Does this sound too much?

notlongnow_2

My mum lives in a 3 bedroom terreced cottage, with very steep stairs so she never goes upstairs during the day(bathroom downstairs) so theres no heating on upstairs either in daytime or through winter.

She has a gas fire in the living room on low more or less all the time in autumn/winter and a halogen heater in the kitchen on most of the time in autumn/winter daytime.

She uses her washing machine approx once a week and has one bath a day unless her legs are particularly bad in which case she doesnt have a bath.

She is also not one for leaving lights on and goes to bed early so doesnt have a light on in the evenings as she is asleep.

She pays £120 a month for combined gas and electric and is on 'Warmfront' (??)scheme so she can use what she wants and the price will never go up.

£120 sounds a hell of a lot of money per month for a single person who uses practically nothing! She doesnt even use the central heating in winter because she spends most of her time in the living room with the gas fire.

Do you think im right? Is she paying too much?
Thanks for any advice given.

Magentasue

Yes, it seems high but maybe the gas fire and halogen heater are mosre expensive to run than the thermostatically controlled central heating?

I don't know about Warmfront but before you can find out whether a standard tariff would be cheaper, you need to find out your mum's quarterly and annual usuage. This will also tell you whether it is gas or electricity or both that are making her bills high.

1carminestocky

The fact she has 3 bedrooms is going against her here, as Staywarm base their monthly charge on the amount of bedrooms a property has. Obviously, if there were 3 people in the house and they were using a load of fuel, £120 a month may seem a decent price. As it is, I really DO feel your mum would be much better off elsewhere. Incidentally, one of the reasons Staywarm is so expensive these days (IMO) is because most people on it (unlike your mum!) tend to just leave everything on all the time, lol, as it's a flat rate charge (I know the really huge users do eventually get taken off it, but still).

With your mum being so careful about her fuel consumption I really do believe she is paying wayyyy too much but like the previous poster said, best to ring Staywarm and get them to provide her yearly usage figures then hit the switching sites...

Barneysmom

Yes, I think she's paying far too much. She might be better off by switching to another company and asking to be put on their social tariff.
I reckon she'd save about £30 a month.
We only pay £110 a month gas and electric and we have a 4 bedroom house.

1carminestocky

Why only look at social tariffs and standard rates? The OP clearly has internet access and could easily 'manage' his/her mum's account online. This opens up a whole raft of much cheaper options in regard to the various energy company's online tariffs. Just a thought...

clairewp

Hi i live in a 3 bedroom house and have combined bill of 92 a month, that's with loads of electrical appliances running, so i think your mum is paying way too much.

brysiewysie

Look at this site, it will help you compare to others in simialr situations;

http://www.imeasure.org.uk/