Why is my electricity usage so much higher in Winter?

gazapc

Is that 500 kWh per month more, or 500 spread over several winter months? A big difference...

As above, I would suggest:

- Heating pump (my combi boiler uses 200 Watts, so just 5 hours per day is a kWh)

- tumble drying/washing

- minor things like lights etc.. can add up.

victor2

Even if you have an electric shower, it won't use any more electricity in the winter than the summer, unless you stay longer under the warm water of course!
The "temperature" control on an electric shower adjusts the water flow, not the power.

TheBanker

victor2 said:

Even if you have an electric shower, it won't use any more electricity in the winter than the summer, unless you stay longer under the warm water of course!
The "temperature" control on an electric shower adjusts the water flow, not the power.

Are you sure? If there's less hot water coming out, then surely there's less electricity used to heat it? 

artyboy

Lots of good points, thank you all! Rather than quoting, let me come back on a few common themes:

1) In case I wasn't clear, it's about 500kWh per MONTH (ie ~17kWh per day) different between winter and summer months. I've got current records since about last November, and they are actual reads taken on the 1st of every month. After April this year, it dropped substantially.

2) CH pumping - doh! It's obvious now I come to think of it - being a closed system it won't benefit from mains pressure pushing the water around, so yes, that will be some of the extra. Especially in a 3 storey house with some really old and thick pipes/rads in places - probably a lot more water in the system than is typical.

3) Cooking - hob is gas , however possibly a little bit more electric oven use. 

4) Tumble dryer - ordinarily that went all year round, and still does, but there has been a bit more outside drying going on this summer so yes, it is used a bit less. It may be a significant impact though given it's a really basic vented one given to us years ago as part of the Whirlpool safety/recall issue. So won't be efficient, and is a question of whether the ROI on a heat pump replacement will be worth it. Certainly not until our current tariff runs out.

5) Washing - this one I think is a bit of a red herring for us. Yes, heavier clothes in winter, but I tend to wash things like jumpers and jeans less often than light polo tops and shorts.

6) Kettle - probably also a red herring. Mrs Arty is a tea/coffee fanatic, whatever the time of year!

7) Showers are all off the Megaflo system, so no electric involved.

8) TV - yep, realised that OLED is a lot more efficient.

Anyway, conceivable that the above does account for the delta, one of these days we'll probably get a smart meter that will make more detailed analysis easier, because right now I can't do much more than look at the speed of the wheel spinning...

victor2

TheBanker said:

victor2 said:

Even if you have an electric shower, it won't use any more electricity in the winter than the summer, unless you stay longer under the warm water of course!
The "temperature" control on an electric shower adjusts the water flow, not the power.

Are you sure? If there's less hot water coming out, then surely there's less electricity used to heat it? 

In winter the water going in is colder, so the same electricity means less hot water coming out.

QrizB

TheBanker said:

victor2 said:

Even if you have an electric shower, it won't use any more electricity in the winter than the summer, unless you stay longer under the warm water of course!
The "temperature" control on an electric shower adjusts the water flow, not the power.

Are you sure? If there's less hot water coming out, then surely there's less electricity used to heat it? 

Instantaneous electric showers run at a constant power.

In the winter, the incoming cold water is colder than in the summer and so it takes more energy to heat it up. You need to restrict the flow to compensate.

(Many electric showers have a lower power setting, most often used in the summer. This involves a much lower flow rate.)

avoidtheupsidedownbottles

victor2 said:

Even if you have an electric shower, it won't use any more electricity in the winter than the summer, unless you stay longer under the warm water of course!
The "temperature" control on an electric shower adjusts the water flow, not the power.

I guess the appliances that will use more energy are the washing machine and dishwasher, since they have to bring the cold water up to a fixed value like 40 or 65 ºC

TheBanker

QrizB said:

(Many electric showers have a lower power setting, most often used in the summer. This involves a much lower flow rate.)

As the OP doesn't have an electric shower, I guess this is irrelevant, but I use the low power setting in summer (one bar = cooler) and the normal (two bar) setting in winter, when I want the water warmer. So I think I'm right in saying that my shower does use more electricity in winter. 

MuckChucker

@artyboy just be mindful that in this age of everybody being super frugal with electricity use, your new OLED TV should not be switched off at the wall (no mention on if you do or not but it has come up quite a bit of late), it needs to remain in standby when not in use. It needs to run compensation cycles when not in use and will show "screen burn" in no time if denied this.....and the manufacturer/retailer will blame you

Mstty

MuckChucker said:

@artyboy just be mindful that in this age of everybody being super frugal with electricity use, your new OLED TV should not be switched off at the wall (no mention on if you do or not but it has come up quite a bit of late), it needs to remain in standby when not in use. It needs to run compensation cycles when not in use and will show "screen burn" in no time if denied this.....and the manufacturer/retailer will blame you

Well that's a negative for OLED then.

We only replace TVs when they stop working and they go in a cycle from the snug to the bedroom to the gym when one breaks. (We don't do massive TV's as we have the projector for film nights in the Lounge. But this is useful info thanks didn't know this about OLEDs