Average Electricity Bill

This is all very useful. In relation to the immersion issue - we currently have the central heating on for about 3 hours per day - Should this not heat the water anyway and thus eliminate any use for the immersion during the winter months?

I apologise for all teh questions. Im hopeless when it comes to this stuff
 
Yes, it will heat the water. The immersion element could be, lets say 3kW, for 2 hours a day = 6kWh * 30 days = 180kWh * 15cent = about 27euro per month.

I don't think I have ever used my immersion. Gas is generally a cheaper way of heating water if you have a decent boiler.
1kWh of gas = around 5cent, where as electricity is 15cent.

My Airtricity bill is 36euro per month, for 2 adults, 3 bed house.

Get energy saving light bulbs and don't use a dryer if possible, turn appliances on only when full (dishwasher, washing machine), don't leave stuff in standby mode, it can consume 20% of the energy as when in operation (TV, computer, micro wave, anything with a transformer).
 
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As pointed out to you, you should go to the ESB apliance applicator.
By my calculation if you have the immersion on for two hours a day that this is costing a lot. Im suprised your bill is not higher.
 
Ours averages about €120 bi monthly....we're also in a 3-bed semi 2 adults and 1 toddler. Use the usual house hold appliances - washing machine, dryer, electric shower with TV and computer on in the evening. I think your immersion may be running up your bill, I time mine for 30 mins twice a day and it's usually plenty. With heat on in the evenings I just time the immersion for 30 mins in the morning. Definitely try cutting back your immersion and see if it makes a difference.
 
one day after a ridiculous bill arrived my Mam made me stand at the meter for nearly the whole day while she tried different appliances to see how much electricity they use, my dad drinks tea like it's going out of fashion and suprisingly the kettle we had used a lot of electricity, so did the microwave, so we bid farewell to them that day and got a kettle to use on the gas hob, things like filling the kettle to the top then boiling it takes longer to boil, therefore using more electricity rather than just putting in enough water to do a cuppa!! test out different appliances to see how much electricity they use!!
 
GreenQueen said:
Have you tried using the ESB Appliance Calculator:

[broken link removed]

Simply put in all the appliances that you use and how often. I've found it extremely accurate for my bills.

HTH
Click to expand...

Mine too was extremely accurate and made me realise the amount of appliances I had when I had to count tvs etc...I line dry my clothes and only use the dryer to finish off the clothes and also have an a-rated dryer with a sensor so it cuts off when clothes are dry. I have a 4 bedroom detached house and our last bill was 118 for 2 months.
 
I tried out the ESB calculator too, came in within a euro or two, great tool to see where your money is going.

That American fridge freezer doesn't seem like such a great idea now. Using approx. 1/4 of the total bill.

Ours is appox. €70 bi monthly for 2 bed appartment (GCH)
 
Recently got my bill from airtricity - 190 for 2 months. 3 bed semi-d, 2 adults and 2 children. Seems very high, so have been making some changes.

We have now stopped using the immersion (was 2 hours per day), as I've finally managed to get the gas boiler heating water.

I'm also now monitoring our electricity usage with the OWL Electricity Monitor - http://www.theowl.com/index.php?page=about-owl . Very interesting.

Of course, it has pointed up all of the usual suspects - power shower (by far the largest user, but it's not on for long), dryer, kettle, dishwasher, washing machine, electric cooker. However, quite a bit of variation in the usage of each of these. Additionally, the 50w spotlights (we have 12) are a big contributor. So, I'm going to replace them with LEDs. Also, a couple of our standup lamps use a lot of electricity , so going to replace them too. Interestingly, fridge, computers, mobile phone chargers, TV (LCD) do not really contribute very much.

journeyman
 
The OPs bill is huge. Wife in house all during the day with kids and TV would be on for some of this time plus washing machine and cooking lunches etc with electricity and out bi-monthly bill is only 110 or so.
I did get an energy meter (Lidl offer) and it's amazing what items consume even when they're not in use (LCD TV - 30W in standby, Computers 15W, phone chargers aren't worth talking about as they are very low), so we don't tend to leave anything plugged in if not in use.

We did replace may bulbs with CFLs (including downlighters 40W replaced with 7W CFLs) but the other thing we did was to install a 15/30/60 minute timer on the immersion. This way the immersion can only be on for one hour max and the fact is that half an hour heats the tank enough for two showers anyhow.

We originally had a timer with only a 1 hour boost setting. What used to happen before was the we'd hit the button for the 1 hour boost and then within 20 mins the water was hot enough for a shower, but the immersion was on for a further 40 minutes more than required.
This meant we were using 3 times more electricity than we required for a shower so we changed for the 15/30/60 minute timer. I'm sure the timer has paid for itself a number of times over by now.

For those interested the timer was a Horstmann Electrisaver E15, got it in Heat Merchants, but can't remember the cost, but I'm sure it was less than €30.
 
GreenQueen said:
Have you tried using the ESB Appliance Calculator:

[broken link removed]

Simply put in all the appliances that you use and how often. I've found it extremely accurate for my bills.

HTH
Click to expand...

Goraib Maith Agath!
 
We also live in a 3-bed semi, 2 adults, 1 toddler, out all day at work/creche. We recently switched to Airtricity and our monthly bill is €39. We don't have a tumble dryer and never use the immersion - have an electric shower.
 
I only wish my electricty was that low. Over the last 12 months ours is averaging €62/week!! We have an air to water heat pump for heating running off electricty and the rest is just your normal cooking and lightling. The house is about 2000sqFT and there's only my wife, myself and a baby living there. The washer and dryer are constantly going because of the baby clothes but other than that nothing thats a big power consumer. We moved to Board Gais and bills have come down but the winter months bills are huge, last year at the time of the snow the 2 monthly bill was over €900!
 
john m said:
I only wish my electricty was that low. Over the last 12 months ours is averaging €62/week!! We have an air to water heat pump for heating running off electricty and the rest is just your normal cooking and lightling. The house is about 2000sqFT and there's only my wife, myself and a baby living there. The washer and dryer are constantly going because of the baby clothes but other than that nothing thats a big power consumer. We moved to Board Gais and bills have come down but the winter months bills are huge, last year at the time of the snow the 2 monthly bill was over €900!
Click to expand...

That's astronomical! Have you had your heat pump serviced and checked that it's running correctly?
 
I believe you John. You have a fairly big house and probably have the heat on a lot. Our house is 2200 sq feet and we have oil heating. the bill last winter was over 400 euro for two months.
Since then we have cut the bill down to about 250 euro. We have at least 40 50watt bulbs in the ceilings which are very hard on eletricity.
Kids involved in sport so washing machine and tumble dryer on a lot.
we have replaced some of the 50w bulbs with energy savers and turn off lights when not in room.
Changed to Bord Gais so expecting bill to be lower. Immersion on very little now.
 
Max 40euros per month, two adults 3 bed semi detached house, no children yet, one on the way.:D

We have a electric cooker and dish washer.

I always knock off things that are not in use, i.e lights in the house, not leaving tv on standby. use the dishwasher at night and only when full.

Washing machine couple of times a week but pm only when possible

Switched from ESB which was aroud 50euros per month to Bord Gais which is much lower

All these small things add up.
 
Our house is only 2 years old and teh heat pump is working fine, neighbour has the same system on a 3000sqFT house and his bill was €1200 for the same 2 month period. We have a lot of those recessed ceiling lights and they're in the areas we live most, those contribute a fair bit to the bill but the LED energy efficient ones are up to €25 each but they are much more efficient, the only drawback is they produce a different colour light. People confuse eco friendly with energy efficient, our house is eco friendly, no fossile fuels, well insulated etc but its expensive technology! The heap pump is on 24/7 and 365 days of the year, thats just the design and the way it works with undefloor heating.
 
So John your heating is coming from eletricity?. If you were using oil it could be 2000 euro a year for oil.
 
I wouldn't describe a house that uses €400 a month of electricty of being eco friendly!

Have you considered installing a wind turbine or similar to generate the electricity for your heat pump? If your bill is that big the initial outlay might save you in the long run.

I can't get over some of the bills here. I know I didn't mention it at the start but we're a 4 bedroom house. I'm here all day. We have plenty of appliances that are used everyday including a drier, washing machine, dishwasher, tv, cooker, laptop but the only item that doesn't have an "A" energy rating is our drier. Our electricity bill works out at approx €45 per month.
 
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