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?

I know sometimes people put their machine on for another spin to remove more water

Mine is only 1400, but I almost always respin when the load finishes & it does make a difference.

The most we use is about 18kwh a day. That is a couple of washing loads, tumble drier, dishwasher, tv for at least 4 hours, PlayStation 8+ hours, oven, induction job etc. if you are using 40kwh a day then must be lots of long washing and drying cycles and long electric showers?!

We've had to use a dehumidifier in the past as our house gets damp very easily. Now that electricity is so expensive, it's cheaper for us to have the gas central heating on and have windows open a few minutes each day, rather than a dehumidifier - they seem cheap but over 24 hours it really adds up.

When you replace your tumble dryer look at heat pump tumble dryers. They're a bit more expensive up front and take a long time but use a fraction of the energy.

We do 1-2 loads of washing a day as 2 of us have uniform that needs to be clean every day. Roughly 8-16 kW per day.

Doing three loads of washing a day, using a tumble dryer and running a dehumidifier is insanity to me. It's hardly surprising your electricity usage is high.

I'm sure you can cut down on the number of loads you do, then either tumble or use the dehumidifier, don't do both. Do a couple of extra spins in the machine after you do washing and it shouldn't take that long to dry off.

If you are using a monster dehumidifier that might be bumping your bills up.

Mine is about 170W, at the current price cap per month if I used it constantly it would be :

0.170 (kW) x 0.30 (price per kWh) x 24 (hours in a day) x 30 (days per month) =

£37 per month.

If you had say a 400W one and used it 24/7 then it could cost £86 per month and consume about 10 kWh per day.

So the cost of them is not entirely negligible.

The power consumption (W) should be printed on a sticker on the unit.

40kWh is a huge amount of electricity for one day. The week beginning 27/11 is the most recent whole week I can see on my app and we used just under 80kWh from Monday to Sunday. This is with DH WFH with two large screens and his PC. DS at home 24/7 (special needs) with his PC and two large screens on. Dishwasher once a day (twice at weekends because it’s a slimline). Washing machine once a day. Dehumidifier on 12 hours a day to dry washing (I’ve never used a tumble dryer even when DCs were small). Hairdryer, straighteners etc every day. Kettle many times a day (DH WFH and I only work part time). Electric oven for cooking (do have a gas hob).
EDF say we use above the average!

I think, in OPs position, I’d be asking my supplier to check the meter. You can get plugs that mean you can check the usage of each individual item so that might be worth a try.

Yep, I think I definitely need to use the heating more and the dehumidifier less.

To be clear, it can't be 40kwh a day average usage- my latest bill was £140 odd. It works out to about 19kwh daily use last month. I just looked today because I had a bill this morning, from a reading apparently dated yesterday and when I checked my meter it was already 40 over what the latest reading on the bill was. Maybe I'm reading it wrong - but I've checked it twice now. I'll check again tomorrow.

The washing - all three kids need everything washed daily, most days. I sometimes get two days out of trousers/dresses for the older kids. They are just so damn messy. The baby often has 2 or 3 complete changes a day, plus cloth nappies is a full load every other day.
I am not a wash everything you've touched kind of person at all, if anything I go the other way! Bedding changed every 6 weeks or so barring accidents. I generally get 3 or 4 days out of jumpers and jeans but not always, someone is often sick on me/tips their dinner on me.

Husband is much more wash-happy than me, he seems to wash everything daily. All I know is if I don't run 2 loads a day, it builds up massively and we have to do 4 loads each weekend day. But I do think I can cut down length of cycles for things other than nappies and prob temp too - I've got lazy just sticking things in on autopilot and I think the default is 40 degrees on mine.

Whoa that's a high usage!

contact the energy provider to check the meter. don't touch it yourself.

Also I don't get your consumption.

£145 per month is about £5 per day. Divide that by 0.30 it's about 16 kWh not 40 kWh.

Edit : 40 kWh per day would cost you about £360 per month.

Edit again ... snap !

Spot cleaning is your friend, it’s the old fashioned way and saves a lot of washing.

When I was a girl in the early 1970’s everything and to be washed by hand and we had a mangle. I know many had machines then but my family didn’t. So as much spot cleaning as possible was done.

Cloth nappies definitely need regular washing, no way round that, but add the extra spin cycle at the end of the wash and that does make a difference. Your DH needs to be on board with washing less often, as well

Even I am not old enough to remember the mangle !

I remember the twin tub though. Basically a big square rectangular box with two cylindrical containers. It would wash in one, then you would transfer the dripping washing with tongues to the other which would spin dry it.

I guess we lost ours sometime in the mid to late 70s.

I’ve used ¼ of that a day for the last two months. That includes a load of washing and sticking it in the dryer most days, using the oven and not worrying about turning lights off religiously.

What sort of appliances are you running? I go for A rated and above energy wise. You pay a bit more for the appliances but running costs are much more reasonable. Things like washing machines, fridge freezers, dryers have a huge variability of running costs.

That seems high. We live in largish house, work from home, etc and our use for November was 480kw.
155kw of that was charging the electric car. So 325kw household use, works out 10.8kw a day average.

In case anyone doesn't know this - you can work out how much your appliances might use by looking for the little metal label underneath or at the back which gives technical info, including how much power they use, usually in Watts, so 3000W = 3 kilowatt (kW). 1kW being used for 1 hour is 1kWh or unit of electricity, so a 3kW appliance could use 3 units in an hour, or 1 unit in 20 mins. Anything which heats is likely to have a high wattage.

someone is often sick on me/tips their dinner on me. Aprons are useful!

But your DH needs to sort himself out. It's no use grumbling about mould if he's producing unnecessary washing which is contributing to the mould.

4 DC here including cloth nappies.

One wash a day plus nappies every 3 days.

How on Earth are you creating so much?

That’s low mine is at least 200 per month 2 bed all electric house with storage heaters on economy 7

Shorter washing machine cycles often use more energy than longer ones as they rely less on soaking and more on agitation. This is why all the "eco" cycles take about a week (and leave your laundry smelling of damp dog)

Do you do an extra spin on the washing machine? I'd take everything out shake then loosely fold everything that could take a full spin back in and spin again. Used to come out slightly damp.

I refuse to use a tumble dryer because of the cost. I purchased the largest 'DrySoon' from Lakeland and a Meaco dehumidifier with the dry washing option and haven't looked back.

Can you afford to get a heat pump dryer? We switched to one last year and it uses barely any electricity vs our old one. An investment now but you’ll potentially make that back. Or cut down on washing, are they full loads or do you just need to wash frequently because you need the clothes again? If it’s the latter I would be going to my local charity shops and buying a few more clothes, I get DC nursery clothes there because they always get messy and it means I can save and do a full load every two days.

I generally get 3 or 4 days out of jumpers and jeans but not always, someone is often sick on me/tips their dinner on me.

Aprons/bibs for the children and maybe an apron for you while you're cooking and eating? Easy solution and they can just be chucked in the wash once a week or if they're the plastic ones, rinsed off under the tap or even put in the dishwasher.

Last months electricity bill was £110 so not far off yours but I don't use 40 a day

been using the dehumidifier/tumble to dry because radiators are rarely on.

If you heat the house properly you won't have a mould problem. Mould is almost always a problem in homes that aren't heated and therefore damp.
If you have heating on you don't need dehumidifier or tumble dryer.
Oil isn't as expensive as it was a year ago but you do need to watch prices and fill up when it's cheaper such as August. December is usually more expensive.