Amazed - Gas usage down by 31% Leccy down 15%

[PresidentGas]

So we've been mindful of our gas and electricity usage because of the soaring costs. Switching off TV at mains, switching off lights, never going above 18/19 degrees on thermostat and not expecting to be able to wander round sockless and in T-shirts etc...

Our statement has just come in for a 62 day period from early November - today (early Jan) and it's British Gas so shows you how your consumption compares to the exact same dates last year - and we've used 30% less gas and 15% less electricity. Am amazed and it makes me feel that we were just so wasteful and unaware last year.

Our DD has been back from Uni for 4 weeks, having long baths and using computer constantly so that upped our consumption. It's a 2-bed terrace and loft conversion with 2 adults and 2 teens.

Our DD is going up next month from £148 - £254 per month so it's just as well we've significantly reduced our consumption!

Have other people been able to achieve such reductions or even better? (I'm aware that some people can't because of health conditions and/or disability)

Probably cut my gas in half from last year over the same winter period (Oct-Jan).

Reasons :

Improved insulation
Milder weather (apart from mid December cold snap).
Lowered temperature and increased dehumidification.
More efficient boiler.

We have always done all of the things you detail in your OP anyway so not seeing such big reductions but have seen some through heating the hot water less and turning off our wine fridge. Also using the oven less seems to be helping.

Forgot to factor in the mild weather. Although the whole Christmas New Year period we had heating on much longer because it was so wet and damp. We have a tumble dryer too but still use it about 5/6 times a week, sometimes more. I just can’t cope with having damp clothes hanging on radiators in all our rooms. The house is too small for a clothes drier - we had a heated one in our old house but had such luxuries as a large landing and a spare room then. Got rid of heateddrier because we never found it that great. Get stuff out on the line when we can but we haven’t had the weather for that lately.

Gas 2021 kW.hrs
Oct 1198
Nov 1159
Dec 2115
Total 4472

Gas 2022 kW.hrs
Oct 596
Nov 1154
Dec 1608
Total 3358
4472-3358=1114
1114/4472=24.9% reduction.

Our electric bill for Dec 2021 was £153.58.
Our Dec bill just gone for 2022 was £114.32.
Haven't worked out % but really happy with that.

We've been more aware of leaving lights on, switching plugs off ect...
But I think the two things that have really helped have been using the heated airer instead of the dryer and buying a decent airfryer, haven't used the oven since.

Congratulations OP, that's a brilliant result!

I dont have an oven or any fires. We only have showers. Only use slow cooker/air fryer once a day. One tv. Main usage is fridge freezer, charging phones and kettle. Mines been £270 for last three months. We only have heating on 1/2 hours in eve 1/2 times a week. But i do use an elec blanket daily when working from home and i charge my laptop. I dont heat the house when kids not here.

Mine was already low due to low income. Gas was 40% lower than last December (1000kwh to under 600) as the thermostat is down to 14 and I'm not using heating on weekday mornings. The washing is taking longer to dry inside so I can't cut further.

Ovo let you compare months to that of last year etc on the online account. We have used less gas but not loads as we’ve never heated all day everyday anyway, electric was low anyway so no change really just costs more. It’s depressing though to see how much more it costs for using less though.

My December bill was actually lower this year than last year (before taking the £67 into account as well)! I was with a green energy billing company so my rates had already gone up to 34p for electric and 7.5p for gas, this year they are 34p and 9.7p (on a fix) but I have used less gas.

Actually those were the rates before VAT, so 36p and 7.9p last winter.

OP are you in the same house? Your new house sounds more energy efficient/less draughty. I have moved house so haven't done any comparisons, I hope my consumption is down though.

(I don't have Oct 2021 usage figures)
Gas 2021 kwh (meter read 19/20th of each month)
Oct-Nov 569
Nov-Dec 924
Total 1493

Gas 2022 kwh (calendar months)
Nov 302
Dec 572
Total 874

41.5% reduction
I have a door curtain and an electric throw that I didn't have last year

Same house. We also bought curtains for our front window - which really could do with replacing - that's noticeably cut down on draughts and feels cosier. We bought some thermal ones from Dunelm.

Dehumidifiers are great for drying clothes in a small area, use with a heated airer and the smaller the space the better. We’ve a tumble dryer but just about all our clothes say not to tumble dry.

Just compared ours for last three months

Gas 2022:
Oct 221
Nov 620
Dec 1706😫
Total 2547kwh

Gas 2021
Oct 312
Nov 1038
Dec 1144
Total 2494kwh

Gas up 2%. We had -7 to -12 at nights for over a week, so no surprise. Turned heating down to 18c during cold spell and have stuck with that, so hopefully will benefit long term.

Electricity 2022
Oct 128
Nov 120
Dec 171
Total 419 kwh

Electricity 2021
Oct 137
Nov 158
Dec 197
Total 492kwh

Electricity down 15%.

Following above post just checked temperatures for Dec 2021 and 2022. Never got below freezing here in 2021, then coldest night recorded was -12c December 2021 and few nights of -7&-8c, so don't think we could have got our usage down much more without absolutely freezing.

Oct 2021 Gas 211; Oct 2022: 393
Nov 2021 Gas 350; Nov 2022 878
Dec 2021 Gas 530; Dec 2022 1884
Jan 2022 Gas 706; 1 Jan 2023 - today 731

Oct 2021 Electric: 123; Oct 2022: 42
Nov 2021 Electric 114; Nov 22: 61
Dec 2021 Electric 131; Dec 22: 86
Jan 2022 Electric 149; 1 Jan 2023 - today 34

I've made huge reductions to the electric and am pointedly ignoring the gas.

^ so that's 1091 of gas for Oct-Dec 2021 vs 3155kwh for Oct-Dec 2022, so up 189%

367kwh of electric for Oct-Dec 2021, vs 189kwh for Oct-Dec 2022, so down 48%.

I think