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Avoid using GAS and ELECTRIC !

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  • housebug
    housebug Posts: 201 Forumite
    Heat or eat. I remember when I first heard that phrase last year. Talk about dismay.

    Martin has a section on the Board somewhere that shows exactly how the costs are worked out and according to his calculations, we're still being undercharged. Fair enough, but I take issue with companies like EDF who are foreign owned and are obviously subsidising their domestic market at the expense of the U.K. consumer. I mean, energy costs up to 30% less in countries like France?

    As I've said before, its beyond mere cost anymore. The entire system needs overhauling. I'm beginning to think people were warmer in Winter in past decades merely by the fact that they had more options; wood/coal/solid fuel. There was no such thing as no burn zones. Its not helping that we lag seriously behind in all areas that would make the UK more energy independant and give the consumer more choice. Switching suppliers isn't good enough any more as they all supply the same service, prices varying only slightly now. As for the issue of being green, I wonder sometimes if reasonable comfort and cost is also being sacrificed on the Green Alter. Countries that aren't signed up to the same green initiatives as the UK aren't having the same problems with fuel poverty.

    Stuff to think about.
  • cw18
    cw18 Posts: 8,630 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    MrsTittlemouse - have to say I'm totally flumoxed at the difference in our prices!! Just checked the leaflet for the Fixed Price tarrif we're on, and we're the second to highest priced area for both the higher and lower priced units (only Yorkshire above, by 0.019p/kWh, on the higher priced units -- and only Northern above, by 0.012p/kWh, on the cheaper priced).

    I put us onto fixed price at the start of July, and I know I calculated recently that if I were only switching now it would be almost 12% higher -- but that still wouldn't bring ours anywhere near to what you're paying :eek:
    Cheryl
  • sammy_kaye18
    sammy_kaye18 Posts: 3,749 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Homepage Hero Name Dropper
    Hi All

    Well I just wanted to pop in and give you all the good news - I paid an installment onto each payment scheme card yesterday (im on meters but pay onto a payment card) so I put £50 on my gas and £15 on my electric.

    my bill was sent out wednesday unknown to me, so today my bill arrives......how good is this

    gas - £32.02 (thats 3 months)
    electric - £106.42 (thats also 3 months)

    bearing in mind im in a two bed flat and have a terrapin tank running most of the day and one of us is normally on comp as other watches tv.

    So after hte payments i made the day before i now have
    gas - £17.98 in credit
    electric - £ 91.42 to pay

    over 3 months

    not too shabby

    :money:
    Time to find me again
  • Jet
    Jet Posts: 1,647 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Combo Breaker
    Well, I'm not sure how you worked out unit rates but I've just had a rough working out using kwh and I reckon my gas and electric will cost me about £350 over the coldest 3 months. Considering I'm only there for an hour in the morning and don't get home til half 3 every day and am very economical with the heating, that's a lot of money!
  • housebug
    housebug Posts: 201 Forumite
    Jet wrote: »
    Well, I'm not sure how you worked out unit rates but I've just had a rough working out using kwh and I reckon my gas and electric will cost me about £350 over the coldest 3 months. Considering I'm only there for an hour in the morning and don't get home til half 3 every day and am very economical with the heating, that's a lot of money!

    Thats what we can't understand either.
  • cw18
    cw18 Posts: 8,630 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Jet wrote: »
    Well, I'm not sure how you worked out unit rates but I've just had a rough working out using kwh and I reckon my gas and electric will cost me about £350 over the coldest 3 months. Considering I'm only there for an hour in the morning and don't get home til half 3 every day and am very economical with the heating, that's a lot of money!
    My last bill showed 15 meter units, which is 15 cubic metres.
    After doing all the calculations to that figure, it equates to 172 kWh.
    The period this bill covered would have meant the first 301 kWh are at the higher rate (due to being on No Standing Charge tariff), so the lot comes in at that rate -- which for us is 4.471p/kWh. 172 kWh * 4.471p = £7.71
    So £7.71 / 15 (meter units/cubit metres) = 51.4p for each unit we see the meter go up by

    (those figures don't include vat, but also don't allow for the fact we're on dual fuel and online discounts)
    Cheryl
  • Pink.
    Pink. Posts: 17,650 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Just spotted this thread on the Grabbit board and thought it might be useful to someone.

    Pink
  • cheerfulness4
    cheerfulness4 Posts: 3,021 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    hello everybody, loving this thread loads, but i have 2 questions that have probably been answered but i cant find-

    1. Whats cheaper to run laptop plugged into mains or pc?

    2. I dont have a microwave because i find them big and bulky and i dont really use it to much however i'm now wondering if it would be cheaper to run a microwave and cook in that? any thoughts?

    thanks muchly


    The laptop is the cheapest to run from my own investigations using my leccie monitor. When I checked them both with it the pc cost 2p for 1hr 20mins and the laptop 2p for 3hrs 40mins use.

    The microwave was much cheaper to run than I expected. A chilli cooked in 19 mins on high (850w) cost 5p in leccie.

    I've really found a monitor brilliant at helping me know and show the family what things are costing and where changes can be made. Worth getting one so that you could program in your own tariff rate.

    MAY GROCERY CHALLENGE   £0/ £250

  • Magentasue
    Magentasue Posts: 4,229 Forumite
    Gas meters are either metric (x by 11 to get approx kwh) or imperial (multiply by 31.3 to get kwh) and then you get charged by the kwh, usually about 5p.

    Microwaves cheaper than an electric oven BUT (that's a big 'but') food is nicer cooked in a 'proper oven', IMO!
  • cw18
    cw18 Posts: 8,630 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I've been using my microwave on a regular basis -- but not as a microwave ;)

    It's a combi, so I use it for small quantities that need oven cooking -- smaller capacity which preheats much quicker than the full oven, so I assume it must be cheaper to run. It also does fantastic jacket potatoes -- about 20 mins for 3 spuds for the family, so don't have to restrict them to only when I cook a joint in the oven.... especially useful as I've started to do my 'roasts' in my slow cooker meaning the full oven is even less likely to be turned on now.
    Cheryl
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