ᐅ House electricity consumption – what is your usage?

We haven’t moved in yet, but we’ve had the photovoltaic system with SolarLog running for two days now, so I can surprisingly accurately see how much the air-to-water heat pump plus ventilation (combined unit) is consuming. Otherwise, not much else is on; the refrigerator isn’t running yet, only the stove and oven have power and show the time.

At night, we need a relatively constant 140-148 watts. Occasionally, there are peaks, and we suspect that’s when the heating kicks in. The ventilation seems to run at level 2 during the day and level 1 at night, and the thermostats are currently set between 3 and 4, with some already at 5. I think we’ll turn them up fully on Thursday.

Current power consumption is around 200 watts. According to the SMA app today: 7.58 kWh grid feed-in, daily consumption: 10.61 kWh. The underfloor heating runs occasionally.

Looking at the past few days in the SMA app, it ranges between 5-10 kWh per day.

In my first year, I used less than 1200 kWh. There are three of us, but two are not home full-time during the week. No dryer, no mechanical ventilation system, a fridge-freezer combo, and only one TV that runs for about 2–3 hours in the evening. During the day, the house is usually empty, and cooking is done on weekends. We have a gas heating system.

I find the differences in electricity consumption here really significant.

Ventilation... opening windows in the morning and evening is enough to keep humidity around or below 50%—unless it’s warm and humid outside, then it doesn’t work as well. I’m quite consistent about this and stick to it. I simply open the floor-to-ceiling windows, which don’t have window sills anyway, so there’s no risk of clutter. Fortunately, I haven’t experienced any mold problems.

The idea of “being woken up by birdsong” is overrated for me, especially in midsummer when the birds start chirping as early as 4 a.m.… sorry, but I don’t want to be woken up then.

What electricity is used during the night alone, I have to admit, I don’t know.

We can slowly wrap up this topic since the entire time the discussion has been off-topic. Controlled residential ventilation increases comfort for 10,000–12,000 euros (approximately 10,000–12,000 USD) but is not a must-have for houses (except for KfW 40 and 40+ standards).

Our baseline power consumption is around 250W. Right after moving in, it was still below 200W, but over time, with two Raspberry Pis, a few switches, and several additional wireless actuators, it has increased slightly. Last year’s total energy consumption was about 5500 kWh, including the heat pump.

Consumption so far this year: 5,000 kWh / Purchased electricity: 1,500 kWh. Heat pump used for heating, domestic hot water, and cooling; controlled mechanical ventilation; 3 refrigerators; including cooking and baking bread twice a week.