Comparison site says I am 40% higher than neighbours for electricity usage

Neal81

Hi All.

I have calculated my electricity usage for the year from my bills in 2024, & was looking around to see if I could get any savings.  When I put the actual kwh usage on my gas & electric it says my usage of electric is 40% higher than my neighbours & my gas 1%.

I am in a 3 bed semi detached house with family of 4 & work full time with partner working 3 days a week so nothing other than fridge etc. being used in the day.  My son is using TV & Xbox from about 4pm-10pm & my daughter mostly doesnt use much except charging devices.  I have the usual appliances & when my partner is not working she is mainly on her phone doing things around the house so not really using anything.  My annnual consumption shows to be 3866 kwh & we have gas central heating & dont use portable ones at all.

Does this seem normal?  I cant imagine im using 40% more than people in my street as there are other families up & down there.  Living in west midlands area.

Thanks

debitcardmayhem

Percentages and comparisons with neighbours are pointless. If you want us to help we need kWhs for each of gas and electricity for the year. What tariff are you on now?

Neal81

debitcardmayhem said:

Percentages and comparisons with neighbours are pointless. If you want us to help we need kWhs for each of gas and electricity for the year. What tariff are you on now?

Im not taking it as gospel just a rough guide.  My elec is 3866kwh & my gas is 14286 kwh for 2024.  I am on EON Next pledge tracker 12m V3 but its coming to an end.

QrizB

Neal81 said:

My annnual consumption shows to be 3866 kwh  ... Does this seem normal?

It's within the range of normal for a household of four people.

Neal81 said:

I cant imagine im using 40% more than people in my street

The national average is 2750kWh/year, but the average household is fewer than four people.

Coincidentally (or not), 3866 is 40% more than 2750.

Do you have a smart meter and a working in-home display?

Neal81

QrizB said:

Neal81 said:

My annnual consumption shows to be 3866 kwh  ... Does this seem normal?

It's within the rane of normal for a household of four people.

Neal81 said:

I cant imagine im using 40% more than people in my street

The national average is 2750kWh/year, but the average household is fewer than four people.

Coincidentally (or not), 3866 is 40% more than 2750.

Do you have a smart meter and a working in-home display?

I do have a smart meter but only get readings to check on the actual meter, dont have a working in home display.  Thats obviously keeping me a little blind.  Its sounding like given the size of house & 4 people consumption that it stacks up quite normal I think.

QrizB

Neal81 said:

QrizB said:

Neal81 said:

My annnual consumption shows to be 3866 kwh  ... Does this seem normal?

It's within the rane of normal for a household of four people.

Neal81 said:

I cant imagine im using 40% more than people in my street

The national average is 2750kWh/year, but the average household is fewer than four people.

Coincidentally (or not), 3866 is 40% more than 2750.

Do you have a smart meter and a working in-home display?

I do have a smart meter but only get readings to check on the actual meter, dont have a working in home display.

Depending on your supplier, you might still be able to see 30-minute consumption charts via your online account or smartphone app. This will let you see what time of the day you're using all your electricity. For example, if you're using more than 100 watts or so overnight, when everyone is asleep, it might mean you've got a rogue appliance.

debitcardmayhem

Also you could install a mobile app (free) like loop or bright or hugo , they aren’t real time bt can get your data from the dcc when it is pulled, and you can go back 12/13 month

Rodders53

Get the Bright or Hugo apps to see your smart meter stats... 1/2 hourly if you enable that.  You can then see what your use is like day by day.
e.g. we use a lot more on days when doing the washing and tumble dryer, or even run the dishwasher.  (Christmas Day was high from all the cooking).

You can buy a replacement IHD E.ON Smart Meter Replacement | Replacement Partner | ivie Bud if you want.

We are just two and have a similar annual electric use: but are retired, have a hot tub and aircon in the Summer and that makes our Summer use higher than Winter.

Scot_39

You perhaps need to get a better grip on little spends - as  over time they add up if genuinely worried - but not sure it's exactly excessive electric use.

Older kit can take say 5-10W plus on standby.

Check your lighting - my sisters kitchen diner halogen spots were over 500W - the led replacements about a tenth.  My parents had 11 bulbs in 2 light fittings in kitchen diner- upto 660W filament - 400W halogen that failed regularly - now all 5 or 8w leds.

I still have a couple of old cfl bulbs in rarely lit rooms -  they pull about 15W - the leds I replace them with more like 8W.

Even things like your fridge freezer might be working harder adding 10s kWh cf ones that see less traffic.

But as you chose mention it - take your sons xbox and say a small 32" led tv or 27-32" gaming monitor.  

The TV if led  maybe upto 50W, a higher refresh dedicated gaming panel taking 4k hdr, possibly even more the xbox latest generation google says power upto 200W - older models going back to original still over 100W.

Let's for simplicity of numbers say 200W for 5 hrs = 1kWh - 365 kWh per year if a genuine average.

[Do you really mean 6 hrs a day ?  Sounds a lot]


That alone (if up to 6 hrs @ 200W would be over) - getting on for 10% of your 3866.

Add a 10W led light bulb for the bedroom for ave of 3 hrs  of those 30Whx365 = 10kWh pa. 

Any secondary plug in electric heating for kids bedroo s etc  before gch goes on would really ramp up electric cost too.

Similarly for all those little devices - mobile phones, tablets , laptops etc - yet they might in end all add up to non trivial costs in 100s kWh per annum.

My tablet  take 15W for 4 hrs to charge - 60Wh every few days - maybe only 10-20kWh annually - but if heavily used and needed charging every day - thats 40kWh.

Some mobile phones won't be far behind.


The median tdcv - for 2-3 in a 2-3 bed iirc guesstimated household size range  by Ofgem 2700 kWh  

But your 4 people - 4 sets of  devices, showering, hair care, washing - dishes and clothes, cooking if seperate meals or different times etc  - lighting and heating ? Different spaces etc etc.

So just over a third over median / 1166kWh doesn't seem that excessive.

onomatopoeia99

I live alone and use about 6000kWh of electric per year.  I'd say you aren't doing too bad with a family of four.

My consumption is relatively high as I have a server running full time and a big UPS that between them consume around 2000kWh per year, making up a third of my consumption.

Chrysalis

That predicted usage is nonsensical in my opinion, mine is still way higher than my actual usage, and they have no excuse for getting it wrong now with 3 years of smart meter data.

Only these things matter on comparison data.
Exit fee on new tariff.
kWh price.
SC price.
TOU data, whether fixed or spot/day ahead pricing.

Pretty much everything else is useless bloat.  Ignore any nonsense about annual cost, direct debit cost and predicted usage.