Having Trouble with Electricity and Gas Bills Usage - Advice Required

gooner85 on 23/07/2022 - 11:04

Hi all,

I know in light of everything this discussion is something that has everyone spooked about prices but I am looking for advice on what to do next

Background: 3 people and 1 dog in house. 1 baby 6 month old
Usage: normal showers
Electricity: electric stove used for cooking, heater portable oil one on most of day (heating one room which baby and mum are in), dryer and clothes
normal electronics etc
good with lights
Gas: gas water heater

Recently my bills have been crazy high for the last 3-4 months:
$225 for gas 500 MJ a day
$318 for electricity: 26 kwh per day which is equivalent 5+ people a day $8.60 a day

We have thought to go solar ( we own our house but look at moving in 1 year so don't know if it's worth it)
Might upgrade water heater to instant electric
Also might look at installing reverse heating in rooms

Does this all add up for 1 year or should I be doing more?
Have used comparison sites for everything also.
Would love input

General Discussion Electricity Energy Supply Gas Supply

Comments

  • AndyC1 on 23/07/2022 - 11:32
    +2

    Have you figured out exactly the devices that are using the GAS and Electricity the most? If not then you need to figure this out and try to minimise these.

    If you do not know what is using the electricity then I would go to jaycar and by a power meter and find the culprits(s) and see if you can reduce the use of them. I would suggest that the oil heater is the major one. If the oil heater does not have a built in fan then it will use allot more power to heat the room and the temp setting should be set as low as possible to take the chill out of the room and not make it so you need to take the long cloths off.

  • DarkOz on 23/07/2022 - 11:37
    +2
    • Hot water: Shower less by reducing the length of time for each shower or skip shower on days we are at home and not have gone out
    • Oil heater: We have 1 but I keep telling the wife and kids not to use it. Just wear more clothes and close the windows
    • Washing machine: Buy cold washing powders and keep it on cold wash
    • Clothes dryer: We intentionally didn't buy one and just let the clothes dry naturally in the balcony

    For us, it could be the difference between extra $200-$400 per quarter.

    • garetz on 23/07/2022 - 13:54
      +2

      People always complain about their bills but aren't willing to do anything about it, this is good advice.

  • King Tightarse on 23/07/2022 - 11:41

    Well its a two pronged approach.
    You need to make sure you are running your house as efficiently as you can and also getting the best possible deals. That means rolling up your sleeves and looking at the compatible deals offered by all the available companies. There are often better deals for having both gas and electricity together.
    These days gas is a burden and it would often be better not to have it, as they sting you for a set of monthly fees on top of the now dear usage costs. If you are stuck with it then there is not much you can do other than make sure your appliances are running to spec and thinking about not having it for your next house when you move.
    As for electricity; you need to know the approximate wattage of all the heavy use appliances and use them accordingly. You mentioned an oil heater on all day. These are known power hogs. Check its wattage - can you use something else? A reverse cycle heater/air con will be more efficient

    • If you are in Vic, make sure you grab your $250 'Energy Compare" bonus.
  • racer1234 on 23/07/2022 - 12:18
    -1

    Compare your usage too the same bill from 12 months ago to see if usage has Increased or price rises. Probably both. Will be hard to get return on upgrades if you are moving in 12 months.

  • SF3 on 23/07/2022 - 12:27
    +1

    Recently my bills have been crazy high for the last 3-4 months:
    1 baby 6 month old

    Probably means your wife is home more and therefore using utilities more.

    Cooking more, washing clothes more, heating more from being home.

    • djones145 on 23/07/2022 - 13:50

      yeah washing of clothes and dryer would be the killer
      and this

      heater portable oil one on most of day (heating one room which baby and mum are in)

      might as well burn money, cheaper lol
      u got air con use that

  • Sweetsugar on 23/07/2022 - 12:36

    We are in the same boat. Renting for the last three years and highest we had for our apartment was $210 and all of a sudden our bill is $460 this quarter. No Major changes to how we use and bill somehow doubled.

    • jpl on 23/07/2022 - 15:10

      Gas or electricity?

  • mskeggs on 23/07/2022 - 12:39

    If you are moving, there is no real point to spend for payback over time, just cut usage a bit.
    Gas seems high if it is just hot water. Take a look at past bills and see if the Mj has changed, as it could indicate a fault.
    Those column heaters cost a lot to run, can you turn it down a bit and get a couple of throw rugs as well?

  • Keplaffintech on 23/07/2022 - 13:19
    -1

    The oil heater is useless, uses heaps of power to heat just one room. A reverse cycle aircon for heating is way more efficient (up to 5x). If you don't have reverse cycle, avoid using the oil heater and just rug up instead. It will make the biggest difference to your electric bill.

    The next highest usage is the dryer. Avoid using the dryer for multiple hours a day, or get a heat pump dryer (much more efficient).

    Electric stovetop cooking and other appliances use so little compared to the heater (and the dryer).

    • Keplaffintech on 23/07/2022 - 13:23
      -1

      To give an example, if you're simmering something on the stove for 1 hour, it's probably simmering at about 200-300w. This is a total energy usage of 300wh. A large oil heater (2.4kw) will use that same amount of power in just 6-7 minutes

      Another example, look at your average usage (26kwh per day), if you ran a large oil heater for 10 hours, that would be the entire bill covered for that day.

      • brendanm on 23/07/2022 - 15:09
        +2

        Haha, oil heaters don't run 24/7. They have a thermostat.

  • ihbh on 23/07/2022 - 13:32

    Let out the $, what has the usage been last qtr vs previous qtr and last qtr vs same qtr last year?

  • jpl on 23/07/2022 - 15:07
    -1

    @gnuh it will be easier if you post up a few quarters of the bills, hide your details.

    For Gas MJ is the end result but the MJ is calculated from (Base unit x Heating Value x Pressure Factor), you may be using the same usage but if the HV and PF changed, the total MJ will change too.

    For your electricity, what @Keplaffintech said is quite true. The oil heater on fulltime is most likely the issue. Is your bill quarterly?
    26kWh per day is 2340 kWh per quarter, assuming the bill is 90 days.

    Supply $0.92 per day = 0.92 * 90 = $82.8

    $318 - $82.8 = $235.2

    235.2 / 2340 = $0.10 per kWh

    Unless I am calculating wrong, $0.10 per kWh is really cheap.

    • Jugganautx on 23/07/2022 - 15:16

      It's more like $8.60 x 91 = $782.6

      Take off supply charge

      $700 ÷ 2340kwh = $0.299/kw

      • jpl on 23/07/2022 - 15:19

        Thanks mate for your correction.

      • avoidfullprice on 23/07/2022 - 15:25

        OP: $318 for electricity: 26 kwh per day which is equivalent 5+ people a day $8.60 a day

        Even more like

        ($8.60 - $0.92) / 26 = 29.5c/kWh

        Assuming 92c/day of supply charge

  • websterp on 23/07/2022 - 15:40
    +3

    I have a solution but you'll need a park across the road with a public BBQ.

  • gooner85 on 23/07/2022 - 17:51

    Hi these figures are per month so

    $225 gas per month
    And $318 per month

    Which is $2400 per quarter or so

    • OhNoUShiz on 24/07/2022 - 00:31

      $225 for gas per month is a lot. I am bout your family size. This amount is for 61 days. I am paying about $30 to $60 for electricity per month, but this is going to change as all retailers have increased their rates..

    • avoidfullprice on 24/07/2022 - 08:41
      +1

      Gas: 500MJ per day is a lot. We use gas for hot water and cooking and we use 500-800 MJ per month.

      So you guys are using 20-30x gas?

      Quarterly Bill: umm if you use $225+$318= $543 per month on avg, then it is around $543 x3= $1629 per quarter not $2400…

  • original15 on 24/07/2022 - 09:27

    Would happily trade bills with you

  • morse on 24/07/2022 - 09:51

    The gas seems very high if just using it for hot water.

    Reverse cycle air conditioning is the cheapest to run and great for summer too. https://www.choice.com.au/home-and-living/heating/home-heati…

    We rarely use the clothes dryer. If we do it’s mostly line dried and finished in the dryer. I also put things on clothes horses on the sunny side of the house in winter and then bring them inside in the late afternoon to get completely dry. I always wash clothes in cold water too.

    Also don’t leave devices plugged in once they are fully charged. If you want to be really cheap charge them at work.

    Also consider an airfryer if you’re doing a lot of oven cooking.

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