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Energy costs


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I can't equate the various figures for heating energy consumption with my own. We live in a three bedroom detached dormer bungalow and run our oil fired central heating for about 6 hours a day and less in summer. This also provides hot water for 2 people. I find that we are using 3500 litres of kerosene a year which with our 80% efficient boiler 28000 KwH or somethong over £2000 per year. But it doesn't end there because we also have to use a coal fire during the coldest months at a cost of £500 a year. With electriciity, we are having to pay something over £3000 a year just for energy. How does this compare to other people living in the country, who are forced to use oil or bulk gas?

This is a comment on "Fuel Prices"

Comments (5)

Just a note
I have just received details of a 4 bed bung in hereforshire, situated amongst other houses.

The figures give are Heating £2514/year over 3 years, total energy costs £3192 excluding TVs, washing machines etc- Category C. These are supposedly everages for this kind of house in this category

Regards

Peter

I should have mentioned that we also have double glazing throughout.We shut off one bedroom and the dining room completely and reduce the thermostatic radiator valves in other non essential areas. My feeling is that the kWh consumption assumed is optimistic. A detached house will always require more heat than a semi and if in an exposed position probably even more. It would seem that there are no really accurate figures for energy consumption/costs available for the various house types in different locations. Perhaps this is another aspect of confusion marketing and government's economy with the truth?
Thanks for helping, even though there is no easy solution. As previously stated, I can't be the only one.

your number all look correct. this site uses 60p per liter for heating oil, the same number you are using. there are 10kWh of chemical energy in 1 liter so that is 35000 kWh a year and with 80% efficiency as you say that is 28000 kWh.

There are several possibilities i think,
1. the average use number for a 3 bed house is wrong on the site. We have tested this number many times and it is generally about right It was however wrong during the cold year 10/11.
2. Bungalows require more to heat them. This can be true depending on the age of the property and how well it is insulated.
3. You like a very warm house????
4. Your boiler is less efficient than you think it is. Tricky to test this
5. You have a fuel leak (unlikely)

Humm, not much use,

Cheers

Richard

Hello. Richard.

1. Current heating oil price around £600 per 1000 litres (I buy at the lowest possible rate)
2. Costs go up every year. We had a particularly frugal time around Feb when it was very cold and we got within a day or two of empty. Caused by delay in delivery, so we cut back drastically on central heating time.
3. Pretty good. Cavity wall plus loft. Coul do with more around the dormers, but on advice we haven't done any more because opinion of insulation company surveyor said it wasn't worth the payment (even with a grant).t a conservatory over the front door to reduce drafts and gain from hot air produced by sunshine (when it does!).
Boiler 80% efficient.Old but regularly serviced. Calculations showed it wasn't renewing in the short term.
We are careful with energy and like other people arew being screwed by the oil price.

Hi Peter
have you a bit more info.
1. What rate are you paying for heating oil, looks like 7.1p per kWh.
2. what year are you specifically considering, the year 2010/2011 was ridiculously cold and my bill were 30% higher.
3. how well insulated are you?
with that we can see how sensible the numbers look.
cheers
Richard

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Household Energy Costs

Site Guidance

All calculations on this site are based on current fuel prices they are checked regularly are automatically updated and were last changed on:-
19^th February 2013
For complete clarity, all calculation using current fuel prices are coloured red.

The costs calculated based on these fuel prices should be regarded as 'good estimates', given that fuel prices vary in different parts of the county and at different time of the year.

The calculations also have different levels of accuracy depending on the nature of the calculation. For example calculating the energy use of a known power output TV is very easy compared to calculating the effect on energy savings when insulating a cavity wall.

Site Units

The main units used in this site are in the table below, For a complete explanation of any of these Wikipedia is an excellent resource.

Unit	Name	Detail
W	Watt	Unit of Power
kW	Kilowatt	1000 watts
kWh	Kilowatt hour	Measure of Energy
L	Litre	Measure of Volume

Best Investment table

Measures to reduce fuel bills		ROI*
	Lagging	1
	Loft Insulation	1.9
	Cavity Wall Insulation	2.2
	Underfloor Insulation	4.2
	Solid Wall Insulation	15.1
	Solar Hot Water	34
	Double Glazing	55.6
*ROI is the time it takes in years to return the investment in fuel savings for an average gas heated 3 bed semi-detached house. The table assumes no government incentive schemes are used.

Renewable Energy Measures		ROI**
	Heat Pumps - Replacing Electric	4 to 8
	Heat Pumps - Replacing LPG	15 to 30
	Wind Power	14 to 55
	Solar Photovoltaics	24 to 64
**ROI is the time it takes in years to return the investment in electricity savings. The table assumes no government incentive schemes are used.