Average Elec and Gas bills for 2 bed Semi

Knight85

Hi all,

im new here as you can probably tell!

I have almost bought my first house, we are currently just waiting for the exchange of contracts to go through, however i have no real idea about monthly elec and gas costs....

i was wondering if anyone has any ideas what they would be for a 2 bedroom semi with just me and my partner living in it.

It is reasonably well insulated/double glazing and all low energy light bulbs.

many thanks!

Magentasue

Impossible to say, but assuming gas for central heating an water, your electricity should be the lower of the two. We are a family of six and have four gadget fiends. Electricity is about £45 a month for us - average 13kwh a day. So if you read your meter every week for a month, and reckon on 10p-12p per unit, you can estimate your monthly bill. If you have any electric heaters, tumble dryer etc, it'll go up in the winter. Otherwise, apart from lights being on longer, there probably won't be a lot of difference.

Gas is completely difference. In our last house, we used 31000kwh (gas is about 3p-4p per kwh), but in this one 24,000kwh. This is a three bed mid terrace, poorly insulated and with someone home all day and will cost us about £60 a month when our fixed rate deal ends. Yours will be less than this because you won't be heating water for six and heating the house all day.

I'd estimate £75 a month until I knew better. You won't know for sure until you've had a couple of winter months in the house. If you pay by monthly DD, the idea is that you pay the same every month, building up a credit balance that is used up over the winter, so expect to pay for more than you use to start with.

Knight85

thanks for the quick reply....

as it happens im a bit of an eco-freak as my job is based around sustainablility etc...

so already have energy meters etc...and standby savers. So im hoping electricity will be rather low, as its only fixed lighting and appliances that will use this. We wont have a dishwasher or tumble dryer so im hoping this will help.

The gas i think runs the hot water, so presume this will be higher like you have said.

Im not really up to date with payment methoids...what are the options and the pros and cons of each?

sorry for so many questions

many thanks

Magentasue

Most people pay monthly or quarterly. Quarterly you pay for what you use so long as you submit readings. Monthly, you pay the same every month, in theory 1/12 of your annual bill. Generally, paying monthly by DD and managing your account online attracts bigger discounts.

Knight85

hmmmm food for thought....i presume if you pay by DD monthly you gain cedit for the winter months...is it better to have elec and gas from, same provider?

Magentasue

Sometimes - you get a duel fuel discount. More often, it's better to have separate suppliers. With the comparison sites, you can put in your post code and annual use in kwh (you'll have to guess) and check the best buys for duel fuel. If you check gas only and electricity only, you'll usually find the cheapest are from different suppliers.

DD monthly, in theory you start at zero Mar/Apr and build up a credit balance that is used over the colder months setting you back at zero in the spring.

dangerouspartridge

Hi,

I'm new to this and am butting in a bit - hope you don't mind!

We have just moved into a new house which used to have storage heaters and under floor vented heating - Eco 7 I think?

It still has the original eco 7 meter but our energy supplier says we are on a standard tarif. Does this sound correct? I don't want to be on Eco 7 as we use all electricty at night and have combi boiler for heating and water.

Any help much appreciated.

janninew

Knight85 wrote: »

Hi all,

im new here as you can probably tell!

I have almost bought my first house, we are currently just waiting for the exchange of contracts to go through, however i have no real idea about monthly elec and gas costs....

i was wondering if anyone has any ideas what they would be for a 2 bedroom semi with just me and my partner living in it.

It is reasonably well insulated/double glazing and all low energy light bulbs.

many thanks!

Hi Knight,

I live in a 2 bedroom semi and i pay monthly for my gas and elec, both with the same company! I pay on average around 30.00 per month on electricity and my gas bill varies every month as i submit readings, so this month my gas bill was 3.50 (no heating on) and my gas bill for January 09 (most expensive month for me) was 30.00. I am very careful with my usuage as i can't afford to be spending a fortune on utilities!

Do plenty of research and make sure you submit readings often so your bills aren't all estimated! If your bills are always estimated you could be in for a bit of a shock when they come to read your meters and send you a bill based on actual readings!

ironman1

Me and my gf live in a two bed flat and pay direct debits of £33 for gas and £25 for electric and are always in around £60 credit