bills always high :(

jasperconran

Hi,

I need advice as always! We live in a 4 bed detached house with 2 adults, 1 child. 1 large tropical fish tank.

We have always had problems with our bills since we moved into our house 13 years ago. Basically gas is always low at £50, but electric is always high currently £113:eek: so im paying £163 a month:eek: I turn everything off, quite fanatical about it! dont use a tumble dryer. only do washing once a week.

currently on a dual fuel capped deal with Scottish Power, but I so need to get my bills down.

any advice on how and/or who I should switch to??


thanks

spiro

How many kwh of elec are you using per day/week/month/quarter (whatever figure you have), this is easier for people to consider that £s.

dogshome

Hi jasperconran - Your monthly figures of £50 Gas & £113 Elec are quite strange, unless that is the gas is used only for cooking and hot water and you have ECO7 Storage Radiator heating - Which would be a very odd set-up.

If you do have Gas CH, there are some things you should check on the Elec.
1) Check the bills to see that you are not are being charged on an ECO7 Day/Night tariff
2) Check that the meter number on the meter is the same as that on the bills
3) Check for a wiring fault by turning off and unplugging everything, then check the meter to see that it's stopped recording
4) With everything still off, check the meters accuracy by plugging in a 1Kw fan heater and running it for an hour - The meter should then show just one unit used

jasperconran

hi thanks for the replies. We have gas central heating and have never been on economy 7.

I do wonder if its the meter as we had an engineer come out a few years ago and told us that our meter had to be replaced with a new one. I am now wondering if its been wired correctly?

Someone was supposed to come and check it, but they never did.

will try the steps that have been suggested thanks

Scottish_Power

Hi jasperconran,

There may not be a problem here, but if you wish to e-mail me your account details to [EMAIL="onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com"]onlinecomplaints@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL] I can certainly have a look at your consumption and see if there are any patterns which suggest somthing may be wrong.

Depending what you mean by a large tropical fish tank, this may have somthing to do with it, as from past exeprience these can be exsepensive to run. It may be worth your while checking the wattage of what is used in the tank.

The light I imagine will be on for 12 hours per day, with the air filter and water heater on 24/7. The light and filter may not add up to much however the water heater could be exspensive to run.

It may be worth your while contacting our energy efficency advice line, they are independant and can be contacted on 0800 33 22 33.

Kind regards

Graeme @ ScottishPower

chanz4

how big compared to average is your 4 bed house