becoming trapped by electric bill

andjax

there are three adults living in our house and my bills have almost trippled in the last 12 months. i pay almost the same for my monthly electric standing order as i do for my morgage. . . ive checked my reading before anyone asks and its correct. we are not doing anything different in the house than before. the house is insulated, we use energy saving light bulbs in a large number of the rooms so what do i do next.
tellys are not left of stand by either.
can anyone answer me this however: my hob and oven are over 15 years old (and still in working condition) but do they become uneconomical after a certain length of time ????? could these be my problem.
im fast becoming trapped by my electric bill i couldnt swop even if i wanted to

jimexbox

What type of heating do you have?

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi andjax,

Have you looked at changing your tariff and asking your supplier why your bills have increased so much, as you will know energy prices have gone up a great deal and this will make a difference.

But I'd suggest looking at the units you used last year compared to this year, I'd also look how much the unit prices have increased on your tariff, this may help explain.

Magentasue

Dishwasher? Tumble drier? Heaters? Immersion heater?

andjax

gas central heating, so thats not causing any upset ... at the moment

andjax

dont have a dishwasher (thats what the hubbies for) , one dlonghi heater that works on a timer, no immersion heater, tumble dryer is used minimalistically, other than that we have one main computer 3 tvs in seperate rooms hob, oven and microwave and kettle that are in daily use.
The oven and hob are 15 years old and could this be a energy sapper, would we benefit from a new range or is that going to eat energy too................

andjax

Helena_-_E.ON wrote: »

Hi andjax,

Have you looked at changing your tariff and asking your supplier why your bills have increased so much, as you will know energy prices have gone up a great deal and this will make a difference.

But I'd suggest looking at the units you used last year compared to this year, I'd also look how much the unit prices have increased on your tariff, this may help explain.

We have checked last years bills (which were estimated) and yes they have gone up, but we dont appear to have changed the way we live so why have we used more electricity..................
What types of tariffs are available, what should we be looking for ?????

Hope you can shed a little more light on this
Many thanks

AndJax

Magentasue

Do you know how many kwh you use on an average day? We have laptops, TVs, xbox, washing machine, dishwasher, tumble drier and average 13kwh a day summer and probably 16kwh a day winter. We cook by gas.

I've also had a dehumidifier running since December. That's 4kwh in 24 hours but it's only on for three hours in the evening now. On heavy laundry days, we can use 18 or 19kwh. In our last house with halogen spotlights and no energy saving bulbs, electric hob and oven and the tumble drier used ad lib, we could clock 26kwh in a day.

Our present use has cost us about £600 this year.

Edit: How about meter reading some average days and then one where you don't use the cooker?

Fire_Fox

We need to know your daily KWH hour usage, based on actual readings, now and previously. You can't compare the overall cost as prices per KWH have increased a lot. Did you get into debt at any point/ did your direct debit not cover your actual usage? Have you had a new electricity meter installed? Are all your appliances exactly the same as in previous years or are there any additions/ changes? Are you using the electric heater more than last year (it has been much colder)?

Have you tried turning everything off and seeing if your meter stops moving? Or turning everything off except the DeLonghi heater (as you know the wattage) and seeing if the meter usage seems correct?

Lighting and standby don't eat much electricity anyway. The real killers are heating, hot water and tumble dryers. To a lesser extent dishwashers and washing machines (if hot wash) - basically anything that produces heat eats electricity.

dannymccann

Fire_Fox wrote: »

basically anything that produces heat eats electricity.

Hit the nail on the head there.

You say 1 DeLonghi heater (this one of those convection ones? or a fan heater?) - but 3 adults, so are you sure you havent miscounted the amount of heaters you have on? Also on a timer (not a thermostat) probably means its on full whack for hours at a time (a 2KwH heater on for 2 hours = 4kWh x 15p? = 60p x 3 times a day = £1.80 x 7 days a week = £12.60 a week JUST ON A HEATER).

For showering, as you have no immersion I assume its an electrical unit on the wall? Newish ones are 10kWh are they not? So again, 3 - 6 showers a day (if you shower twice) will really spin the meter (faster than your heater) so curbing the amount of showers, the temperature of the shower and the length of time in the shower will help.

edit - it could well be that your oven and hob are inefficient, im not sure how you would test it, you might have to have an electrician hook a device up for you to track the usage, but as above, the oven wont make anywhere near as much difference as improving your own efficiency with regards to heating water

andjax

Magentasue wrote: »

Do you know how many kwh you use on an average day? We have laptops, TVs, xbox, washing machine, dishwasher, tumble drier and average 13kwh a day summer and probably 16kwh a day winter. We cook by gas.

I've also had a dehumidifier running since December. That's 4kwh in 24 hours but it's only on for three hours in the evening now. On heavy laundry days, we can use 18 or 19kwh. In our last house with halogen spotlights and no energy saving bulbs, electric hob and oven and the tumble drier used ad lib, we could clock 26kwh in a day.

Our present use has cost us about £600 this year.

Edit: How about meter reading some average days and then one where you don't use the cooker?

thanks for that it gives us something else to be looking out for. I nearly died when i received a bill for £500 a quarter.