Help with a seemingly high swalec bill

Juri

Hello all

Looking for some info on my dual fuel bill

From the period 24th April to 7th June I was billed £25.85 for gas.
From the poriod 24th April to 15th June I was billed £71.28 for electricity.

I find the gas bill ok and acceptable but find the electricity one too high.

I am a single guy, living in a small house and I mean small. I dont have a washing machine. Shower is manual from taps and not electric. Ok, I do have a plasma, and a computer which are on a lot of the day, but does that bill seem right? I know families of 3 and 4 which produce lower bills and they have washers and dryers going 24/7

Any info on this would be appreciated.

I have called swalec and they say my usage fluctuates, which is fair enough, but I still think that a little high for one person, or am I wrong?

kazwookie

Go round your house and turn everything off, then go and look at your meter is it still going round? if so it could be you are paying for someone else' electy, remember to turn at least the fridge / freezer back on.


Turn off all items you are not using that you leave on stand by, this can help over a period of time save loads.

Premier_2

Are the bills based on actual readings?

They don't seem particularly high. Plasma tv's use a lot of power.

KimYeovil

A bit over 200 units per month does not seem that high if you are watching a lot of plasma tv or playing 3d games. 100 units would be standard for a single person only occasionally watching television in the evening. It doesn't take much to double that.

It should be simple enough to measure how much your television and computer are using over a session through reading your meter.

Juri

But they are billing me for 520 units. 200 I could cope with

KimYeovil

200 units per month, not per quarter. 520 units is even lower consumption than I guessed.

I suggest you get out your old 14" crt. Or read a book. Do you have energy saving bulbs? Are you on the best tariff - £72 is rather expensive for 520 units. Have a look on the comparison sites to check what cheaper tariffs are available when you change to paying by direct debit.

Juri

I have the bill infront of me now. 24th April to 15th June.

519 units at 12.04p each on tariff Domesic Standard.

I have been advised to take readings for the last 5 days. Its day 5 tomorrow. I can see where a TV would use a lot, but surely not to this extent? I had the same equiptment in my last place, however, there was all electric no gas. So electric shower, electric heaters etc and it was winter and I was billed for 1055 units there for the quarter.

Premier_2

Juri wrote: »

But they are billing me for 520 units. 200 I could cope with

520kWh = 10kWh per day (not particularly high)

200kWh = < 4kWh per day (extremely low)

The plasma tv probably uses about 0.5kW alone.
(so it's obviously not on all day as it would consume 12kWh)

Juri

So you think that my usage and bill are correct? I just thought for a guy living alone in a small house that that was a bit too high

stujo

To be honest your your usage is very low. 520 units over a quarter of approx 91 days is only 5.714 units per day. You need to do a usage checklist and see if it matches usage. for example fridge freezer will use between 1-2, power consumption of TV may be 0.3kw per hour if on for say 8 hours this would use 8 x 0.3 = 2.4 units, same with computer if power pack is say 0.2 kw per hour then for 8 hours this would use 8 x 0.2 = 1.6 units so you can see that without including lights, kettle, sky, dvd, electric motor and controls on gas boiler, ,microwave, cooker etc you are already using a potential 6 units. your meter sounds fine to me however get yourself on a better tariff such as their go direct 5 and this will reduce your bill as you are on the standard tariff. if you know families with bills less than this i would advise them to take a meter read and contact their supplier cause they may have a big bill waiting as with washing machines, tumble drier etc i would expect usage nearer 15 - 20 units per day.

Juri

Hi stujo. 520 units over a quarter sounds good to me, but this was just over 50 days usage, not a quarter. I will be calling them tomorrow and will ask about the tariff you mentioned