Energy Usage Double the 'Average' Am I missing something?

Alnat1

@nadsat Do you have TRVs on your radiators so you can heat each room to different temperatures? If not, then look into getting them fitted. For example, you can set the unused rooms to 10C so they don't get damp, bedrooms to 15C (lower in the day if not in use) and the rooms you are using during the day can be higher.

Constantly heating hot water so one radiator is warm is an expensive plan. Better to only heat as much hot water as you need, enough for the daily showers/baths that run from the tank. Extra hot water for cleaning (dishes, floors etc) can be boiled in a kettle as and when needed. 

theoretica

How much water does your shower get through?  You can get shower heads that add air so less water feels like more, and fit flow restrictors so that less hot water goes down the drain in 1 minute.  From experience, showers coming from a limited tank of hot water is a good thing for preventing excess use - you just need to all be considerate/take turns at showering last!  If it is only a small tank it really shouldn't take 3 hours to heat or something is wrong with the system.

Also - you mention you don't think you have great roof insulation - worth finding out.

ariarnia

nadsat said:

ariarnia said:

its probably a question of cumulative gains versus inconvenience. shutting off or down some radiators and putting away the electric rad will save you money. how much money we dont know unless your willing to try it. might not be much. might be a surprising amount. and it might be that when you try it you dont find you like it and decide to switch back or its not much of a bother either way so may as well stick. you started the thread asking why you were using more than average. and its probably not going to be one big thing. if you dont try this then there are other things you could try. but if all the little things are too insignificant for it to be worth you doing then thats your answer to the question in your op. after all as martin used to say 4 a day buying lunch at work is more than 1000 a year  

Not my thread - I chipped in because our house is similar. I don't think there is much to be done with heating other than do without for longer on GCH and also be sparing with heating an individual office with an electric heater. 

All the rooms in our house are in use everyday bar one bedroom and a small storage room so I guess I could turn these two rads off. I don't like leaving rooms in our old house for long periods without heat though as there's potential for condensation/mould. 

sorry my mistake. i was distracted trying to avoid watching the awful film the kids had on but i think your right and it really is all about that general situation and whats right for how you use your house and what your used to.

 our house is mostly empty during the day (i'm in the office but everyone else is out at school or work) so we heat our house to 16 then we get together in the lounge in the evening to eat and watch a film or play games or whatever so most of the house is empty most of the day and at the coldest part of the day we're all in one room and light the fire in there (we could just turn that radiator up). it helps we've mostly always done this so the kids have grown up used to bedrooms being colder (not from when they were tiny of course) and now when they sleep over at the mil shes always complaining they want the windows open at night because its to hot.