To not know how to cut down electric? This is surely ridiculous!?

[TotHappy]

Last two bills from E.on have been astronomical. My bill from this month last year was £82. That was on an old fixed deal so of course charges are much higher now - but I still can't believe my latest bill is £145! Since this time last year we've had a baby and come off our fixed deal. The amount of washing in this house (2 adults, 2 kids, 1 infant) is insane so I suppose the tumble dryer and dehumidifier is making a big difference but I don't think I can stop using them without serious mould issues.

Is this normal now and I just have to budget for this? I've just checked the reading myself on my meter and apparently I've used 40 kwh since yesterday! Is that to be expected? Electric cooking here as no mains gas but oil boiler.

How/can I cut down?

40kwh in 24 hours or less is not normal, that is insanely high. Are you using electric heating? Or hot water? Electric showers?

My deal with octopus went from £90/month to £150/month with a new tariff a couple of months ago so what you're paying is pretty standard. I think your main problem will be the tumble dryer. Can you get a heated airer instead?

But yes, 40kw in a day is pretty high.

I'm not sure 40kwh in 24 hours is abnormal if it's a larger house, family of 5, tumble dryer, washing machine, kettles, showers, lights, TV's, cooking, playstations etc all going constantly.

Tumble drying gobbles up electricity.

40kwh is more than I use in a typical week, but I'm alone in a very energy efficient flat, don't use a tumble dryer etc, but I can see how OP could easily get through that in a day of particularly heavy usage.

40kwh in 24 hours isnt normal unless youve got electric heating. We have got electric heating air source heat pump (no gas at all) and during this cold snap weve used 40-50
kwh per day but we use much lower than that normally when the temps >5 degrees

I’m using about 20kwh a day with showers, dehumidifiers, oven and washing machine. It’s awful.

basically we need to persuade the government to put a national energy strategy in place so we can have our own green energy - but at the moment they are busy cracking down on “ugly” pylons, so we’re fucked.

40kwh is a lot if your heating is an oil powered boiler. But yes, current standard variable rates are up to four times higher than the cheapest pre cap fixed deals, so you're going to have to budget hard for it and cut other items.

If it's not being used for heating or charging a car, that's a high usage.
Has the water been left on?
No baby here, but 2 adults and 2 kids. DH working from home. We use about 12kWh a day. Increasing to 15 some weekend days if we blitz the clothes washing and dishwasher during to batch cooking. Drops to about 8 if DH is working away for the week.

Sorry, should have said. If you really want to see what's using all the electricity, can you turn off all the circuits, monitor the meter, and switch them back on every 10 mins, looking to see which one sends the meter spinning?

No electric heating, no heated throws or anything- I use a hot water bottle and normal blankets. No PlayStation, kids are young but tv is on probably 5-6 hours most days and kettle on frequently. One or two baths a day, very rarely shower as shower is shit. Oven on often but not every day. Microwave used daily but obviously not constantly! It must be the washing machine and tumble dryer, they are on A LOT and dehumidifier nearly constantly.

If I'm reading directly from the meter, presumably that reading is right? Or can they go wrong?

Can you compare kwh use per month over a few years? It shouldn't be hugely higher if you compare June 22 with June 23, November 22 with November 23 etc. If there are big kwh differences, it might indicate a faulty meter or an appliance that is gobbling up electricity. Old fridges & freezers can use a lot I believe.

Seems high. We are average at the moment of 10 a day

But no tumble dryer

Some say this is high and use 2

Honestly the only way is to cut down on washing. Wear what you can twice or more (not pants!) and kids have one outfit a day and then straight into pyjamas after school (if staying home). My DD used to come home from school, change, then PJs. I now wear a different long sleeve tshirt every day and the jumper/cardigan/shirt gets washed less frequently. It does help, and better for the environment.

I remember the days I'd only have to look at something and then put it in the wash...heating blazing all day... sometimes even with a window cracked open for fresh air. Crazy fun times!

If you dehumidifier and washing machine/dryer on all the time, that would do it. Obviously, I don't know your specific circumstances but we do our washing at the end of the day and pop a horse rack next to radiator, it's dry by the morning. Could it be an option? We have no mould in the house despite washing every day and not using dehumidifier.

The kettle uses a lot too- I’ve timed mine on my smart meter and it’s costs us about 4p every time I boil it, which was often!! I’ve started boiling it once in the morning and then filling up a thermos with the remaining hot water- this lasts til lunch and then same again at lunch to see me through the afternoon. I feel so ridiculous and penny pinchy doing this but it’s saving me about 40p a day, which adds up over the month! It also makes my life easier when I run down for a brew between meetings as I don’t have to wait for a kettle to boil!

We have no mains gas and oil central heating. If you possibly can, use the oil to heat water rather than an electric shower or an immersion heater.
If at all possible hang clothes outside if it's not raining. That will not dry them completely but it will reduce drying time. Tumble dryers just eat electricity, I only use mine for a couple of minutes on dry stuff to get creases out. A plug in airer is useful and while they are electric they don't use anything like a tumble dryer.
Is your house damp? A dehumidifier shouldn't be necessary if the house is heated enough.

That is very high. We are a family of 3 with a teenager who uses power-hungry gaming rigs and still only average 6kWh per day.

But we don't have a dryer or a dehumidifier, clothes go on a rack in a small room and we make an effort to fling open all the windows for at least 15 mins a day. It's bloody cold for an hour afterwards but ventilation is crucial to avoid condensation & mould.

I've just checked and we used 8kwh yesterday, 3 bed terrace, not great insulation, GCH and a ridiculous amount of washing at the moment due to sports / horses and mud. It cost £10.25 yesterday.

We don't have a drier though.

40kWh a day seems very high. In comparison we are a 4 bed house with 2 of us working from home 5 days a week, no kids but we do have a hot tub which we use 4 or 5 times a week. In November we averaged around 19kWh per day, we've since got an EV so are averaging 44 now.

If you're using the washing machine a lot, are you making sure to use the most economical setting? Our 10 year old machine uses less than 1kWh a load on the economy setting at 30 degrees.

Do you have a backup immersion heater that's been accidentally left turned on?

If you have a smart meter you can download your usage data here: https://data.n3rgy.com/consumer-login to see when you're actually using the most - might give you some hints as to what's causing it.

2 adults in my house and we use the tumble dryer to dry clothes. The last bill up to 24th November was £92. Heating and oven are gas but I do use an oil-filled radiator (runs on electric) to heat just one room if I am just going to be in there. Your higher charge could be due to using electric to cook with.

Do you have a smart meter? They are great for identifying what individual electrical items cost to run.

Mine is €150 a month. Three people in a three bedroom house. It sounds pretty standard to me these days …

What tumble dryer do you have? They can use 3kW of power so having it on 5 hours a day would do 15kWH before you take anything else into account. 40kWH a day still sounds high!

Do you have an electric hot water cylinder? the immersion heaters on these can use a lot of power and if you are using the bath instead of shower you could be using a lot of energy heating your hot water cylinder up.

I do a load of washing every day and hang it by a radiator to dry, is that an option for you and only use the tumble dryer if you have to? Also do an extra spin with the washing machine.

Just two of us here, retired, so home most days. We average around 9kw daily in the winter. We have oil CH. Our smart meter shows that tumble drier and electric oven uses the most energy, so we use air fryer as much as possible and tumble drier when absolutely necessary. Eon has just put our dd up to £80 pm.

If you use the tumble dryer and washing machine a lot I would look into more energy efficient models.

If you have an old tumble dryer replacing it with a new condensing one could save you a lot of money.

Also think about how much you use the oven, and whether you have an immersion heater accidentally switched on. Because 40 kwh is a lot.

Edit : I think probably heat pump rather than condensor.

Tumble dryers use a LOT of electricity. You could put large things like towels, jeans and bedding on a clothes horse for a couple of days.