Electricity Usage

follyfoot

I am with British Gas on E7.   I am in a 2 bed property with electricity only.  I have 2 storage heaters, 1 electric panel heater and 1 oil filled radiator which are all switched off at the present time. I heat my water in a water storage cylinder which has a timer. My estimated annual usage is 11,855.  Is this average or high for a family of 4?

Netexporter

Probably not. If you add together annual average gas and electricity figures it is in that ballpark. But every home/family is different. Most people can save a significant amount of energy if they make a bit of effort.

Reed_Richards

It's high, but is it accurate?  Have you been in the property long enough to know what your actual annual usage is?

follyfoot

Reed_Richards said:

It's high, but is it accurate?  Have you been in the property long enough to know what your actual annual usage is?

I have had problems with British Gas since being transferred to them - their new system billed me for the incorrect readings (day reading became night and vice-versa).  They cancelled all bills for a 15 month period and then re-issued one bill to cover this period.   British Gas unlike my previous provider do not provide actual yearly usage statements, so I would have to go through my submitted readings.

Scot_39

follyfoot said:

I am with British Gas on E7.   I am in a 2 bed property with electricity only.  I have 2 storage heaters, 1 electric panel heater and 1 oil filled radiator which are all switched off at the present time. I heat my water in a water storage cylinder which has a timer. My estimated annual usage is 11,855.  Is this average or high for a family of 4?

It's not obvious what any 1 household in any one hone should or should not consume.  There are simply too many variables.

If try to go from say Ofgem tdcvs as in general all electric properties I suspect (*) in many cases to be smaller and they only realky do tdcv by quartile low median and high.  (*) Many larger off gas grid homes may have / use oil, lpg boilers or wood stoves etc for heat.

The headline duel fuel cap in media is based on 11500 gas and 2700, is for 2-3 in 2-3 bed.

They also publish less seen in media a high tdcv - 17000 gas and 4100 electric.  For 4-5 in 4+ bedroom.

So then get into problem of balancing heating more space vs individual use (hot water for washing - so showers, clothes wm cycles, cooking etc)

Put in say a 20% loss for gas heating inefficiency to gas numbers the total energy usage becomes c11900kWh and 17500kWh.

But then they also produce tdcv for electric multirate metered homes - tge electric profile class 2 figures.

Tthough to be an underestimate - as not all necessarily rely on electric for all heat - for whatever reason - are far lower than df.
Median of 3900 kWh and large 6700 kWh - which they sometimes tabalise against same households and duel fuel numbers.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/average-gas-and-electricity-usage


But in reality much comes down to individual situation.

How you heat - for how long and to what temperature - and home losses in winter and for many hot water year round.

I use about half the energy of my next door neighbours in a fairly identical 2 bed terrace according to ctm website energy comparison postcode search

Just over the old 4200kWh median electric cap in last cold winter c2018  but sub 3500kWh in last 12m in a mild one and I pushed heat down to min I could live with (16/17 and 14/15) to get there - too cold some days - so may creep back towards median tdcv this winter. 

The neighbours figures on CTM tool search were double  c7-8000 kWh.  I adult 1 child, one plus returning student out of term - so kind of 1.5 or 2 occupants vs my 1

4 showers (possibly 1-1.5kWh each) or child baths etc  daily rather than 1, every degree on room temperature etc when heating, cooking multiple meals daily if doing so etc - over time it all really matters.

The best you can do in reality
- ensure your bills accurate to measured
- ensure your on the best tariff (with nsh a good e7 should be cheaper than single rate - just check your % annual total used at night rate - and remember unlike sr cap - not all suppliers charge same e7 peak off peak rates see saw balance under the e7 cap)
- eliminate any obvious insulation issues - even if rent some steps like door draught excluder tape and floor draught excluders - cheap to do.
- ensure you use power / tariffs wisely - use hw immersion off peak, use nsh at e7 off peak vs plug ins at peak etc when can
- be careful re temperatures some say every 1C can be 10% on bills  - find a balance - between layering and room temps - bit trickier with infants.
- if own home - consider more serious insulation upgrades (loft, cavity) upgrade to more efficient heating over time Or solar pv to offset costs of current

MeteredOut

follyfoot said:

Reed_Richards said:

It's high, but is it accurate?  Have you been in the property long enough to know what your actual annual usage is?

I have had problems with British Gas since being transferred to them - their new system billed me for the incorrect readings (day reading became night and vice-versa).  They cancelled all bills for a 15 month period and then re-issued one bill to cover this period.   British Gas unlike my previous provider do not provide actual yearly usage statements, so I would have to go through my submitted readings.

If you want to know that estimated usage is close to accurate, reviewing your actual readings is what you should be doing. You shouldn't need to go through them all - if you can share your most recent actual reading, and one from as close to 12 months ago as possible, that will tell you a lot.

Are on on an E7 tariff? If so, you'll need both sets of readings.