Is Old style really money saving?

annie12

hilstep2000 wrote:

I'd get your meter checked if I were you! And try uswitch to see if anone else is cheaper. I was with Powergen, but they just kept putting my monthly payments up and up, so I switched.

I agree!! I switched from Powergen. It's easy to switch, so it's worth checking.

annie

Trishh_2

I'm shocked at those prices!!!!!!!! Or does that include heating costs? Is that why it's so high?

I have an electric meter, so pay as you go sorta thing ... I stick £40 per month in and never need anymore than that ..... 2 comps always on the go .. 2 tv's always left on by the kids, playstation, ovens always on and usual lights etc ... and the WM &TD

Dobie

livinginhope wrote:

Just come off the phone to Powergen following my review of gas and electricity payments,not a happy bunny,they are going to increase my payments from 45/month to 225/month eeek!
We have EVERYTHING A rated,all energy bulbs and no excessive usage,the only thing we do a lot of is COOK! could all this old style living be causing such a massive increase in bills?
I use the slow cooker nearly everyday and bake cakes etc in the oven,does the slow cooker use a lot of electric? if it is the baking,could I bake cakes in the microwave? I assume this would be cheaper.
So can anyone can give me any recipes for cake making in the microwave please.

Did they say over what period you're paying the outstanding balance? They may have calculated the DD to pay it back over 3 months so would probably agree to spread it over longer if you ask.

DrBenway

Maybe something like this can help you track down whats using all the electricity up.

You may need some help off the techie board to help you decipher the actual costs.

kiwichick

I'm freaking out a little. My monthly dd's seem to be lower than they ought??? I have just switched supplier from BG to npower. We paid £25pm for gas and £20 for electric. After 3 months we were £50 in credit for the gas and £27 owing for electric. Our current DDs total £46 total for both. I WILL be ringing them tomorrow and might up the DD voluntarily until we have been with them for a bit, just to revent any bill in months ahead. Do you think we should all take our own readings monthly and call them in?????

It really does irritate me when these big companies get their calcs wrong and its us who end up owing them.

Dobie

kiwichick wrote:

I'm freaking out a little. My monthly dd's seem to be lower than they ought??? I have just switched supplier from BG to npower. We paid £25pm for gas and £20 for electric. After 3 months we were £50 in credit for the gas and £27 owing for electric. Our current DDs total £46 total for both. I WILL be ringing them tomorrow and might up the DD voluntarily until we have been with them for a bit, just to revent any bill in months ahead. Do you think we should all take our own readings monthly and call them in?????

It really does irritate me when these big companies get their calcs wrong and its us who end up owing them.

Are the readings accurate or estimated? If they're estimated you should certainly ring in with actuals. The thing is - your consumption during the summer will be much lower than the winter so you SHOULD be in credit at the moment. Then when the bills are higher in the winter it evens itself out.

Queenie

livinginhope wrote:

...
I use the slow cooker nearly everyday and bake cakes etc in the oven,does the slow cooker use a lot of electric? if it is the baking,could I bake cakes in the microwave? I assume this would be cheaper.
So can anyone can give me any recipes for cake making in the microwave please.

I'm a bit in your logic to be honest.

If you have your oven on to bake cakes, why are you using your slow cooker?

Yes, you can cook cakes in the microwave, but they do differ in texture an colour from those baked traditionally.

If you are putting your oven on (and I notice you say you now have a large oven) a true OS'er wouldn't use it for one item or even two. Our mother's/grandmothers would have used the oven to full capacity to maximise on the cost/usage of fuel. Fan ovens are (I hear) great for circulating the heat *evenly* around the oven; but I say again, "traditionally" (aka OS!) in the days before fan assisted, each rack in the oven would be used for a different dish/recipe to maximise space/usage. Casserole on middle shelf, rice pud on bottom shelf and perhaps a cake on top shelf. If you made double quantities each time, you would freeze half (or at least refridgerate) and then you would simply reheat the next day or whenever.

I do not for one moment think cooking OS is at all costly - it's the thinking and logic behind how you go about it and the planning which appears to be an issue of cost effectiveness.

As for the cost of energy per se ... then yes, as Edinburghlass has mentioned, they discuss this with regularity in the Utilies Board and I know will be able to give you a broader knowledge base on which appliances are most cost effective. For example, to some, a kettle is an expensive to run appliance; however, if you boil it once and decant the boiled water into a thermos flask (OS wisdom) as opposed to boiling it each and every time you make tea/coffee then obviously, the cost alters considerably.

Sometimes, it's not the appliance, but the way one chooses to use it that causes the greater expense. With a little lateral thinking, a bit of forethought, costs can be reduced. OS'ers from those olden days were incredibly thrifty by necessity despite all their baking, cooking from scratch and lack of all the modern day (energy consuming) appliances we all have in the name of making life easier, speedier and "labour saving"

As I said above, OS'ers cooked daily from scratch and, in relative terms, energy consumption was just as expensive as it is today - the difference is really in the way they went about utilising their equipment to the best advantage.

super41

Trishh wrote:

I'm shocked at those prices!!!!!!!! Or does that include heating costs? Is that why it's so high?

I have an electric meter, so pay as you go sorta thing ... I stick £40 per month in and never need anymore than that ..... 2 comps always on the go .. 2 tv's always left on by the kids, playstation, ovens always on and usual lights etc ... and the WM &TD

Yes mine is dual gas and electric. In the process of switching to Scottish Power as according to Uswitch this may turn out to be cheaper.

GeDink

I've just dug through the pile of cook books I seem to have inherited from somewhere & found a microwave cookbook! I've never used ANY of these recipes, seems you can make everything from cakes to jam and buns to pastry! Here is the basic cake recipe given......although as it is microwave cooking, times may need to be adjusted for wattages etc...

BASIC CAKE

150g (6oz) margarine
150g (6oz) sugar
150g (6oz) self-raising flour
3 size 3 eggs
1/2 x 5ml tsp baking powder
1/4 x 5ml tsp vanilla essence
3 x 15ml tbsp milk

1. Line a 18cm x 10cm round container with greaseproof paper. Do not grease.
2. Cream margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and add the sifted flour and baking powder alternately with the vanilla essence and milk.
3. Pour into prepared container, cover surface with a paper towel. Cook on FULL POWER for 6-7 minutes or until the stick is clean when cake is tested.
4. Leave in container for 5 minutes before turning cake onto cooling rack.
5. Decorate as required.



CHOCOLATE CAKE

Use the above recipe but substitute the
150g (6oz) self raising flour for....
125g (5oz) self raising flour &
25g (1oz) cocoa.

This mixture may require 1 minute longer cooking time.


SHORT BREAD

100g (4oz) butter
50g (2oz) castor sugar
125g (5oz) plain flour
25g (10z) semolina

1. Cream butter and sugar, gradually work in flour and semolina with a fork.
2. Bind well together. Press out onto a 18cm plate.
3. Crimp edges with fingers and !!!!! with a fork.
4. Heat on FULL POWER for 4 1/2 minutes. Remove from microwave. Cut into wedges with a knife and leave to cool.


Hope these help, I'm going to have a good read through of this cookbook and may try some of the recipes (although it does seem a bit like cheating to me!)....let us know if you attempt these recipes and how they turn out.

hollydays

have you asked powergen when the last meter reading was taken(not estimated)