How much energy does this oft quoted "average household consume"?

PhotoMan

Everywhere you look there are headlines about how much the average household fuel bills will be. However, that is meaningless to me - I know how much electricity and gas I use in every year. But in order to give the projected figures meaning I need to know what figures they are using for kWh of electricity and for gas, consumed in a year. With this figures I could then calculate a conversion factor, to calculate what my costs will be (I hope I have explained this OK). Does anyone know what the consumption rates they use for these figures for an "average household"? I have been unable to find this by Googling.

peter3hg

Gas - 12,000 kWh

Electric - 2,900 kWh

LindsayT

2,900 kWh electric, 12,000 kWh gas. Been mentioned many times on the forum.

PhotoMan

sorry. Thank you

gj373

Ouch my current projections are 5000 for elec and 26000 for gas. There are 5 of us though but still looking for ways to cut energy usage. Does anyone know if there are averages for different household types and sizes documented anywhere so I can see how we compare to other households our size?

Alnat1

There aren't really any averages as each household has different needs and expectations.

If it's becoming a problem, get the family together, have a chat about cost cutting and get them all on board to help. Heating the house/water, cooking and washing/drying are the main culprits for high use so read up on how to save in these areas. 

gj373

Alnat1 said:

There aren't really any averages as each household has different needs and expectations.

If it's becoming a problem, get the family together, have a chat about cost cutting and get them all on board to help. Heating the house/water, cooking and washing/drying are the main culprits for high use so read up on how to save in these areas. 

Thanks currently on a 2 year fix till September next year so have time to get this right/ usage down before the tsunami hits us.

I have an old combi boiler (20 years). Anyone any idea how I could work out of it will be worth replacing? Still works fine

mumf

We are solid fuel and electricity. When I heard that ‘average’ prices by January will be in excess of £4000 per year, I checked ours. It’ll be about £1800 per year. That so- called ‘average’ means that some people must be living in cannabis farms!

peter3hg

gj373 said:

Alnat1 said:

There aren't really any averages as each household has different needs and expectations.

If it's becoming a problem, get the family together, have a chat about cost cutting and get them all on board to help. Heating the house/water, cooking and washing/drying are the main culprits for high use so read up on how to save in these areas. 

Thanks currently on a 2 year fix till September next year so have time to get this right/ usage down before the tsunami hits us.

I have an old combi boiler (20 years). Anyone any idea how I could work out of it will be worth replacing? Still works fine

Do you know the model number?
Is it regularly serviced?

If it is a non-condensing type then the efficiency when new would have been about 75% or lower whereas a new boiler will be 90%+.
What that means in real terms is that you will use something like 20-25% less gas with a newer boiler.
At 20 years old though it might be a condensing type in which case the difference is likely to be less.

peter3hg

mumf said:

We are solid fuel and electricity. When I heard that ‘average’ prices by January will be in excess of £4000 per year, I checked ours. It’ll be about £1800 per year. That so- called ‘average’ means that some people must be living in cannabis farms!

The average figures used are the median figure, not the mean.

They also publish usage figures for a low (lower quartile) and high (upper quartile) user.


Gas:

Low - 8,000 kWh
Average - 12,000 kWh
High - 17,000 kWh


Electricity:

Low - 1,800 kWh
Average - 2,900 kWh
High - 4,300 kWh


Using the January estimates, the low user's energy would cost about £2,850 a year and the high energy user's would cost £6,050 a year.

gj373

peter3hg said:

gj373 said:

Alnat1 said:

There aren't really any averages as each household has different needs and expectations.

If it's becoming a problem, get the family together, have a chat about cost cutting and get them all on board to help. Heating the house/water, cooking and washing/drying are the main culprits for high use so read up on how to save in these areas. 

Thanks currently on a 2 year fix till September next year so have time to get this right/ usage down before the tsunami hits us.

I have an old combi boiler (20 years). Anyone any idea how I could work out of it will be worth replacing? Still works fine

Do you know the model number?
Is it regularly serviced?

If it is a non-condensing type then the efficiency when new would have been about 75% or lower whereas a new boiler will be 90%+.
What that means in real terms is that you will use something like 20-25% less gas with a newer boiler.
At 20 years old though it might be a condensing type in which case the difference is likely to be less.

It's serviced yearly. It's non condensing. At current gas prices a 25% saving sounds worthwhile. Thanks