MSE News: Eon is latest to announce energy price rises

chris1973

There is not much else i can switch off at night only my computer stays on most days in idle mode

But Why?, do you need to be in constant touch with facebook or something?. Why not just boot it up when you need to be online for any period.

Do you use your storage heaters to the best of their ability. I.E do you turn the output setting down before you go to bed at night and when you are out during the day, and then turn them to a higher output setting only when you are at home and need to take advantage of their stored heat?

What other heating do you use during the day / evenings / weekends during Winter to supplement the storage heaters?

Type(s) of TV in use? - Plasma?, LCD?, Conventional tube type?

Do you 'time' other current hungry appliances like Washing Machine and Immersion heater to come on during the cheaper Economy 7 night periods?

Do you use low energy lights throughout your home, and in every room?.

Have you stopped using any current hungry lighting, like those little halogen downlighters?, these eat electricity

What other appliances do you use?. Electric Cooker?, Tumble Dryer?, Dishwasher? any outside halogen floodlights?

slenderkitten

chris1973 wrote: »

But Why?, do you need to be in constant touch with facebook or something?. Why not just boot it up when you need to be online for any period.

just out of habit i leave it on, sometimes i log into it remotely if i need to get to something when i'm at work. but the heat in the room in winter can be helpful, i dont mind turning it off i do sometimes do this.

Do you use your storage heaters to the best of their ability. I.E do you turn the output setting down before you go to bed at night and when you are out during the day, and then turn them to a higher output setting only when you are at home and need to take advantage of their stored heat?

storage heaters are crap when i use them in winter the heat is normally gone by 7 pm so i never benefit from the heat during the night i hate it, i certainly turn them down to the lowest setting it still makes no differnede the heat still comes out they are not very efficient. council wont replace them.

What other heating do you use during the day / evenings / weekends during Winter to supplement the storage heaters?

sometimes i use portable oil radiator/heater when desperate i live in block of flats, when its hot weather its BOILING in my flat and when it's cold it is FREEZING yes i have new carpet, makes no differnce. the place is built like cardboard its fairly old.

Type(s) of TV in use? - Plasma?, LCD?, Conventional tube type?
tube i only have it on in evenings and weekends when i am not at work

Do you 'time' other current hungry appliances like Washing Machine and Immersion heater to come on during the cheaper Economy 7 night periods?

no because neighbour below complains about the noise i use mine every weekend i do use tumble dryer at weekends i normally wash/dry two loads, again the flats are thin and the woman makes problems for all neighbours if she kicks off.

Do you use low energy lights throughout your home, and in every room?.

yes

Have you stopped using any current hungry lighting, like those little halogen downlighters?, these eat electricity

n/a

What other appliances do you use?. Electric Cooker?, Tumble Dryer?, Dishwasher? any outside halogen floodlights?

i have to leave the electric cooker on at the wall as mine has timers on, you cant use the oven without setting the clock every time you turn it back on, daft i know but i bought t second hand and i cannot afford a new one

these are the same activities i have been doing for years with the exception that when i ahve been out of work i have been at home watching or playing on my comptuer which depending on what you do on a computer can use more electricity, also watch more tv and play on playstation, back then i was paying £13 a week now i pay £22 a week and i am doing sigificantly less i even only use my cooker only a couple of times per week now, it is NOT my usage it is THEIR prices that is causing the problems there is simply not much more i can do.

chris1973

There doesn't seem to be a lot more you can do really to be more efficient.

If the storage heaters are crap, and if you have to get up early for work, then you might find it useful to warm any room you'll be using on timers with the 'local' extra heaters to come on during the Economy 7 period, this way the house will be warm when you get up, and taking advantage of the last hour or so of the lower rate.

monkeyspanner

sunny wrote: »

Thank you very much monkeyspanner! I sort of understand it now!

I've managed to obtain my bill history from BG:


Bill date:
30 December 2010
Bill period:
24 Sep 10 - 29 Dec 10

Gas units converted = 226.06 kWh used over 11 days
Gas units converted = 3326.45 kWh used over 66 days
Gas units converted = 1517.88 kWh used over 20 days


Bill date:
15 March 2011
Bill period:
30 Dec 10 - 14 Mar 11

Gas units converted = 3900.25 kWh used over 75 days



Bill date:
04 May 2011
Bill period:
15 Mar 11 - 02 May 11

Gas units converted = 1027.53 kWh used over 49 days


Adding these figures up, over the 7 months (approx end Sept 2010 to end April 2011) have I used 9998.17 kWh??I live in a 2 bed house with one other person – does this sound about right?


Comparison sites like Energyhelpline are asking for how many kWh per year I use.



To work out this figure, do I take my monthly average over the 7 months sept-april with BG, then multiply this by 12 to work out my annual usage? i.e. 9998.17 kWh / 7 months = 1428.31 kWh on avg a month, therefore annually usage = 1428.31 x 12 months = 17,139.72


Maths not my strong point at all as you can probably tell!!

It does depend on what you are using gas for and if the BG bill were based on actual usage during the billing periods or estimated readings.

If you use gas for central heating this will be the majority of your usage in the colder months. It appears that in the first two bills an average of 52units per day were used, this could be coincidental but looks like BG could have estimated the usage. In the third billing an average of 20units per day were used and as this presumeably was the last bill the end reading should have been accurate.

If this was the entire period you were with BG i.e. the start reading was taken on 24 Sept 10, if you don't use gas other than heating+water and if you normally don't run heating May to September then your usage for the 5 months could have been low i.e. just your water heating. I would have thought that if your heating was off then you would be safe to assume 20units per day. So 144 days at 20 2880KwH i.e. 12878 for the year. But I have made a lot of assumptions and your usage could well be as you have calculated. Maybe take a figure in between.

Basing usage on the size of house and number of people is a pretty inaccurate method as energy usage is very variable dependant on lifestyle. Sorry this a pretty vague. Figures above are of course just your gas.

monkeyspanner

slenderkitten wrote: »

i dont understand all these tarrifs i live by myself my home is all electric, i have storage heaters i am on



Please note i am not on one of these locked in tarrif i can change it. i still owe £130 from my 29th June 2011 Bill.

I am not in a permanent job been temping ongoing what should i do here. I pay standing order on a weekly basis as i cant do monthly direct debit, i get paid weekly.

There is not much else i can switch off at night only my computer stays on most days in idle mode. my tv and hifi freeview box turned off at the mains every night. Yes i do have one of those energy monitoring things but i dont see the point in them at all

Can anyone advise

If you post your electricity usage in KwH daytime and nightime usage I will take a look at it for you. Alternatively have a look at www.uswitch.com enter your postcode, method of payment, current energy plan name and usage and the site will compare all available tariffs. Make a note of the ones that look interesting then goto www.quidco.com and enter the names of the energy suppliers in the search box, this will then tell you what cashback deals they are offering. Cashback will not be available if you swap to another tariff with your current supplier and you will need to register with quidco to get the cashback deal. When you have chosen a deal you want to swap to log into quidco select the supplier goto the supplier site and sign up for a transfer to the energy plan you selected. Please note that not all energy suppliers have annouced price rises yet so it is probably best not to swap until they have and there is a level playing field unless you are going for a fixed prices tariffs.

sunny

monkeyspanner wrote: »

It does depend on what you are using gas for and if the BG bill were based on actual usage during the billing periods or estimated readings.

If you use gas for central heating this will be the majority of your usage in the colder months. It appears that in the first two bills an average of 52units per day were used, this could be coincidental but looks like BG could have estimated the usage. In the third billing an average of 20units per day were used and as this presumeably was the last bill the end reading should have been accurate.

If this was the entire period you were with BG i.e. the start reading was taken on 24 Sept 10, if you don't use gas other than heating+water and if you normally don't run heating May to September then your usage for the 5 months could have been low i.e. just your water heating. I would have thought that if your heating was off then you would be safe to assume 20units per day. So 144 days at 20 2880KwH i.e. 12878 for the year. But I have made a lot of assumptions and your usage could well be as you have calculated. Maybe take a figure in between.

Basing usage on the size of house and number of people is a pretty inaccurate method as energy usage is very variable dependant on lifestyle. Sorry this a pretty vague. Figures above are of course just your gas.

:T Thank you again monkeyspanner!!

The 30 dec Gas bill was estimated, 15 mar & 4 may were actual readings... I haven't managed household bills until now and I'm finding it a steep learning curve... I now know to submit readings each time I receive a bill to ensure I don't pay more in the short term!

Thanks for reminding me that these are only the figures for gas, i had forgotten I need to work out elec seperately! I will take your advice and go for an annual gas usage halfway between my figures and yours i.e. 14,500 kWh.

I hope you don't mind, could you take a look at the elec readings below too?

Bill date: 30 December 2010
Bill period: 24 Sep 10 - 24 Nov 10
= 89 kWh over 11 days (estimated)
= 476 kWh over 51 days (estimated)

Bill date: 15 March 2011
Bill period: 25 Nov 10 - 14 Mar 11
= 94 kWh over 15 days (estimated)
= 448 kWh over 80 days (estimated)
= 79 kWh over 15 days (actual)

Bill date: 07 June 2011
Bill period: 15 Mar 11 - 26 Apr 11
= 645 kWh over 43 days (actual)

Thank you so much once again! I'm embarassed to say, but I really wouldn't know where to start with this otherwise. Once I have enough bills to cover a 12 month period, is it just a case of adding up all the kWh over the 12 months to work out my annual usage?

monkeyspanner

sunny wrote: »

:T Thank you again monkeyspanner!!

The 30 dec Gas bill was estimated, 15 mar & 4 may were actual readings... I haven't managed household bills until now and I'm finding it a steep learning curve... I now know to submit readings each time I receive a bill to ensure I don't pay more in the short term!

Thanks for reminding me that these are only the figures for gas, i had forgotten I need to work out elec seperately! I will take your advice and go for an annual gas usage halfway between my figures and yours i.e. 14,500 kWh.

I hope you don't mind, could you take a look at the elec readings below too?

Bill date: 30 December 2010
Bill period: 24 Sep 10 - 24 Nov 10
= 89 kWh over 11 days (estimated)
= 476 kWh over 51 days (estimated)

Bill date: 15 March 2011
Bill period: 25 Nov 10 - 14 Mar 11
= 94 kWh over 15 days (estimated)
= 448 kWh over 80 days (estimated)
= 79 kWh over 15 days (actual)

Bill date: 07 June 2011
Bill period: 15 Mar 11 - 26 Apr 11
= 645 kWh over 43 days (actual)

Thank you so much once again! I'm embarassed to say, but I really wouldn't know where to start with this otherwise. Once I have enough bills to cover a 12 month period, is it just a case of adding up all the kWh over the 12 months to work out my annual usage?

Bit confused about these figures.
If you take the first two bills up to the actual reading your average usage is about 7KwH per day. The third bill where you start and end with an actual reading the average is 15KwH per day. Can you think why during that 6 weeks your bill might have been high?
Total usage on these 7 months of bills is 1831 so depending on what happened in that last bill I suggest you use about 3000KwH as your anual usage.
Yes 12 months readings would be good I normally stick with the same figures every time I review our tariff even though our usage can alter up to 15% year to year.

slenderkitten

monkeyspanner wrote: »

If you post your electricity usage in KwH daytime and nightime usage I will take a look at it for you. Alternatively have a look at www.uswitch.com enter your postcode, method of payment, current energy plan name and usage and the site will compare all available tariffs. Make a note of the ones that look interesting then goto www.quidco.com and enter the names of the energy suppliers in the search box, this will then tell you what cashback deals they are offering. Cashback will not be available if you swap to another tariff with your current supplier and you will need to register with quidco to get the cashback deal. When you have chosen a deal you want to swap to log into quidco select the supplier goto the supplier site and sign up for a transfer to the energy plan you selected. Please note that not all energy suppliers have annouced price rises yet so it is probably best not to swap until they have and there is a level playing field unless you are going for a fixed prices tariffs.

if you go to my original post you can see the kw i am being charged its all there i took it from my current bill. some of mine are estimated, they cant always get into the building to read it, i haven't bothered giving readings probably under charged me anyway.

What tarrifs are cheaper than what i am on? i used one of the other comparison sites it gave me scottish power but when i clicked on the link said it doesn't exist so i am not impressed.

i do have my bill as i get them online but i dont understand any of the information on there i always find them ridiculously confusing.

monkeyspanner

slenderkitten wrote: »

if you go to my original post you can see the kw i am being charged its all there i took it from my current bill. some of mine are estimated, they cant always get into the building to read it, i haven't bothered giving readings probably under charged me anyway.

What tarrifs are cheaper than what i am on? i used one of the other comparison sites it gave me scottish power but when i clicked on the link said it doesn't exist so i am not impressed.

i do have my bill as i get them online but i dont understand any of the information on there i always find them ridiculously confusing.

Assuming
-you are my area (tariffs for electricity vary area by area)
-you spend £88 per month
-55% of your energy use is night time tariff

Two tariff offerings may be cheaper by about £65 a year
-edf online saver 12
-npower sign online 23
BUT neither of these companies has announced a price rise yet.
In order to save money you will need to understand how you are being charged at the moment so you can make an informed choice.

sunny

monkeyspanner wrote: »

Bit confused about these figures.
If you take the first two bills up to the actual reading your average usage is about 7KwH per day. The third bill where you start and end with an actual reading the average is 15KwH per day. Can you think why during that 6 weeks your bill might have been high?
Total usage on these 7 months of bills is 1831 so depending on what happened in that last bill I suggest you use about 3000KwH as your anual usage.
Yes 12 months readings would be good I normally stick with the same figures every time I review our tariff even though our usage can alter up to 15% year to year.

THANKYOU again!! I really appreciate the help!

Not sure why the last 6 weeks were so high, but I've used the higher figure of 15kwh / day to estimate 5475 kwh / year for elec; as the 15 kwh reading was at least an actual reading rather than an estimate..

Bizarrely when I plug the figures into a few different comparison sites, I am getting different results:

Moneysupermarket tells me I will be £90 a year worse off if I switch away from EON to EDF fixed saver v2... Whereas energyhelpline tell me I will save £170. I haven't checked Simplyswitch yet, but when I switched from BG to EON earlier this year, my DD dropped as predicted by the site by £10/month.. tho I don't think I can use them again to switch for another 3 months according to their t&c's.

According to MSE advice Energyhelpline is rated the best for reliability etc. Just wondering if anyone else has any views?