Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask how many kwh electricity you used last month?

32 replies

Iloveliono · 15/02/2025 18:37

We are a family of 4 adults. 2 are under 25. 2 of us are working from home all week. We have a tumble dryer and gas heating. All cooking is electric. We used 620kwh electricity last month...... are we unusual? I googled and it said the average is 300kwh per month but that's an average for all year. We dry washing outside in the summer.
Are we a power hungry family? We do have 2 games consoles running many hours a day. The home workers have 4 screens between them.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Iloveliono · 23/02/2025 13:44

Thank you for all the responses. Such a mixed bag we all are. I think it's the tumble dryer and our shower being a power eating 11.5kwh. We all use that once a day and the young adults seem to be a long time in there! I think it's increased lately with the 4 screens being on all day during the week, plus the TVs and games consoles in the younger 2s bedrooms. We cook all electric too. Oh well, summer is on its way 😊🌞

OP posts:
JaffavsCookie · 15/02/2025 20:48

1082 kWH, 3 adults.
No mains gas, but we do have a tank of lpg.
Cooking, showers all electric, we sometimes run electric radiators if we can’t be bothered to light the log burners.

Blue278 · 15/02/2025 20:34

1795!! And my house is tiny. And it is cold. I have the heating at 15.

4 adults. Two WFH. All electric. Tumble dryer. Water is from a tank that heats overnight.

It has gone up massively since my WFH son moved in. He has a very powerful PC and is a gamer so it might be that.

Bills in winter have gone up to about £480/month.

Youagain2025 · 15/02/2025 20:30

I'm in a 5 bed town house. Myself and 4 kids . We used 542KWH

MumChp · 15/02/2025 20:29

January we used 110 kWh/2 adults & 1 tween. One of us is working 25% from home.
We have gas for cooking but an electric
oven. We have a washer and a dishwasher but no tumble drier.
We have central heating.
We are quite aware of the kWh we use. It ranges from 80 to 140 kWh a month.

Lemoncurd · 15/02/2025 20:23

December - 1400 kWh
January - 1800 kWh

Had an air source heat pump installed last year so are now 100% electric house.

Also have an EV, but the EV tariff we are on means that we averaged only 13.3 pence per kWh in January. Paying a lot less than when we had gas.

LeroyJenkinssss · 15/02/2025 20:18
  1. 4 adults, 2 kids and an ECv that does around 2k miles a month (would be ~900 without the ecv)
GreenMarigold · 15/02/2025 20:16

746kwh

Family of 4, average sized house, electric car. I wfh 3 days a week. We use our tumble dryer once a week for towels and dishwasher every night.

I am surprised our usage is on the high side of average.

Redglitter · 15/02/2025 20:14

137 in January I live alone but have been off work most of the month so probably been using more

addictedtotheflats · 15/02/2025 20:14

107kwh. 2 adults 2 kids under 6, one adult wfh 2 days a week.

Electric hob, 90% of cooking in airfryer, washer/dryer used most days. We live in a 2 bed terrace

Tallyrand · 15/02/2025 20:10

381.7kW.

I have a smart electric car charger that tells me exactly how much electricity I use in the house.

blackteaplease · 15/02/2025 20:06

Ours was 538kwh for January. 2 adults and 3 kids age 9-15. I wfh 4 days a week, we also have an electric shower and occasionally use the tumble drier

welshweasel · 15/02/2025 20:06

1471!! Electric vehicles, hot tub and electric underfloor heating.

backtickles · 15/02/2025 19:57

Just had a look and ours was 605, 2 adults, 2 high school children in standard 3 bed semi.

Feels very high for an average household.

TimeForSpring · 15/02/2025 19:52

2 of us on electric showers, 2 on gas showers. Gas hob. No tumble drier. We are a higher than average usage household (4000kWh a year).

DazedDragon · 15/02/2025 19:52

We used 260 kWh in January for electricity.

Family of 5 (3 kids 9 to 14) with 3 days a week and weekends with people at home.

Our heating is gas (but I do turn my oil filled electric heater on if its just me at home and really cold).

Our cooking is electric (induction).

Bjorkdidit · 15/02/2025 19:51

It will be the cooking, shower and tumble dryer that accounts for a lot of it. Plus the homeworkers making hot drinks? The rest will be a drop in the ocean in comparison. Is your gas lower to compensate?

Our use is probably around average for electricity and lower than average for gas, but we're two people, one of whom works away a lot, in a well insulated 2 bed semi, so that's probably as expected. We also cook entirely with electric and have an electric shower.

Onabench · 15/02/2025 19:46

328 Nov
363 Dec
352 in January
4 bed house. 2 adult, 2 kids. Adults both work from home 5 days a week. No electric vehicles. Use washing machine/dishwasher and tumble dryer daily

Decafflatteplease · 15/02/2025 19:41

469 here for Jan, pretty standard for us in the winter months.

Electric shower on 3-4 times a day accounts for alot of it!

Tumble dryer most days to finish things off that have been on airers

2 dehumidifiers running most of the day

Gas hob and oven and gas heating

ohtowinthelottery · 15/02/2025 19:36

I've just looked at December's figures as DS moved out mid January. 3 adults
We used 275kwh. Heating is oil, cooking is gas hob but electric oven. DS was working from home (2 screens and bedroom lights on all day). DH & I both retired so home a lot.
1 electric shower used by DS - ours runs off the tank but is a power shower.
So yes, your usage looks high to me.

Upstartled · 15/02/2025 19:23

680kwh. Large family, electric car. We generated 150kwh of that with solar panels - about as good as it's ever going to get in January.

StMarie4me · 15/02/2025 19:19

2 of us, no electric heating but someone in all the time. Many lights and devices on for DD27 who is disabled. Mainly use air fryer and microwave rather than oven.

ThirdStorm · 15/02/2025 19:09

123kwh in January. 4 bed, 1 adult. Out of the house typically 5 days a week. Washing machine and dishwasher used typically once a week. No tumble dryer. Cooking predominantly with air fryer rather than oven. All lights are LED.

Houseflatboatplanejump · 15/02/2025 19:06

168kwh for January. 1 adult, 2 teens. It has varied between 141 and 169 over last year. I'm disabled and rarely leave the house. Have gas central heating but all cooking is electric. I have a tumble dryer but use it only as a last resort.

FlameOfFlowers · 15/02/2025 19:02

659kwh, Dh works from home has 1 laptop and 2 screens, Ds1 also works from home, again 1 laptop and 2 screens. We use a tumble dryer too. I am also at home and use a computer. There are 3 adults here, usually 4 but Ds2 is at uni.

Look the whole "average" consumption takes into account Betty living alone, a pensioner who might have a tv or the radio on, people with children in school all day and in bed at 7.30pm all the way through to 4 or more adults with phones charging, consoles, gaming computers, laptops etc and usage throughout the evening. I used to work for an electricity supplier.

We have so many things now plugged in compared to say 25 years ago. Appliances have got more energy efficient but we have more electrical things. We are also gas central heating with electric cooking.