to be worried by how many people don't know roughly how much energy they use?

[cakeorwine]

Read loads of threads on here about people being surprised by their bills. I appreciate that some people struggle to read meters but Smart Meters are more common nowadays and people do get regular bills.

It seems that there are people who are unaware of how much they pay per KWH, their standing charge and roughly how many units they use - and how it can vary.

For information - the 'average house' is supposed to use 2400 KWH of electricity and 12,000 KWH of gas per year.

That's what the price cap is based on - with the appropriate charge per KWH and a standing charge.

Knowing what you pay per month isn't that helpful if you don't know how much you use - and that's when the new charges and tariffs are going to hurt.

If you know what devices use power, you may be able to make changes.

I know some people know this and how much power they use but I worry that there are many people who don't and will get really caught out.

For information - the 'average house' is supposed to use 2400 KWH of electricity and 12,000 KWH of gas per year.

I'm surprised by this. We have a 3000 square foot detached house and our electric usage is about half of this, other than the 3-4 months a year that the central air conditioning is on.

Gonna be honest here I don't know what mine is off the top of my head. I'd have to have a look at a bill. It's up there with my daughter expecting me to memorise a 4 week dinner menu for school, my nan expecting me to know the TV listings for the week etc. That kinda stuff don't stay in my head 😂

Gonna be honest here I don't know what mine is off the top of my head. I'd have to have a look at a bill

Fair enough. Would you roughly know what you think you use in a year and with any new tariff coming along once you looked at a bill?

Honestly? We are already as sensible as we can be so I'm slightly in denial. I'd rather find out the new bill in July when my fixed tarrif ends than try and find out now!

I have absolutely 0 idea how much electricity we use. But we are careful, we only use what we need, we live in a brand new and therefore very well insulated house. So I'm not worried particularly and I don't want to start stressing about whether
we boil the kettle too much or what have you.

No I wouldn't off the top of my head, could easily access the information within about 5 minutes though. I just think there is a limit to how much I can just remember with work, kids stuff, remembering other things etc 🤷‍♀️

Me too. I know how much our bills are but I have seen some people don’t bother to provide meter readings as they don’t really want to know. There were some people being interviewed the other day saying they didn’t know how they could afford the new charges in t shirts in their homes.

I am afraid to say some people are just clueless...

@MissConductUS

For information - the 'average house' is supposed to use 2400 KWH of electricity and 12,000 KWH of gas per year.

I'm surprised by this. We have a 3000 square foot detached house and our electric usage is about half of this, other than the 3-4 months a year that the central air conditioning is on.

Really? We use about 6000kWh electricity and 15000kWh of gas per year. 4 bed detached in Scotland with 2 adults and 2 teens. Gas central heating, electric oven and shower, no tumble dryer

I have no idea.

I just looked at a recent bill online and it gives the info on there

I don’t know what I use and don’t care, really. If something needs charging, it needs charging. If I’m cold, the heating goes on. 🤷🏽

I haven't got a clue. I'm always as frugal as I can be with fuel for environmental reasons. Knowing the numbers won't make any difference to that.

No idea. We try and cut back on electric and gas but if we need it we use it. We try and buy second hand to save money. Even though my husband working full time and me part time we know it's going to be tough. Part of me thinks just deal with it when it happens.

For information - the 'average house' is supposed to use 2400 KWH of electricity and 12,000 KWH of gas per year.
What's an average house? We are in a two bed semi and use 1300 and 7400. Only two of us so less in hot water, other active usage, but fridge/freezer and heating would be the same as if there were more people.

No idea. I am not going to be cold at home if I can afford not to

@Everydaydayisaschoolday

I haven't got a clue. I'm always as frugal as I can be with fuel for environmental reasons. Knowing the numbers won't make any difference to that.

Same here.

Yes, YABU.

I don't have the head space to carry around that information.
I know what I have used in the previous year, each year when I compare companies and sort the best deal.
I know if makes sense to turn things off when not using them, obvious things like only boiling the water you are going to use, etc etc, so me knowing how much I am currently paying per KWH, or exactly how much I am using per month makes no difference to me whatsoever.
I am fortunate enough not to be in the 'just about managing' financial bracket and accept I will be paying more after April, but knowing exactly how much more now isn't going to stop me having a cuppa when I fancy one or not MNing on my laptop whilst watching TV at the same time, so it is not knowledge I need to carry around in my head.

I’ve just checked my usage ( had no idea how much we were using) and in January we used 2206 kWh gas and 1326 kWh electricity if the average is 6000 per year for electricity I have no idea why I’m using so much as I’m almost 10000 above that! Gas we obviously use less
Of in the summer.

For information - the 'average house' is supposed to use 2400 KWH of electricity and 12,000 KWH of gas per year

That isn't correct, it's not what an "average" house is supposed to use it's what they would use if they did average/expected things. It's a meaningless figure anayway as obviously there aren't average households doing average things

That's what the price cap is based on - with the appropriate charge per KWH and a standing charge

This is also totally wrong and back to front. The price cap per kWh rates are set based on the costs of supplying the energy, nothing at all to do with usage

Once the cap tariffs have been calculated they are applied to the meaningless average uses to come up with a meaningless annual ££ cost

I agree with you that its very worrying that many people are in for a big shock but to me the more concerning issue is that a lot of people don't understand that their monthly direct debit isn't the same as what they use and even more worrying is that some people even think this amount is fixed.

I admit I am completely clueless. I don't even know how I'd find out, I think we still get paper bills so will have to look. It is something we will have to think about as I imagine our usage is really high, I know are bills certainly are.

I know where I could find the information if I wanted to, but I don't have any reason to carry that kind of information around in my head. So if you asked me, I wouldn't have a clue.

I am aware energy prices are shortly going to increase. I'm not sure how knowing how many kWh I use off the top of my head would help. The bill will go up by the same amount whether I know specifics or not.

I pay quarterly and only for what I use by meter readings, so don't have any debits or credits building up by doing a monthly direct debit. The bill obviously varies each billing period, more in winter and less in summer.

Actually it's 2900 KWH for electricity. Oops

www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/price-cap-increase-ps693-april

I dont gave a clue.
But can work it out if I opened the page with my account info in it.
I do know we have lucked out, and are on a fixed rate til summer '23. At which point we are either going to need to find a massive amount more per month like many are needing to do now, or the prices will be close to coming down again.

I don't need to remember kWh, it's written down on my bill if I need it. I know roughly what I pay per month (about twice what I paid a year ago). I'm aware of how I could cut our consumption a bit if I was really struggling but currently I'm not desperate enough to make those changes.

How would I benefit from cramming our kWh usage into my already overloaded head?

I compare bills but can't get my head round kw usage .
I pay by direct debit and I usually go massively into credit in the summer which offsets the rest of the year.

I do know that my energy provider is on a par with other energy companies.

Not sure there much more that I can do .
I'd switch if I felt that I was being overcharged but energy companies aren't wanting to take on new customers at the moment.