We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Reducing my Mum's utility bills
marc.faulkner
Posts: 639 Forumite
in Energy
Evening all,
Was talking to my Mum on the phone earlier, and I was shocked when she told me how much she's paying for her utilities at the moment (Gas especially!).
She's a single Mum/stepmum to 4 children under 12 and is living in a 3 bedroom mid terrace house.
The house has a modern central heating system with individual thermostats and also a gas fire in the lounge.
She is, unfortunately, on a Prepayment tariff with Scottish Power at present, and is spending over £200 per month on gas alone! (and about £40 per month on electricity, which isn't to bad).
Bearing in mind she is currently living on benefits, her energy bills are currently accounting for about a quarter of her monthly income!!
I've done a bit of searching, and have found that NPower are apparently the cheapest PP provider in here area and could save her IRO £500 per year based on their current prices and my Mum's current usage. Switching to a standard credit meter could potentially save her another couple of hundred, however will SP charge her to swap the meters over? Would they even allow her to switch to a cedit account when on benefits?
Any suggestions on how to bring the costs down a bit would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Marc
Was talking to my Mum on the phone earlier, and I was shocked when she told me how much she's paying for her utilities at the moment (Gas especially!).
She's a single Mum/stepmum to 4 children under 12 and is living in a 3 bedroom mid terrace house.
The house has a modern central heating system with individual thermostats and also a gas fire in the lounge.
She is, unfortunately, on a Prepayment tariff with Scottish Power at present, and is spending over £200 per month on gas alone! (and about £40 per month on electricity, which isn't to bad).
Bearing in mind she is currently living on benefits, her energy bills are currently accounting for about a quarter of her monthly income!!
I've done a bit of searching, and have found that NPower are apparently the cheapest PP provider in here area and could save her IRO £500 per year based on their current prices and my Mum's current usage. Switching to a standard credit meter could potentially save her another couple of hundred, however will SP charge her to swap the meters over? Would they even allow her to switch to a cedit account when on benefits?
Any suggestions on how to bring the costs down a bit would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Marc
0
Comments
-
check kwh usage rather than pounds- makes it easier to judge what she's actually using in gas....... for a perpayment meter at the minute with the chill as it is, you're looking at 5-6 pound a day on a prepayment meter to keep the cold out, so she may not be too far off that? you're looking on average at 2000-3000 kwh a month at its very coldest as a rough guestimate...0
-
check kwh usage rather than pounds- makes it easier to judge what she's actually using in gas....... for a perpayment meter at the minute with the chill as it is, you're looking at 5-6 pound a day on a prepayment meter to keep the cold out, so she may not be too far off that? you're looking on average at 2000-3000 kwh a month at its very coldest as a rough guestimate...
She seems to be averaging £7 per day, so not that far out as you say.
Have to say, I'm amazed that it can be that expensive! Admittedly I'm only in a 2 bed terrace myself, but last months gas bill for me was under £15...0 -
How well insulated is the house?Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️0
-
-
marc.faulkner wrote: »I can't speak for cavity walls, but the entire loft cavity was insulated early last year - and it's extremely think lagging.
The house is also fully double glazed.
Great start! So it's down to a combination of the prepayment meter, the supplier and how aware she is about energy consumption. What is the ambient temperature? How long does she have the heating and hot water on for? Is the heating left on overnight? Do they leave devices on standby? Does she use a tumble dryer? Do they wear proper winter clothes indoors?Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️0 -
Have you checked that she isn't paying back a deficit for some reason?#6 of the SKI-ers Club :j
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" Edmund Burke0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 351.8K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.4K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 454K Spending & Discounts
- 244.7K Work, Benefits & Business
- 600.2K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177.3K Life & Family
- 258.4K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards