Parents' £80 Elec. bill p.m, surely too much?Emersion heater?

buel

Hey there lu lu,
Yes it seems we were posting at the same time! Im sorry i posted three consecutive times, when i post on my phone during my breaks at work i can only fit so many characters in the screen at one time so that's why i posted three times! Doh!!:o

I thought, possibly erroneously, that you had sorted out the prepayment meter/tariff & this was now all "in hand" although it does take 6/8 weeks to go thro'. If not done this is an absolute 1st to do.

I will definitely sort that out tomorrow! My mum has said she is keen to take specialsparky and sueinbirmingham's advice regarding telling Scottish Power about my Dad's health situation! Great advice!!

If you can persuade your Dad that he could manage without the "hanimal" freezer (intentional misspelling) then that would be a VERY good move as at best it is probably using 800 watt (0.8kw) per day = 5.6kw per week or possibly as much 7kw per week. You would only know the exact figure after putting the monitor on it.

We,, me and my new monitor are going up to my parents' house tomorrow (I can almost see them saying 'Oh no, he's come to drill it in to us again', ha ha, i am a little too 'enthusiastic' in my approach but i dont know any other way! Yes i think my Dad is willing to discuss the possibility of doing without one of the freezers, let's hope so! I will get the monitor on it, 5kwh a week=55p per week/£2.20 per month...it would soon add up!!

You, I think, say that your Mum's fridge/freezer is on its "last legs" although I thought you had said, again I maybe have misread/remembered, it was only just over 5 yrs old & it should last longer than this even with modern built in obsolesence (ie not made as well as they used to be). If she wants to replace it I will be pleased to give whatever help I can.

Hmmm...once again it is my fault for not explaining properly- what i meant to say is that it is a minimum 5 years old but most probably 7 or 8, i think it was second hand 5 years ago!!

Can we pls deal with the computer next week. Why is your Mum having it on all day unless she is using it to run a business/write her memoirs?

Of course, this matter will wait but i will definitely explain about the useage to my mum!!

Ps- Just so you know, the reason i am so very keen to reduce my parents' electricity bill is because that they are now having to put away £180 per month to prepare for the near £7000 shortfall on their mortgage when their endowment matures in 2013. Barclays misold them it...but that's another story that im currently dealing with the FOS!!

Pps-i should have renamed this thread 'Parents £113 elec. bill...' as now i have looked at the useage for the last 12 months and how much they spent, with the standing charge, it came to an average £113 per month over the 12 months! Never again!
Good night all and lu lu, i will update you tomorrow when i plug the monitor in! By the way- does it absolutely have to be a 7day reading? Would a 24hr one not give a very good idea? ;)

davidgmmafan

24 hours is better than nothing, but I guess the concern is that it might not be typical. Someone might use less because they know they are monitoring it that day. I know it sounds daft, but its a lot harder to do that over seven days.

Will keep veiwing the thread with interest, I'm dying to know what sort of savings you make

buel

Thank you Davidmmafan, im excited too!!
Well i suppose you could call my visit yesterday a partial success as i got my Mum to follow sueinbirmingham's (and someone else who i cant remember) advice and explain to Scottish Power that being as my Dad has few health problems with his back that a direct-debit meter (i cant think of the proper name for it) would benefit him more than the pre-payment meter, they waived the £150 fee, which was absolutely brilliant, and all they would have to pay is the charge of £45 the company charges them to uninstall it! Luckily/coincidentally, my parents had a credit built up of £45ish (due to the social tariff refunds at certain intervals) so that takes care of that! They will be installing the new meter on September 10th i believe! Brilliant!! Im so happy at that step!!:):):D

The next bit wasn't so good :( My mum explained that she washes their bedsheets two to three times per week because, apparently, my dad 'sweats a lot', i didn't know this! I asked her how many spare changes of the bed sheets (top and bottom) and i think she said two. I suggested that if she had four then she could wash the 'dirty' ones in one go instead of the (usually) two to three times per week but she wasn't very keen on this idea!! I will try her again!

On the fridge-freezer front, i can confirm that there is a 5ft one in the house which will be replaced soon, a big chest freezer stored more-or-less outside with only a roof and one side covered. My dad has a fridge-freezer and a small freezer in his shed!:(
However, i have my new plug-in monitor in the extension lead for my dad's two appliances and, wait for it.....from 8pm yesterday to 8pm tonight it had used a large 5 KWH!!! That's at least 65p per day!!
Phew!! That'll add up eh? £19.50 per month!!!

Andy_WSM

buel wrote: »

The next bit wasn't so good :( My mum explained that she washes their bedsheets two to three times per week because, apparently, my dad 'sweats a lot', i didn't know this! I asked her how many spare changes of the bed sheets (top and bottom) and i think she said two. I suggested that if she had four then she could wash the 'dirty' ones in one go instead of the (usually) two to three times per week but she wasn't very keen on this idea!! I will try her again!

On the fridge-freezer front, i can confirm that there is a 5ft one in the house which will be replaced soon, a big chest freezer stored more-or-less outside with only a roof and one side covered. My dad has a fridge-freezer and a small freezer in his shed!:(
However, i have my new plug-in monitor in the extension lead for my dad's two appliances and, wait for it.....from 8pm yesterday to 8pm tonight it had used a large 5 KWH!!! That's at least 65p per day!!
Phew!! That'll add up eh? £19.50 per month!!!

You're going to drive your parents potty if you start meddling with hygiene routines and now their hobbies! How desperate are THEY to save this money? It sounds like with the few steps you have taken you have already saved them a considerable amount of money and got their bill back to reasonable levels - good work!

I pay £100 a month for my fuel, some figures that people quote here are unrealistic as they sit in dark rooms rocking themselves backwards and forwards to keep warm - we don't all want to live like that.

Norman_Castle

some figures that people quote here are unrealistic as they sit in dark rooms rocking themselves backwards and forwards to keep warm

Or maybe they use low energy bulbs and have well insulated homes.

KimYeovil

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Or maybe they use low energy bulbs and have well insulated homes.

What nonsense.

Norman_Castle

some figures that people quote here are unrealistic as they sit in dark rooms rocking themselves backwards and forwards to keep warm

The assertion that people who have low fuel bills because "they sit in dark rooms rocking themselves backwards and forwards to keep warm" is nonsense.My home is well lit and warm and I have low bills.

buel

Ha ha, thanks Andy_WSM, i know what you're saying, i really do!
However, i must point out that all i have suggested is that my mum still changes the bedshees two to three times per week but by simply buying a few more bed sheets she could save herself the trouble of several washes per week by washing them in one load, this would also have the added benefit of saving electric by doing this!! You see what i mean?
Thanks to Norman Castle too!!

Plus, up to now, all i/they have done is change their light bulbs and used a washing line instead of the tumble dryer(which, being as the tumble dryer is outside in a shed, my mum has said is actually easier for her!)
So you see, im not actually going anywhere near the route of 'rocking themselves backwards and forwards to keep warm', im just suggesting that maybe my mum could save herself time+trouble by washing the bed sheets once per week instead of two to three!! I am more than willing to buy the sheets too!

Still, on the positive side- The meter change is in operation, the low energy bulbs are in, the tumble dryer is used much less and the new A rated fridge-freezer will be bought shortly!! :D:D

(If only i can get my Dad to swap the Fridge-freezer and small chest freezer for one A rated fridge-freezer!:( )

lu_lu_2

Andy-WSM

You say you pay £100 pm for fuel what you don't mention is whether this includes heating. I think that Buel said in a very early post that his/her parents heating was oil. If this is the case then I would suggest that £113 pm for lights & appliances is rather high.

lu_lu_2

Hi Buel,

Have just caught up.

Fantastic news about the £150 being waived - what a result.:j

So sorry to hear that your parents have been caught by the Endowment mis-selling no wonder you & they are trying so hard to cut costs. It must be extremely worrying for you all.

Am going to send you a PM

Lu lu