Author Topic: Gas and Electricity bill  (Read 3626 times)

CodAlmighty

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Gas and Electricity bill
« on: August 19, 2016, 04:38:33 AM »
Today we received our gas and electricity bill for the period from 1st January until 15th August, based on actual meter readings. The combined total for the period was £329, which according to my calculations works out at around 39% of the average UK duel fuel bill (pro rata).

I appreciate that there are people on this forum who pay far less than this for their gas and electricity, but the reason I'm so pleased is because I still feel that we living in luxury with the amount that we are using, and the savings have been achieved with just a few slight habit changes:

1. Firstly, I shopped around and looked for the best possible deal/tariff based on my usage.
2. In the winter, the thermostat for our gas central heating was seldom set to over 18 degrees C. If we felt cold, we would layer up.
3. I replaced our existing bulbs with LED bulbs for the main rooms that we light in the house.
4. I got in to the habit of switching lights and everything else off when not in use, with the exception of a few appliances and our WiFi router.
5. I stopped charging my mobile phone, tablet and other gadgets at home. Instead I have a USB power bank which I charge in the car. I then use this to charge all of my gadgets.

There's still plenty of room for improvement, as my girlfriend is not quite as mustachian as I am trying to be (I'm forever switching off lights behind her), and I still have light bulbs to replace. Plus, there’s always a better tariff out there as well. Looks like the challenge is set for next year.


Noodle

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Re: Gas and Electricity bill
« Reply #1 on: July 17, 2017, 09:23:30 AM »
My electricity usage has dropped dramatically in the last year. This is due to some combination of:

1. Replacing an A/C system which was on its last legs, so both less energy efficient than modern systems to start with, and also running very inefficiently because it was in the process of breaking down.
2. Buying a smart thermostat which makes it seamless to have the system running at different temperatures at different times of day. I would try to remember to adjust the thermostat before I left for work, but I often forgot, or my plans would change during the day.
3. The new system is so efficient that I don't need to set the temperature as low to be comfortable as I used to.

I don't think I am going to "earn back" the cost of upgrading, but since I had to replace the system anyway, it's nice to see those lower energy bills. The system went in right at the end of A/C season last year, and we don't use heat all that much, so it hasn't been until the last couple of months that I have really seen the dramatic savings that people had been promising me.

caracarn

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Re: Gas and Electricity bill
« Reply #2 on: July 17, 2017, 09:43:30 AM »
That was something I've not looked at as to how we compare.  I just work to keep it as low as possible.

Looking at out 2016 average we were at $100.35/month and the national average is $110.21 in 2013. Not sure if rates have gone up, down or stayed even, so we are a little below, but for a family of 8 I think it's pretty good.  We are down to $82.64 this year.   We got rid of an above ground pool that the house had when I bought it after the heater broke and we determined we were not going to spend $3,000 for a new one when we can only use the pool three months out of the year (literally Memorial Day to Labor Day).  The pump used more than the air conditioner and the heater we had on it used more gas than my furnace did to heat the house in winter, so that was a part of it.  I'll be curious to see how the electric bill comes out for the whole year because not in the summer months still high (last bill was $110.46), but nowhere near the $200+ when we had the pool, so I think my $82 will drop as the air conditioner goes off.  I had already switched the whole house to non-incandescent bulbs (CFL and LED mixed) a couple years back.  We have 25 spotlights in the basement alone, so I do think that cuts a good portion right there.  Tried to be pretty good about switching lights off but with lots of kids, a lot of chasing around.

Our gas bills are averaging $62.80 up from $58.76 last year.  The pool heater was broken or not working right for most of the summer so I'd have to figure our 2015 to see what kind of drop we saw.  We also had a much colder winter this year compared to last so I think we'd be at least $10/month less if not for that (last month's gas bill was $36.98).  I could not find any averages for the monthly gas bill so no idea how we compare there.  I've also got four teenage girls who like to take 45-60 minute showers so the hot water heater runs a lot.

Plugra

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Re: Gas and Electricity bill
« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2017, 04:49:08 PM »
Quote
5. I stopped charging my mobile phone, tablet and other gadgets at home. Instead I have a USB power bank which I charge in the car. I then use this to charge all of my gadgets.

Charging electronic gadgets is very cheap.  It probably costs you around £1 to charge all of them for the whole year.  Just FYI in case you decide the convenience of charging at home is worth it to you.

Strictly speaking this is not cost effective. If you use your car or its battery to charge another battery, and then charge your devices from that, you are making a daisy chain of inefficient conversions.  And you are powering the whole thing by burning gasoline. 

Imma

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Re: Gas and Electricity bill
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2017, 06:20:27 AM »
We are in a challenge every year to use less than the year before. Since we bought this house in summer 2015, we compare from there. We had a roommate the first year, now it's just us. We are actually not that active in saving energy, but we just don't have a lot of appliances.

Summer 2015-2016: 2100 kWh electricity - 979 cubic meter of gas -  420 liters per day water
Summer 2016-2017: 1500 kWh electricity - 900 cubic meter of gas  - 379 liters per day water
Goals for 2017-2018: 1350 kWh electricity - 850 cubic meter of gas -  300 liters per day water

We are replacing some appliances, so I think the electricity target should be easy. The gas-target is really dependent on the weather, but winter 2017 was much colder than winter 2016 and we still managed to cut back. I'm a bit ashamed of the water because I think it's really quite high, so that's why I'm aiming for 20% less water use.

TartanTallulah

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Re: Gas and Electricity bill
« Reply #5 on: July 23, 2017, 11:44:39 AM »
Today we received our gas and electricity bill for the period from 1st January until 15th August, based on actual meter readings. The combined total for the period was £329, which according to my calculations works out at around 39% of the average UK duel fuel bill (pro rata).


That's a phenomenal achievement. Well done to you :o)

Our utility bills are eye-watering. They're better this year than they have been for a long time, possibly because my husband has started working and therefore (1) isn't at home all day, and (2) has a sense of ownership of the household expenses because they come out of our joint account and his wage goes into it. Even so, our electricity bill is two-and-a-half times the national average for a house the size of ours, and that's with shopping around frequently.

It's that "ownership" issue. We've had three young adults living at home with us for the last year, and two of them have had no motivation whatsoever to hang clothes on the line instead of using the tumble dryer, wait till they have a full load before using the washing machine (I'm amazed it hasn't died of overwork), turn off lights and appliances, turn radiators down (or at least not have a window wide open above the radiator), use the microwave instead of the oven to heat up their insta-food, run outdoors instead of on the treadmill and not linger in the shower. And I've always been light-handed with discipline, so I can't start facepunching them now that they're all taller than I am. Nor could I be too hard on the girls when they were working long hours in retail and hospitality to save money for university and coming home tired and needing to sleep, eat, and turn their uniforms over quickly.

One girl has moved out, the other will be moving out in a few months, and DH has negotiated another switch of suppliers, which should all help. My son will still be at home, but he has an environmental conscience and is frugal by inclination. I expect our bills to drop by something approaching 50%.