Am I doing something wrong? Advice please!

punk_beatz

Hi guys,

I've been browsing a few threads on the forum and looking at average electricity bill costs and I think I'm paying far too much.

I'm with Scottish Power, though I haven't got the name of my plan to hand (Fixed energy 2011, possibly?) I live in a one bed flat with my girlfriend (we both work 9-5s) and it's all electric. There are 3 storage heaters in the flat and, like the flat itself, they seem quite old. We have Economy 7 heating, but the insulation in the living room isn't good at all and the wall is always freezing cold, so during winter the heaters are on the max heat setting.

We're currently paying 67 quid a month for electricity. Our quarterly bill from July - October last year was around 200 quid and that was without the heaters being on at all. Now the heaters have been on constantly I'm worried the next bill is going to be huge. I've been on uswitch.com and Scottish Power still comes out the cheapest for us. During summer the average daily kWh consumption is around 20 kWh and average use in winter is around 65-70 kWh.

I only switch on the immersion heater a few minutes before having a wash, but the shower never needs to have the immersion switched on to be hot which makes me think there's something switched on I don't know about.

Am I paying way too much or is this amount normal considering a lot of people pay a seperate gas bill? Feel a bit helpless here!

EDIT: For info, we have a dishwasher and washing machine which go on maybe once each every 2/3 days. Cooker/hob/oven are used for maybe 35-45 mins per evening. Fridge and freezer are both quite old models, so no idea how efficient they are.

MrsBartolozzi

Hi there,
I have a few questions for you - was the July-Oct bill an estimated bill or were both the beginning and end readings either customer readings (when you did it) or actual (when the man read the meter)?
If either was not a "real" reading then you cannot use the £200 bill to assume that you use ~£65 a month in the summer. Maybe this bill covers an underestimate earlier in the year or if the end reading was a high estimate you will have paid for elec you then used in the winter.
Are you with me? If this bill had 2 correct readings then it seems (based on my own 3 bed bungalow, 4 person, all elec home) a bit high for the summer. Maybe you need to look into reducing your usage - changing to low energy bulbs, unplugging chargers when not in use etc etc.
You can check how much you have used since the date of the last bill by reading it today and comparing today's reading with October's. Multiply the difference by the price per kw (will be on the last bill) and you'll get a rough idea how much you would owe if a bill came today.
If this seems like much more than you'd like you can still cut down on superfluous usage (bulbs and unplugging etc), but as this winter has been really cold don't be too hard on yourself.

One thing you might like to try though, if all you use the immersion for is to wash in the morning it would be quicker (not to mention much cheaper) to boil the kettle and use this to wash with. (also works for washing up).

Snippa

I just moved into a one bed flat which has Scottish Power as the supplier. They told me their computer said the DD would be £65 per month, as that's what the last people were averaging a month. My last place I was playing £20 a month and that was more or less covering it! I don't know whether it's that SP are more expensive, or whether it's just a more energy intensive flat - my last one didn't have central heating, so maybe that accounts for the extra £40 a month?

punk_beatz

Hi MrsBartolozzi, thanks for your reply.

The bill from July - Oct was an estimate, I've just looked. I logged into my account today and put actual readings in so I'll see what that comes to in a few days. Scottish Power's online account management is less than brilliant and not the easiest to use, so it's sometimes difficult to know where I stand.

I'm very conscious of electricity usage: I always switch of chargers when something is charged, only turn lights on in the room I'm in etc. So much so my girlfriend calls me the 'Electricity Nazi'!

When I moved in Scottish Power told me the average based on the previous tenants was 57 a month and since then it's gone up a tenner a month.

punk_beatz

Hi Snippa,

I lived in another flat in this building before moving to this one and the bill there was 35 a month. I lived there for just under a year and got a bill at the end of my tenancy for 135! Obviously their estimates were way off. Still, I can't remember if I supplied readings often

markharding557

i would say you are doing quite well considering you are all electric and you use a dishwasher

Fire_Fox

punk_beatz wrote: »

I'm very conscious of electricity usage: I always switch of chargers when something is charged, only turn lights on in the room I'm in etc. So much so my girlfriend calls me the 'Electricity Nazi'!

When I moved in Scottish Power told me the average based on the previous tenants was 57 a month and since then it's gone up a tenner a month.

The big users of energy are not lighting and things left on standby but rather anything that produces lots of heat so storage heaters, immersion heater, electric power shower, tumble dryer, washing machine and dishwasher. If you have an E7 tariff is is more cost effective to set your immersion, washing machine, dishwasher and tumble dryer to come on overnight when the electricity is half price.

Premier_2

20kWh per day in summer for a 1 bed falt where you are both out 9-5 Mon-Fri seems like high usage to me.

As you have found from your Jul-Oct bill, this is about £67 per month alone.

You really need to look at your meter and see how much more electricity you have used over the cold winter period and calculate the rough amount you owe so that it's not too big a surprise when the bill comes.

Also find out what is using 20kWh per day even in summer. You really should be able to reduce that £200 bill per summer quarter down to £100 or less with ease (although the winter one will still be large)

Perhaps think about getting the two different types of energy monitor, the OWL type to keep an eye on total usage, and a plug in monitor to see what plug in appliances you are using that are consuming more power than you think (e.g. I was shocked to find my computer would consume almost 1kWh per day even when I thought it was turned off, not on standby - now it gets disconnected at the wall when not in use)