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I received my monthly energy bill this morning. This is for gas and electricity. I don't do direct debit, I use it then I pay for it. So I don't actually know what my average monthly energy costs are. As I'm putting the house on the market, I thought it would be useful to work out an average for the last year to give buyers an idea of what they would pay.
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For context, I live in a 4 bedroom chalet style house with a large single storey extension. The 4th bedroom/family room (in the extension) is a cold room in Winter so you need extra heat in addition to the radiator. My son and DIL use an electric fan heater.
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I have gas central heating and on demand hot water. I don't have a thermostat so the boiler is set to a certain number (between 1 and 6) for the temperature. I generally switch the heating off around April and put it back on in late September or October.
I added up the last year's bills. Total £3615.87!! I divided it by 12 to get a monthly average. The average is £301.32 a month for combined gas and electricity. At the moment my son and DIL pay half of each bill as most of the house is currently in use. And the heating is on from 7am until 8pm. They have health issues and are at home all day. If it was just me I'd have the radiators switched off in the unused rooms.
Is £300 a month more or less than you pay? I'm trying to get a gauge on costs for when I move. Obviously it should be less if I'm living in a smaller house as that's the whole point in downsizing!
That is way more than I pay but I am in a 3 bedroomed mid terraced cottage with a wood burner that I use in the evenings instead of the gas central heating. I can't remember the last time that I paid more than £200 a month for combined gas and electricity. I am very careful and live alone so only have myself to worry about.
ReplyDeleteIf it was just me living here it would be a lot lower. I'm just curious about how much other people pay :-) xxx
DeleteThat's more than we pay, but we are in Cornwall so it's a wee bit warmer here. OH is retired so we have the heating on all day. I'm never sure about not heating rooms at all - I've seen mould start in them so I would rather keep the whole house comfortable.
ReplyDeleteNot worth doing now, but when you move you should think about paying by direct debit. You won't get the best rates paying on demand. We're with Octopus and they have a balance forecast tool that looks at what they think you should be paying each month. They also let you adjust your payment through the website and, when we had built up too much credit, it was easy to request some of it back through our online account.
I'll need to do some serious research on the best deals on direct debit when I move as I know I'm not getting the best rate right now. I'm also unsure about not heating unused rooms but I think I would have the radiators on a lower setting than they are now :-) xxx
DeleteAli, can I suggest a dehumidifier, ours runs until it reaches optimum humidity and then switches off so no mould and dry heat. We live in a fifty year old three bed detached house with no cavity wall insulation, no central heating except a low wattage, wall mounted oil filled radiator which operates on a thermostat/timer in the bathroom. We have a multi fuel burner and as the chimney goes through the centre of the house which heats all rooms, we open and close doors as the thermostat!! The loft is well insulated.Our electricity bill comes in around £600 per year and wood/smokeless fuel around £500. We have been here seven years and not been cold, hope this helps in your research. Happy house hunting. Jan in Castle Gresley xx
ReplyDelete£600 a year for electricity is impressive!! Definitely something to aim for in my new house. I've heard a few folk talk about dehumidifiers so I'll also be researching them. My son and DIL are always complaining they're cold and yet I'm wandering about in a short sleeved tunic!! Can't wait to start the house hunting for real :-) xxx
DeleteExpensive outlay but we bought an EBAC 2650e dehumidifier over 20 years ago, British made in Newton Aycliffe, not one problem ever apart from new filters, can highly recommend the company and the dehumidifier as it has paid for itself in respect of our previous house (built circa 1890, solid brick walls, stucco cladding, exposed to the elements and so cold even with gas central heating. - so glad we sold up). Our EBAC cost us £245 and is now £299, so only a small increase in 20 years - keep an eye on their promos if you are interested. Jan
DeleteFab, thanks! I'll start by looking at that brand :-) xxx
DeleteI'll add a vote for a dehumidifier. I've got 2. An ancient (20 years) Delonghi compressor one that I use in the utility room to dry the washing and a newer Meaco dessicant one that we use to stop condensation in the unheated conservatory. The compressor ones are much cheaper to run, ours uses under 200w an hour drying the washing, but they don't like temperatures under 10 degrees.
ReplyDeleteFab info thanks, I'm getting more interested in one the more I hear! :-) xxx
Deletei live in a small 3 bedroom house and pay £244 a month for gas and electricity, my husband and daughter have health issues so the heating is on quite a lot x
ReplyDeleteYes, you need the heating on when someone has a health issue. I guess that's why mine is abnormally high :-) xxx
DeleteI live in southern Maine in a drafty small old house and my winter gas and electric are similar to yours. We enjoy the other three months, though.
ReplyDeleteYep, heating is switched off completely in the warmer Summer months :-) xxx
DeleteThat seems to be a great deal to pay for electric and gas. But I have heard things of that nature are much more expensive in the UK than here.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Hi
ReplyDeleteWe live in a 3 bed detached in Essex and pay £98 a month combined gas and electric and 4 adults currently live here with one at home all day. We have the heating on for about 3 hours a day Monday to Friday but more at weekends and school holidays and use it roughly Nov to March
My heating is on 13 hours a day every day plus the woodburner on really cold evenings in my living room and an electric heater in the family room :-) xxx
DeleteWe live in a 3 bed semi. Like you, we pay for dual fuel as we use it this method suits us. I enter readings twice a month and it averages out around £300 a month. This amount is much lower than previous years as last year we had a woodburner fitted and have not had the gas central heating on at all this winter. We have hot water constantly. We probably could do with a new boiler - the current one is nearly 40yrs old (not a combi).
ReplyDeleteI love my woodburner but it's a definite luxury as it only heats one room. I haven't included the cost of wood in my monthly energy bills. I'd love one in my next house but it's highly unlikely :-) xxx
DeleteWe live in a fairly large detached house (5 beds plus 4 receptions) and spend around £370 month on combined use. There are 6 of us ( so a lot of washing and therefore heated airers in winter - can't wait for the day weather to dry outside) and my husband is a very slim diabetic with poor circulation so gets cold and has the heating on in the day. Louise
ReplyDeleteI dry clothes on the radiators when they're on but love hanging my washing outside :-) xxx
DeleteI'm afraid it's a lot more than I pay but then my home is a three bed semi with solar panels and the radiators are turned down low in the two unused bedrooms. Also, it is milder in the south east. xx
ReplyDeleteIt's a lot more than I'd like to be paying but it won't be for much longer, I hope! :-) xxx
DeleteWe pay a little bit more than you for our combined gas and electric, but we have a three storey house with four bedrooms and two bathrooms as well as a one bedroom annexe. As we both work from home the heating is on at a lowish level for about 15 hours a day. Alan is colder blooded than me and likes the heat, but to save us some money this is the first year he is not wearing shorts to work in during Winter and actually wears a fleece in the office .... finally!!
ReplyDeleteOne more year of work and then we will be downsizing and hopefully cutting our bills in the process.
We live in a 200 year old semi detached cottage. The old part really needs to stay at a fairly constant temperature. We used 7302 units of electricity in the last 12 months. Our all electric Aga has a lot to answer for I fear! Hoping to reduce this slightly as I bought a small oven/air fryer combo thing last year, which will take over from the Aga in hotter weather. We also have a combi boiler which uses oil...thankfully not too much, and a woodburner. We have 3 bedrooms, but would probably be classed as 4 as the old bathroom is now a walk through all sorts room.
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