utility usage - is this high ?

[Jim]

I'm trying to get an idea of what sort of level our utility usage is and whether there are any cost savings to be made. Unfortunately I've no idea of what's high and what's not !

Looking at bills from today and this time last year we are getting through

8507 Kwh per annum on electricity 23625 Kwh per annum on gas (Took the gas meter reading of 750 units and mulitplied by 31.5 - think this is how the conversion factor works)

Annual spend is £1250

This is for a 3 bedroom end of terrace, 2 adults and one ankle biter

Does this sound about right or should I tell the Mrs to put a jumper on and turn off the heating !

Cheers

Jim

[Tiny Tim]

I have a 3 bed semi, built in ~1957, double glazed and with 4" loft insulation but I doubt any cavity insulation. We're two adults, one at work, one at home all day.

The heating is left on 24*7 throughout winter, controlled just on the thermostat, which is set to 18C on the thermostat which actually measures 20C on a couple of thermometers at the thermostat. We have gas central heating and gas cooking.

We're pretty gadgety so there are lots of adapters left plugged in and a Media Center PC and wireless router and Sky left on 24*7. The 32" CRT and a laptop are on about 16 hours per day.

Annual electricity consumption is about 4,000 KWh and gas is 14,500 KWh. The annual bill is about £600 through Powergen.

So you're using twice the gas, twice the electric and paying twice the price that we are for a similar sized property and one extra ankle biter. It sounds a bit excessive to me.

[Colin Wilson]

LOL my monthly direct debits for gas and elec are ~=A360 each :-}

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[Roger Mills (aka Set Square)]

It sounds high to me - both the consumption *and* the price!

I have a 4-bedroom detached house with 3 adults - all retired, one of whom is 96 and needs it hot! I use about 10,000 Kwh of electricity p.a. and about

30,000 Kwh of gas. The electricity is high on account of having a garden pond with pump/filter running 24/7 - plus 2 computers which are on for all the waking hours.

I'm on a capped Scottich Power tariff, and pay £88 per month (£1056 p.a.) by DD which *does* cover my consumption - i.e. I'm not building up an increasing debt.

Make sure that your house is well insulated, and consider switching to a cheaper supplier - although they're all dearer now than when I switched.

[Tiny Tim]

Ouch! I've just had a thought about why my bills are as low as they are - We don't use the third bedroom except very rarely when guests stay over so the rad is off and the door closed for that room. Ditto the dining room, which only gets used about once a month. So from a heating viewpoint I guess my 3 bed semi is more like a 2 bed.

Also for the living room we now use a single low energy bulb, giving a soft glow to the room, instead of 3*60 Watts on a dimmer that we used to have. The kitchen is lit with a single flourescent tube and no halogen underlighting or anything like that to rack up the bills.

[.]

eek ! you may have a leak :o)

Stop The Badger Cull - Respond by the 10th March

[Gav]

a good piont is the insulation! i love insulation, it saves raw cash, insulate everything, look it up and most/certain insulations make summer comfortable too!

my friend brother's house has just undergone the FULL treatment, floor to roof, cost quite a lot to do, but he only runs his heating for a couple of hours a day, thats in winter!

electricity is another subject, i wish i could devise a low voltage/usage house system then i would market it!

[Andy]

My usage, 2 people, three bed semi, 16,500 kWh gas/annum and about 5,000 kWh electricity/annum.

I am pretty careful with the heating though.

Andy.

[Guy King]

The message from Colin Wilson contains these words:

Grief - ours are £19 and that often puts us ahead of the game! It's a late 60s terrace.

[Roger Mills (aka Set Square)]

In an earlier contribution to this discussion, Gav"

[ARWadsworth]

I think a customer today has already sorted this. He explained to me (whilst I rewired his lighting circuits) that if I used 12V insead of 240V then I could use very thin wire and so make less damage to his plaster and it would only use a twentieth of the power as 240 divided by 12 is 20. I nodded in agreement as he wrote out a cheque for my services.

Adam

[Chris Bacon]

'swat I was thinking. Turn everything off, at the switches, and see whether the meter indicates current is being drawn. Pull fuses or off MCBs to isolate the circuit. Perhaps there's a hot water leak, too!

[Roger Mills (aka Set Square)]

Well, I hope he keeps nice and warm, sitting by his 50 watt electric fire!

[Owain]

He wouldn't need an electric fire, what with those electrically-heated walls.

Owain

[Guy King]

The message from "Roger Mills \(aka Set Square\)" contains these words:

Just right for an electric blanket. Or one of those electric granny warmers - sort of like a sitting-down sleeping bag you can plug in.

[Colin Wilson]

2 of us in the house, the 2nd bedroom is a computer room and has very=20 heavy use daily - I did have a compact flourescent but it was failing=20 so I stuck a normal lamp in. 3rd bedroom is set up as a gym, but the=20 door is always open, so the heating is on.

Hehe... kitchen - 9*50W halogens (yes, it blinds you temporarily if=20 you make the mistake of switching on more than one half at once...),=20 living room 4*60W regular lamps on a dimmer

Not to mention the multitude of wall warts, sky receiver, 2*computers=20 left on 24/7 since about 1993... every one of the 5 double sockets in=20 the computer room has a plug in it, and at least one has a 4-way=20 adaptor fully populated :-}

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[Colin Wilson]

I`ve never heard of underwall heating before :-p

[Colin Wilson]

Mid 30's "terrace" here - although to all intents and purposes the=20 downstairs is detatched. Its a slightly strange build arrangement=20 where every other house had a passageway, but we`re in the middle of a=20 row of 9, and therefore have a passage on both sides.

Upstairs, both are "terraced" in the normal sense of the word.

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[PeTe33]

I bet Mary gets a rebate on her standing charges for lack of use!

[Nick]

I am amazed at the huge cost of heating and all the equipment needed, as discussed in this newsgroup. We use 6000 Kwh per annum on electricity and don't have (or want) gas or oil. All heating is electric. We don't need air conditioning. There is never any snow outside here. I suggest that people keep that in mind when comparing the cost of living in the UK and northern NZ, or elsewhere.