Best ways of cutting energy usage?? Last year 63,000 Kwh Gas and 9,300 electric

Jonesy_40

pochase said:

You are looking at £1100 in average per month at the new predicted SVT. And that does not take into account the second £100 standing charge for gas.

Thanks for that. Yes, clearly I need to find out why our energy use is so high!

Jonesy_40

BUFF said:

very generic advice:
insulate & draughtproof where you can (I realise that you will be restricted by listing)
Make sure that boilers are running at flow/return temps to condense most of the time
hopefully with new boilers you also have a good level of controls -  heat only to reasonable levels (& wear more layers of clothing), don't heat to the same level when you are tucked up in bed (night setback) & don't heat unused rooms to the same level as rooms in use.
Do you have stored hot water? If so, how heated, to what temp & how long for/schedule?

Try to work out what is actually using your electricity - use smart meter or smart plug with energy monitoring (e.g. Tp-link P110) - & with that info act accordingly
make sure that all light bulbs are LED & switched off when not needed
do you have fish tanks, ponds or hot tub/swimming pools as these can all use large amounts of electricity?

Thank you for your advice, that's really helpful.
We have draghtprooved all the windows with bespoke fitted Storm internal secondary glazing, so shouldn't lose too much heat this way. The roof is all well insulated (insulation is on the floor in the attic rather than, which I had read was better (?!)
Boilers were installed in 2018, both Vaillant Eco Tec 838, I don't know how efficient they are. Water heat set to 50 at the moment. Only heat rooms we are in, although I did use the gas fire quite a few evenings last winter (will use the wood burner this winter!).
Radiator heat turned down to 16 at night in winter.
Yes, we do have a stored hot water unit. It is 40 litres. No controls so I think it is on all the time. I will connect one of those plugs you recommended to see how much that is costing us.
Are the TP-Link P110 a good smart plug? I'm definitely going to get some.
Most lights are LED but i'll check, I keep all of them off when not in room.
No fish tanks/ponds/swimming pool etc.

Thanks again for the help. I think I need to really get an expert (?!) to come and have a look to see what we can do.

Ultrasonic

Ultrasonic said:

How big is the house?

^This wasn't a trick question @Jonesy33. I asked as bigger houses will typically need more heating whereas all you told us was that it was Grade II listed. Your usage seems crazy high so trying to get some context...

Robin9

Jonesy_40 said:

Thank you for your advice, that's really helpful.
We have draghtprooved all the windows with bespoke fitted Storm internal secondary glazing, so shouldn't lose too much heat this way. The roof is all well insulated (insulation is on the floor in the attic rather than, which I had read was better (?!)
Boilers were installed in 2018, both Vaillant Eco Tec 838, I don't know how efficient they are. Water heat set to 50 at the moment. Only heat rooms we are in, although I did use the gas fire quite a few evenings last winter (will use the wood burner this winter!).
Radiator heat turned down to 16 at night in winter.
Yes, we do have a stored hot water unit. It is 40 litres. No controls so I think it is on all the time. I will connect one of those plugs you recommended to see how much that is costing us.
Are the TP-Link P110 a good smart plug? I'm definitely going to get some.
Most lights are LED but i'll check, I keep all of them off when not in room.
No fish tanks/ponds/swimming pool etc.

Thanks again for the help. I think I need to really get an expert (?!) to come and have a look to see what we can do.

I think the root cause of your gas are those words Grade 2 - it implies solid walls and draughts to me

Switch that heating off at night and that stored hot water off and see if you miss it

You've just had 2 or 3 months with no heating on - what has been your gas consumption (in kWhs not £) ?  (hopefully you've got meter readings and not estimates)

No to the expert -(Has been , under pressure) -  just detective work

BUFF

r Jonesy_40 said:

BUFF said:

very generic advice:
insulate & draughtproof where you can (I realise that you will be restricted by listing)
Make sure that boilers are running at flow/return temps to condense most of the time
hopefully with new boilers you also have a good level of controls -  heat only to reasonable levels (& wear more layers of clothing), don't heat to the same level when you are tucked up in bed (night setback) & don't heat unused rooms to the same level as rooms in use.
Do you have stored hot water? If so, how heated, to what temp & how long for/schedule?

Try to work out what is actually using your electricity - use smart meter or smart plug with energy monitoring (e.g. Tp-link P110) - & with that info act accordingly
make sure that all light bulbs are LED & switched off when not needed
do you have fish tanks, ponds or hot tub/swimming pools as these can all use large amounts of electricity?

Thank you for your advice, that's really helpful.
We have draghtprooved all the windows with bespoke fitted Storm internal secondary glazing, so shouldn't lose too much heat this way. The roof is all well insulated (insulation is on the floor in the attic rather than, which I had read was better (?!)
Boilers were installed in 2018, both Vaillant Eco Tec 838, I don't know how efficient they are. Water heat set to 50 at the moment. Only heat rooms we are in, although I did use the gas fire quite a few evenings last winter (will use the wood burner this winter!).
Radiator heat turned down to 16 at night in winter.
Yes, we do have a stored hot water unit. It is 40 litres. No controls so I think it is on all the time. I will connect one of those plugs you recommended to see how much that is costing us.
Are the TP-Link P110 a good smart plug? I'm definitely going to get some.
Most lights are LED but i'll check, I keep all of them off when not in room.
No fish tanks/ponds/swimming pool etc.

Thanks again for the help. I think I need to really get an expert (?!) to come and have a look to see what we can do.

Your boilers should be good for upto 94% efficiency depending upon how they are used. Combis are not as efficient for hot water supply as central heating supply. The water set to 50C is that the dhw? What is the flow temperature for the ch?
As per Ultrasonic's question, if you have 2 boilers presumably it's a large house - does one heat one floor & the other a different floor or how configured?

Can you say what kind of stored hot water unit you have, how heated & to what temp? If it is on all the time there is an obvious place to start.

For ~£10 each I doubt that you will find a better smart plug with energy monitoring than the P110.

Ectophile

Yes, we do have a stored hot water unit. It is 40 litres. No controls so I think it is on all the time. I will connect one of those plugs you recommended to see how much that is costing us.

Am I understanding that right?  You have two gas boilers, but use electricity to heat your hot water?

Evan3020

There is 25 kwh of electricity being used every day, check everything that is plugged in room by room and keep checking your meters several times a day.

Mstty

Sounds like an immersion is being left on one or more hot water cylinders unless you run a business from home with a lot of desktop machines with monitors etc?

The advice.given so far is good. Start by turning everything off and see if you are still burning lots of gas and electricity.

Jonesy_40

Ultrasonic said:

Ultrasonic said:

How big is the house?

^This wasn't a trick question @Jonesy33. I asked as bigger houses will typically need more heating whereas all you told us was that it was Grade II listed. Your usage seems crazy high so trying to get some context...

Hi Ultrasonic. Thanks for your reply. Yes, it is a large house. 5 bedrooms, 3 used. 3 living rooms downstairs, two used and heated when in. One radiator per room. No room especially big though. 7 radiators downstairs, 8 upstairs (3 additional ones on the landing).

Jonesy_40

Ectophile said:

Yes, we do have a stored hot water unit. It is 40 litres. No controls so I think it is on all the time. I will connect one of those plugs you recommended to see how much that is costing us.

Am I understanding that right?  You have two gas boilers, but use electricity to heat your hot water?

Yes. This was the setup when we moved in in 2020. Something about water pressure and the piping system. The house needed an additional small 40litre water tank to provide hot water to the kitchen, I think. I'm going to switch it off and see what happens!