The downside is that while we managed a big cut in consumption, it didn't show up in the cost - our bill still came in £6 higher than last year due to rises in energy costs.
Of course, that does mean we did come out ahead cost wise as we would have faced a huge rise in the bill if we hadn't cut consumption by that amount.
Oh, and last year's bill for the quarter was 14% less than the previous year's.
I'm not sure than we can cut it much further without spending between the hundreds to the thousands of pounds.
Changing from an electric hob and oven to either gas (more efficient) or wood (readily avalaible) would cut a big chunk off the bill. But we'd have to spend a bit of dosh to achieve it.
Doing all our battery charging with solar/wind would shave a bit off, but even a modest battery charging set-up is beyond us at the moment.
And putting in even a modest grid-connect renewable generating system would cost a lot more than we have.
I think it's going to have to be fine tuning from now on - unless someone takes pity on us and gives us a big wedge of dosh!!!
Still, I think we've done quite well - especially as we've also cut our oil consumption (for CH and DHW) down to 1,000 litres for six months, including winter. We were helped by a mild winter but we did have quite a few days where the house was distinctly chilly with only the snug feeling warm (thanks to the Victorian solid fuel range).
our feezer (courtesy of freecycle!) as the old one was too wee - you probably know too how easy it it to put all that butchered meat in when it's raw, but invariably what you want is underneath.....frozen meat jigsaw, not one of my favorite pass-times!