| Reading time: 4 mins Your gas and electric bill can be one of the most expensive parts of living. When yopu add it on top of your rent, council tax and everything else, then things can get a little overwhelming. But how much should you be spending on your gas and electricity each month? And how much energy should you be using?
Energy is usually one of the first places that people can look to to shave some of their costs down a little bit. So, let’s look at how much gas and electricity you should be using.
How much gas should I be using?
The average amount of gas that households are using depends on the energy supplier and the amount of people in the house. The average one bedroom flat has an average monthly cost of ÂŁ25 per month, or around ÂŁ300 per year. However, the average three bedroom house has an average monthly gas bill of ÂŁ35 per month, or between ÂŁ420-450 a year.
This equates to around 6000kWh of power per year for those in flats, and somewhere are 10000kWh of gas for those in houses. These numbers can vary drastically depending on how much you use your gas, and there are ways that you can reduce the amount of gas you’re using in your house. And though we’re moving to greener forms of energy, the average gas consumption is still as high as ever.
How to reduce your gas usage
The amount of gas that you’ll be using will depend on a few things. If you want to quickest way to reduce your gas bills, then use an energy switching service like Look After My Bills. They can switch you over to another supplier without you having to do anything, and we often recommend them to people who don’t want to manage everything themselves.
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But it’s not just the company that you’re with that dictates your bill cost at the end of each month, as your energy consumption plays a massive part here too. The criteria that we generally use to determine the average gas and electric usage of your household are;
Your tariff
The main thing that effects your gas usage is the energy supplier and tariff that you’re on. If you’re trying to reduce your gas bill costs and save money, then the best way to do this is by switching to a cheaper supplier.
You can also consider switching to a different tariff than your current one, as you may be able to move to one that charges you more at peak hours and less at other times of the day. This can mean that at the end of the month, your average energy bill is lower – though you’ll need to be careful with your timings.
Location
One of the main things that can determine how much your gas costs is your location. There are different prices for every different region in the UK, and depending on where you’re located, the price will be a little different. Not a great deal, but there’s a difference. For example, the gas costs in London are going to be greater than the gas costs in the East Midlands.
This is one of the main reasons why switching energy provider can be a good idea – the cheapest energy companies in London may not be the same as those in Scotland, for example.
How you pay
How you choose to pay your gas bill can have an influence on its price. You can usually get the best price by signing up to a monthly direct debit contract, as opposed to other methods of payments. If you’re a tenant, then you may be signed up to a prepayment meter service, which can unfortunately mean that you end up on a higher tariff and get larger gas and electricity bills.
Household members
It’s an obvious one, but it still needs mentioning! Of course, one of the main factors into how much your gas bill will be will likely come down to the amount of people you have in your house. A two bed flat with four people in it is likely going to have a much higher gas bill than a two bed flat with only one person in it.
There’s not much you can do about this if you have more people in your home, as you’ll just have to be more careful with your energy usage.
Appliance usage
Another obvious one, but your gas bill cost will likely come down to how much you’re using the gas appliances in your household. Your hot showers and heating are likely to be one of the biggest contributors to your energy bill at the end of each month, but that’s definitely not the only thing you’ll want to think about.
What uses gas in my house?
If you’re wondering what exactly uses gas in your house, and how you can reduce your usage of it, then this is a great ides. There are a few things which tend to use gas the most. This includes;
Heating – The heating in your house is going to be the biggest user of gas. There’s a reason why your gas bills go up so much in the winter! We need the extra heating throughout this time, so many people find their gas bills to increase during the winter months of the year.
Hot water – The hot water in your house is likely heated by a gas water heater (unless your household has an electric water heater, obviously). As most people use these every day, the costs can add up quite considerably during the time that you use it.
Gas oven – Another major contributor to a high gas bill can be a gas oven, which can use a considerable amount of gas if you’re going to use it frequently. Typically an electric oven is the better choice of the two, as it allows heat to be distributed equally.
Conclusion
All in all, the gas costs for your household can be minimized by simply adjusting the amount of gas you’re using daily. This can be done in a number of different ways, with one of the main ones by not using your heating whilst you’re not in the house.
If your gas costs has very quickly jumped up overnight and you’re not exactly sure why, and you’re still using the same amount of gas, then there may be another reason for the jump in price.
