Oct price cap increase likely to push energy bill to over £10k... for a family of 4...

Robin9

Re your son -  your should be able to determine a normal consumption when he's at work - you just need a day when he's not at home !

I presume he's paying a good whack for his board and lodging. When I started work but lived at home the going rate was 25%

MariaAH

Alnat1 said:

When is the heating on? Months of the year/times of day/night?
What temperature is it set to day/night?
Do your radiators have TRVs and do you use them correctly, or are internal doors usually open so heat moves around rooms?
Do you cook 1 family meal a day or does everyone cook separately when they want something?
How many showers/baths a day on average? Are the showers long or short?

Heating is used from approx late autumn to early spring - thermostat is set so it does not come on if not cold enough. 3 of us work from home approx 3 days a week each so heating is used during the day during winter. We have in the past set it to 21 but plan to put that down to 19 in the autumn/winter when we start to use it. 
We have TRVs, but possible could open internal doors more.
The 'everyone cook separately' has become a bit of an issue - kids are 22 and 19 and don't eat at 'usual' mealtimes.
4 of us showering daily, sometimes hubby/daughter has a 2nd shower after sport activity. Suspect length of shower IS an issue and have ordered shower timers!
Still find it hard to stomach that our usage is approx £5880 atm before the price cap increase...

MariaAH

Robin9 said:

Re your son -  your should be able to determine a normal consumption when he's at work - you just need a day when he's not at home !

I presume he's paying a good whack for his board and lodging. When I started work but lived at home the going rate was 25%

We are very generous with regards board and lodging as he is trying to get his business off the ground, BUT he will have to stump up more to cover energy use if we can demonstrate he is the culprit!

macman

If he is self employed at home then he should be setting all his business energy use against tax as a legitimate business expense. Plus a proportion of the heating, water, and telcoms bills. 

RobM99

Turn everything off then take readings. Turn things on a few at a time. Any rogue consumers will be apparent.
Are you sure you're not wired up tp next door and paying theirs as well?

QrizB

jimjames said:

I've got an air con unit and it's rated 2kW so if that's on for any length of time it will be a big part of the use.

Here's the energy label for a good modern portable unit (from this thread):

That's 2.5kW of cooling, but only 700W of power demanded.

My portable is older (old enough not to have an ErP energy label) and less efficient. It provides roughly the same cooling as the one above but is rated at 1100W.

peterf83

Does your son leave his PC on 24/7? If he does, I reckon he is mining Crypto, especially with his background and the need for AC. 

k_man

MariaAH said:

Alnat1 said:

When is the heating on? Months of the year/times of day/night?
What temperature is it set to day/night?
Do your radiators have TRVs and do you use them correctly, or are internal doors usually open so heat moves around rooms?
Do you cook 1 family meal a day or does everyone cook separately when they want something?
How many showers/baths a day on average? Are the showers long or short?

Heating is used from approx late autumn to early spring - thermostat is set so it does not come on if not cold enough. 3 of us work from home approx 3 days a week each so heating is used during the day during winter. We have in the past set it to 21 but plan to put that down to 19 in the autumn/winter when we start to use it. 
We have TRVs, but possible could open internal doors more.
The 'everyone cook separately' has become a bit of an issue - kids are 22 and 19 and don't eat at 'usual' mealtimes.
4 of us showering daily, sometimes hubby/daughter has a 2nd shower after sport activity. Suspect length of shower IS an issue and have ordered shower timers!
Still find it hard to stomach that our usage is approx £5880 atm before the price cap increase...

20kWh of gas is about an hour of hot water from the combi boiler.
So if 4-6 showers are around 10 -15 mins each, this matches usage.
It is also could be up to 500litres of water.
Do you know what your typical water usage (and bills) are? As any saving on hot water usage has saving there too.

Vincero

QrizB said:

jimjames said:

I've got an air con unit and it's rated 2kW so if that's on for any length of time it will be a big part of the use.

That's 2.5kW of cooling, but only 700W of power demanded.

My portable is older (old enough not to have an ErP energy label) and less efficient. It provides roughly the same cooling as the one above but is rated at 1100W.

I was gonna say, average portable AC units use roughly 1kWh, some more some less.
The better you can insulate the unit cold and hot air feeds from the outside air the more efficient and effective it becomes. Having a wide open window letting warm air in whilst using the Aircon to cool the room won't make it use more energy per hour, you'll just need to use it more.
Split AC systems are more efficient generally but usually also more powerful so roughly similar power use.

Another thing to consider with older AC units may be how poor their power factor is - this may also apply to your fridge freezer and some of your PCs. The further away from a power factor of 1, usually the less efficient and more costly the usage becomes.
That said, the power factor issue isn't the biggest problem here. General usage is high - I'd be checking the loft for some plants and grow lights type of high.

MariaAH

macman said:

If he is self employed at home then he should be setting all his business energy use against tax as a legitimate business expense. Plus a proportion of the heating, water, and telcoms bills. 

He has a new accountant so will look at that, thanks