +2,853 since last reading,110 days,25 KWH per day so about the same)  

• Gas 11575 -- (+ 1,036 since last reading, they do some calc on it... i think that means about 11,683 KWH)

So that's looking like.. so far this period 

2,853 x 21p = £599 electric  (£5.40p per day, £162 per month)
11,683 x 4p = £467.32 gas  (£4.24p per day, £127 per month)

So yeah my £300 ish per month during the winter doens't seem to far off.

... and your gas is around 100kWh/day, roughly 3x mine

Considering how little of your house you're heating I'm amazed by how much gas you're using. What is your thermostat set to, and where in the house is it?

Good question... no idea! 

I'm not sure we have a house thermostat. there used to be one in the hall, but it was removed when the electrics where done. 

The boiler now connects to a Honeywell controller and we turn radiators on and off individually via the knob on the side or via the honey well smart hub. 

My understanding is that the Honeywell sends a message directly to the boiler when a radiator needs hot water and it gets heated. 


 

Happy_Sloth

smartn2 said:

Haven't seen it mentioned anywhere but one of the biggest uses of Electric in my household was the old tumble dryer. I've replaced that with a heat pump tumble dryer and the savings are significant. How many loads of washing do you do a week and is it tumble dryed or hung out on a line? Also the electric oven and hob in our house use a lot of electric. 

We do have a washer/dryer but rarely use the dry function.  in the summer we hang clothes on the line, in the winter we stick it on the radiators we are using.  

Happy_Sloth

Gerry1 said:

Happy_Sloth said:

molerat said:

Electric shower ?

Electric cooking range ?

Fish tank / vivarium ?

Electric Shower,  Electric Oven, Gas Hob,  no fish tanks etc. 

Two BIG suspects...

we don't use the oven every day, it's used about 3-4 times a week. 

The shower is a good shout, based on this https://www.sust-it.net/electric-showers.php .

1 shower a day = about £8.70 per month  (Assuming 10 minutes for each shower) 

what is confusing me is that while our house is bigger.. hence i expect bigger heating bills ie GAS usage compared to a normal family.  we are still just 3 people so i wouldn't imagine we have more things plugged in. I assume most people get showers, cook with their oven etc. 

The only thing i know we do differently, is the computer usage, i imagine most families don't have 3 gaming PC's and the additional freezers.  i just think it's staggering that those things mean we use 3x more electric. 

QrizB

Happy_Sloth said:

QrizB said:

... and your gas is around 100kWh/day, roughly 3x mine

Considering how little of your house you're heating I'm amazed by how much gas you're using. What is your thermostat set to, and where in the house is it?

Good question... no idea! 
I'm not sure we have a house thermostat. there used to be one in the hall, but it was removed when the electrics where done. 
The boiler now connects to a Honeywell controller and we turn radiators on and off individually via the knob on the side or via the honey well smart hub. 
My understanding is that the Honeywell sends a message directly to the boiler when a radiator needs hot water and it gets heated. 

Yes, but how does the controller know when a radiator needs hot water? Do you have smart TRVs?

Can you give the model number of the Honeywell controller?

If you don't have a thermostat the boiler might be running all the time that it's turned on, which could be costing you serious money. But it's possible the controller is smarter than that.

Gerry1

Happy_Sloth said:

Gerry1 said:

Happy_Sloth said:

molerat said:

Electric shower ?

Electric cooking range ?

Fish tank / vivarium ?

Electric Shower,  Electric Oven, Gas Hob,  no fish tanks etc. 

Two BIG suspects...

1 shower a day = about £8.70 per month  (Assuming 10 minutes for each shower)

3 people, 3 showers a day = about £312 per year  (Assuming 10 minutes per person for each shower)

Wasting about £250 per year compared to using gas, probably far more when the new price cap kicks in.  Don't be an April fool !

Happy_Sloth

QrizB said:

Happy_Sloth said:

QrizB said:

... and your gas is around 100kWh/day, roughly 3x mine

Considering how little of your house you're heating I'm amazed by how much gas you're using. What is your thermostat set to, and where in the house is it?

Good question... no idea! 
I'm not sure we have a house thermostat. there used to be one in the hall, but it was removed when the electrics where done. 
The boiler now connects to a Honeywell controller and we turn radiators on and off individually via the knob on the side or via the honey well smart hub. 
My understanding is that the Honeywell sends a message directly to the boiler when a radiator needs hot water and it gets heated. 

Yes, but how does the controller know when a radiator needs hot water? Do you have smart TRVs?

Can you give the model number of the Honeywell controller?

If you don't have a thermostat the boiler might be running all the time that it's turned on, which could be costing you serious money. But it's possible the controller is smarter than that.

Yes we have the evo home system with TRV's.  Links below to the ones we have. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Honeywell-Home-THR99C3110-Wireless-Thermostat/dp/B01M63VB18/ref=sr_1_10?crid=1IK0HSUYH16UZ&keywords=honeywell+wireless+thermostat&qid=1641844530&sprefix=honeywell,aps,303&sr=8-10&th=1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Evohome-HR924UK-Wireless-Radiator-Multi/dp/B01L4P4YKQ/ref=sr_1_4?crid=YV0KA4HZ3VP0&keywords=honeywell+evohome&qid=1641846318&sprefix=honeywell+evo,aps,93&sr=8-4&th=1

if you turn off all the TRV's the boiler goes to sleep,  if you turn one on, you suddenly hear the boiler fire up.  So i think it's supposed to be pretty smart. 

We keep all the rooms set to 5 degree's...  except for

• The hall (3 radiators) which is set to 18.

• My sons room is set 18, but he can manually turn it up when he needs it, but he's in there 24/7 with the pandemic. 

• The main living room is set to 18 between 8am and 10pm and likewise turns it up when he needs it. 

All other radiators are switched on, manually on demand.  I've also checked the immersion (as we do still have one) thats also turned off. 

I'm wondering if it's the sheer size of the hall radiators that's sucking all the gas? there are 3 radiators in that room, 3 are huge 10ft cast iron things! we've tried turning them off but it seems in our house if the hall goes cold the whole house is really hard to heat. it's like if the core is warm then no-where is massively cold.   

Happy_Sloth

Gerry1 said:

3 people, 3 showers a day = about £312 per year  (Assuming 10 minutes per person for each shower)

Wasting about £250 per year compared to using gas, probably far more when the new price cap kicks in.  Don't be an April fool !

Yes but there was no option for a gas powered shower, we have old pipes terrible pressure the plumber told us it was the best option for us.  

I imagine having a shower is fairly normal, surely it can't be the reason we spend so much. 

QrizB

Happy_Sloth said:

QrizB said:

Happy_Sloth said:

QrizB said:

... and your gas is around 100kWh/day, roughly 3x mine

Considering how little of your house you're heating I'm amazed by how much gas you're using. What is your thermostat set to, and where in the house is it?

Good question... no idea! 
I'm not sure we have a house thermostat. there used to be one in the hall, but it was removed when the electrics where done. 
The boiler now connects to a Honeywell controller and we turn radiators on and off individually via the knob on the side or via the honey well smart hub. 
My understanding is that the Honeywell sends a message directly to the boiler when a radiator needs hot water and it gets heated. 

Yes, but how does the controller know when a radiator needs hot water? Do you have smart TRVs?

Can you give the model number of the Honeywell controller?

If you don't have a thermostat the boiler might be running all the time that it's turned on, which could be costing you serious money. But it's possible the controller is smarter than that.

Yes we have the evo home system with TRV's.  Links below to the ones we have. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Honeywell-Home-THR99C3110-Wireless-Thermostat/dp/B01M63VB18/ref=sr_1_10?crid=1IK0HSUYH16UZ&keywords=honeywell+wireless+thermostat&qid=1641844530&sprefix=honeywell,aps,303&sr=8-10&th=1

OK, that counts as "smarter than that"   I wouldn't dream of suggesting better ways of operating that system!

Happy_Sloth said:

I'm wondering if it's the sheer size of the hall radiators that's sucking all the gas? there are 3 radiators in that room, 3 are huge 10ft cast iron things! we've tried turning them off but it seems in our house if the hall goes cold the whole house is really hard to heat. it's like if the core is warm then no-where is massively cold.   

Not just the size of the radiators, but of the hall they're in? It must be a big space if it has 30 feet of cast-iron radiator in it. And you've said that keeping the hall warm also heats the rest of the house.