Heating energy used this winter vs. last so far

mightbedave

I got cavity wall insulation in the summer. My gas usage from September to end of January is 11% lower than the same period last year (heating/thermostat settings unchanged). Wondering how much of this is thanks to the new insulation or has it just been a milder winter.

Interested to hear how this compares to others with no insulation changes, particularly in-land in southern England.  

MikeJXE

Mine is down too and I put that down to the weather 

FreeBear

MikeJXE said:

Mine is down too and I put that down to the weather 

Likewise. Although the first two weeks of December were cold, it has been very mild since. Saturday & Sunday, the central heating didn't fire up at all, and for much of the proceeding week, has only come on for less than an hour each day.

Veteransaver

I think it has been ever so slightly milder so far this winter. We are in South and have used about 3% less so far, so reasonable to expect that the cavity wall insulation is having an impact.

Hoenir

Been a mild winter. 

Chickereeeee

mightbedave said:

I got cavity wall insulation in the summer. My gas usage from September to end of January is 11% lower than the same period last year (heating/thermostat settings unchanged). Wondering how much of this is thanks to the new insulation or has it just been a milder winter.

Interested to hear how this compares to others with no insulation changes, particularly in-land in southern England.  

Same with me. I had a look at local temperatures for corresponding days in December last year (2022), and there was not a lot of difference. For similar cold days (e.g. -4C overnight and around 0C by day) we seem to be using about 20% less gas. It is about the same saving for the whole of December as well. Pre-cavity insulation, on cold days the boiler was on maximum heat, and increased flow rate. Post-cavity insulation, the boiler can run at 50c most of the time, and only increase to 55c on the coldest days.

tim_p

December gas consumption down 28% on Dec22, Jan up 3% on Jan23. No insulation changes. 

The_Hawk

I also had cavity wall insulation put in last summer. My gas usage, from September 2023 to January 2024 inclusive is 21% lower.

Swipe

Mine is down considerably this winter compared to last but that's mainly due to me no longer being on a 8.8p night unit anymore so my hall storage heater is now only used during cold snaps and instead I run a dehumidifier in there when the weather is damp.

dunstonh

Oil use was higher over November to mid December.   November had a couple of weeks where it was constantly in the minus and got to minus 6 overnight.
However, late December to Feb its about the same as last year.

Spoonie_Turtle

Heat pump here, although I have switched the heating off for the savings sessions so that will have had a small impact (maximum saving 2kWh per session, so small indeed - and not forgetting that turning it back on afterwards it may have worked a little harder and negated some of that saving).  We did also have a couple of days where it wasn't working, in November 23.

Oct-Jan 2022/23, 1107kWh

Oct-Jan 2023/24, 1177kWh

6% more.

December 23 was ~30% lower than Dec 22, but the other months evidently outweighed that!  Huh.

(Central England, for location context.)

EDIT: maybe the output is a more accurate measure for comparison, actually.

22/23, 3529kWh
23/24, 3923kWh

11% more.