how to cut electric

earwig

how can i cut back on electric use i have just been told that my weekly payment for electric has gone up from 10.00 per week to 16.00 per week any ideas i have unpluged things we dont use ie vidio microwave but its not made no differance any ideas please i live in a three bed house is this a normal amount of money for this size home thanks

wanttobedebtfreenatty

Hi there,

I am with Npower and pay for elec £30 and gas is only £8. I get £50 pounds back at the end of the year because I have both gas and elec with them.

We also turn off everything that isn't used.

wantotobedebtfreenatty

nicola1982_2

Are you using economy saving lightbulbs? Do you have kids? Are you ensuring they're switching TV, PC etc off rather than standby? Have you looked at switching providers?

earwig

nicola1982 wrote:

Are you using economy saving lightbulbs? Do you have kids? Are you ensuring they're switching TV, PC etc off rather than standby? Have you looked at switching providers?

hi no i dont use economy bulbs i didnt think they made much differnce i will buy some today kids are little and tv dvd player is strictly only firday saterday nights for one hour if they have been good which we turn on and off i cant switch providers as i would have to pay my outstanding bill of 178.00 electric and 122.00 gas first

wishingonastar_3

I use energy saving bulbs, there are some free ones available on the freebies board if you are in rciept of benefits (even tax credits, things like that). I unplug everything from the wall at night and during the day when i'm out, except fridge and freezer and alarm clock. even the kettle gets turned off at the wall after every use. don't leave tv, video etc on standyby, or the computer or anything else. one thing i hadn't realised when i cut down i had a couple of sockets with four way adapters in them so when one thing was turned on through it (i.e. tv) the video and cd player were also on, although not being used. make sure you turn every light off when you leave a room, even if its only for a few minutes, it all helps. also if you have electric cooker and/or hob, turn them off a few minutes before you've finished cooking as the residual heat will finish off cooking everything.

hope theres something there that may help,

woas.

CLAPTON

what do you use electricity for:
heating your home or do you have gas ch?
heating hot water ?
do you use a tumbler dryer
is your washing m/c hot & cold input or cold only

is your £16 paying off previous bills or is it the actual weekly amount?

Mrs(no)money

I spend £28pm on elec - we cook and heat by gas. I have a 3-bed house and three kids running every type of elec applicance available, or so it seems! All the so called 'little' things soon add up and basically if it heats up, its costs more. kettle, iron, tumble drier etc. I went around the house into every room and added up how many things were running, clock/radios, mobiles charging, freezer etc - you forget these things cost! I was in a similar position re elec once and i when i queried it, they suggested I takea meter reading every couple of hours during the day to make sure it wasnt having a 'superfast' moment - ie faulty meter whizzing round! The one thing i did find out was that the so called 'economical to run' pump in my fishpond was doubling the bill!! (We soon filled the pond in!!) If you think the meter might be faulty they can test it for you, BUT if it turns out to be ok, you may well be charged so best to do your own tests first.

One last thing, dont forget that all the elec prices went up earlier this year - maybe this is the first time its shown on a bill?

Ali-OK

How do you get hot water? If its by electric and you've a hot water tank, does it have a temperature dial on the side? If so, turn that down a few degrees.

ruth_helen

Hi all, for those of you that have an electric kettle but cook on gas, bin the kettle and buy a gas hob one. Electric kettles cost a bomb to run

THE_LONE_RANGER_4

seems a bit high ours is around £75 quater for a 3 bed house, emersion on every day for 3 hours never switch things like micro off etc are you sure there is nothing faulty such as the emersion etc get your appliances checked

earwig

hi right then i have just brought energy saving bulbs for every room i could but kitchen front room are those candle screwing type bulbs
washing machine is cold fill only
the weekly amount is based on previous bills over twevle months and they say it needs to go up to 16.00 to stop the acount going into debt
i have had them check the meter before i had to do daily readings and phoned them back after a week they said bassed on what i told them the meter wasnt faulty
the prices have gone up this year has any one elses electric bill gone up by so much i was paying 10.00 a week which i thought was bad but it has gone up by more than half
to be honest we disherwasher
i stoped using the tumble back in march when the weather was better i am realy gob smacked by this as i have said we live in a three bed house not a castle my kids are young age 2 and 7 and dont realy havc gagets in there rooms not ones what need electric for anyway
the cooker is gas hob and electric fan oven
the heating gas
the tv and skybox are on from 8 in the morning untill around 11.00 at night
the dvd stero and vidio are all unpluged
the microwave is unpluged when not in use
the laptop is on from 600 in the morning untill 11.00 at night
so realy please any ideas on anything else i can do would be great
so i really dont know