£20+ electric in 4 days.....really?!

HappyMJ

Dontknowanymore wrote: »

I can't really afford any other way, but we coped fine yesterday which was the only day we stayed in all day, we sat on the sofa under the duvet watching films.
We have 15 tog duvets so never feel cold after about 10 mins being in bed.

Have you tried comparing rates to see if switching would save you money? If you switched to a better rate i.e Ebico on prepayment meter you could get 20kw of energy every day for your £20 per week. What rate per kw do you pay now?

Dontknowanymore

HappyMJ wrote: »

Have you tried comparing rates to see if switching would save you money? If you switched to a better rate i.e Ebico on prepayment meter you could get 20kw of energy every day for your £20 per week. What rate per kw do you pay now?

I did a comparison and switched to BG as it said they are the cheapest x

victor2

Dontknowanymore wrote: »

JUst to update the thread, it is DEFINATELY the blow heaters :eek:
I have limited them to 1/2 hour in the morning then 1/2 hour in the evening before the children go to bed then another 1/2 hour about an hour before I go to bed, and what a difference! I put £20 leccy in on thursday which gave be £21.99 credit, just checked this morning and I still have £13.86 in there.

I am happy to spend £20 a week as I only use about £7 gas a month! infact I think in the 6 months I have lived here I have only put £30 on in total and still have some left in credit.

I also noticed that there are 3 switches in the airing cupboard, I'm just going to leave them as they have been on since I moved in.

Good that you're getting to the bottom of it. You could look at the rating of the heaters, or if they are thermostat controlled, just turn them down a bit and use them for a bit of background heat. Still going to cost, but maybe not as much as it does now.

Are your switches in the airing cupboard breeding?
I'd switch them off one at a time just to find out what they did, if anything. Wouldn't switch them on again unless I was missing something. At some point they must have controlled something and may still be connected - you don't really want live wires floating around.

HappyMJ

Dontknowanymore wrote: »

I did a comparison and switched to BG as it said they are the cheapest x

OK that's good. Are you getting all the benefits you are entitled to. You said you had kids so should be getting quite a reasonable amount. At least enough to cover £15 of heating every week. Sorry for intruding but I don't like seeing people sitting around in the cold just to save a few pounds. Also, I'd turn off those switches in the cupboard as much as possible. Try and turn them on just for an hour just before you need the hot water. You should save a little more there.

Another thing...Have you actually spoken with British Gas and told them you cannot afford to heat your house? They have an essentials programme in which they will credit you with £50 to pay towards your winter heating.

http://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/energy/our-tariffs/essentials-programme.html