If you live in a 2 bedroom Victorian terrace...

[LabLabrador]

AIBU to ask how much your gas and electricity bills were last year?

Sorry, I know the answer is the same as how long is a piece of string but a rough idea of what to expect would be helpful!

We are a family of 3 (2 adults and a 5 year old). The house has an EPC of C (double glazed, gas CH with a combi boiler so no immersion heater, gas hob, electric oven). We would like to heat the property to 21 C during the day and 16 C at night. We will be out during the day during the week. Fairly average electricity usage, I think, although we use the oven frequently.

I am assuming our electricity bills will drop without an immersion heater but I have no idea how much to budget for gas as we currently live in a building with a standing charge for communal heating and no gas appliances.

I've googled average useage in 2022/23 but I've no idea if our plans (hopes) to heat the house to 21 C in the winter every evening and weekend are "average". At least, not average since the CoL crisis so the avergae useage may have dropped last year, IYSWIM.

If anyone who lives in a similar house and leads a similar lifestyle could help out, I would be very grateful. Or maybe not! I have a feeling it will not be good news 😂

Anyone?

Hi OP,
You can get what others pay and average it out but honestly there are so many variables that I think asking for what others pay is pointless
It all depends on how each family lives and uses and then take into account the variety of different rates across the place too it's near impossible to gauge from others

We are not a Victorian house but it is a two bed semi detached and right now I'm about £126 for gas and electric combined (obviously using bare minimum gas as heating hasn't been on for a couple of months now)

Thanks. Perhaps a better question would have been how many units of gas (or whatever they are called) people use.

I was hoping posters might say if they heat their homes to the same temp for a similar amount of time as we would like, or more, or less.

£126 seems very low! But I'm guessing you pay your bill for what you have used that month rather than a DD averaged out over the year so the payments are equal?

The suggested average useage from utility companies for a family of 3 in a small house was £2.5k a year last year. I've no idea whether that is for people heating their homes to tropical temperatures or shivering in onesies under 2 duvets. Average spend doesn't really tell you much without knowing that!

2 Bed Victorian terrace, mostly 1 adult and 1 teen

2020 - £969.04
2021 - £977.26
2022 - £759.84

2023 so far £738.21

😭

My monthly bill is around £110. 2 adults, only out of the house 3 days a week so use more heating than full time workers.
we use our electric oven very little now as we have an air fryer - so cooking costs have gone down.

2 bed slightly pre-Victorian terrace. Single glazing but thick stone walls. Thermostat at 18 generally during the day everyday (WfH) and 12.5 at night usually, but two adults here, no children and DH runs like a furnace at night. We cut back from 21 in the day as our bills were rising and I was feeling guilty about wasting the energy due to our shite windows. New boiler in 2020. Tarriff is a slightly more expensive one which says it means they buy equivalent in renewables or something (see above guilt).

This year our estimate is £864 for both E&G (but we were away for over 5 weeks travelling with basically no gas/electric use)
Last year: £1042
2021: £1089
2020: £803
2019: £765

Generally that is 60% electric and 40% gas - no gas appliances other than boiler.

I live in large 2 bed - 2 bath end terrace about 30 years old
so not Victorian
newish Gas Combi 5 years or so and same for the radiators
we have shutters on every window and we have big patio doors
I am replacing the windows and doors and patio doors this year
But overall the house is well insulated

i have the heating on at 17.-18! -21 sometimes 22

in nov Dec jan feb when it wad cold GCH was roughly around 30 a week and a few week it was 40
Im pre pay so accurate in cost
now I’m not even putting on 6-7 a week

electric around 3 or less a day
2 adults no kids but generally someone always at home

last year pre hikes my gas was around 500 for the year
electric was 900 -1000
this year I think it will be around 700 and electric 1200

we don’t stint on anything
I do have an airfryer and we rarely use the tumble dryer but I do have a huge heated throw that I use in the winter

I'm quite shocked by how low everyone's bills are. Our electricity bill has gone from £30 to £110 a month when we aren't using the immersion heater (we have an electric shower and a dishwasher). It was £160 when we had it on. The meter readings are up to date.

I was working from home, so one computer on all day, and we do use the oven a lot, cooking from scratch daily, but I didn't think we were being extravagant with electricity! I suppose we usually have a computer/TV/X box or something on in the evening but not loads of devices at the same time, just the one. We don't leave things on standby, turn lights off, rarely use the tumble dryer.

I might need to investigate why our electricity bill is so high. Our old supplier used to show a graph of how our useage compared to previous years and national average usage, and we were always very low compared to average and the same year in, year out.

Bumping for the day time crowd!

People saying £8/900 a year was less than I thought. We paid about that in our old house, which was a 2 bed Victorian terrace, before the prices went up.

Ballpark guess would be about £1500-2000, because the price cap amount is £2000-2500 for a 2/3 bed semi and maybe lower energy rating - C is quite good isn't it?

One thing you might want to check is your shower usage. Electric showers are very expensive to run if you use them a lot.

Ours is 10.8 kWh, so that's nearly £4 an hour to run. If you each have a single 10 minute shower each day, that's £2 a day or £60 pm on showers, which would account for a good chunk of your increased bill, with the rest easily accounted for by a daily dishwasher cycle.

And of course, one shower each a day is considerably below average in MN land, the last 'how much do you shower' thread I read had several people confidently stating that 'everyone' showers twice a day, and three or four showers a day wasn't unusual.

Hmmm. I top my gas and electric meters up by far more than any of these amounts. And we don't use our heating!
Wtf.

£145 a month for both plus I'm £400 in credit

Near identical set up.

£202 pcm

Hmm... That's really helpful, everyone. I think I will budget the full £2500 suggested by utility companies just in case! It's reassuring to hear that most people aren't paying that. I was expecting the opposite.

I'm in a three bed Victorian terrace with four adults and bill's were £280 in the winter and now direct debit has been dropped to £125 for the warmer period.

2 bed terrace, built in 1890.
Through the winter we were at about £280-£300 a month, heating set to 16 in the day and 18 for 2 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the evening. New double glazed windows.

Spring and so far this summer, anywhere between £120 and £200

This is on the price cap tariff with a smart meter so I can see actual usage

2 bed Victorian terrace, EPC rating C. Gas CH combo boiler, electric oven & hob. One small DC. One of us WFH 3 days per week. Thermostats were set at 20 degrees morning/evening over winter but don’t typically heat the house constantly during day or night.

Our combined gas & electricity usage for the past 12 months is about £2,200, we pay just over £200 a month direct debit. Monthly cost during winter was about £250-300.

Two bed Victorian here; although terraced on one side, and both upstairs and downstairs are converted into rooms (although not yet legally bedrooms). I work from home all the time, DH and baby DS are here too.

British Gas has sent me a bill today saying they'll reduce our DD; and estimating our annual gas at £1113.11 and electric at £629; if that's useful.

I'm hoping it'll drop further when we make it more energy efficient; we've got a rubbish door, old windows, and a really inefficient, very old boiler. We've also got a giant, old and dodgy Rangemaster-style oven, so I think a new one would probably reduce energy use.

When you say 21°C during the day, you mean for a hour getting up in the morning and in the afternoon/evening after getting home from work? No need to heat it while you’re out. 21°C is quite high, try 19°C for starters and see how that feels. At night, 16°C would be much too hot for me! Again, start with 13°C or 14°C and see how that feels.

2 bed mid terrace, built c.1875. Boiler about 5 years old. Well insulated. I'm very careful with heating and power usage. £1200 a year.

A dishwasher is an energy gobbler!!!! Same with a tumble dryer. I hardly use my electric cooker now as I brought a air fryer.....tons cheaper. Might be worth going on a comparison site as prices are meant to be falling soon.

Thanks again, everyone!

I think Which? calculated that dishwashers are cheaper and more environmentally friendly than washing up by hand as they use less water and less energy to heat the water, @shellyleppard ? The report definitely said it was cheaper than washing up by hand if you have an immersion heater and water meter, which is why we stopped and started using the dishwasher guilt free 😂

We are a family of 3, live in a mid terrace built in 1903. EPC is also C. Just moved in around 2 months ago. We don’t have a dishwasher, do a lot of washing, daughter is only 3 so has a bath every day. At the moment we are spending roughly 125 a month gas and electric. The projection for January is around 220. We initially were paying 200 a month but looking at lowering this to 180 in the next few months. We had budgeted £250 a month before we moved in but have been happy with the cost since we moved in as we don’t scrimp on what we are using but are careful to turn lights off etc

I know, @userunkjdjdjjd ! I was describing the house in further detail with things other than the EPC that will affect gas/electricity useage so posters could say if their set up was similar.