Domestic Electricity Use 8000-10,000kWh pa

Dogbyte009

MoreApples said:

We've done LED change over and showers aren't too long - but the showers don't account for using so much electricity, do they? It's standard electric showers not power showers.

It's the heating side of an electric shower that eats energy. A power shower using water heated by your gas boiler would be more efficient.

Useful comparison here: Confused About Energy :: Shower or Power Shower

Merlin139

Do you have a hot water tank? If so is the water heater by a Gas boiler or does it have an emersion switch which is set on a timer?

The electric blankets that you use for 9 months of the year. How old are they and what is there power Watt wise? Are they on all night or just for an hour to warm the bed. 

New ones I've just looked at are 140 W so 10 hours of use would be 1.4 kW

How long are the convection heaters on for and again what are the device wattages?

I would look at all of the Wattages of all your devices and try to work out how many kW each item uses based on how long they are used per 24hr period.

Enter the details on a spreadsheet. 

MoreApples

Alnat1 said:

You say you checked appliances, how long did you check for? I used a plug-in energy monitor on our 14 year old American FF for 48 hours and it was using 2.4kWh per day, it was quickly replaced with something much more efficient. It switches up and down in use so hard to check over a short time.

Yes, I had hoped that would be the culprit - it's >10 years old and the central partition between the fridge and the freezer can feel noticeably hot. But it used at most 2kWh in over 48 hrs. I'll try it again though, in case I missed a moment of madness from it.

TheGardener

MoreApples said:

...showers aren't too long - but the showers don't account for using so much electricity, do they? It's standard electric showers not power showers..

I have a 'normal' shower (not a power shower) but I have discovered mine is a 10.5KW shower (there was a label on the underside of the shower that told me this) so according to a fairly accurate calculator, that will cost me nearly a £1 for a 10 min shower when the price goes up in the autumn.
Never underestimate the horrendous amount of power used by even a couple of halogen downlighters - they are horrific - double-check cooker hood bulbs and all downlights. 
Fish tanks are another surprisingly big drain I believe.
Are you still on a commercial supply for the old greenhouses? I think I'd be checking that out as thoroughly as possible - Are water pumps for the old greenhouses ticking away somewhere? 

I know most of the above is obvious, I don't mean to sound like you are dim and haven't checked the obvious or anything but I was caught out by my shower! - I had no idea it was such a high wattage. 
 

MoreApples

Merlin139 said:

Do you have a hot water tank? If so is the water heater by a Gas boiler or does it have an emersion switch which is set on a timer?

The electric blankets that you use for 9 months of the year. How old are they and what is there power Watt wise? Are they on all night or just for an hour to warm the bed. 

New ones I've just looked at are 140 W so 10 hours of use would be 1.4 kW

How long are the convection heaters on for and again what are the device wattages?

I would look at all of the Wattages of all your devices and try to work out how many kW each item uses based on how long they are used per 24hr period.

Enter the details on a spreadsheet. 

There's no hot water tank. We've even looked for an old hidden one.

The electric blankets are not old but on overnight for 2 of us but designed for this. 

The convection heaters are on for 30 min at most with two in use in bedrooms. The extra heating in the kitchen is the infrared heater which used a third of the amount a convection heater uses. The convention heater in the kitchen is used for maybe 1 hr a day in winter. I'm looking at getting a wet system underfloor heating system in the dining area of the kitchen which might reduce this use. (no need to comment on the practicalities of that - via strange quirks of the house, it's quite possible). Hopefully the insulation installed this May will reduce our demand for supplementary heat. We've not had the heating on since then to see its full gain.

I've been round the devices with the plug-in meter and nothing seemed excessive or stood out.

MoreApples

TheGardener said:

MoreApples said:

...showers aren't too long - but the showers don't account for using so much electricity, do they? It's standard electric showers not power showers..

I have a 'normal' shower (not a power shower) but I have discovered mine is a 10.5KW shower (there was a label on the underside of the shower that told me this) so according to a fairly accurate calculator, that will cost me nearly a £1 for a 10 min shower when the price goes up in the autumn.
Never underestimate the horrendous amount of power used by even a couple of halogen downlighters - they are horrific - double-check cooker hood bulbs and all downlights. 
Fish tanks are another surprisingly big drain I believe.
Are you still on a commercial supply for the old greenhouses? I think I'd be checking that out as thoroughly as possible - Are water pumps for the old greenhouses ticking away somewhere? 

I know most of the above is obvious, I don't mean to sound like you are dim and haven't checked the obvious or anything but I was caught out by my shower! - I had no idea it was such a high wattage. 
 

No fish. Two cats (source of heat!). I'll check what the showers are. They don't feel super powerful. We did a final mop-up of any halogens over the winter last year. I'll check the cooker hood but one cooker build used a few times a week can't be the whole source.

I don't think we have ever been on a commercial supply. 

We have looked for something like a water pump but there is nothing to see above ground. If there is, it can't be continuous because when everything was turned off, the meter did stop revolving.

Merlin139

Appreciate that you say you have been round and checked things but if you are looking for an answer as to why you are using too much Electricity your answer will be either:

1. Something unexplained you know nothing about.

2. A combination of all the devices/ electrical items in your house which add up to the amount you are using.

If its 2 then the only way you will get to the bottom of it is to spend time trying to work out what every device is using and enter the information onto a spreadsheet. That would give you a clearer picture.

Google the words Energy Consumption Spreadsheet and you will find something that you can use.  (Designed for USA) Or create your own. 

I hope you get an answer quickly.

MWT

MoreApples said:

I'll check what the showers are. They don't feel super powerful.

The issue with the showers isn't the 'power' it is the use of electricity to instantly heat the water, that is what makes them so horribly expensive to run.

Given what you've described, I'm not actually finding your use particularly surprising...

If you are using electric showers several times a day, using electric heating on top of gas heating daily during the winter and electric blankets for 9 months of the year then your use feels perfectly believable...

MoreApples

MWT said:

MoreApples said:

I'll check what the showers are. They don't feel super powerful.

The issue with the showers isn't the 'power' it is the use of electricity to instantly heat the water, that is what makes them so horribly expensive to run.

Given what you've described, I'm not actually finding your use particularly surprising...

If you are using electric showers several times a day, using electric heating on top of gas heating daily during the winter and electric blankets for 9 months of the year then your use feels perfectly believable...

Showers are 1-3 in total per day not per person.

It might be the additional heating, though we try to minimise it. Not sure if the electric blanket use will change much - without it there are two of us who wake up cold.

This is part of the dilemma - what is normal use? Figures are very hard to find.

xeny

MoreApples said:

MWT said:

MoreApples said:

I'll check what the showers are. They don't feel super powerful.

The issue with the showers isn't the 'power' it is the use of electricity to instantly heat the water, that is what makes them so horribly expensive to run.

Given what you've described, I'm not actually finding your use particularly surprising...

If you are using electric showers several times a day, using electric heating on top of gas heating daily during the winter and electric blankets for 9 months of the year then your use feels perfectly believable...

Showers are 1-3 in total per day not per person.

It might be the additional heating, though we try to minimise it. Not sure if the electric blanket use will change much - without it there are two of us who wake up cold.

This is part of the dilemma - what is normal use? Figures are very hard to find.

Epically high tog down duvets may be worth considering. Essentially anything that generates heat is an energy hog, and if electric blankets are on for 3/4 of the year for most of the night that will add up. Is it worth considering extra loft insulation above those rooms, or if they are large enough retrofit internal insulation to those room's exterior walls? Prices are high enough that even a significant amount of capital expenditure could have a pretty quick payback period.