£3 a day bill

stu12345_2

my smart meter for my 1 bed flat is showing max  approx £3 a day.thus is now. my max target price.it seems elec hardly moves the meter. eg TV.laptop.lights.fridge
but 30 mins of gas sends the thing up 40 pence.

so my challenge is £3 max. is that a fair target 

MattMattMattUK

stu12345_2 said:

my smart meter for my 1 bed flat is showing max  approx £3 a day.thus is now. my max target price.it seems elec hardly moves the meter. eg TV.laptop.lights.fridge
but 30 mins of gas sends the thing up 40 pence.

so my challenge is £3 max. is that a fair target 

It is more than adequate for a single person now when no heating is required, one would expect it to be lower during summer, however in winter, depending on insulation, surrounding flats etc. it may not be enough to keep warm. 

MikeJXE

I have just read my dumb meter and entered the readings on my spreadsheet 

£12.76 for the week usage gas and electric, £1 more than last week 

I'm a pensioner in a 1 bed ground floor flat and don't expect to be using £3 a day until mid winter 

EssexHebridean

Check that your IHD (in home device - that’s the thing you’re looking at with the figures in £’s, rather than the smart meter itself, which shows units used in kWh) doesn’t just add on the standing charge once you have used some gas in that day - rather than adding it straight in as a starting point at midnight. If this was the case it would explain why you’d be seeing apparently minimal use of gas - and at a time of year when I presume you don’t have heating in use - suddenly seeming to sky-rocket your cost. 

You might also benefit from turning the IHD to display in kWh as learning your actual energy use, rather than simply how much it’s costing you is a better way of learning what costs you a lot, and what is negligible. Kettles for an example - always send the IHD into a frenzy of “high use” orange lights in this house, but I know that boiling it isn’t a significant cost to us as although it’s a high draw appliance, it’s only in use for a couple of minutes each time. The oven is a different matter entirely - on the face of it a lot of the time showing a lower draw than the kettle, but for periods of 30 minutes or more. (And I freely admit this is a simplistic example as even in the case of the oven, once heated, it will cycle in and out between high and far lower power use). 

£3 this winter will buy you a lot more heat, light, cooking time or whatever than it would have done last winter. It will also mean that if you are spending that same £3 now as you were this time last year, your energy use will actually have increased, rather than decreased. 

stu12345_2

we are a couple in a modernised council flat.we work full-time .so heating goes on for a burst when we come home.just pointing out that it's the gas that's the killer not the electricity.
it used to be £5 a day when gas was very high due to the imports and the Ukraine war
used to use £1 a day in a key meter in an all elect old 3 bed flat but that was 2007 and was out for most of the day.

EssexHebridean

MikeJXE said:

I have just read my dumb meter and entered the readings on my spreadsheet 

£12.76 for the week usage gas and electric, £1 more than last week 

I'm a pensioner in a 1 bed ground floor flat and don't expect to be using £3 a day until mid winter 

Not specifically aimed at Mike - but… although he is finding his costs are at this level now, without knowing about his lifestyle, property age, actual property size (one beds can vary wildly in floor space) what the construction and insulation is like, whether he cooks and heats using gas or electricity, or just cooks, or just heats, and a myriad of other unknown factors including his energy tariffs, it’s not really helpful as a measure of comparison. 

MattMattMattUK

stu12345_2 said:

we are a couple in a modernised council flat.we work full-time .so heating goes on for a burst when we come home.

Are you turning the heating on now at this time of year? 

stu12345_2 said:

just pointing out that it's the gas that's the killer not the electricity.

It is not really, gas is the cheapest way to heat (ignoring self generation and heat pumps, which are not applicable), however the boiler can use a lot getting everything (pipes, radiators, heat exchanger) up to temperature, they are more efficient used at a lower heat flow over a longer period than in half hour intervals. What is your usage in kWh annually for gas and electricity? At this time one would expect very low gas usage as it should only be needed for water heating.

stu12345_2 said:

it used to be £5 a day when gas was very high due to the imports and the Ukraine war
used to use £1 a day in a key meter in an all elect old 3 bed flat but that was 2007 and was out for most of the day.

Prices from 2007 are irrelevant, you also need to compare kWh, not £, to get a good comparison of what it will cost you this winter. However £3 per day at this time of year is still high.

I have also just seen on another post that you are paying "pay as you go", do you mean prepayment, pay on receipt of bill, or do you mean variable Direct Debit? If you are paying on receipt of bill then you are paying 11% more for your energy.

Scot_39

If your very careful with heating - with gas heating especially - £3 a day could be achievable for single occupancy on average over a year - but unlikely to feel "comfortably warm" on a cold winters day.

I heat with electric - and my forecast at Oct rate is now under £1000pa (until prices rise again in Jan).

But my summer bills are closer to £60, winter last year despite using far lower heating, peak c£150+.

So say £2 to £5 per day on average.

But in order to keep bills low at last winter's rates - I pushed and dropped heating c1-2 deg C plus cf previous winter - to 15 for abit - too cold - tgen 16C in living room - 14/15max elsewhere.  And really had to layer up accordingly - 3 top - 2 bottom - on many days.

I probably won't go that far this winter.  And that despite loss of EBSS meaning I will pay £100s more this year NET (calculated  c£312 at July rates).  

But my off peak just dropped from c20p to c18p - but allowing for the peak premium  I am still paying an average  c25p/kWh for electricity  - gas heating currently 7p/kWh on DD on a normal direct domestic account.

So at a push £3 not a silly number for gas heating - as my £3 winter heat premium could drop to say £1.20.   But you also have a 30p gas SC to pay.

At April 2023 gas / electric rates - one supplier - Utilita - estimated dropping thermostats 1C over winter would save average home £227.

See their guide to saving energy at

https://utilita.co.uk/downloads/info/6539UDE_Energy Efficiency_High5_ Booklet_4.2.pdf

It could help you achieve your goal.

So - and to be slightly more comfortable heat level wise - suspect £3.50 in winter might be an unrealistic goal, but £4+ for a slightly more comfortable temperature.  (That extra 50p+ with gas at 7p would buy the sort of heat energy you'd get from a 1kW electric heater for say 5+ hrs).

stu12345_2

the gas is blasted for about 30 mins.try to keep flat at a steady 18 to 20 degrees.noticed it getting cooler as we go into autumn.we do have gas showers also.
it's just that 30 mins of gas moves the smart meter much more than 3O mins of TV.fridge lights laptop hifi speakers etc.
I have  never had microwave on for 3O mins so can't comment.
but washing machine on 30 degree setting still barely moves smart meter.
I have 2 radiators open at max and combi boiler set to Midway.
I also set wall thermostat to 18 thro the night.when we awake the radiators are tepid as if they have kicked on and off during the night and the smart meter has went up 3O pence

Scot_39

stu12345_2 said:

we are a couple in a modernised council flat.we work full-time .so heating goes on for a burst when we come home.just pointing out that it's the gas that's the killer not the electricity.
it used to be £5 a day when gas was very high due to the imports and the Ukraine war
used to use £1 a day in a key meter in an all elect old 3 bed flat but that was 2007 and was out for most of the day.

Epg capped gas c10.3p last winter - its currently c7p.

£5x7/10 = £3.50.

Plus your normal electric.


And the 30min gas sending meter crazy - any heat source will use more energy trying to raise temperature than one simply maintaing it.

People are often unaware of how a typical boiler is rated cf electric heating. A gas boiler could be using equiv of 15-20kW plus inititially to raise flow temps - thats 15 or 20 single bar electric fires - then settle back to much lower. 
And combi boiler to heat hot water flows - normal domestic ratings c25-40kW - even higher than heat only or boiler hot water tank combinations.
Many will quickly auto derate gas burners to c5-6kW as flow temperatures normalise and still be cycling on off on thermostats once at temperature.

MattMattMattUK

stu12345_2 said:

the gas is blasted for about 30 mins.try to keep flat at a steady 18 to 20 

It seems odd you already have the heating on, unless you live in the north of Scotland, without heating the indoor temperature should not be dropping below 18c at this time of year in most of the country. 

stu12345_2 said:

degrees.noticed it getting cooler as we go into autumn.we do have gas showers also.
it's just that 30 mins of gas moves the smart meter much more than 3O mins of TV.fridge lights laptop hifi speakers etc.
I have  never had microwave on for 3O mins so can't comment.
but washing machine on 30 degree setting still barely moves smart meter.
I have 2 radiators open at max and combi boiler set to Midway.

In 30 minutes your boiler is using just under 6 kWh of gas, outputting 5.96 kW of heat. As a comparison that same amount of heat via electricity would cost around £1.80. None of the other things you mention use much electricity, thirty minutes usage of several entirely different things is not a sensible or useful comparison.