How does this translate financially?
If you’re asking ‘How to calculate my energy consumption?’, it’s often not because you’re interested in the wattage figures, but more interested in the money side of things. That’s normal, that’s why My Energy exists, we want to help people take control of their energy bills and save money.
So, the average energy bill for a small house or flat is £805, for a medium sized house it’s £1,160 and for a large house with multiple occupants it is £1,621. These figures are for standard tariffs, which are usually the most expensive tariff that providers offer, and so these figures may seem a little elevated.
For homes that are on their provider’s cheapest tariff, the figures are a lot friendlier, with £610 for a small house or flat, £879 for a medium-sized home, and £1,220 for a larger property.
Should I start conserving my energy?
If, based on this page you feel you are overpaying for your energy bills, contrary to popular belief, conserving your energy is definitely not the best place to start. Obviously it’s beneficial for you and your bills, but on the whole, it’s the tariffs themselves that cause the most trouble.
Put simply, if you reduce the consumption on an expensive tariff, you’re not going to have as much effect as if you were reducing consumption on a cheaper tariff. Switching energy companies should always be your first port of call.
Good to know: If you wish to know directly which appliances may be responsible for the largest percentages of your energy consumption, use this handy online tool to find out.
What about for businesses?
For large businesses, (meaning those that consume over 100,000 kWh of electricity a year), the energy bills, and the service, are charged and handled completely differently to small businesses below that figure. The average electricity consumption figures for businesses below that tier is split into three categories: Micro Business, Small Business and Medium Business.
| Business size |
Low usage (kWh) |
High usage (kWh) |
| Micro |
5,000 |
15,000 |
| Small |
15,000 |
25,000 |
| Medium |
30,000 |
50,000 |
Interestingly, the average annual consumption for businesses in the UK is under 10,000 kWh.
For gas consumption, every business uses it differently, and so the figures are a lot harder to define. Restaurants and hotels inevitably use a lot of gas for both heating and kitchen equipment. A shoe shop might use barely any gas because they have no need. This must be considered when a business asks ‘How to calculate my energy consumption?’.
| Business size |
Low usage (kWh) |
High usage (kWh) |
| Micro |
5,000 |
15,000 |
| Small |
15,000 |
30,000 |
| Medium |
30,000 |
65,000 |
As you can see for the gas figures above, they are not that different to electricity, which is quite a contrast to domestic energy consumption. Again, companies above a certain size will have their gas managed differently, usually by a specialist large business energy provider.
What about how to calculate my energy consumption for a single appliance?
The UK Centre for Sustainable Energy shared this very good explanation of figuring out appliance costs per hour:
“Electricity is sold by the kilowatt-hour (kWh) – usually referred to as ‘units’ on your electricity bill. If you’re feeling mathematical you can work out how much an appliance costs to run by multiplying its wattage by the amount of time it’s on and then by the cost of electricity per kWh. So let’s say you have a 500W (0.5 kW) dehumidifier and you run it for a whole day (24 hours). It will use 12kWh of electricity (e.g. half a kilowatt-hour every hour). If your electricity costs 13p per unit, then multiply 12kWh by 13p and you get a grand total of 156p, or £1,56. This is what it costs to run the dehumidifier all day, and you can see how appliances can add a lot to your bills.”
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