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

Mstty

Have you recalculated your new annual reduced usage at the new rates from October 1st

34p electricity and 10.3p gas (regional variations apply)

MariaAH

Mstty said:

Have you recalculated your new annual reduced usage at the new rates from October 1st

34p electricity and 10.3p gas (regional variations apply)

Not yet…I will be calculating our usage over the last month, compared to previous months, to see if we have reduced consumption. Then use the calculator. I will give an update in next few days

MariaAH

UPDATE: After a month of monitoring usage I can calculate if we have managed to make a significant reduction in usage:

Gas usage (showers) has reduced from 19kWh per day to 10kWh per day, which equates to annual savings of £233 based on current rates. And more savings are planned with heating.

Based on this last month, annual electricity usage would be as follows:

EV charging = 4400 kwh (just over £100 a month at current rate)
Son's gaming PC/aircon etc = 2200 kWh (just over £50 a month at current rate and I am monitoring with TP plug)
Everything else = 4800 kWh (£112 a month at current rate)

'everything else' annual consumption has reduced from about 7220kWh to about 4800kWh, which equates to £678 annual savings at current rate, approx £56 a month.

Not bad...have not had chance to put this through the new Oct rates, but the main thing is that consumption is down and therefore savings will be made from what we were using before.

Thank you everyone on this forum

michaels

MariaAH said:

UPDATE: After a month of monitoring usage I can calculate if we have managed to make a significant reduction in usage:

Gas usage (showers) has reduced from 19kWh per day to 10kWh per day, which equates to annual savings of £233 based on current rates. And more savings are planned with heating.

Based on this last month, annual electricity usage would be as follows:

EV charging = 4400 kwh (just over £100 a month at current rate)
Son's gaming PC/aircon etc = 2200 kWh (just over £50 a month at current rate and I am monitoring with TP plug)
Everything else = 4800 kWh (£112 a month at current rate)

'everything else' annual consumption has reduced from about 7220kWh to about 4800kWh, which equates to £678 annual savings at current rate, approx £56 a month.

Not bad...have not had chance to put this through the new Oct rates, but the main thing is that consumption is down and therefore savings will be made from what we were using before.

Thank you everyone on this forum

Thanks Maria

Do you think there is any appreciable 'lifestyle' impact from the savings?

For example you have approx halved the length of the showers somehow!
How about the electricity savings, are there things that you have stopped doing or are now less convenient?

MariaAH

michaels said:

MariaAH said:

UPDATE: After a month of monitoring usage I can calculate if we have managed to make a significant reduction in usage:

Gas usage (showers) has reduced from 19kWh per day to 10kWh per day, which equates to annual savings of £233 based on current rates. And more savings are planned with heating.

Based on this last month, annual electricity usage would be as follows:

EV charging = 4400 kwh (just over £100 a month at current rate)
Son's gaming PC/aircon etc = 2200 kWh (just over £50 a month at current rate and I am monitoring with TP plug)
Everything else = 4800 kWh (£112 a month at current rate)

'everything else' annual consumption has reduced from about 7220kWh to about 4800kWh, which equates to £678 annual savings at current rate, approx £56 a month.

Not bad...have not had chance to put this through the new Oct rates, but the main thing is that consumption is down and therefore savings will be made from what we were using before.

Thank you everyone on this forum

Thanks Maria

Do you think there is any appreciable 'lifestyle' impact from the savings?

For example you have approx halved the length of the showers somehow!
How about the electricity savings, are there things that you have stopped doing or are now less convenient?

Great questions!

Gas is reduced purely down to reducing time spent in the shower. Day dreaming kids spending 20 - 30 mins now spend 5 -10 mins. I turn shower off when I am shampooing hair or or washing body. Its makes the shower less enjoyable, so means I don't day dream in there either! This will also save on our next water bill. And not in there long enough to need to turn on extractor fan, so more savings.

Reduction in electricity is harder to pin down to one thing, but I am driving my family nuts turning things off at the socket and unplugging things that do not need to be plugged in (loads of things plugged in under daughters desk for desktop she no longer has).
I know that my iMac sleeps at a negligible level if all tabs closed down (thanks to TP plug), so I close the tabs when it sleeps BUT I have changed settings that when I open up Google it open up the tabs again. That has definitely saved and I don't lose important 'in progress' stuff. And evenings and weekends I try to use my laptop as that is more efficient than the iMac
I did trying turning my printer off but that was such a pain to connect back up when I needed it that I gave up on that idea.
I have a large pump flask (the sort you see at events) - we boil a full kettle in the morning and then what we don't use for a cup of tea we put in flask. There is no wastage, and it means that we can pop into the kitchen and make a cup of tea in seconds using the flask. Also useful for when using the hob as use hot water from flask to reduce heating time.
Kids work on a different time clock and used to eat at random times ending up using the cooker more...I now make them a meal when we are having a meal and they have to eat it then, not at "stupid o'clock"! I have also started using the slow cookers more to make meals - this means kids can eat at different times because slow cooker keeps it warm. And I use water from the pump flask in the slow cooker. 

We are very mindful now about turning off and switching off. I never did find one big thing that was using the electricity...it was always going to be about lots of little things. 

Negative lifestyle impacts are really only the shower time. Positives are that I don't need to moan at son for his usage as he is paying for it as I am able to track it.

Cannot do much about EV charging costs - I have had my Zoe for 11 months and only have 3339 miles on it. Can't use it much less than I do!

michaels

Thanks Maria, really useful. 

I wish I could train my kids so well re the showers.  I have fitted a lower flow shower head which is noticeable in things like rinsing hair but not really a hardship but unfortunately we only got a gas smart meter yesterday so I don't have any good comparable data yet.

We also have an EV but know we are saving a fortune vs petrol so not too worried about that.  I know tariffs are currently still up in the air but have you looked at getting a time of use tariff like Octopus go and charging (plus dishwasher and washing machine) overnight?

MariaAH

michaels said:

Thanks Maria, really useful. 

I wish I could train my kids so well re the showers.  I have fitted a lower flow shower head which is noticeable in things like rinsing hair but not really a hardship but unfortunately we only got a gas smart meter yesterday so I don't have any good comparable data yet.

We also have an EV but know we are saving a fortune vs petrol so not too worried about that.  I know tariffs are currently still up in the air but have you looked at getting a time of use tariff like Octopus go and charging (plus dishwasher and washing machine) overnight?

Last time i looked, Octopus were not taking new customers on to their EV tariff. Looks like they might be now...but it only gives 4 hours between 12:30 and 4:30 (car takes about 7 hours to charge, bigger battery cars would take longer). We only charged 8 times in the last month, and only 4 of those were overnight charging.

It would require pre-planning and organisation to co-ordinate dishwasher, washing machine and charging to happen between 12:30 and 4:30!! But I will look into it. 

[Deleted User]

For charging time - if you topped up every night in the cheap hours, then it would probably fit (unless you're draining the whole battery every time you use the car).  That's one of the changes people struggle to make some times moving from conventional to EV - they still think about filling up when they get near empty.

MariaAH

[Deleted User] said:

For charging time - if you topped up every night in the cheap hours, then it would probably fit (unless you're draining the whole battery every time you use the car).  That's one of the changes people struggle to make some times moving from conventional to EV - they still think about filling up when they get near empty.

Good point...

LadyWithAPlan

Fascinating thread and glad you have managed to get usage down ... as you say WFH can save us more than the energy usage but good to know where we can all save. 

Your  shower energy usage now with the 50% shorter showers was interesting - I swim a few times a week at my gym and always have a shower there after as I am already wet so I am planning to do that through winter to save on daily showers.. I will just shower at home when I need to wash my hair as drying it is a pain in the gym - I am not that MSE Or shower at the gym then just wash my hair at home..

I have family members with lots of kids and yes gaming machines, PS5s, TVs, Alexa on  etc and I know they are already  twice national average usage anyway so I will pass on the PC info..

Apparently electric blankets and heated throws use about 1p/hour at current rates so I will be buying one for myself  and family members this winter.
I always turn everything off at the wall so I am a low user - lower than average luckily but now even the hairdryer gets switched off. Since having an instant pot style 6 in 1 pressure cooker/slow cooker etc  I rarely use the oven  apart from, the hob- I have also been getting my halogen oven out a lot more.
I live on my own in a 2 bed but don't own a TV or a gaming machine I have a new Macbook pro M1 laptop so battery is charging well and I rarely bother plugging it into my monitor.
 I have turned off my second fridge freezer since May but have a 7 year old large fridge freezer so that be useful to see energy usage.

I do use the kettle loads - I also WFH - so I will try the boiling a whole flask at a time.
I do have long life bulbs but I am thinking I may get some LEDS.


I also  need to get a TP link to see where I am at and then pass it on to my parents /family etc.