Utility costs when upsizing to detached

[DBarb12]

I'm looking at moving from a 2-bed semi detached (1940's) to a 4 bed detached house (1980's- mid 90's)with an EPC rating C. It has a separate water tank and boiler fitted. We want this to be the forever family home and have our children there.

Can anyone say what kind of prices their gas and electric is in a 4 bed detached. It's quite a leap price wise for the mortgage and I'm thinking about costs of running the house. There are only the 2 of us, I work from home 2x a week. No solar panels, the EPC showed good insulation throughout (cavity, roofing). I'm worried with the mortgage jump that we can't afford to save or enjoy life, p
or prospect of having children if the house costs are too much to run. We do weekly laundry, no dishwasher, no tumble dryer. We can afford all other costs for the new house such as the council tax, but have estimated £150 for the gas and electric, (which I'm not sure if it is too much under). Our running costs currently are quite low averaging £50 dual a month.Thank you in advance :)

Very much depends on the house. Does it have double glazing? What’s the square footage? Will you be heating all of the rooms in the winter? Will you be heating it constantly or just a few hours in the morning/ night (especially if you’re working from home). What do you normally have your thermostat at?

For example we live in a very draughty old house, not great insulation, and we have an AGA on in the winter and no mains gas (we live rurally). Heating is oil fired and on twice a day in the winter. Our electricity bill alone (unaffected by the AGA) is around £175-200 per month. In the winter we pay around £300 per month for central heating oil on top of that.

1930s 3 bed semi bungalow but with spare room on ground and extension giving big family room. Prob epc C.pay £220pm for gas and electric.gas combine boiler.plus need a wood burner on in winter for family room.run tumble dryer and use heating most days outwith summer as wfh

It's well insulated with double glazing throughout, 99square metres. We'd heat the main living areas, the study, and main bedroom mostly, then leave the 2 other rooms minimal heating. We tend to have the thermostat on to keep the house maintained at 16 degrees in the day, 19 degrees in the evenings. We found it doesn't kick in for as long to maintain the temp that way.
That's all really helpful, thank you for your response 😊

Thank you, this reassures me that my estimates aren't far off a likely usage for the 2 of us. I appreciate your response! 😊

Two of us in a large 4-bed det NB and our actual monthly bills (based on meter readings) are from about £60 in summer to £130-150 at the moment (outside temp barely rising above zero during the day).
All rooms are heated (some lower than other obviously) and being retired (with dogs), internal temp is maintained. Washing, tumble drier, dehumidifier, cooking etc all included.

Having built up a surplus, our monthly DD is £75.
Definitely cheaper to run than our previous 1970's house.

We’re in a 4 bed detached. We pay £150 a month for gas and electric but we pay a bit more than what the actual bill is.
water is cheaper than our previous house as we’re now on a water meter.

I have a 1980s 4 bed detached which is about 1200sqft. I pay £165pm currently for gas and electric - gas boiler, using the tumble dryer most days currently, all usual appliances. EPC is a C (D side of C). I’m currently about £300 in credit.

I’m expecting this to go down a little as I’m about to go on a cheaper fixed rate and also my adult son has just moved out so there’s now only 2 adults.

My smart meter is currently in this cold weather showing me using about £9 per day, but usually it’s £6-7, and obviously much less in the summer. I work from home 3-4 days a week so house needs heating the day!

I’m surprised at all these low bills. My DM pays £150 for a two bed flat! We’re in a 4 bed detached. Heating on 18 degrees during the day, and off from 9pm till 6am. We have solar panels and we’re fully double glazed. According to our smart meter we’re using about £10 a day in gas and £3 in electricity. During summer it’s a fraction of this. Our panels supply 90% of our electricity and we hardly use any gas, only to heat the water.

I don't think your initial estimate is far off bearing in mind your current lifestyle.

But if children are in the near future, how will you cope with the extra costs of daily laundry, tumble drying and dishwasher, heating the whole house etc whilst on maternity pay or while paying nursery fees?

Thank you! That's super helpful, and relative to our usage too. I certainly feel calmer about it all now

3 bed detached built 2001, WFH heating set to 20 degrees from 5am - 8pm, pay gas & electric £124 pm direct debit and we have credit to cover the year.