Electricity Bill

[ruthandsam]

Hi

Please would you let me know how much you pay for electricity per month?

We pay £82 / month and live in a 3 bedroomed terraced house. This seems extortionate to us so we are trying to find out what possibly in the house is upping the bill so much. Could it be using a 10 year old washing machine?

Any ideas, please?

[losgigs]

We pay £69/month for gas and elec together for a 4-bed semi, 3 adults plus occassional visitors. That includes having the heating on more than we would like to keep elderly mother comfortable! What supplier are you with? Maybe time to do a comparison on the appropriate website.

[ruthandsam]

OM word what a difference! We used M&S power but changed today to Southern Electric directly rather than via M&S. This will save us £32 per year. Seems that we are on the appropriate tariff when compared to other companies.

[grasscarp]

when I used one I think the tumble dryer was the biggest culprit. I pay 130 a month for gas and electricity.

[factor-fiction]

I'm curious about how a couple of posters on here manage to keep combined gas and electricity bills down to £70 a month for gas and electricity for a 4 bedroom detached house. That's only a fraction over
£2 a day.

We have a similar property and for most of the year now have only 2 of us living there and we are usually at work all day. Every year we switch to the cheapest deal. We use Economy 7 night rate and do all washing/drying, water heating, charging up laptops/radios, shavers, ironing on cheap electricity. I monitor usage regularly and have experimented with different systems (turning off all lights, different heating times and water/central heating temperatures.

I found that whatever method I used I couldn't get our costs below £2 a day (bearing in mind the standing charge), or £60 a month, except for the summer months. A more realistic minimum is £3-3.50 a day (£90- £105 a month)
So I'm rather puzzled as to how those who are managing on under £70 a month for a large house are achieving this. Maybe I'm missing something obvious

[fairycakes69]

We pay £35 per week for gas and electric, we have a card I pay that with at pay point's so no direct debit or card meter. 3 bed semi with 4 adults, lots of showers and charging of lots of phones, laptops, Xbox on constant. By the end of the year they owe me £400, it comes in handy or Christmas.

[grasscarp]

My problem is an Italian husband who wants the house hot all the time.

[ruthandsam]

A hot Italian husband. Now what can I say.... sorry about that. Ok, still seems like we are over paying. Electricity people said we still owe them £203 even though we are paying a lot by direct debit.

I'm sat here now and at the moment we're using 154 watts. When shower is on it jumps up to 9.1 kw. Does that sound about right?

It is getting to be a bit of an obsession at the mo.

[jazzyjen]

I have found that my fan oven drinks electricity! Now try to use other appliances--slow cooker, microwave etc instead or use the oven only when full, making 3 or 4 meals at once and freezing the surplus to provide for other days. i can then just defrost and heat up in the microwave. Another trick we employ is boiling the kettle less. (pour any surplus hot water into a vaccuum flask to use later on). Average use for us is 13kwh per day in a 3 adult household. Gas covers all heating/hot water. Combined power bill is £110 per month with EDF

[EDDIE51]

Worst culprit for power use is a tumble dryer, they EAT it . Mine uses around £2 in an hour so we try to use it only as an emergency.

[vodkancoke]

I pay £130 per month for gas and electricity. I live on my own in a 3 bed flat, no microwave, no tumble dryer and I hardly have the heating on! I do, however, use my washing machine a lot!

Mum and Dad pay £180 per month for a 5-bed detatched house, microwave, tumble dryer, washing machine on every day, Mum irons about 3 times a day (exaggeration!), dad works from home so has a computer on all day, it's just the two of them in the house and they use the same company as me! Grrrrr!

I have queried my bill and they tell me it's correct. :/

[rockyracoon]

Don't know if it's already been mentioned on this thread, ask supplier for a device that hooks up to your meter, it tells you exactly how much you're using. You can switch everything off then gradually switch it back on one thing at a time, you'll find out what the main culprits are. In our house it's Xboxes.

[losgigs]

Continuing from earlier post, OH has spent many happy(?) hours on comparison sites and finally settled on Scottish Power for our 4 bed Semi. We do live in the South East, so maybe ave temps are a fraction higher than other parts of the country. They sometimes try and up our monthly payment, usually after the winter, but we always phone and point out the the usage will be less in the coming summer months (hopefully) and they back down. We hate overpaying and if they try and raise our direct debit, we suggest that we may look elsewhere - it works a treat!