Using over 28000kwh a year, how to reduce and energy cost anxiety

BoyMumItalia

Hi all,
I apologise in advance, will try to keep this short. I have read everything about tips to reduce gas use but can anyone tell me what I am missing.
We live in a 3 bed detached bungalow, one sitting room and one one sunroom/conservatory. Its part of the house and not external. Anyway we move here in 2019 mid year. In 2020 we used 24,621 kwh of gas and 4116 of electricity, in 2021 we used 24,489 gas and electricity 3500 ish. We are two adults and two kids both under 5 with the occasional visitors. I am not really sure where all this gas is going because it says average UK usage is 12000. We are using well over 2x!!! This winter I was trying to be very frugal turning heating ,lights off etc and not sure if its made a difference. We have gas heating also and a hot water tank on a timer. Any idea that I may not have considered please.
So far as at today we have used 9755kwh of gas. My goal is to keep this years usage to 15000kwh thereabouts . is that a pipe dream

Thank you!

k_man

A few starter questions to get a picture:

Are those actual readings, or estimates?

What temperature is your heating set to, and how long is it in for?

How long is the hot water in for, and is your tank warm or hot to the touch (I e. is it well insulated)
Hot water usage, e.g lots of baths, daily showers etc?

Albeit water heating is not likely to be the big cause of energy usage, not if 25000kWh is the actual usage.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

first question, is your meter metric, m3 or imperial cubic feet, Ft3, can make a difference of nearly 3x?

FreeBear

Is there an exterior grade door between the conservatory and the rest of the house ?

Is there a radiator or electric heater out there ?

No door - Get one fitted so that you can shut it off from the rest of the house in the winter.

Radiator/heater - Turn it off when the space isn't being used.

Insulation - Make sure you have at least 200mm up in the loft. 270-300mm is better, and is not expensive to buy. Easy enough for an average person to install too.

Go round and plug any/all draughts, particularly between skirting & floor if you have a suspended wooden floor.

Combi or system boiler ?

If the latter, turn the thermostat on the tank down to 50-55°C and set the programmer to heat a tank about an hour before peak usage times.

Turn the thermostat down in the hallway to 18-19°C and just have the heating on morning & evening. Better still, get a programmable thermostat that allows you to set different temperatures for each time period throughout the day.

Got a tumble dryer ?

Stop using it, and hang the washing up outside to dry.

Lighting - Make sure you have LED bulbs in all fittings.

Robin9

I am confused is the 9755  since Jan 1st  ?

Elec is about average

A few checks please just in case we have a metering issue.  Have a look at the meter and nite its serial number, look for a mark m3 of ft3.  Read the meter - watch out for the decimal point and ignore the figures after the decimal point.   Now look at your last bill -  again serial number, m3 or ft3 -  what is the last meter reading and are the letters A C E S or our read/ our read after the reading.

A phot of the meter would be helpful

Mstty

Just to focus you mind on energy saving for gas

Come October your annual gas bill will be circa £3650 if you are on a price capped tariff.

In the past that much usage may have cost £800-1000 and deemed reasonable and not worth looking into turning things off or down.

Some good ideas above so I won't repeat them just get to know your gas boiler and how you can run it more efficiently.

BoyMumItalia

k_man said:

A few starter questions to get a picture:

Are those actual readings, or estimates?

What temperature is your heating set to, and how long is it in for?

How long is the hot water in for, and is your tank warm or hot to the touch (I e. is it well insulated)
Hot water usage, e.g lots of baths, daily showers etc?

Albeit water heating is not likely to be the big cause of energy usage, not if 25000kWh is the actual usage.

We have a smart heater so its actual readings. The one time i saw E on my bill, I messaged and had it corrected but it wasn't a lot of money just £3 or so. Our heating is usually set to 20ish. Hot water tank is brand spanking new, installed when we moved in. It's in a cupboard which is usually warm but not going to lie, never really touched the tank itself. I am presumed its well insulated just because it's Worcester. My husband takes 40 minutes showers which I don't know if that can change. I spend a lot of time nagging about that but he says that's the one pleasure of life he should get for working hard. The hot water tank is gas heated though. 1.5 hours in the morning and an hour in the evening. Its a Worcester 216l capacity

k_man

Thanks for the reply.
40 minute showers certainly aren't helping, so there is potential for a bit of saving there.

Heating is the likely culprit. The questions from the other posts should help identify what could be improved, and it is probably a number of areas, each of which help a bit.

BoyMumItalia

Robin9 said:

I am confused is the 9755  since Jan 1st  ?

Elec is about average

A few checks please just in case we have a metering issue.  Have a look at the meter and nite its serial number, look for a mark m3 of ft3.  Read the meter - watch out for the decimal point and ignore the figures after the decimal point.   Now look at your last bill -  again serial number, m3 or ft3 -  what is the last meter reading and are the letters A C E S or our read/ our read after the reading.

A phot of the meter would be helpful

yes that is how much gas we have used since Jan 1st according to the smart meter. I have just looked at my bill ,we are with BG and I can't see any such thing. It just states meter reading then a subtraction then says eg 257 gas units at 39.4 calorific value. We have a relatively good fix that ends next year and I am in constant panic at what will happen when it ends. NO way we can sustain this at the prices now talk less the forecasted increase which is why we are looking at reducing usage, if we can pinpoint the use.

Sorry y'all . I only signed up today, will take me a few tries to learn how to attach pictures. I am technologically challenged.

Alnat1

Do you have TRVs on your radiators so you can adjust the temperature for each room? IF not, get them fitted, if so keep bedrooms cooler and the doors closed. Keep the main living room warmest and again, try and keep doors between rooms closed

Draw all curtains at dusk and if the curtains are thin, get linings. 

Find out where the draughts are and try to block them. Old style sausage shaped draught excluders work well at the bottom of doors, a rolled up old bathmat and a couple of elastic bands is just as good.

Try cutting down the length of time you heat hot water for, will the kids share a shower/bath?

BoyMumItalia

This is picture of the electric meter but honestly that is as far as I go. I have a massive fear of electric wiring or anything electric with big cables like that so I just trust the smart meter reading and have never compared it for estimates.