Help understanding excessive electricity usage

1moneyspendingexpert1

Hello,

I'm looking for some recommendations on how to resolve my crazy electricity bills/usage. We do not use any gas.

I slipped up and forgot to take manual readings in Jan/Feb, but from 29th Dec-7th March we used 2283 kwh of electricity. So using approximately 1100 kwh per month. During Summer months we use around 500-600 kwh per month. I'm currently paying £330 per month, £55 of which is added to reach my target balance later in the year.

3 member household - myself, wife and young daughter. Small rented 2 bedroom house. Out working/school during the week. My computer has a fairly high power draw during evenings and weekends. We do around 4 clothes washes per week. We do not use the heating system in the house, it is an old fashion vent system which blows hot air into the rooms. From my understanding this is expensive to run, so the only heating we use is a 1.2kw infrared (meant to be more efficient) bar heater in the living room set to 22 degrees, with the hot water tank on timer in the airing cupboard upstairs keeping the upstairs warm at all times. During the Summer months I have to turn this off timer and switch to just heating it using the boost function, otherwise it's just too hot upstairs. I'm not sure if this method is more economical, or if it uses more energy because I am heating up the water from cold every day to take showers. Clothes are dried by hanging them in front of the infrared heater (no tumble dryers).

I have tested that no one is tapping in to our electricity, by switching everything off and monitoring the meter readings throughout the day. 

I am on a flexible tariff with Octopus. It is worth noting that only the day reading (2) works on my meter. The figure of the night reading (1) has never gone up since we moved here over 3 years ago. When I raised this with them some time ago, they said I was on a tariff where everything goes through on the day rate, but at a reduced price. I can't see anything in my account that backs this up. They also said they couldn't install a smart meter because I had an incompatible meter. That was over 1 year ago, so maybe things have changed now.

Hoping for some possible reasonings as to why A) my usage could be this high and what would you do in my situation? £330 per month just for electricity is running me and my small family into the ground.

Thank you in advance.

1moneyspendingexpert1

The cool looking emoji guy was meant to be a B ) !

Veteransaver

Do you only use electric for heating and hot water?
If so then your electric use will be very high in winter.
Do you have gas?

MattMattMattUK

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

Hello,

I'm looking for some recommendations on how to resolve my crazy electricity bills/usage. We do not use any gas.

I slipped up and forgot to take manual readings in Jan/Feb, but from 29th Dec-7th March we used 2283 kwh of electricity. So using approximately 1100 kwh per month. During Summer months we use around 500-600 kwh per month. I'm currently paying £330 per month, £55 of which is added to reach my target balance later in the year.

Are you setting your targets based on cost or your desired living standards based on usage?

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

3 member household - myself, wife and young daughter. Small rented 2 bedroom house. Out working/school during the week. My computer has a fairly high power draw during evenings and weekends.

Gaming PC whilst actually gaming? Most PCs at idle or low use will not use much, my desktop only really draws power when I start gaming, game designing, video editing, video encoding or rendering, where it can ramp up considerably, but for browsing, office tasks etc. it cruises along at around 120w (i7 13700k and RTX 4090), with around another 80-120w for the monitor, peak draw however can get close to 800w.

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

We do around 4 clothes washes per week.

Somewhere between 2 and 4 kWh then, but what about bedding, towels, the other bits that only happen once a month but that all add up? It could easily be higher because people tend to underestimate, but for a reasonably modern washing machine (less than ten years) and a 30c wash you would be looking at around 0.6kWh per wash. 

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

We do not use the heating system in the house, it is an old fashion vent system which blows hot air into the rooms. From my understanding this is expensive to run, so the only heating we use is a 1.2kw infrared (meant to be more efficient) bar heater in the living room set to 22 degrees

Is the blown air system gas or electric? If it is gas powered it will be considerably cheaper per kWh of usable heat even though it has lower efficiency as gas is around 20% of the price of electricity, heating with electricity via resistance (Infrared, bar heater, panel heater etc.) is the most expensive way of heating one's home, even if electric heaters are 100% efficient. 

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

with the hot water tank on timer in the airing cupboard upstairs keeping the upstairs warm at all times. During the Summer months I have to turn this off timer and switch to just heating it using the boost function, otherwise it's just too hot upstairs.

Is this heated via electricity? You should deal with the heat loss, either replace with a modern high insulated tank, or at the very minimum add an insulation jacket to the tank and lag the pipes in the cupboard. Also this should not run all the time, it probably only needs to be on a few hours a day of electric, doe sit have a timer?

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

I'm not sure if this method is more economical, or if it uses more energy because I am heating up the water from cold every day to take showers. 

It does not cost more because you are heating up from cold, it costs more because you are losing the heat from the tank, which needs to be dealt with. That said the cost of heating the water up from cold will likely be your biggest energy use. 

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

Clothes are dried by hanging them in front of the infrared heater (no tumble dryers).

This will likely create a damp problem over time, do you have a dehumidifier or ventilate the room?

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

I have tested that no one is tapping in to our electricity, by switching everything off and monitoring the meter readings throughout the day. 

Very unlikely to be the case.

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

I am on a flexible tariff with Octopus. It is worth noting that only the day reading (2) works on my meter. The figure of the night reading (1) has never gone up since we moved here over 3 years ago. When I raised this with them some time ago, they said I was on a tariff where everything goes through on the day rate, but at a reduced price. I can't see anything in my account that backs this up. They also said they couldn't install a smart meter because I had an incompatible meter. That was over 1 year ago, so maybe things have changed now.

Ok, so are you actually on a single tariff, or an E7 tariff? From what you have said no storage heaters so E7 would not make sense. In your Octopus account what is your actual tariff name and rate(s)? They probably cannot install one because of the legacy wiring, do you rent or is this your own home? If it is your own home it may be worth considering having the consumer unit upgraded and installing storage heaters and a new water tank, if a renter then worth considering moving.

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

Hoping for some possible reasonings as to why A) my usage could be this high and what would you do in my situation? £330 per month just for electricity is running me and my small family into the ground.

Your usage is high because of the above, the cost is linked to your energy usage, I would do the above. 

amanda1024

Have you considered getting a (government subsidised) heat pump, since you’re already using electricity for heating? Heating (house and water) is very likely to be the biggest electricity usage. 

1moneyspendingexpert1

Veteransaver said:

Do you only use electric for heating and hot water?
If so then your electric use will be very high in winter.
Do you have gas?

Hello, only using electricity as mentioned in the first line.

Even in the Summer months, we are using 500-600 kwh - which still seems excessive. I know every home is different, but comparing my usage to colleagues and friends who have bigger families in bigger houses, they are using between 200-350 kwh right now in the winter.

1moneyspendingexpert1

amanda1024 said:

Have you considered getting a (government subsidised) heat pump, since you’re already using electricity for heating? Heating (house and water) is very likely to be the biggest electricity usage. 

I have not looked into this as the house is rented, so my options are restricted when it comes to changing the current systems in place.

Gerry1

As previously asked, is there a gas supply that you are choosing not to use?

Swipe

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

Veteransaver said:

Do you only use electric for heating and hot water?
If so then your electric use will be very high in winter.
Do you have gas?

Hello, only using electricity as mentioned in the first line.

Even in the Summer months, we are using 500-600 kwh - which still seems excessive. I know every home is different, but comparing my usage to colleagues and friends who have bigger families in bigger houses, they are using between 200-350 kwh right now in the winter.

500-600 kWh per month over summer months is excessive.

MultiFuelBurner

The key is your base usage not in winter months being 500-600kwh imo.

We work from home 24/7 and hit maximum 300kwh in summer months and that includes running air conditioning and using the tumble dryer 5-6 times a week (vented old style)

1moneyspendingexpert1

MattMattMattUK said:

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

Hello,

I'm looking for some recommendations on how to resolve my crazy electricity bills/usage. We do not use any gas.

I slipped up and forgot to take manual readings in Jan/Feb, but from 29th Dec-7th March we used 2283 kwh of electricity. So using approximately 1100 kwh per month. During Summer months we use around 500-600 kwh per month. I'm currently paying £330 per month, £55 of which is added to reach my target balance later in the year.

Are you setting your targets based on cost or your desired living standards based on usage?

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

3 member household - myself, wife and young daughter. Small rented 2 bedroom house. Out working/school during the week. My computer has a fairly high power draw during evenings and weekends.

Gaming PC whilst actually gaming? Most PCs at idle or low use will not use much, my desktop only really draws power when I start gaming, game designing, video editing, video encoding or rendering, where it can ramp up considerably, but for browsing, office tasks etc. it cruises along at around 120w (i7 13700k and RTX 4090), with around another 80-120w for the monitor, peak draw however can get close to 800w.

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

We do around 4 clothes washes per week.

Somewhere between 2 and 4 kWh then, but what about bedding, towels, the other bits that only happen once a month but that all add up? It could easily be higher because people tend to underestimate, but for a reasonably modern washing machine (less than ten years) and a 30c wash you would be looking at around 0.6kWh per wash. 

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

We do not use the heating system in the house, it is an old fashion vent system which blows hot air into the rooms. From my understanding this is expensive to run, so the only heating we use is a 1.2kw infrared (meant to be more efficient) bar heater in the living room set to 22 degrees

Is the blown air system gas or electric? If it is gas powered it will be considerably cheaper per kWh of usable heat even though it has lower efficiency as gas is around 20% of the price of electricity, heating with electricity via resistance (Infrared, bar heater, panel heater etc.) is the most expensive way of heating one's home, even if electric heaters are 100% efficient. 

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

with the hot water tank on timer in the airing cupboard upstairs keeping the upstairs warm at all times. During the Summer months I have to turn this off timer and switch to just heating it using the boost function, otherwise it's just too hot upstairs.

Is this heated via electricity? You should deal with the heat loss, either replace with a modern high insulated tank, or at the very minimum add an insulation jacket to the tank and lag the pipes in the cupboard. Also this should not run all the time, it probably only needs to be on a few hours a day of electric, doe sit have a timer?

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

I'm not sure if this method is more economical, or if it uses more energy because I am heating up the water from cold every day to take showers. 

It does not cost more because you are heating up from cold, it costs more because you are losing the heat from the tank, which needs to be dealt with. That said the cost of heating the water up from cold will likely be your biggest energy use. 

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

Clothes are dried by hanging them in front of the infrared heater (no tumble dryers).

This will likely create a damp problem over time, do you have a dehumidifier or ventilate the room?

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

I have tested that no one is tapping in to our electricity, by switching everything off and monitoring the meter readings throughout the day. 

Very unlikely to be the case.

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

I am on a flexible tariff with Octopus. It is worth noting that only the day reading (2) works on my meter. The figure of the night reading (1) has never gone up since we moved here over 3 years ago. When I raised this with them some time ago, they said I was on a tariff where everything goes through on the day rate, but at a reduced price. I can't see anything in my account that backs this up. They also said they couldn't install a smart meter because I had an incompatible meter. That was over 1 year ago, so maybe things have changed now.

Ok, so are you actually on a single tariff, or an E7 tariff? From what you have said no storage heaters so E7 would not make sense. In your Octopus account what is your actual tariff name and rate(s)? They probably cannot install one because of the legacy wiring, do you rent or is this your own home? If it is your own home it may be worth considering having the consumer unit upgraded and installing storage heaters and a new water tank, if a renter then worth considering moving.

1moneyspendingexpert1 said:

Hoping for some possible reasonings as to why A) my usage could be this high and what would you do in my situation? £330 per month just for electricity is running me and my small family into the ground.

Your usage is high because of the above, the cost is linked to your energy usage, I would do the above. 

Sorry I can't figure out how to quote individual lines or paragraphs, so will try to just answer your questions/comments in order.

That target is set by Octopus. They have added the additional £55 per month to even out my balance by August this year as it's currently in debit.

The computer is used for gaming approximately 4 hours per evening, potentially double on weekend days between me and my daughter.

Bedding/towels etc. are included in my estimate of 4 washes per week, but we could call it 5 washes per week on average for arguments sake.

The household vent heating system is electric, as mentioned in the first line we do not use any gas.

Hot water tank heated by electricity. It has a jacket. We are unable to change the systems due to it being a rented property mentioned in my OP. It is on a timer to come on for 2 hours in the early morning hours, which provides us enough hot water for each day from one tank.

We only heat up the tank from cold during the summer months. It is on timer throughout the winter as it helps keep the house warm, preventing us from using other heating methods. Either way my electricity usage seems excessive regardless of 1100 kwh per month in winter or 500-600 kwh per month during the Summer. I know every home is different, but comparing my usage to colleagues and friends who have bigger families in bigger houses, they are using between 200-350 kwh right now in the winter.

I agree we should take more care to prevent damp problems over time, by drying clothes using the heater. I will source a dehumidifier moving forwards.

The Octopus tariff is simply just called 'Flexible Octopus'. The rates are as follows:
Electricity (day): 37.18p per kWh
Electricity (night): 15.60p per kWh
Electricity: 42.10p per day
Although the night rate is useless, as mentioned our meter is only recording usage on the day rate. However this in itself doesn't explain how we are using so much electricity. It's a rented property. Moving is certainly an option, however I was hoping it might be easier to resolve my electricity usage issue, than it is to move house entirely with no guarantees that the situation will be different.

Thank you for taking the time to break down my post and make your comments, I take everything on board.