Avoid using Gas and Electricity

minniemaus1970

They done that to me a few years ago, set up direct debit for gas and lecci, then a year later I got a bill for a years worth of electricity!!! I felt sick!
I compleained on noumerous occasions the asked for a detailed bill for every month ( prices had gone up! and they billed me at the higher price) then put a few more complaints in and managed to have it reduced again, I paid it off with some items I sold. I am now with Scott*sh Power and do my own online readings every month and pay monthly DD. so I am never over or under now.
My friend also looked into my account at the time ( She works for a different energy company) and my account was still pending and none excistent, NPowers excuse was there eas a problem with the serial number on my account (LIE!)
I wonder if they dothese things so that you hAVE to stay with them?

MM

quintwins

pops now that you've said that do you wanna know how much it costs to run my pc? ...... £54 a month now to be fair when we discovered this we were leaving it all 24hrs and it's a big gaming pc for hubby, now it's only on when it's uses and switched off again straight away, and it costs £1.80 to dry a load in my dryer so it's only used for uniform or if i really can't leave my clothes on a clothes horse anymore.

Popperwell

I have to keep the fridge/freezer on(no choice)use the washer sparingly and wait until I have a full load...avoid the tumble drier if I can but at least the washermakes the clothes drier than I could ever manage by hand. And as long as I am here I have a washing line but the weather lately means that's been out due to all the rain and now we are heading towards Winter...

Sorry bedding probably should be washed more but there's only me and weighing up the cost I know what takes priority...

attentionseeker1

So HappyMJ, given that my estimated gas usage for the coming year is apparently well over £600 and electricity usage is only just over £400, and as you rightly say, gas is much cheaper per unit, essentially the reason for this must be that I use an absolutely enormous number of gas units in heating the house and water, if the hob doesn't use so much??

Thanks for sharing your knowledge- starting to feel like I can beat this- will be a challenge to see how low I can get my usage methinks...

Spendless

I posted yesterday that I have an electric monitor which was free from my utility supplier. It gives how much an hour you are using in pence. It keeps you focussed and you'll learn to work out how much you should roughly be around. I've looked at mine and thought that's too high and sent the kids looking round the house for lights still switched on etc.

I have a hob steamer, which means I can cook potatoes and veg on one gas ring. In summer we often have bbqs (depends on whether you have charcoal/gas bottle in though and how much that will cost you) with salads and the oven isn't used as much.

Popperwell

QT,
I used to keep my pc on 24/7 not now but as I sav music and radio shows on it and need to play them back, it's defeating why I have one...

My main pleasure, access to the internet spoilt...

I have no idea if it would be classed as a big pc but of course you have a monitor too and I have some spare hard drives...

Oh well...

Popperwell

Life in 21st century UK, isn't it fantastic...not!

Mistral001

Popperwell wrote: »

QT,
I used to keep my pc on 24/7 not now but as I sav music and radio shows on it and need to play them back, it's defeating why I have one...

My main pleasure, access to the internet spoilt...

I have no idea if it would be classed as a big pc but of course you have a monitor too and I have some spare hard drives...

Oh well...

I found that my PC was using quite a lot of power by just being plugged into the wall. I do not mean on standby, but when switched off at the PC on/off button and no lights or sign of life in the PC. It uses 35Watts in this mode and it is not a particularily old PC either. This works out at about £1 a week for just being plugged in or £52 a year.

The meter I used to measure power being used cost £15. I have also used it to measure power used by all other electrical items around the house. I found that the TV on standby used very little which is contrary to what we are told on TV.

edit: got my sums wrong. i have edited my figures above. Still quite a bit. I have two computers so I save quite a bit by ensuring that they are switched off when not using them

Popperwell

So you have to switch off at the wall and switching off appliances on the gadget still means electric is being used, oh dear...I'll have such a carry on getting down to switch on and off at the wall but needs must...

orangesmartie

I've started switching everything off at the wall, including the oven and microwave. I know they don't use much power to keep the clock going, but it adds up over a year. Everything else gets switched off at the wall when not in use, including the alarm clock in the bedroom.