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?

Is there an eco mode or economy mode on your washing machine? That can make a big difference in the amount of electricity it uses.

The cycles will be longer, but it works out much cheaper. It may seem counter-intuitive, but actually putting things on a short wash cycle can cost more than longer ones, because more energy is used heating the water up quickly. And yes, you could probably do a lot more on 30 degrees than 40 anyway.

If you don't already use these, definitely try them. My washing is dryer so much quicker now.

Ok we actually did one wash a day, so whatever was the most full in the wash basket. That way stuff was hung on hangers on the dining room curtain rail and it dried in 24 hours with just pants and socks and little bits in the dryer.

Allocate one towel each and wash less often!

What’s being washed on delicates? I have barely anything that I wouldn’t chuck in a normal wash.

I'm going to go against the grain and say it might be accurate, with that level of washing and drying (which is outrageous, not in the sense of how dare you do that much laundry, but in the sense of omg I feel for you!)

There's me, DH and the toddler. DH FT WFH, me WFH 3.5 days per week. 5-6 loads of washing per week (toddler goes to nursery 4 days per week and goes through two sets of clothes most days). I tumble pretty much everything (heat pump). We have an American style fridge freezer plus a chest freezer. Don't use the oven much, probably not even once a week (slow cooker!) Dishwasher goes on an economy cycle once per day. All of our appliances are less than 3 years old, with the exception of the heat exchanger (we have warm air heating, so gas boiler and a heat exchange unit), which is 10 years old.

We average around 25-27 units per day. Add in your extra laundry and dehumidifier, and I can see how you'd get there.

40kw every day still seems high to me. Ours doesn’t equal that and we effectively have two households some months (holiday rental attached included in electric use). So a summers day I might have all guests bedding, towels and our stuff washed. And it means we often have x2 ovens on, and there’s x2 most things like fridges, lights, tvs , and general use by 7 people. We had washable nappies in use until recently. But 3 loads a day would only happen on guest changeover day.

And we run electric car. 450-500kw is monthly average the last year, and that always includes approx 120-160kw worth of car electric. Even on a 500kw month, that’s like 16kw a day average.

I can’t see how a much smaller household with no electric car can be using 2.5 times?

What are you washing on a delicate cycle? Everything in this house gets bunged in on a rapid wash (30 minutes at 30 or 40) except towels which are washed at 60 once a week.

We use delicate or wool cycles a lot. But that’s instead of a regular load not as well as, so doesn’t really add washing loads. A lot of woolen clothing in winter

Can you not save them for winter ?

I'm thinking about solar but would want to store the extra from summer for using over winter

What are your delicates

Can't they be washed with other stuff

Or maybe I just don't buy things that can't be washed normally 😄

Why pick on delicates as if they're the reason for such high bills? If anything, they need a gentler, low agitation wash at lower temperatures and air drying.

Yes, it's woolies mostly, plus things with plastic designs on sometimes and underwired bras

You couldn't do this without 100/1000's of Kwh storage batteries which would be completely unrealistic and uneconomical.
My battery is 7.2Kwh - which is about what I typically use in a day.

I have solar power and almost 15kw of battery storage. In the winter the batteries earn their keep by utilizing a time of use tariff and charging up between midnight and 4am at 9p/kwh, along with the car battery. We rarely need more than that.

My bras cost about £50 each. I hand wash and just put through a gentle spin in the machine before air drying.

I do wash cashmere/wool separately but probably only once a month in winter.

@GasPanic I never ever saw one in anyone else’s house. It was probably from the 1930’s. It was attached to its own stand. For some reason my mother had painted the table legs yellow of it and covered the top with blue and yellow floral formica. It was a sight!

Yellow and blue was popular in the fifites. Nice and bright, welcome relief of the enforced monochrome of the war years and just after. At one time you couldn't buy crockery in anything but white - not surprising people weren't particularly enthusiastic about muted tasteful colour schemes.

Ah interesting to know about solar. Thanks

Make sure all your bulbs/lighting is LED. It uses pence to be on for hours.

Your washing does sound extreme. I’m guessing you barely re-wear clothes and wash bedding and towels way too often?

Two people in my household, we can easily go a week without washing anything, then do one or two loads the following week. All clothes get re-worn other than underwear.

People are picking on delicates as it sounds like the OP does tonnes of washing (more than a load a day) so it’s where she might be able to cut down?

To be honest I wash bras in with normal washing inside pillow cases, T-shirts with logos get washed inside out and jumpers only if they smell or have a spill! You might be able to cut down on the delicate wash.

@Blondeshavemorefun - if you have solar batteries you mainly store for that night, ie generate during day and use that night. If you have a large garage full of huge wall batteries you could store a few days maximum. But the cost of the batteries on that scale wouldn’t be worth it if your mains connected, that’s more for those off grid. You can’t store months of summer sun for winter

Damn as obv use more in winter but less sun