How do we use twice as much electricity as the average house?!!?

[truthlemon]

I'm just messing on checking new gas/electricity suppliers and I've just worked out what our annual usage is...

665 cubic ft gas pa
7645 kWh electricity pa.

Now according to my Googling we are currently using TWICE the average electricity of a family of 4 in a 3-bedroom house. I am forever turning lights off after the kids and DH but what is eating the electricity?!

If you are a family of 4, how much is your electricity per year?

Our heating is gas (new boiler last year).
We have 3 bedrooms.
Work from home during day so regularly boil the kettle. We run the dishwasher once a day on average, maybe twice during homeschooling.
We have an electric oven which is probably on once a day. Have the usual Alexas in bedrooms. Lights and lamps all have LED bulbs. TV on in evenings only.

However, I do lots of washing. 1-2 loads a day, sometimes 3 - is it the washing machine?! Oh, and we have a robovac who is always plugged in, plus a heated dryer which is used during winter (but no tumble dryer).

Is there something obvious I am missing here?

You need to convert cubic feet to kWh. The conversion should be shown on your bill

And no it doesn't sound right

If anyone is interested this is the calculation for converting cubic feet to KWh

665 x 2.83 (converts to cubic meters) x 1.02264 (conversion rate) x 39.1 (average calorific value) / 3.6

Our usage last year was 7878 kWh of electricity and 20596kWh of gas, we have a smart meter and pay £159 a month for both. We’ve just changed from ovo to octopus and we have a £470 refund to come back.

In our house it is showers, the washing machine and tumble dryer that really racks up the costs. I also have the heating set to come on it the temperature drops below 15 degrees during the day.

And that gives 20902 kWh which is quite high

Working at home our electricity has gone up 15kwh per day on electric heating.

I'm not too concerned about the gas as the energy provider (Igloo) says it's average for a 3-bed house. So I must just be converting it incorrectly.

I dont think over 20000kWh is an average usage of gas. High usage is around 17000kWh

I'm just using the numbers direct from my online account.

It should show the conversion on your actual bill - that's where the kWh will be found

According to our smart meter we spend roughly £40-50 a week on electricity, 4 of us, 4 beds plus Annexe, 2-3 loads of washing and 2 dishwasher loads a day, plus electric car. No gas here but we fill our oil tank up about twice a year at around £800 a time.

P.s. I was saying 66500 was wrong not the other value you gave

As I said, I'm not overly concerned about the gas usage. It is a detached house with high ceilings and has been occupied 365 days out of the last 365 days. We used the heating more because the kids were at home so I'm sure the bill will decrease for the coming year.

We got a bed wetting alarm off Amazon and I swear it paid for itself in a short space of time on laundry costs, never mind the pull up pants. Years of changing the bed every bastard day, and the alarm cracked it in about a fortnight. It's not guaranteed, but it's worth a go.

To be fair, it's probably a combination of several things. If as PPs have suggested it's the heating of water that is the costly business then I will focus on that.

The showers certainly look pricey but there are 4 of us showering daily, plus I have one in the evening too. Apart from keeping them short, we can't really cut back on those. Well, we can but I don't want to!

The kettle might be an issue because it is used VERY regularly so I'll look into getting a more efficient one.

The d/w is on once a day normally but sometimes twice a day when we're all home. I would've thought that is normal given that we're both WFH full time? I will endeavour to minimise the ~50,000~ drinks the kids get.

What else was there? Oh, the washer!! Not sure what I can do there either. PE gear gets filthy, uniform needs to be changed daily, PJs changed for obvious reasons, bedding washed for the same reasons, DH wears his jeans and jumpers until they walk themselves to the washing basket but has a new shirt daily. I get 1-2 days from my clothes but the DC's are often only worn for a day.

We've unplugged the garden lights. I'm going to keep a close eye on the meter and get one of those energy usage plugs too.

Thanks Namechange but we've used a multitude of bedding wetting alarms, both from NHS enuresis clinic and ones we've bought ourselves. It's all a bit crap to be honest, but thank you

By the way your gas bill looks ok now. Our gas usage 15 % higher for family of 3.

Sorry if I missed it up the thread. Do you have underfloor heating?

5 of us and even during times when all of us were at home all day every day the dishwasher only was on once a day.
we are 'pot savers' though and use a mug several times through the day.

Before you buy an energy plug look on esb.ie they have a guide to turning everything off and then turning things on one by one while you check the meter.
It tells you what it should be for a fridge for example and then you can check if yours matches.

Oh yes, I'll try that M0rT. No underfloor heating.

Just wanted to say @truthlemon as someone who at one point was dealing with 5 bed wettings a night, that it will eventually get better.

We used pull ups for a long time, then were told to stop using them by the nurse (that then lead to the wetting 5 times a night).
After a fortnight of that I called them and said I couldn't do that any more and we needed more support. We had to wash not only the sheets but the duvet nearly every night too.

It took a long time, and a brilliant consultant, and medication, and alarms. And lifting.

But for at least a year I have washed sheets on a rota, not because they are wet.

(I know this doesn't solve your immediate electricity bill issues) 😀

665 x 2.83 (converts to cubic meters)

There are 35.3 cubic feet in a cubic metre. The OP has used just short of 9 cubic metres of gas.

Enough to release 210 kWh. In a year.

@poshme thank you

I'm not keeping up!