What is an average energy user

Sibbet

Has anyone confirmed the average user amounts? I am a single household living on a state pension in a semi-detached. I have no radiators on upstairs. My DD is being changed to £298/month. How am I using more than the average user?

MattMattMattUK

Sibbet said:

Has anyone confirmed the average user amounts?

What do you mean by confirmed? 

Sibbet said:

I am a single household living on a state pension in a semi-detached. I have no radiators on upstairs. My DD is being changed to £298/month. 

How do you heat your home, gas, electric, other means? What is the split of gas and electricity? What is the annual usage in kWh of all fuels on your bill? Do you have any debt? What temperature do you keep your home, for how many hours a day, what other items using power do you have etc. ?

Sibbet said:

How am I using more than the average user?

There are so many factors that impact how much energy people use it is almost impossible to say without much more granular detail. 

ariarnia

ofgem use average use to mean 2,900 kWh of electricity and 12,000 kWh of gas. very few people actually use that amount because the average is just a rough mid point between very high users and very low users. 

under the energy guarantee (with added standing charge) that's about 2500 a year or about 200 a month not including 400 rebate. 

do you have actual energy readings for the last 12 months for your gas and electric? (any two readings about 12 months apart would work but NOT estimated readings, they are sometimes marked 'e' on your bill) then you can work out what your annual usage is and what your dd should be set at. 

once you have the 'evidence' you can challenge your supplier and get them to set your dd where it should be OR you can see you do actually use more than average energy and think about cutting back. 

Heinzbean

Electricity  2900Kw

Gas         12000Kw. = Average

I use  below average

Electricity 2360 Kwh. =3 bedroom house 2 people.

Gas       6300Kwh

you need to be able to read your meters and know your actual usage

[Deleted User]

Hi,

do you have actual meter readings, not estimates, for the last year?

Heinzbean

that would be in money terms

electricity

2900 x 0.3531p =                        £1023.99

service charge =365 x£0.41p =    £149.65

Gas

12000 x £0.103 =                            £1236

service charge  365 x £0.2684 =    £97.96

roughly £2500 price cap           =   £2507.60

EssexHebridean

Sibbet said:

Has anyone confirmed the average user amounts? I am a single household living on a state pension in a semi-detached. I have no radiators on upstairs. My DD is being changed to £298/month. How am I using more than the average user?

The first question here, for me, is ARE you using more than the average user, or is the estimate from your supplier incorrect for whatever reason. That's the first bit of information to drill down into - and as said above you can establish that by going back 12 months and finding an actual meter reading in your records (ie one taken by you, not an energy co estimate) then read the meters today. Electric is easy - the gas meter will need some shenanigans to convert as your readings will be in either ft3 or m3 and you'll need to convert to kWh - your bills tell you what conversion you need on that.

wild666

Sibbet said:

Has anyone confirmed the average user amounts? I am a single household living on a state pension in a semi-detached. I have no radiators on upstairs. My DD is being changed to £298/month. How am I using more than the average user?

Maybe try turning down the temperatures on the boiler to 55 degrees for heating and 50 degrees for hot water and lower the thermostat by 1 degrees per fortnight until it just starts to feel a bit cold then increase it by 0.5 degrees. The heating will take a bit longer to get up to temperature but it could be worth it and it could save you hundreds of pounds on the heating bills

dunstonh

Has anyone confirmed the average user amounts? 

It is statistically unlikely anyone is actually the average user.    It is based on average use but that includes people across all the range.

How am I using more than the average user?

You could be.  It is very easy to go past that without realising it.
e.g. inefficient boiler/heating, immersion heater on 24/7,  non LED light bulbs, old fridge freezer that isnt energy efficient, dishwasher not using the eco programme.  Tumble drier on a lot.     Lots of older devices built in the days when energy use was not a problem.....      Some of those things may not apply.  Some of them may do.

There is also the possibility that you are not giving meter readings and the supplier is having to estimate the use.  This can wildly over estimate or under estimate.

If you have actual meter readings covering a period of longer than a year, then let us know and we can give an indication of whether the monthly payment is correct or not.   However, £298 for heating and electricity doesn't sound unreasonable.  Many people that consider themselves average users are paying for more than that because most people don't know their own use and guess.

StocktonFlyer

The Ofgem term is "typical user" rather than average, but I don't know how they have come up with those values. Mean, median or mode average usage, or something else entirely such as estimates based on property size?

wanoennogs

Sibbet said:

Has anyone confirmed the average user amounts? I am a single household living on a state pension in a semi-detached. I have no radiators on upstairs. My DD is being changed to £298/month. How am I using more than the average user?

Is there such a thing as an average energy user? I live in a 1-bedroom flat. There are 7 other 1-bedroom flats in my block. I am sure we all have different energy uses and bills.