Energy usage too high

Sea_Shell

carlin76 said:

Thank you, we have electric under floor heating in the loft conversion and the bathroom but no other high energy devices I’m aware of 

As others have said, you need to become "aware"!!   

You need to get up close and personal with every aspect of your energy use, if you want to solve the issue of "high" usage.    As high usage will = eye watering bills.

Just being a "4 bed detached" doesn't automatically = above average usage, I as can also attest to.

The more info you're able to provide here, the more help they can offer, and the more you'll get out of the process.

Embrace the challenge and you could save a hell of a lot of £££

So, Are you up for it!?!! 

EssexHebridean

The aspect of needing to drill right down into literally everything that uses energy, I would vouch for. We did an exercise several years ago now where we looked at our use and cut it dramatically - and not by being uncomfortable either - just the areas where we were using energy that didn't benefit us. With the rising prices now - initially I felt a bit gloomy as my assumption was that we'd already "done it" and that there was little else to cut - turned out I was wrong as we've reduced predicted annual use by around 20% in the last 8 months or so. If this winter continues in its current cold vein, that will probably reverse a little, but I'm confident enough to say that there will still be savings made. 

dunstonh

As mentioned earlier in the thread about high users, you can almost certainly make savings by learning about your use and adapting.

Get a handful of TAPO P110 plugs.  These sit between the plug and the socket and allow you to see how much energy is being used via that socket.         I have 8 of these plugs.    Many people wont need that many but we have a number of devices where the sockets are hard to reach.  The TAPOs allow you to put a timer on that socket or to turn on/off via an app.   You can also link sockets.  So, one press on the app and it can turn off multiple devices without you needing to go around each one and turning it off at the wall.

So, once you finish your monitoring of your devices, you can use the TAPOs for convenience.

I found the experience of learning about our power use and then finding ways to reduce it rather enjoyable.    I did it over summer and our daily use then was 18-20kWh.    By September, is was fluctuating between 8-10kWh. Basically halving our Summer use.

Our running use when everything was turned off as normal (i.e. not at the plug) was a running rate of 180w.   At the end of our changes (with plugs turned off when not in use and only required devices left on), the running rate was 84w.  So, in other words, 100w was being used by devices in standby.

In addition to turning devices off properly,  we did the following:
1 - replaced American Fridge/Freezer with the most energy efficient on the market.  Old one was using between 2kWh and 2kWh per day.  New one uses 0.7 kWh. (
2 - used the eco mode on the dishwasher.  This extended the wash time to 5 hours, which is far longer, but it doesn't heat the water or the air as much. So, it uses much less energy.  We also only use it once a day now.   We needed to buy another set of cutlery and crockery.      That saved another kWh pre day.
3 - turned off as much external lighting as we could.    The dawn/dusk lighting was overridden and timers adjusted on other lights.
4 - sky mini boxes are not required to be left on and use a lot of energy.  Leaving the main box on standby but plugs off on the mini boxes.
5 - We found our TVs were drawing energy in standby at a rate that wasnt just for the little red light.    On investigation, we realised that the mobile connectivity with the TV meant it kept the wifi on during standby and awake for mobile connections.    We were not using that functionality, so, we turned it off in the TV settings.         We have OLED TVs and you must not turn those off at the plug.  Other types of TV you can.
6 - Microwave was drawing unnecessary amounts when not in use.  The time was never set and it flashed.  So turning that on/off at the plug reduced use.
7 - LED lighting is an obvious one.  We already had done much of it.  I still have a bit more to do but need an electrician.    Be on guard for cheap LED lighting on Amazon.  We did that 4 years ago and have found most of cheap LED bulbs started flickering within 3-4 years.     It may be false economy too.  Phillips latest LED range has 2.2w bulbs that have more luminance (light output) than the cheap 4w LED bulbs (or older LEDs that are usually closer to 10-15w).  That difference is repeated with their slightly higher watt versions as well.    Phillips bulbs should last longer too but be on guard. They do different ranges.   Look for their 2.x and 4.x bulbs.   And never buy bulbs from the supermarket.  Online is cheaper.

What surprised me was that it didn't take much adapting and the family really bought into it.   We dont have a smart meter but we have a Geo Minim+ energy monitor.  That was an easy install as it reads the red dot that flashes on the meter and sends the info to the display.   If you have a smart meter, then you dont need something like that but for those that don't, it can really help.

SuzeQStan

[Deleted User] said:

SuzeQStan said:

Deleted_User said:

I live in a 4 bed detached and use below the typical on both gas and electric.  About 2300kWh electric and 10500kWh gas.

That’s amazing @[Deleted User] - but it’s been said on so many times on MSE forum that declaring ‘mine is more / less than yours’ can be less than helpful. As is the ‘average useage’  figure which is truly applicable to no one as it’s an average. 

no two will ever be the same. We can only do our best to make improvements and live within our means. And hopefully gain good ideas on these threads. Constructive ideas.

OP - please keep us updated on how you get on - there are lots of better brains than mine on these forums who will provide advice and help.

Exactly as you say - the typical is unlikely to be right for anyone.

In the same vein, it is not particularly useful to bite back at other posters that suggest the OP has high usage and make blanket statements like "4 bed detached is always going to use more than an ‘average’ property on all energy fronts."  It's clearly incorrect, as my information points out, and could just encourage someone with high consumption to think "well, it's just because of my house and I can't do anything about it".

Surely its much more of a "constructive idea" to acknowledge that the usage is high, and to help the OP work out why it is so and what they can do about it?

Absolutely @SparkyGrad
my sincere apologies - although this may have been more of a nibble rather than a ‘bite’ as such. 😊

Would you be able to let us know how you have managed to achieve such a low rate of energy usage for a 4 bed detached please?

thanks
SQS

carlin76

Thanks you all for the great tips and advice so far, I am hoping to get somebody round to tell me if I need cavity wall insulation as I don’t know if we have it or not. Our EPC is out of date but I believe the property was rated D at the last inspection, maybe worth arranging to have it done again?? I have put together a spreadsheet to monitor our usage and we have managed to cut our gas usage by approx 30% and electricity by 17% over the past 12 months compared to the previous year by controlling the heating better etc but we still need to do more, spending over £7k a year on utilities is simply not affordable!

xeny

dunstonh said:

xeny said:

dunstonh said:

Last year I lived in a large detached house year and used 26000kWh of gas, so @carlin76's 33000kWh isn't shocking. The real issue as others have said, is the enormous 10812kWh of electricity, which will be costing nearly £4000 under the energy price guarantee.

10812 kWh is not enormous.  It is high but we use 16443 kWh over a year on electricity (central heating with oil).  I know we are a large user but managed to reduce our use this year by around 30% by finding out the "leakage" of standby items or wasteful items and using tapo P110 plugs and replacing heavy use items.

Simplistically16443/365/24 is 1.9KW average consumption night and day all year. That's really quite substantial. What are your non leaky and wasteful items? 

Tumble drier (being a farm converted to equine, you live in mud for most of the year.  So, its on nearly daily), AGA, horse walker and dawn/dusk lighting across the barns and stable block and some of the paddocks and arena.   For four months of the year, it drops to about 10kWh a day.  Its the 8 months where it goes up to 45kWh a day.    I am pretty good at knowing where the use is having gone through the process the OP needs to do to learn what devices are doing the damage and if you can change them.   I suspect I will have it closer to 13,000 kWh over the next year, which I will be happy with.  Especially as I am getting a 30 panel PV array installed in April.

That will do it. Heat pump tumble drier might save you a little and I confess I have no idea how much power a horse walker uses (it's a pity you can't get power from the horse walking).. It's not feasible/economic to go to an oil fired AGA?

What you're describing sounds more like a business than the large detached house we're comparing the consumption to.

FreeBear

carlin76 said: I am hoping to get somebody round to tell me if I need cavity wall insulation as I don’t know if we have it or not. Our EPC is out of date but I believe the property was rated D at the last inspection, maybe worth arranging to have it done again??

I have had cavity wall insulation done here. To be honest, I didn't notice any difference once it was done. But this is with a 1920s semi with cavity walls on the ground floor and solid brick on the upper half.

The things that have made a worthwhile and noticeable improvement are -

• Plugging the source of cold draughts (cheap and easy to do).
• Replacing old, poorly fitted double glazing (expensive, but worth it in the long run).
• Insulating walls internally (messy work, and expensive if paying someone to do it) - Only done a couple of areas so far, but early indication is that it is making a difference.
• Updated "smart" heating controls along with better (modern) radiators - I can now set different temperatures throughout the day/week, and the radiators actually heat the rooms. Probably down to the fact they have higher rated heat output than the old ones. The smart control has probably saved me 10-15% on gas consumption since fitting it.

Having a new EPC isn't going to save you any money - You could end up with a lower rating. You'd be better off having a thermographic survey done to pinpoint the worst areas of heat loss and concentrate on fixing those.

Grogsy78

I just used excel to work out my mothers current December usage, I used her previous bill to make sure my calcs were right and put the new meter readings in to calculate the usage from 1st to 15th, you could do this on a daily or hourly basis to figure out what is using the energy

Cirrus1

Hi,
I though I would add a few words being another high user and wanting to improve matters.
I am heating a 5 bedroom house that is largely open plan downstairs and has a huge amount of floor to ceiling glass (in every room). The gas used is for hot water and CH only. I have a WB 40CDI boiler and many radiators.
This cold spell has my gas usage running at 200 - 280kWh a day. I get the stats from the Bright app. (Have a Hive thermostat and smart trvs). The Hive is set to 17.5 degrees overnight and when the heating kicks in (6am) 19 degrees. This is adjusted upwards if we feel cold.
Yesterday we had a low of -7 degrees overnight. From midnight the temperature dropped 2 degrees in 2 hours and my Bright app tells me that it took 70kWh to maintain the 17.5 degrees overnight.  It then took another 4.5 hrs to get back to 19 degrees.
I am doing what I can to insulate. I am trying out a radiator fan unit (goes under the radiator). I am putting foil backed bubble wrap (bought from Amazon) behind the radiators on external walls. I am also trying out a radiator heat diverter (apparently useful for radiators under windows on external walls). I have started to tape some of the foil insulator around the glass doors where it is hidden behind curtains.
It really is ridiculous that keeping mildly warm is costing around £20-30 a day. This time last year, we had the house at a comfortable 21-22 degrees and could walk into any of the rooms without catching a chill. It was lovely. This year I zone to the nth degree, am dressed in layers and it is not nice to walk around. I am glued to the Bright and Hive apps.
 It is not an option to upgrade the glass right now. Even though it is all double glazed, it is not argon filled triple glazed low E glass. I will need to look into this next year, as well as thermal blinds for all the glass.
The hot water is timed and only comes on twice a day. I tried one timed slot, but there was no hot water in the afternoon, so that didn’t work.

Mstty

Cirrus1 said:

Hi,
I though I would add a few words being another high user and wanting to improve matters.
I am heating a 5 bedroom house that is largely open plan downstairs and has a huge amount of floor to ceiling glass (in every room). The gas used is for hot water and CH only. I have a WB 40CDI boiler and many radiators.
This cold spell has my gas usage running at 200 - 280kWh a day. I get the stats from the Bright app. (Have a Hive thermostat and smart trvs). The Hive is set to 17.5 degrees overnight and when the heating kicks in (6am) 19 degrees. This is adjusted upwards if we feel cold.
Yesterday we had a low of -7 degrees overnight. From midnight the temperature dropped 2 degrees in 2 hours and my Bright app tells me that it took 70kWh to maintain the 17.5 degrees overnight.  It then took another 4.5 hrs to get back to 19 degrees.
I am doing what I can to insulate. I am trying out a radiator fan unit (goes under the radiator). I am putting foil backed bubble wrap (bought from Amazon) behind the radiators on external walls. I am also trying out a radiator heat diverter (apparently useful for radiators under windows on external walls). I have started to tape some of the foil insulator around the glass doors where it is hidden behind curtains.
It really is ridiculous that keeping mildly warm is costing around £20-30 a day. This time last year, we had the house at a comfortable 21-22 degrees and could walk into any of the rooms without catching a chill. It was lovely. This year I zone to the nth degree, am dressed in layers and it is not nice to walk around. I am glued to the Bright and Hive apps.
 It is not an option to upgrade the glass right now. Even though it is all double glazed, it is not argon filled triple glazed low E glass. I will need to look into this next year, as well as thermal blinds for all the glass.
The hot water is timed and only comes on twice a day. I tried one timed slot, but there was no hot water in the afternoon, so that didn’t work.

This sustained cold period is testing most people and their daily costs to keep temps they had last December (which was extremely mild from memory)

Our December usage has been more akin to January usage(normally our heaviest energy cost month)

What was you kWh total Jan 2022 and what are you up to December out of interest?