What is the cause of my high electricity bills

Fire_Fox

HJS86 wrote: »

Mike,

My boyfriend and I are in an identical position to you!

We moved into our brand new build last at the end of Nov, and our bill for Dec was £135 for that month.

Its a one bed flat, very tiny.

We have 4 electric radiators - one in the lounge, one in the bedroom, one in the hall and one in the kitchen.
A TV, PC, boiler and hob/oven.

Following Dec's staggering bill, we reduced everything hugely.

We turned the kitchen radiator off altogether and leave the door to it shut - as you're only in there when you're cooking anyways and then there will be heat off the oven/hob.

The bedroom radiator comes on one hour in the morning and one at night. Only 2 hours per day.

The radiators in the lounge and hall come on for 3 hours in the night. Between 5 -6, 7-8 and 9-10. Inbetween these hours its gets quite cold lol. We light (no joke) around 22 different candles/tea lights in the lounge to try and maintain the heat.

We turned the boiler off over night; it now comes on for just 2 hours a day, right before we shower/bath - so if we dont shower at the right time there is no hot water.

The flat is completely empty between 8.30am and 5.15pm - nothing is on barring the fridge and the fish tank.

With all the candles we only need one lamp on in the evening and the TV will be on for around 3 hours. All lamps and lights are fitted with energy bulbs.

Yet even after all these cuts (its miserable having to rely on candles to be warm!) this month's bill is still £85.

There is literally nothing else we can do to cut back.

When I tell people how much our bill is they are shocked.

I insisted that our electricity provider come out and check the meter - they came on Friday and we are waiting to hear from them; however, the guy was adament that new build meters are not wrong.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated )

HJ x

You haven't mentioned a washing machine, dishwasher or tumble dryer - do you not have/ use them? You also don't say what you consider to be an acceptable ambient temperature. Also are you ventilating the flat properly? Damp rooms feel very cold. Are you dressing for the season or expecting to be as warm at home as you are at work?

There should be no reason to heat a bedroom in a new build flat, buy an electric underblanket and either dress sat on the bed with the duvet around you, or in the bathroom after your shower. Most flats have an internal bathroom or an internal hall or both - again it's often not necessary to heat these, simply keep the doors to heated rooms closed. Close the curtains as soon as you get in of an evening as this will keep a little extra heat in: if you own the flat you might put add thermal linings.

We do most of this and our monthly direct debit has just increased from £26 to £32 - two bed all-electric flat, two people (one home a fair bit). BTW we don't have energy saving bulbs ... yet!

HJS86

Hi Firefox

We don't have a tumble dryer or dishwasher. We do have a washing machine and we do one load a week.

Our heaters are just pants. In the bedroom its fine, but in the lounge the heater on max barely takes the chill off the room. We don't have a thermostat but its not toasty in there by any means. I will buy one and let you know

Yeah we wear hats in the house lol. Also have two massive big furry throws that we sit under on a night time.

Over the weekend we were stopped as we were getting on the underground by npower. We changed to them as they were offering a special rate if you signed up there and then. Hopefully this should change our bills as Eon were charging 25p for the first 225units then 10.23p after that. Npower on this special rate which doesn't change were charging 15p....

We don't open the vents because its so freezing - but if you think it will help we will try.

The curtains just stay shut all the time lol. We have blinds and curtains on windows which we thought would help.

We do have an electric blanket.

Just seems like a lot to cut all these corners. We don't think it unreasonable to want to have a luke warm little flat Its miserable being cold!!

Thanks for your help everyone! :T