Energy usage/bills

yellow218 · 3 October 2016 at 6:28PM

Hi all

Been trying to get our energy bills down for a while, slowly but surely all the little things are adding up. Well for the electricity anyway. But gas, not so much. It appears that our usage is always higher that the estimate on the bill. Bearing in mind it's still summer (OK, maybe not summer, but it is at least summery) we don't have the heating on. So gas is just for hot water and cooking on the hob, therefore I would suggest usage should be fairly consistent. But that doesn't seem to be the pattern, or at least not in the suppliers estimates.

I appreciate a combo boiler may be more cost effective in the long run, but I don't really want to fork out for a replacement right now.

Maybe we have the hot water setting on too much? We have it on in the early morning and early evening but off during the day. What would be considered as 'normal' settings? Any other ideas on how I can bring down the energy bills?

Thanks in advance.

dirtycredit · 3 October 2016 at 7:29PM

Hiya,

I found only switching sockets on when being used and straight off when finished made a big difference to my bills. And get an electric shower. I hardly ever turn the hot water on now.

DC x

National_Debtline · 3 October 2016 at 7:34PM

Hi Yellow218,

You should check there is no fault with the meter, and give regular readings to the supplier to try and get better estimates. You could also check online to see if you may benefit from switching suppliers as well.

Have you looked online if any suppliers have a scheme to help you get a more efficient boiler? Sounds like you are on top of what you are using so perhaps the issue is with the price of the fuel and efficiency of the boiler rather than the usage.

Laura
@natdebtline

chevalier · 7 October 2016 at 10:57PM

check the temperature your water is set at. For safety it should be set to 60 degrees centigrade I think. Any hotter than this and you are adding cold water to it to get it cool enough, which of course is a waste!
cheers
chev

bobcat2 · 8 October 2016 at 12:20AM

Hi Yellow218,
I've reduced by gas and electric bills a lot over the last couple of years as wanted to spend less and now gas and electric bills together are less than £27 a month (two bedroom house).
These are some of the things I have done:
-changed all my light bulbs from halogen and compact fluorescent to LED, every light in the house put together is now less than 100 watts in total
- Always switch things like the TV etc off when not in use instead of leaving on standby - i have put on one multi socket so just one switch to turn everything off.
-Switch supplier to cheapest available rate, then switch again just before that deal runs out so always on the cheapest tariff - use money saving expert cheap energy club to get £30 cash back when switching - will get 2 lots of cash back this year so 2 months free :-)
- Switch off internet router when going out or away for the weekend
- Switch on hot water manually for an hour, instead of on a timer every day so its only heating water when needed
- use eco wash on washing machine
- God rid of my cordless phone as it was hardly used and use a wired one which uses no power

EssexHebridean · 8 October 2016 at 9:40PM

We ONLY have gas for the cooker - freestanding so both hob & oven run on gas. Currently this costs us less than £5 per month so that may be an indicator for you. I do occasionally use a combi microwave but cook from scratch so the cooker does get a fair bit of use.

Smodlet · 8 October 2016 at 10:09PM

Hi. If you are a homeowner and your roof is suitable you could look into getting solar panels. Yes, if you want the FIT (Feed In Tariff) you have to buy them and they cost around £5+6k (I think) but it is possible to get them free (you don't get the FIT then, just free juice). They have reduced our bill by approximately 40% over a year so I'm a convert.

Any provider's website will have checker you can use. We got ours from a company called A Shade Greener, who have no hidden costs. I have read on here some charge for surveys and stuff but ours were completely free. No, I don't work for them, honest.

Ilona · 8 October 2016 at 10:34PM

Hello Yellow. I have just had my quarterly gas bill for the period 12th July to 4th October. Three bed semi, single occupant, email my readings monthly. They want £4.04p, I kid you not.

How do I do it? Obviously no heating during the summer months, I won't put it on until I am cold, I will put more clothes on instead. I only heat a tank of water when I am going to have a bath once a week. I have a wash in the sink every day in cold water. That's what we did when we were kids.

I only use the hob and the grill of my gas cooker, don't use the oven, don't bake or roast. I rinse my pots and pans under the tap as soon as I have finished with them, don't fry food so they are not greasy. I haven't poisoned myself. I sometimes boil a kettle to fill the bowl with hot water to give the kitchen a good clean.

I am with a supplier that doesn't have a standing charge so I only pay for the energy I use. There is no penalty for quarterly bills, I don't want monthly direct debits. This only works for low users, and I am a very low user.

You didn't say how much you are paying, can you get your usage down any more? If you are going to bath or shower every day it will cost you more.

Ilona

gfplux · 9 October 2016 at 4:15PM

Why don't you read your meters weekly. Build up a pattern of your weekly usage.

redux · 9 October 2016 at 5:53PM

bobcat2 wrote: »

- Always switch things like the TV etc off when not in use instead of leaving on standby - i have put on one multi socket so just one switch to turn everything off.
- Switch off internet router when going out or away for the weekend
- God rid of my cordless phone as it was hardly used and use a wired one which uses no power

Leaving a modern TV on standby all the time would cost about 25 pence a year.

Similar cost for charging a mobile phone, by the way.

The router here costs about £8 a year in electricity if on all the time, so this might just about be worth doing, but won't have a huge effect if not.

The cordless phone here can also do internet calls, and since the price increase of 18185 about a year ago, VoIP is set as default, and annual cost of all calls has dropped from about £30 to about £5. About £1.50 to £2 a year for electricity.

MrsPorridge · 9 October 2016 at 6:42PM

A couple of years ago I started turning everything off at the plug socket on the wall - saved my £25 per quarter on the electricity bill.

Energy usage/bills

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