£240 per month for Gas and Electric :(

XXSCOTSLASSXX

Shineyhappy wrote: »

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!

I had to google electricity owl :embarasse..... was thinking you meant the twit twoooo type lol but no we dont its something we need to get to try and get this cost down monthly x

we dont have bath anymore (that sounds bad!) we removed it when kids got older so now is just shower room there are 5 of us sometimes shower(not electric) does seem to be constantly in use which obviously uses the combi boiler.. and therefore gas to heat the water and electricity to power the boiler... need to get monitor asap and see where the main usage is being used x

pleasedelete

Mine is that much. I live in a 4 storey 7 bed house. It has 2 gas boilers as it has 2 heating systems- both old and we have a gas aga which is on all year round. We use electricity like water- have immersion on 24 hours a day etc etc

Yours sounds very wrong.

boschiba

hi thanks for posting this, you have really made me think.

we pay... wait for it... £260 per month for gas & elec combined!!
I think we did have some arrears from making estimated payments, but I need to check that out. unfortunately I went for a fixed term deal when they tried to charge us £350 per month and negotiated it down to £260 just by saying I wasnt prepared to pay that much.

this is a big, draughty house; some double-glazing; some insulation but we are heavy energy users I think - kids always on laptops/charging phones/ipods etc. hubby WILL NOT believe that turning things off at the wall reduces energy.

think I might check out one of those energy usage meter thingies...

antonia1

Hiya, just a quick thought - have you tried plugging the x-box into a different socket (maybe in a different room) in case there is something wrong with the wiring which makes it drain electricity when switched on? I'm not an electrician so I'm not sure that's even possible, but might be worth a try.

As for leaving the fires in electrical appliances (tumble dryer), please make sure you keep your downstairs doors closed at night and have a working smoke alarm. All electrical appliances are a risk (there was something in the news about fridges a couple of months ago), and keeping the doors shut can slow a fire down.

Finally, be wary of the idea that having baths is so much worse than showers. That was true when everyone had old boilers and electric showers, but with a combi and power shower, the difference is less than you would think.

bonsibabe

I'm in the north of scotland and pay £100 for leccy and £50 for gas and we seem to get on okay ... OH is home during the day and I'm at home at night so can't really complain ... you are with Scottish Power ... have you tried Scottish Hydro (SSE) to see if they can reduce your bills?

Didn't really want to post and run ... good luck!

XXSCOTSLASSXX

Many thanks for all the recent tips and comments xxx I called Scottish Power yesterday...he took a reading of the meter there and then and we have used 648 units 1st Oct - 28th Oct at 15.51 per unit (he stated this is the cost for most providers where a prepaid meter is used still have to check up on that) .... he did agree seemed pretty high usage going on the average but gave the usual advice dont leave on standby etc which we are doing anyway...

have ordered an Owl (twit twooo lol) ty shineyhappy xx so hopefully will see where the big energy guzzlers are and use sparingly... is just soooooooo annoying we have cut back on all other outgoings this one refusing to budge tho also am slightly snowball obsessive at moment and looking for every extra penny lol will be handing out coats and gloves to anyone entering the house at this rate just to cut the costs lol

TrixieB

Would also like to confirm another with an xbox eating electricity!! It ate almost £10 one week when it was accidentally left plugged in - card meter also

Are you unplugging everything such as computers/chargers/xbox/tvs completely every night?

iolanthe07

I find this extraordinary. My wife and I are pensioners, so in most of the day with the heating on. For a three bedroom detached house we pay a total gas and electric debit of £65 a month. This is a dual fuel fixed rate deal.

(I don't know what an X B Box is).

XXSCOTSLASSXX

TrixieB wrote: »

Would also like to confirm another with an xbox eating electricity!! It ate almost £10 one week when it was accidentally left plugged in - card meter also

Are you unplugging everything such as computers/chargers/xbox/tvs completely every night?

oh uv made my day :j thot I was going mad re the xbox .....and being mean to youngest by limiting his time lol

and yes not so much unplugging but switching all off at the wall each night with the exception of my laptop which I use for work each day. Mind you, I say yes ... I am doing my part have entrusted the kids and other half to do theirs ...think ill have to revert back to checking all as I did in the beginning just to make sure they all still following orders lol

HappyMJ

XXSCOTSLASSXX wrote: »

Many thanks for all the recent tips and comments xxx I called Scottish Power yesterday...he took a reading of the meter there and then and we have used 648 units 1st Oct - 28th Oct at 15.51 per unit (he stated this is the cost for most providers where a prepaid meter is used still have to check up on that) .... he did agree seemed pretty high usage going on the average but gave the usual advice dont leave on standby etc which we are doing anyway...

That's very high. Which region are you in? Do you have a 2 rate meter? What is the split between the day units and night units? I couldn't find a tariff with scottishpower at 15.51p per unit. Which tariff are you on? What's the standing charges?