How many kWh of electricity do you use a day??

[User952539]

I know I know it’s another energy one but ours seems to have gone nuts.

im being told by British Gas that we are using over 11000 kWh of electricity every year. We don’t have electric heating. We don’t think we are particularly big users of electricity but we clearly are.

google seems to say that the average is 4000 for a detached family home. This is making me question how ours can be so large since whilst our house is quite big it isn’t full of people using power in every room.

how much do you use on average a day according to your smart meter? And how big is your house/how many in it?

I checked and in 2021 we averaged 38kWh per day in a 4 bed detached house with 4 people living in it. No mains gas but our primary heat source is wood, with electric as a backup.

Lots of our high consumption is from having an electric hot water tank. It's basically like a permanent immersion heater, which is the norm over here (I'm not in the UK.)

We also use the tumble drier most of the year because we have snow on the ground for ~5 months and then there's anything from 1-2 months of the summer when there's loads of bright yellow (mostly pine) pollen in the air that would mean that anything hung out to dry would be stained.

Both DCs have gaming PCs with multi-screen setups and we also have quite a bit of reptile heating/lighting, which soon adds up.

Thankfully electricity is much cheaper here and 98% of it is from renewable sources. Even at our very high usage, our electric bill averages the equivalent of £100 per month.

Today is a fairly average day (2 people wfh, charging various devices, ran dishwasher once, had the fan going as it’s so hot) and we used 2.28kWh.

I use between 7kw and 9kw per day. I don't have gas so it's all electric

9 or 10 a day. Electric shower and electrichob and oven.
I thought ours was fairly low until I read some of the replies on here.

9kw per day. Gas central heating, no tumble drier, one person wfh. Old, stone house, not energy efficient at all.

We also have 2 fridges and 2 freezers.

latest daily average
June grid 5.3kWh usage
June sol generation 14.6kWh

a winter daily average
Jan grid 25kWh usage v high
Jan sol 3.3kWh generation low

rolling 12-month annual
grid 3350kWh usage
sol 3529kWh generation

also have gas for CH and HW
rolling 12 month gas usage 1172 cu.m is unusually low
this is about 13,120 kWh

last year was 1432cu.m high
which is about 16,000 kWh

summer average daily gas usage
June usage 0.9 cu.m
which is about 10kWh

We use just under 4000 kwh per year. 2 adults, one teenager, 2 younger kids in a fairly large 4 bedroom house. Gas heating/hot water, electric cooker and hob. Most of our lights are led, other are just low energy ones from Ikea. One of us works from home pretty much every day, so laptop running 5 days a week... We're incredibly vigilant about turning lights off, and our TV is quite recent, so doesn't consume much even on standby.

11000 kwh seems like an awful lot to be using a year....

Forgot to add, we gave a huge American fridge freezer, plus an extra smaller fridge and separate freezer in the basement. Tumble dryer runs a lot in winter

We used 379.7 kWh between 7 June and 6 July.

We used 382.2 kWh between 7 May and 6 June.

We used 497.2 kWh between 31 Mar and 6 May. (That's a longer period than the ones above)

3 bed semi (small, only 75 m2). 2 adults and 2 energy using DC. no tumble dryer.

Scotland, exposed house (windy) but well insulated.

We buy an average 11kw a day but we have solar so use a lot more. We have a four bed detached with two fridge freezers , and a beer fridge. We also have a pool but the pool pump runs during the day so is mostly free ( we are in Oz, its sunny at least nine months of the year). Washer and heat pump tumble drier are energy efficient, but on most days, and we have led lights everywhere. Dishwasher on once a day, multiple tvs and computers used a lot. Our direct debit is $30 a week and we are in credit.

First check your readings carefully that they aren't estimates and the dates are correct.
Our usage is about 8000kwh/year for a 3 bedroom house. Electric heaters in a couple of outbuildings, an electric shower and a lot of tech (gaming desktop PCs) on all day are I think what bumps it up.
The daily averages are about 12-15kWh summer, but up to 40kWh in winter working from home in lockdown. It was about 25kWh winter before that when we weren't at home during the day.

You can just work through everything in your home that uses electricity, its power rating and how long it's on for - don't forget outside things such as lighting.

It's your tumble drier and your water heater I expect.

In UK they each use 3kW, so 10 hours a day would be 30kWh

if you are in for example US they may have higher ratings.

A water heater uses about 4.5kWh to heat 100 litres of hot water from cold. Regardless of the power of the elements. Powerful ones will just use the same amount of energy over a shorter time. Provided the tank is well insulated, it doesn't matter if you leave it on permanently, because the thermostat will turn it off once the water is hot (unless you have a faulty thermostat which is very dangerous, or have pulled off the insulation so that heat will escape to warm the airing cupboard).

If you are fond of Americal-style showers they can use a remarkable amount of water. Fill a bucket under the shower and time it to calculate litres per minute.

I have solar panels which in sunny periods will run the tumble drier, so I have no shame in using it in summer to avoid pollen. there is not so much sun in winter but at least I use it in daylight. The return on investment on panels is however very poor unless you get a generous subsidy.

you can try watching your meter while you switch them on and off. our meters tend to have a red light that flashes at a rate proportional to usage, older ones have a rotating wheel.

@User952539 large period detached property rural setting. Oil CH, 2 fridges, 1FF, 1mini chest freezer, electric hobs & ovens, w/m and d/w. Tumble dryer broke earlier this month so we’ll see how much l

Less energy we use this month. Currently we use around 10000kwh pa. Moving to a combination of wind, solar and battery storage within the next year to become more self sufficient.

Currently averaging about 5 a day in Spring/summer, 7 the rest of the year.
2 retired people, detached bungalow with gas central heating, electric hob, oven, dishwasher every other day, washing machine twice a week, fridge freezer and additional freezer in garage. Electric shower. Fair bit of tech.
Standing charge is, I understand, one of the highest in the country at 43.39p a day which is £13 a month before you start using anything. Then there's the gas......aargh.

So back from hols and re done meter readings. I didn't take them just as we left as I forgot in the packing stress. But we used 100kw in the 2 days before we left and the 14 days of our holiday. So assuming 26kw per day (our summer average) for each of the days before we left then we used c 3kw a day whilst away.
This represents one large fridge freezer, one set of fridge drawers, house alarm, main TV and sky box on standby, land line. Everything else was switched off at the socket.
Ouch.
However the fridge freezers must have to work harder in the heat (it got to 40deg here)....
How do people get down to the low levels being shred up thread!!!! I have no idea.

2 bedroom 2 adult house here, 2 big fridge freezers electric oven and gas for heating and hot water. No tumble drier, I gave ours away ages ago.

In the summer we use 3 or 4 kWh, tv doesn't go on until 6pm. In the winter about 6 to 8 kWh.

If you use washing machines and tumble drivers multiple times a day you are going to use a lot of electricity. Must be hard with young children.

@Lottsbiffandsmudge I just looked up my fridge freezer spec and it uses 0.7 kWh a day. Then I looked up a big American style fridge and it used 1.2 kWh. Your figures are probably mostly driven by the two fridges, but even then it still sounds high - are they old? Broken seal maybe?

We have 2 lots. Fridge freezer is new, drawers are old and prob not v efficient. Legacy from previous occupants. Also surely that usage per day would depend on ambient temp? Surely easier in windet to keep the fridge cold...maybe that's not true!!! And the fridge was empty which I ma nit sure if it helps or not!
I may have over estimated as we will have charged the car (c 50kwh) day before we left. And 26 kwh per day is an average at we don't charge car every day. So it's all prob about right... I should have taken readings just before I left....Next time!

5200kwh per year so around 13 a day…..and we have no gas!

I work from home three days a week.

Your figures are mental. Do you have a water tank or something using power somewhere fairly constantly?

My annual usage is apparently 5845kwh for electricity. If I divide by 365 it gives around 16kwh per day

Around 6000kwh per year.
2 Adults, 2 Children under 4. At least one adult working from home each day, multi-screen set up. Washing machine and tumble dryer run on average once a day. Same for dishwasher.
Electric oven and hob, a separate fridge and freezer in addition to a further fridge-freezer and a chest freezer.

Oil heating but at one point last year we had to turn on the immersion heater for the water tank and our usage really jumped up.

Yesterday we used 11kwh, 4 bedroom house. 2 adults, 2 teens, all at home all the time at the moment.

In 2021 we used 4900kwh over the year. Gas central heating, lots of devices, washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwasher, electric for cooking, etc.