Please help, we have a huge electricity bill and need to know how to bring it down

Fizog

Baths use an awful lot of water, do you have a shower? If not a shower attachment to the bath taps could give you a slooshe down and would not use as much water.
Thermal vests are brilliant and will keep you toastie, ditto sleeveless fleeces, slippers to be worn at all times.
Do you have thermal lining on your curtains? That keeps the heat from escaping the room ...even with double glazing gaps round the sills will let in cold.
I suppose with the storage heating the house is hot in the am and not so warm at night.
Good lick with the bills we all need to economise I think in the current climate.

purplegirluk1

Thank you all for the brilliant advice. Pattycake yes it does sound like we have similar systems, though ours doesn't have a boost button. I am in the process of arranging a condensor tumble drier that can be put on over night and I have started only using the washing machine over night.

Bayblue - Our landlord is very good, the problem is I have had to ask him to sort out two other problems in the last week or so, firstly we have control knobs missing from the night storgae heaters so I asked him to get some new ones, these have still not arrived. Then we discovered we had a really bad condensation problem in our bedroom that has ruined our bed so we have had to speak to him about getting two new double glazed windows with vents one which he is also dealing with. He is a lovely land lord, just a little slow at sorting things out. I will have a word with him when I see him next but I was hoping to sort it out myself in the mean time.

Well tonight I have the timer on from 2am to 7.30 am, I am hoping that this will create enough hot water and I will be able to see how long it lasts tomorrow.

purplegirluk1

Sorry Fizog - yes we do have a shower, we have just not been using it since the big bill as I have been caught one too many times half way through washing my hair then the water suddenly goes cold!

purplegirluk1

Well I put the immersion on from 2am to 7.30am, so thats 5 and a half hours, I tried the tap at 9.30am and the water is cold! I just don't understand whats going on. We did have some hot water yesterday and that was when the immersion had been on between 5am and 9am. Any ideas?

espresso

purplegirluk1 wrote: »

Well I put the immersion on from 2am to 7.30am, so thats 5 and a half hours, I tried the tap at 9.30am and the water is cold! I just don't understand whats going on. We did have some hot water yesterday and that was when the immersion had been on between 5am and 9am. Any ideas?

Without knowing more specific details of your system, it's hard to comment however if you had it on for five and a half hours and still have cold water, you obviously have a fault. That should have used probably 10 - 12 night units, did it? Should be easy for you to check this.

StevieJ

anniehanlon wrote: »

apart from all that, turn ligts off in rooms that you dont use.
Dont boil more water in a kettle than you need. If you do this by mistake
put the water in a thermos flask and use it for your next drink.
Just little things but they all mount up.

Yorkshire will be proud of you.

sandraroffey

sounds like you certainly have a problem here!! dont wait until you SEE the landlord, call him. its now an urgent request!!! there is a baby in the house and it needs sorting. and make sure that everything goes on overnight. if the oven is electric, put the casserole in there overnight, and a chicken as well. do several days meals on the cheap rate. dont forget the draft proofing on door and windows; old blankets etc make great draft proofers and cling film on the windows to keep it all out. sounds crazy but trust me, it works!!

Trillionaire

Hi. Sorry about the problems that you are having with your electric bills

You've had some good advice above.

I recently started to wash my clothes at night time (around 2am), as my washing machine has a timer. It has made a huge difference to my electric bills:beer: I'm even in credit now with my electric due to this very small change.

Maybe if you put a few of the suggestions into practise you will see a difference in what you are being charged. Before you start, read your meter and then monitor your usage.

nesssie1702

If you've got bad condensation in your bedroom then it may be down to a lack of or poor ventilation or it could be penetrating damp?

I know you're trying to heat your house, but you also have to ventilate it, otherwise the condensation can then cause mould problems which have the potential to affect the health of those living in the house.

purplegirluk1

nesssie1702 wrote: »

If you've got bad condensation in your bedroom then it may be down to a lack of or poor ventilation or it could be penetrating damp?

I know you're trying to heat your house, but you also have to ventilate it, otherwise the condensation can then cause mould problems which have the potential to affect the health of those living in the house.

We have managed to get that sorted, I spoke to the landlord and he has agreed to put in new windows with vents in them. We don't have wall vents as the walls are made of granite! I have been opening the windows every day since I cleaned it all up.