Its high usage but not insane high
Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)
- Thread starter DXP55
- Start date
Its high usage but not insane high
Soldato
Over a year? or monthly?
A year is roughly (going by the estimates on my last months statement)
Elec: 5,600Kwh
Gas: 20,000Kwh
That's with a smart meter sending readings every 30 mins. So I would hope the predicted/estimated useage would be fairly accurate.
With regards to elec useage, about 1000Kwh of that will be my works electric vehicle, so I do get that paid for direct to my supplier via work. So my personal elec useage will be about 4,500Kwh a year
Soldato
It seems like people are sleep walking into paying high bills to some degree, how many of us here have looked at cutting back on usage a bit?
When prices were cheap, I think people just didn't care if things weren't efficient.
I'm a relatively high user of electric but I've been hunting for ways to cut my usage down before the bills go up, rather than after.
Heating you kind of need it, even if some people say they won't use it, but even then setting thermostat a bit lower or not having it on quite as much as normal may be necessary.
When prices were cheap, I think people just didn't care if things weren't efficient.
I'm a relatively high user of electric but I've been hunting for ways to cut my usage down before the bills go up, rather than after.
Heating you kind of need it, even if some people say they won't use it, but even then setting thermostat a bit lower or not having it on quite as much as normal may be necessary.
That’s very similar (slightly less) than my predicted payments. Octopus Crystal Ball predicted that at my current DD payments I’d be £2.5k in debt by March next year. Didn't know whether to laugh or cry! I’m looking at a monthly DD of £600 to cover costs which will be extremely difficult to meet.
Soldato
Your usage is above average according to this, even for a 4-5 bedroom house:
What is the average energy bill in Great Britain? – British Gas
Looking for a guide on average energy bills from British Gas? Learn how your utility bills depend on your lifestyle, home size and how many people you live with.
Not going to call out your electric usage, mine is probably similar, but gas usage definitely seems high.
Average of 1.666K kwh of gas per month, with 6 months of the year being light months for gas due to low CH usage, it looks like your peak usage in Dec/Jan sort of time would be well over 2K kwh.
If I had the big unit prices I'd have to be having a difficult conversation with the gf. She does not like the cold. Neither do I. But I think with the projected winter prices I'd have to do something
Octopus Crystal ball put mine about £1.5k in debt over Winter before returning to positive balance next June. However I'm not sure if Octopus allow you to go into such high debt and if they will demand full payment.
Soldato
Being super warm in winter is going to be a luxury I won't want to pay for.
I'll be setting my thermostat to 18/19C and dressing up warmer than usual I expect.
Here lies the issue, ‘how much they want to pay’ may well be very different to ‘how much they need to pay’ to maintain their current consumption levels.
That is generally the crux of the matter.
You can’t really dispute the DD amount if you don’t know what your energy usage and calculate your forward projection based on current and upcoming prices.
Soldato
Your usage is above average according to this, even for a 4-5 bedroom house:
What is the average energy bill in Great Britain? – British Gas
Looking for a guide on average energy bills from British Gas? Learn how your utility bills depend on your lifestyle, home size and how many people you live with.www.britishgas.co.uk
Not going to call out your electric usage, mine is probably similar, but gas usage definitely seems high.
Average of 1.666K kwh of gas per month, with 6 months of the year being light months for gas due to low CH usage, it looks like your peak usage in Dec/Jan sort of time would be well over 2K kwh.
My situation is not really "typical" though. (btw this is for a 4 bed detached house)
My house is pretty much in use all day every day because I had my Mom and Step Dad move in with me as I became my Moms unpaid carer. They are both in ill health, with conditions that are made a lot worse with cold temperatures, so come autumn/winter/spring time the heating needs to be on pretty much all day, so gas useage will be a lot higher than average, as most people wouldn't have it on while they are out at work.
They also give me their winter fuel payment every year and pay me "board" as such every month to help with the bills, so I do get help that way.
WRT electricity, I have edited my last post to say I use a works electric vehicle, so my personal elec useage is actually 4,500kwh, which according to that link is roughly average for a 4/5 bed.
Soldato
These people need to change supplier. I've never had this issue - currently with Octopus and it takes me literally 13s to log into my account, click "Change my Payments" -> "Edit Amount", enter the new value and click "Update Payment Amount". Job done.
If the supplier doesn't accept the new amount then that's a separate issue, most likely because they don't believe the new amount is enough to cover the cost, which is almost certainly down to 2 things:
- The supplier is working from inaccurate readings - e.g. the customer is not providing regular readings, so they are estimated.
- The customer has not calculated their costs correctly - most likely because they are not taking into account both the increased consumption and increased unit prices over the winter.
Yeah, definitely. So far I've:
Bought an extra 200mm of loft insulation (not yet installed, it's too hot up there!).
Gotten rid of my AV receiver - while it's only ~1-200w, it still doubles the consumption when watching TV (although this was partially to do with a re-arrange of the living room and wanting to have a cleaner setup as well).
Dropped the HW and CH temperatures on my boiler by 10c
Dropped all the temps on the thermostat and TRVs by a couple of degrees
All little things, but should knock a few ££ off hopefully.
Dressing up warmer than usual? At 18/19c I assume that means putting shorts and tshirt on instead of sitting in your boxers?
Soldato
So the scenario you're in is not necessarily a common one, but as you say you get help with the bills a little.
I am in a 3 bed (new build) detached sat on the cap pricing. Yearly usage for Electric on my end will be around 5500 kwh and gas 6000 kwh.
I have gas CH on a combi and it's also used for my hot water supply, so I use it year round but in summer it's more like a few kwh per day, and in winter it goes up.
With the extra payments you get it may well fall back into more reasonable territory?
Soldato
It's probably as stated elsewhere partly, these people have no idea on actual usage on average, or by month/year, and also may already be in debt etc.
In any case, my point still stands, if not a financial burden to go Variable, it doesn't make sense to have to micromanage your payments on Estimated.
Good stuff, I think everyone needs to take such action.
Another good one is putting your PC to hibernate/sleep when not used, and making sure Balanced power mode is on. This should allow it to lower power to CPU when not needing extra horse power.
I used to always set mine to max performance, and just leave it running for hours on end when not using it!
Soldato
Dressing up warmer than usual? At 18/19c I assume that means putting shorts and tshirt on instead of sitting in your boxers?
Boxers and two pairs of socks!
For real though, actually putting on a jumper and stuff, often I'd just wear t-shirts even in winter indoors. I wouldn't usually set my temps at more than 20/21 anyway, so 18/19 is livable for me.
Associate
Over the last 4-5 years, all electric house(no gas) storage heaters/hot water eco 7 tariff, we have gone from using 9000+ KW pre year
to under 2000KW.
Lot of changes to get that number/cost down, All lighting is now low energy led, changed the cooker to Gas (runs off calor)
Multyfuel stove for most of our heating (one storage heater left on medium settings for background heat for 3 months of the year). Time shifting 90% of our usage to the GO off peak time.
Small solar setup in the garden, DIY battery setup to offset day use as much as possible.
Now our electricity bill will be well under £500 per year even with the huge cost increases coming.
Soldato
Mines Gas CH/HW with a combi which was replaced about 4/5 years ago with a Worcester Greenstar I think it was, which at the time was good effieciency rating as Combi boilers go. Windows were all replaced around 3 years ago. Loft was already well insulated when we moved in.
Thermostat is set to 21 during winter months for pretty much most of the day until around 10pm for bed, then it goes to 19, but Mom/Step Dad do occasionally bump it up to 22/23 for an hour or two on occasions if they are feeling particularly cold.
Payments wise, the only things we'll be receiving this year will be the standard £400 for me and their winter fuel payment will be topped up from £200 to £500, so only £900 total "help" but bills will be rising from my current £3200 to nearly £8,000, so the help is merely a drop in the ocean.
It will basically mean taking most of what spare money I'm left with every month and probably having to ask for more from parents towards the bills as well to cover everything. I never lived a particulaly lavish lifestyle either, I don't drink/smoke/eat out/have takeaways go out socialising etc. My only "vice" is my gaming, if I have to give that up I wont be living I'll just be existing, then really what is the point?
I've turned mine down from around 20c to 18c. Also turned the children's off at night now as well as they're old enough to be able to pull covers on now.
Will only be heading the living room rather than the whole down stairs as well.
Soldato
May have to be a bit more militant about not going above 21C, those 1-2 extra C will just add to an already high cost. Better to consider more blankets or a hot water bottle or something.
Your situation otherwise doesn't sound great but then it's kind of immovable object meets unstoppable force, you can't not heat the house to a higher temp, but to do so you must pay the cost.
I'd like to see gov stepping in with more measures to help those who need it the most, but I'm currently planning around that not being the case. Hopefully we get a mild winter!