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?

The washing is largely due to bed-wetting

Any reason you can’t use pull ups or nappies? Much easier.

Just checked ours -4987 kWh of electricity and 16227 for gas.

That’s 2 adults 2 children and I don’t feel like we are excessive with anything. It’s £195 combined gas and electricity Bill per month. I’d love to know how people achieve these low bills

@bluebluezoo

The washing is largely due to bed-wetting

Any reason you can’t use pull ups or nappies? Much easier.

We got told to stop using pull ups by a nurse who said that my DD would never get dry if we used them.

After 2 weeks I told them it was too much washing and we needed more help.

It's not always as simple as 'use pull ups' when your child is older than a toddler

We sound similar to you although there’s three of us in a 4 bed.

We use a similar amount of gas, but vastly different electric, annually we use around 2,500 kWh, this year looking a bit higher but not much.

That’s with dishwasher washer and dryer running an average of once a day, electric shower every day and plenty of devices running.

Something somewhere is mega inefficient and needs investigating.

*We got told to stop using pull ups by a nurse who said that my DD would never get dry if we used them.

After 2 weeks I told them it was too much washing and we needed more help.

It's not always as simple as 'use pull ups' when your child is older than a toddler*

Mine wasn’t dry until nearly 8. It was as simple as using nappies for us.

I wasn’t prepared to ruin mattresses and wash multiple loads of bedding, not to mention the disturbed nights. I wasn’t getting up 4 or 5 times a night to deal with wet beds then try and do a full days work.

So nappies it was until they started waking up dry. I was told it’s beyond their control anyway and that nothing would be done until they were 8.

@bluebluezoo try asking your 12 year old to wear nappies.

Then tell me it's as easy as using nappies.

Yep. Nothing to be done till they're 8.

Or 9
Or 10
Etc
Etc
Neurotypical child.

'Maybe you didn't potty train early enough' 'maybe you potty trained too late'
'Have you tried a sticker chart' 'have you tried drinking more/less'

I would have loved to have had all dry sheets by 8. Or 9. Or 10. Or 11.

And I have other kids. Who were dry practically overnight.

Doesn't work like that for everyone.

(Sorry OP it's touched a nerve, when we were in the midst of the heaps of wet sheets a relative told me if I left my child in wet sheets they'd stop wetting- and preferably wet sheets for several days as 'that'll teach them')

& @bluebluezoo no ruined mattresses- washable or disposable waterproof layers.

I used to make the bed with:
Undersheet, waterproof bed mat, sheet
Waterprpof bed mat, sheet
Waterproof bed mat, sheet
Waterproof bed mat sheet

That way, in the middle of the night all I had to do was strip, not remake each time. I'd pray for only 3 wets- the worse days was 5. I know this as I had to record it to prove to the clinic that we were bad enough for help.

Just checked mine and electric is 5305 a year approx , gas 7397 about £92 a month
Roughly about £100 a month on electric and gas about £41 a month
Hoping electric goes down now kids are back at college although dh work from home so has increased electric use and I have been out of work so home more in the day
Going to gill in tax return for dh for wfh as not a lot but may help
Spent about £70 last year a month of electric and £30 on gas so big increase

Oh yes garden lights, that's something you can look at. We have 4 I think which are always being set off by cats. My husband recently changed them to super efficient ones which will help a lot.

It's okay @poshme. I completely understand If only the answer was as simple as pull-ups.

There's been a tonne of great suggestions on this thread. However, it has brought home how none of us are 'average' though!

The washing for example - I could have refluxxy twins, a bed-wetter, an under11s rugby team kit to wash, regular flooding due to periods, an incontinent dog, work uniforms to wash daily, cloth nappies. We're all so different we will naturally use our washing machines differently. Even the littlest things will make a difference, for example - I use cloths in the place of wipes for removing make-up, cleaning the bathroom, cleaning out the small pets, wiping the benches, cleaning spills, cloth masks etc. so there is always a pile of random cloths to add to a load.

The dishwasher - I imagine working shifts out of the house makes a vast difference, as would lack of perpetually snacking children, and varying amount of cooking from scratch versus more convenience foods.

Same for heating the house - obviously those who are WFH or have children at home will generally use the heating more.

Everyone has such varying circumstances it kind of makes the average figures largely redundant. I do however agree that there must be something very electrically inefficient somewhere I am determined to find it!!

Yes, tax return is good shout @donewithitalltodayandxmas

I just submitted readings today and in the last month used around 450kWh electricity. Looking at my statement we tend to use 450-550kWh each month

Don't have a tumble dryer. We use washing machine once or twice a day, electric oven, electric showers, dishwasher once or twice depending what has been cooked. Have a big fridge and freezer so probably use quite a bit just keeping things cold