£240 per month for Gas and Electric :(

XXSCOTSLASSXX

HappyMJ wrote: »

Which version of the Xbox do you have? The oldest ones codenamed Xenon and Zephyr have a 203W power supply. At 12p/kWh and at max load that would cost 10 pence for 4 hours of play time. The Xbox uses 17.5kWh per year on standby costing you £2.10 per year leaving it plugged in. Where do you get £3.50 an hour from?

I have checked the meter before and after hes used it i noticed during the school holidays recently that money was going v quick from the meter the when he was on the xbox it showed a significant drop... he got it last yr for xmas not sure which one that makes it.... it very heavy on electric tho

jackieb

XXSCOTSLASSXX wrote: »

On your elec - how often are you using a tumble drier? are you using an electric heaters? Do you think you might have an inefficient fridge or freezer (broken seals or very old etc)?


many thanks for your responses with regards to tumble drier most washing gets done at weekend when im not working unless kids need something during week, so is prob on maybe once during the week through the night and then maybe a sunday night if havent managed to get uniforms etc dry over weekend....

dont use any electric heaters all heating is gas and even then none of the radiators, except in bathroom which is on low, are on upstairs.

I will defo look at getting a meter to see if can pinpoint where most is being used, with regards to fridge/ freezer etc have recently turned fridge down to 2 as was freezing inside at anything higher so will keep an eye on that x

Hiya. I don't have much advice about lowering your bills (i'm about £190 for both myself ) but please don't use your drier when you're in your bed or out. I've had 2 driers catch fire and fortunately we were there at the time, and before anyone asks we always cleaned the filters after every use. I now don't have a drier and one of the reasons is that I don't trust them!

HappyMJ

XXSCOTSLASSXX wrote: »

I have checked the meter before and after hes used it i noticed during the school holidays recently that money was going v quick from the meter the when he was on the xbox it showed a significant drop... he got it last yr for xmas not sure which one that makes it.... it very heavy on electric tho

No it isn't. It is something else. Last years model only has a power supply rated at 135W. You would get 6 hours of play for 10 pence.

XXSCOTSLASSXX

quintwins wrote: »

jsut about everyone i know pays the same, i can't understand how people oh here pay so little, i can only change providers so much cause i'm in n.ireland but we're already of airtricity to save us a few pennies

My mum and dad who live not so far away from us average £400-£500 per quarter they only have electricity and pay on receipt of the bill, which I know probably gives a cheaper rate... am reluctant to move back to direct debits from the pre pay meter even though I know this is on a higher rate due to the issues we had previously paying £155 for both per month and ending up with arrears of £1800... I am in the far North of Scotland which I dont think should make a difference really re cost am not 100% sure tho.

XXSCOTSLASSXX

jackieb wrote: »

Hiya. I don't have much advice about lowering your bills (i'm about £190 for both myself ) but please don't use your drier when you're in your bed or out. I've had 2 driers catch fire and fortunately we were there at the time, and before anyone asks we always cleaned the filters after every use. I now don't have a drier and one of the reasons is that I don't trust them!

I know this has been worrying me lately there was recently a bad fire in our area which they stated was down to a 'kitchen appliance' being left on over night ... guess ill have to up the heating and dry that way ohhhh the cost lol and your comment (i'm about £190 for both myself ) made me feel a bit better .... i am not aloneeeeee lol ty x

XXSCOTSLASSXX

HappyMJ wrote: »

No it isn't. It is something else. Last years model only has a power supply rated at 135W. You would get 6 hours of play for 10 pence.

:eek: really something far wrong there then as I have physically watched the meter drop when hes playing it.. nothing else has shown such a drop when being used hence why hes only allowed an hr at a time

jackieb

I thought the government were going to do something about pre-pay meters having more expensive tarrifs than normal meters? Did I imagine this? It's not right as the reason most people have the pre-pay ones is because they have to budget.

HappyMJ

XXSCOTSLASSXX wrote: »

:eek: really something far wrong there then as I have physically watched the meter drop when hes playing it.. nothing else has shown such a drop when being used hence why hes only allowed an hr at a time

What else is running? If I used £3.50 in an hour I'd blow my house up!!! It's the equivalent of 30kw being used and that would draw 130 AMPS. My house can only handle 80 AMPS before it blows. Each wall socket can only handle a maximum of 13 AMPS costing no more than 36 pence per socket per hour. If I maxed out my entire houses power capacity by plugging in 9 large 2kw convector heaters scattered around the house put them on max and opened the windows that would be 18.4kW and cost me £2.20 per hour. Certainly not £3.50 per hour.

I'm trying to say there is something seriously wrong with your calculations, the meter, something...somewhere.

XXSCOTSLASSXX

HappyMJ wrote: »

What else is running? If I used £3.50 in an hour I'd blow my house up!!! It's the equivalent of 30kw being used and that would draw 130 AMPS. My house can only handle 80 AMPS before it blows. Each wall socket can only handle a maximum of 13 AMPS costing no more than 36 pence per socket per hour. If I maxed out my entire houses power capacity by plugging in 9 large 2kw convector heaters scattered around the house put them on max and opened the windows that would be 18.4kW and cost me £2.20 per hour. Certainly not £3.50 per hour.

I'm trying to say there is something seriously wrong with your calculations, the meter, something...somewhere.

just been doing a quick run around turning things on and off seeing if theres a difference, is still a huge difference when xbox goes on red light on meter starts flashing like mad so something not right there somewhere.. need to invest in an electricty monitor to see exactly where the problem lies, will phone scottish power in the morning see if they can supply us with a freebie seeing as iv complained so often to them lol

many thanks to all who have offered advice and tips its much appreciated.... even being able to drop this by £50 a month would see our DFD coming closer we currently looking at may 2014 for unsecured and sept 2020 for the mortgage..... all seems a long long way away lol x

Shineyhappy

Hi

Have you got an owl? They are the best way of finding out how much everything costs. My BIL was shocked at how much his pond pump was and has that on a timer and the myriad of digital photo frames are switched off most of the time.

DH and I are trying to get our bills down and have gone from £123 to £108 over the summer by using table lamps instead of our chandeliers of an evening and keeping the heating off (luckily we have a log burner)

Maybe it might be worth giving up on the tumble drier and using an arier (never the radiator as I found out) and keeping the activities to one room with board games? Also baths use a lot more gas than showers. It might be worth having a look on the OS board too. We draw our curtains an hour before it gets dark to keep the heat in. I am getting more frugal by the month and learning all the time. There are so many little tips that you can pick up on here

Good luck!