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Is this a crazy amount of electricity usage?

45 replies

FloppyFlippy · 03/09/2022 15:38

I’ve just done a meter reading and have used 3,711 units of electricity since 21st March?
Is this really high?

Is this a crazy amount of electricity usage?
OP posts:
Cynderella · 03/09/2022 16:25

Yes - we are high users, and have used about 2,000 in that period. That said, we have gas for hot water and a gas oven/hob. We still use over 5,000 a year - something I am trying to address.

BuenoSucia · 03/09/2022 16:31

I’ve used 1500 in that period and this is a 100% electric house.

DisplayPurposesOnly · 03/09/2022 16:35

I've used 963 in the last three months. Admittedly there's just me - no tumble drier or dishwasher, only brief irregular oven use but do have a daily electric shower.

Walkden · 03/09/2022 16:35

Depends if you have all electric cookers and hot water etc, I suppose.

I saw something saying the "average " figures in the UK are about 3k electric units and 12k gas units annually

LoveHamble · 03/09/2022 16:36

Yes

dementedpixie · 03/09/2022 16:42

We use about 480kwh of electricity per month so in 5 months that would be 2400kwh. We have gas central heating too though.

Do you have gas as well or just electricity?

Meandyouandyouandme · 03/09/2022 16:43

I’ve used 693 units mid February to mid August, that’s me and DD, we use washing machine, dryer and dishwasher regularly and DD works from home. No electric shower, but electric oven, I’m not particularly frugal we live in a 3 bed terrace.

BMW6 · 03/09/2022 16:45

We used 1849 kWh electricity in the whole of 2021.

We have gas ch and gas hobs though. Are you all electric?

Aposterhasnoname · 03/09/2022 16:45

We’ve used about 1100 in that same period so I’d say yes.

FloppyFlippy · 03/09/2022 16:46

We have gas too but the usage is low as we have a solar panel that heats the hot water.
I haven’t looked at my usage before but agree it does seem high.

OP posts:
SwelegantParty · 03/09/2022 16:46

My annual electric usage is just over 2500kWh (four bed house, built early 1900s, gas heating and hot water, everything else electric, one occupant, home all the time) - so, yes, sounds like a lot to me!

Dox9 · 03/09/2022 16:48

We use under 3000 annually so yes that sounds pretty high.

lanbro · 03/09/2022 16:49

I've used 450 since March...but I barely cook at home, no dishwasher, on my own half the week and out at work 8-12 hours a day. So yes, yours seems high!

lljkk · 03/09/2022 16:50

yes it's crazy high. We are 4 adult size ppl in big house, electric cooker on every day, we use less than 3711 per year.

Hugasauras · 03/09/2022 16:53

Yes. We aren't careful at all and are about 5,500 a year. That's with frequent tumble drying, gaming PCs, some air con usage. You are on track for over 7k which is pretty high if you also have gas.

FloppyFlippy · 03/09/2022 16:59

We are a family of 4, 2 retired adults, one WFH adult and 1 hybrid working adult. We have lots of gadgets etc but I never tumble dry and we don’t have an electric shower. We do have an electric car but our usage is a lot higher than I expected.

OP posts:
Hugasauras · 03/09/2022 17:00

To be fair an electric car does use a lot so that's more understandable now. Are you on an EV tariff so you get cheap charging overnight?

FloppyFlippy · 03/09/2022 17:03

No we are not on an EV rate as we’re on a good fix, it’s going to be interesting to see how much it goes up in October when our account is reviewed.

OP posts:
teenagetantrums · 03/09/2022 17:07

We use about 110kw a month but a two bedroom flat, two adults. No dishwasher or tumble dryer.

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 03/09/2022 17:10

Family of 4, 1 WFH.
Electric oven.
No EV - yet
Only been away for 1 week this summer
Electric shower

We've used 1300 kWH since 21/03

BarbaraofSeville · 03/09/2022 17:24

Don't know how much electric cars cost to charge, but people say it's not that much and if three of you are WFH, are you actually driving that much for charging to use a lot?

That figure is more than the annual national average in a little over 5 months, so yes, very high.

Is any of the WFH on gaming type PCs that are on for hours at a time? They use a lot of electricity.

BMW6 · 03/09/2022 17:40

Do you have a American style fridge freezer OP?
Dishwasher?

FloppyFlippy · 03/09/2022 17:52

Yes one DC does have a gaming PC, we use the dishwasher twice a day, we have a regular fridge freezer that we bought earlier this year. The washing machine is about a year old, I probably do 10 loads a week, half on 45 minutes and half on a 15 minute refresh cycle. I looked up the eco setting and it seems to cost more than these two.The dishwasher is over 9 years old and on its way out. Our oven was bought in lockdown and takes a long time to cook anything, it was a case of getting any oven that could be delivered.

OP posts:
FloppyFlippy · 03/09/2022 17:53

We've used 1300 kWH since 21/03
So I’ve used nearly three times this amount…blimey!

OP posts:
Cynderella · 03/09/2022 17:56

We are well above average despite having gas for water, heating and cooking. I blame this on:

  • washing and drying clothes etc for four adults - going to cut down on drying. Washing uses a third of a kwh, so that's OK
  • three of us WFH, so PCs, laptops, monitors etc on all day every day in at least one if not two rooms
  • evenings, there are two PS5s, gaming PC, 3-4 TVs, laptops etc
  • American style fridge freezer (370kwh a year) and lots of devices on standby all the time (starting to make it easy to turn most off when not in use)
  • Dishwasher on 5-7 times a week - that's almost a kwh every time. I've taken control of that because everyone else is crap at loading it loads it differently and puts it on half full
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