What energy saving are you aiming for this year?

poppellerant

Slinky said:

I've just compared our gas and electric consumption in May 2022 against May 2021. We've REDUCED our electric consumption by 31%, and our gas by 61% (was May very cold last year?), and our bill is 23.7% higher. Heaven help us all come the winter.

Our anticipated gas usage has gone down from 17700 to 13300 and electricity from 3600 to 2570 across the past year.

I can sympathise with your feelings of despondence, having compared my usage and costs to last year after seeing your post.

Last year, in kWh, my annual usage for gas was around 6900 and electric was around 2850.  This cost me about £60/pcm with Green.

This year, in kWh, my annual usage for gas is around 5400 (~21% less) and electric is around 2500 (~12% less).  This costs me about £115/pcm (~91% more) with EDF.

The above costs are calculated for the actual usage in my spreadsheet, which is very accurate.

I should also add that the comparisons are exactly a year apart to the day and even hour.  This is thanks to my diligence of taking meter readings.

So to say I feel deflated is a bit of understatement right now.  And that's before the dreaded rise in Autumn.

wild666

I'm always looking at ways of cutting down electric and gas usage but I think with turning everything off that's in standby mode except the fridge, freezer and router there isn't a lot I can save. I might get another 1% saving but I would be pushing it to get that as my total usage of electric and gas combined is less than 2800 kWh. If I save another 28 kWh between the two I will consider myself lucky to have made the saving.

I did all the Octopus savings winter workout and using less electric on certain hours of the day and my usage couldn't drop below 1.6 kWh if I tried that would mean no electrical appliances running like the PC or games console.

Alnat1

We all have a different view of what is essential to make life comfortable.

Hubby needs his bedside touch lamp, electric garage door and the cooker on always so the clock is right. All 3 are probably only used for a very short time and maybe once a week. He also thinks the CCTV is needed, grainy pics covered in spiders webs that couldn't identify any intruder.

We could save a few pennies if I battled him on the above but for the sake of harmony I've learned to let it go.

Mstty

Indeed @Alnat1 that's part of the reduction exercise. We went down to hardly nothing then gradually built it up so that it's enjoyable but still saving a lot of money a year.

I love my gadgets we have to have a fairly large WiFi nest system to reach the boundaries on top of our router and then battery powered ring cameras for CCTV. I have had to remove the automated drone going up to picture the whole land area when ring alerts as a cost saving sadly, but as soon as we hear of any local break ins it's going straight back on.

Looking at a way to heat the garage gym cheaply in winter, it has power but it's just choosing the cheapest way is next on the list as well as some off grid power to the man cave/office and shed next door just enough to run a laptop, extra screen, lights etc.

We are still waiting for our survey for solar or a reputable local company, it's good they are swamped I wouldn't want someone that could say come this week as they could end up being cowboys.

Looking at a cheap second hand EV to run the house with when prices come down for all the parts required. Really just planning for when out fixed rate ends April 2024.

Slinky

If I was sitting working on the computer, I'd quite often have the TV on as well to watch/listen. That's not happening now, except in the evening when both of us are in front of the telly but browsing the net.  I've been very strict about washing going on at E7 overnight rates first thing in the morning since Outfox pushed us back onto E7 rates after coming off a single rate fix. I also wash at a lower temperature, and fill the machine with gas heated water via a watering can. I know lots of people think I'm nuts, but I can see it's made a difference.

When I've got some time consuming stuff out of the way, I'll investigate moving to another supplier that will give me single rate. I don't want a new meter installing. The previous owner had E7 for reasons it's hard to fathom, particularly since the meters were transposed, he was using a lot at night (probably the immersion heater in the summer), but was paying day rates for night usage. A right mess I had to sort out, but given the energy prices now, I dearly wish I hadn't!

MattMattMattUK

The only ways I could make any noticeable reductions in energy usage would be significant lifestyle impacts and I do not need to do them, so I will not. I already have energy efficient bulbs, modern efficient tech, take short cool showers, rarely use the heating even in winter etc.

I could turn off all my smart devices, read rather than watch TV or play video games, live in darkness during the winter and stop washing, but those are not compromises I am willing to make. 

Mstty

poppellerant said:

Slinky said:

I've just compared our gas and electric consumption in May 2022 against May 2021. We've REDUCED our electric consumption by 31%, and our gas by 61% (was May very cold last year?), and our bill is 23.7% higher. Heaven help us all come the winter.

Our anticipated gas usage has gone down from 17700 to 13300 and electricity from 3600 to 2570 across the past year.

I can sympathise with your feelings of despondence, having compared my usage and costs to last year after seeing your post.

Last year, in kWh, my annual usage for gas was around 6900 and electric was around 2850.  This cost me about £60/pcm with Green.

This year, in kWh, my annual usage for gas is around 5400 (~21% less) and electric is around 2500 (~12% less).  This costs me about £115/pcm (~91% more) with EDF.

The above costs are calculated for the actual usage in my spreadsheet, which is very accurate.

I should also add that the comparisons are exactly a year apart to the day and even hour.  This is thanks to my diligence of taking meter readings.

So to say I feel deflated is a bit of understatement right now.  And that's before the dreaded rise in Autumn.

At least you know what coming, have the knowledge....I fear despite all the media coverage 60% still don't know what a kWh and the effect the price has on their energy use. Come the end of October when those first bills drop......🤔

peter_the_piper

We'll be reducing as much lecci usage as we can including buying an Air Fryer to use instead of the Big Neff. As there are only two of us now we don't need a big oven as much.

Mstty

peter_the_piper said:

We'll be reducing as much lecci usage as we can including buying an Air Fryer to use instead of the Big Neff. As there are only two of us now we don't need a big oven as much.

I recommend the air fryer we just purchased a tower 2.2l 1000w model for £31 and it comes with a 3 year warranty. From.our calculations so far it pays for itself in 90 uses which with the warranty makes sense to us👍

harrys_nan

peter_the_piper said:

We'll be reducing as much lecci usage as we can including buying an Air Fryer to use instead of the Big Neff. As there are only two of us now we don't need a big oven as much.

And us, between the microwave and the air fryer, hopefully, that will make a difference.