£240 per month for Gas and Electric :(

HappyMJ

XXSCOTSLASSXX wrote: »

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

It's not the Xbox the most an Xbox can use over a whole week turned on and running on full power 24/7 is £5 on an expensive tariff.

200 watts divide by 1000 times 24 hours times 7 days times 15.51p divide by 100 is £5.21. As most tariffs are around 12p it's £4 for most people.

XXSCOTSLASSXX

iolanthe07 wrote: »

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).

Ideally I would love to pay the same although at moment am having a hard time visualising (and managing) it

I originally posted as Id seen so many others posting their statement of affairs with gas and electric costs of £50 -£60 each per month and all the comments came back from those more savvy stating this was far too much!! of course ours being sooooo much higher than this Iv now made it my main mission to reduce costs lol

With regards to the fixed rate deal I did ask re deals yesterday and was advised deals are only available for customers who have a 'credit' account, ie. direct debit payments. I find this unfair as we are paying up front they have our money as soon as its put into the meter and think this should be rewarded rather than penalised lol!! However dont want to switch back to direct debit again as previously paid direct debits in accordance with what they had set them at and ended up with £1800 in arrears due to estimate readings.... on top of having already paid direct debits for the year of £1860!!....paying in advance will stay put lol

XXSCOTSLASSXX

HappyMJ wrote: »

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?

no idea to be honest I asked him tariff costs and he stated its the standard rate for pre pay meters.. and I had asked as I also could not see on the website or when viewing my last bill (which was August 2009!!) the cost per unit for pre paid meters. There are no standing charges, am in far North.. Highland Region.

HappyMJ

XXSCOTSLASSXX wrote: »

no idea to be honest I asked him tariff costs and he stated its the standard rate for pre pay meters.. and I had asked as I also could not see on the website or when viewing my last bill (which was August 2009!!) the cost per unit for pre paid meters. There are no standing charges, am in far North.. Highland Region.

Scottish Power charges 13.293p/kWh in your region with a £25 a quarter standing charge.

If you switched to Spark Energy you could choose to pay 12.075p/kWh and a £36.41 standing charge per quarter.

Or you could choose British Gas at 12.705p/kWh and a £25.94 a quarter standing charge.

DirtyDick

jackieb wrote: »

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.

For reference: I've got a pre-payment meter (courtesy of the previous tennants) at the place I'm currently renting and over a weekend with the tv and desk top pc on for hours, and the washing machine used 1-3 times, microwave and kettle on several times a day, I doubt I get through much more than £1.50-£2 of electric. Multiplying by 3 for the average 4 person house - as some electricity would be 'shared' activities - say about £5 a weekend.

XXSCOTSLASSXX

HappyMJ wrote: »

Scottish Power charges 13.293p/kWh in your region with a £25 a quarter standing charge.

If you switched to Spark Energy you could choose to pay 12.075p/kWh and a £36.41 standing charge per quarter.

Or you could choose British Gas at 12.705p/kWh and a £25.94 a quarter standing charge.

erm we have no standing charge (i asked this yesterday) £15.51 per unit when I spoke to him yesterday he said this was the standard charge across the board for pre paid meters... can I ask where you got the info from? ty x

bonsibabe

I'm in Highland hun and that seems awful steep! We used to have a prepaid meter and got a normal one put in as we were paying thru the odds for leccy. Hope you can get it sorted out! x

HappyMJ

XXSCOTSLASSXX wrote: »

erm we have no standing charge (i asked this yesterday) £15.51 per unit when I spoke to him yesterday he said this was the standard charge across the board for pre paid meters... can I ask where you got the info from? ty x

From the scottishpower website http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/PDF/DomesticStandardPricesv2.pdf whether you have a no standing charge tariff or not you will be paying for the meter some way or another usually in the form of higher tier 1 units. Everyone (98%) can use the minimum units to trigger the lower tier 2 unit charge so I call it a standing charge as it's the same either way.

plzhelpmesave!

If you are payingupfront for your pre-pais and its so much more expensive - maybe look at going back to metred and put aside the same money you are using now on prepaid for your quarterly bills...? Does that make sense? Wd save you money if you get a lower tarriff, and you can cover the payments by saving what you're currently spending anyway....

I pay £120 on a fixed tarriff with scottish power for gas and elec and have just switched to Npower for a saving of £15 per month....hopefully!

You have got me thinking I need to use my TD less as we do now have the heating on various time of the day and I can put my clothes on the radiators and an airer - just find it so much easier and less hassle in the TD!

timbstoke

As others have said, this isn't the xbox at fault - even if it was capable of that kind of usage it would simply blow the fuse.

One thing you might need to try is turning EVERYTHING off. Fridge/freezer, lights, TVs, the lot. At the wall, not just standby. Watch the meter, make sure it isn't moving. You might even want to leave it like this for an hour or so to make sure. If the meter is still using power when nothing is turned on, there's either a fault or someone is stealing your power. If it does stay still, turn things on one at a time to see where the power is going, either timing how long it takes to use a penny, or giving it an hour and seeing how many units it's used up. Without an energy monitor, this will require you to keep notes and could take a few days of revisiting it, but it should bear some fruit.

Invest in an energy monitor - there's often places giving them away for free if you look around. Even if you pay, it shouldn't be more than £30 or so, and they're a lifesaver for things like this, because you immediately see what's using the energy, so the above can be done and dusted in an hour or so.

Another thing: plug a lamp into the socket used by the xbox and turn it on. Does it have the same effect? That would indicate a fault with the outlet rather than the xbox.

Whatever it is, SOMETHING isn't right. If you're actively trying to save energy, it simply shouldn't be possible to have that kind of usage unless you're paying your bills by running a cannabis farm! Keep looking at it and don't give up - it sounds like you're just throwing hundreds of pounds away for no good reason.