On Jan 7, 8:57*am, Terry Fields wrote:
Apparently the 'average temperature' for last December was the coldest
for a hundred years, at minus 1 deg C instead of an expected plus 4
deg C.

As we are told that turning down one's central heating by 1 deg C can
save 10 percent of heating costs, then December's low must have
ratcheted up the energy bill by some fair amount, possibly 50 percent
at a first guess.

This is our first December in this house, so I have no idea what might
have been a normal figure to compare to, but the gas meter readings
for that month say we used 3600 kWh, for a four-bed detached house on
the edge of some fields.

I'd be interested in any figures people might have for their December
energy consumption, compared to the previous December.

TF

I ordered a fill of oil during the first week of December and
deliberately reduced the running periods and temperature for the
downstairs zone when I was advised delivery could be two to three
weeks. Consequently we went to bed earlier as the upstairs heating was
still on the normal pattern and as a result we used less than last
year. two and a half weeks later the oil was delivered so at Christmas
the normal pattern was restored but we had more people in the house
giving off heat. Our electric usage will probably be lower due to not
having lights on as late downstairs in the evenings but I didn't take
any readings