excesssive electricity over £20 p/w

mattgkr

Hiya, can anyone please help me.I live in an old end terrace, 3 storey council house with ok insulation but it always seems cold even with the radiators on. I live with my partner and 2 kids. We have gas central heating and a gas fire(which we never use), we cook by electric, have normal electric appliances ie. fridge, chest freezer, washer/dryer, T.v(we do leave portable on all night in 3 bedrooms as it helps us sleep), all the lights are only switched on when we need them and are all energy saving bulbs, we have started to use 2 little fan heaters which help warm the downstairs they are thermostat contrlled and come on and off, not used much in the day. We are supplied by Ebico for both gas and electric both on prepayment meter. The reason for my post is that I am sick of spending so much money on these things...last week on Thursday at around 4pm I put in £20 gas and the same in electric which cleared a bit of emergency credit, I had approx. £17 of each. On monday I woke up and they had both ran out and I had to put on emergency. Is this normal? I admit that we were in for the weekend as it was new year wkend and it was also very cold but the electric? £17 in 3-1/2 days? When we are at work/school I normally use around £15-20 pw elec and £25 pw gas but never under £15 pw electric even without the heaters. I read that average electric usage is 3300kwh annual well when you work mine out at 13.90pkwh it amasses to almost 8000 annual. Can anyone help me out, many thanks for your time.

soul619

well eith all those heaters on im not surprised its bein used fast

Cardew

Never use fan heaters when you have gas CH.

Ebico are very expensive for electricity unless you are a very low user - find another supplier - and cut down on your consumption

mattgkr

Cheers guys, your dead right about ebico elec. just been doing some switch checks, I thought it was best to have same supplier for both but that aint true is it lol. I understand about the heaters maybe I'll get rid and use the gas fire. Im gonna also look at turning things off when not in use. Thanks again.

McKneff

Remember, turn them off off, not on standby, it uses nearly as much elec
as leaving it switched on.

peachyprice

Do you mean you leave 3 TV's on all night? are you mad!
Seriously what is it about them that helps you sleep, if it's the noise, get some radios instead.

mattgkr

Peachy yeah...each to their own ok. Its simple I cannot sleep wivout it. All my life I have never slept in darkness and silence and neither have my kids, and no Im not mad!!!! I dont see the problem most of my mates do the same as me, your post aint helpful 1 bit. Thanx Annie I will remember to turn them off.

McKneff

I dont think peachy meant to be unkind.
The problem is you cant sleep without the TV, it is probably what you
grew up with, ie your parents doing it, it is perpetuating by you doing it to
your children, who in turn will do it to theirs. See if they can sleep with it off
if it doesnt work, switch them on again for a few nights or try them with a night light.
If you take them away overnight do they have tvs on all night

newlywed

Also if you have a washer/dryer, do you use the dryer much as that will also eat up electricity?

BexTech

anniehanlon wrote: »

I dont think peachy meant to be unkind.
The problem is you cant sleep without the TV, it is probably what you
grew up with, ie your parents doing it, it is perpetuating by you doing it to
your children, who in turn will do it to theirs. See if they can sleep with it off
if it doesnt work, switch them on again for a few nights or try them with a night light.
If you take them away overnight do they have tvs on all night

I can't sleep in the dark, if I do I have hallucinations dropping off to sleep and coming out of sleep and as humans wake up several times throughout the night (though most never know) I can have hallucinations quite a few times a night.

I do prefer some noise in the background when going to sleep, so put the radio on a timer.

BexTech

mattgkr wrote: »

Hiya, can anyone please help me.I live in an old end terrace, 3 storey council house with ok insulation but it always seems cold even with the radiators on. I live with my partner and 2 kids. We have gas central heating and a gas fire(which we never use), we cook by electric, have normal electric appliances ie. fridge, chest freezer, washer/dryer, T.v(we do leave portable on all night in 3 bedrooms as it helps us sleep), all the lights are only switched on when we need them and are all energy saving bulbs, we have started to use 2 little fan heaters which help warm the downstairs they are thermostat contrlled and come on and off, not used much in the day. We are supplied by Ebico for both gas and electric both on prepayment meter. The reason for my post is that I am sick of spending so much money on these things...last week on Thursday at around 4pm I put in £20 gas and the same in electric which cleared a bit of emergency credit, I had approx. £17 of each. On monday I woke up and they had both ran out and I had to put on emergency. Is this normal? I admit that we were in for the weekend as it was new year wkend and it was also very cold but the electric? £17 in 3-1/2 days? When we are at work/school I normally use around £15-20 pw elec and £25 pw gas but never under £15 pw electric even without the heaters. I read that average electric usage is 3300kwh annual well when you work mine out at 13.90pkwh it amasses to almost 8000 annual. Can anyone help me out, many thanks for your time.

For electricity eBico aren't the cheapest. Also note with pre-payment you can't get anywhere near the savings you can get with a standard credit meter and paying by direct debit and often by going for an online tariff.

We are in a 3-bed terrace, gas central heating, gas for cooking (hate electric cookers) and spend £15 per month on gas and £31 per month on electricity, the gas again in credit (so could really drop that down again a few quid).

All energy saving light bulbs, computer is on 24 hours a day often, due to working patterns, though TVs are completely switched off (at the plug, as even switched off on the set, but still on at the plug it uses several watts), the cable and satellite boxes get switched off when not in use, microwave only on when used - have a wall clock.