£240 per month for Gas and Electric :(

immoral_angeluk

I've had xboxes and other games consoles for over 10 years. We currently have a Wii and Xbox and they've always been left plugged in. I've never had high bills and pay £60p combined for gas/elec. If your xbox is eating that much electricity it needs checking by an electrcian!! :eek:

paddyrg

There is ertainly a problem if you really are using that much leccy. The post above re turning everything off and then back on one item at a time is spot-on. Turn off the main breaker, and the dial should stop dead. If it doesn't, you need an electrician to have a look at the system.

pineapple

2 bed stone cottage here single occupant. Payment has just gone up from £55 to £70 per month - dual fuel gas/electricity online with Scottish Power. Plus I have 2 or 3 deliveries of solid fuel during the year.
Retired since Febuary so at home a lot more and using more electric. That and the recent price rises probably account for the change in payment. Though I never have heating on during the day. Not sure how it will pan out. Trying to economise and get it revised down.
Re the OP I think you might be shocked how much your tumble dryer costs. Are you saying you sometimes have it on for two whole nights? Eek! That and the higher prepayment charge could well be responsible for your bills which are horrendous.
IMO it would be cheaper to invest in an airer and dehumidifier.
Also it might be worth the initial outlay to use a pressure cooker/slow cooker for cooking.

patchwork_cat

pineapple wrote: »

Re the OP I think you might be shocked how much your tumble dryer costs. Are you saying you sometimes have it on for two whole nights? Eek! That and the higher prepayment charge could well be responsible for your bills which are horrendous.
.

The tumble drier isn't going to be on all night it will have a timer and be on probably for a maximum of 2 hours. If the owl doesn't help get to the bottom of this problem then I would recommend it would be a worthwhile investment to get a decent electrician to come in and find out what on earth is going on (no pun intended!!)

I remember reading about someone on utilities board that had forgotten about underfloor heating in conservatory and it was eating the 'leccy.

freebyfifty

Hi there,

Just wanted to mention that if you read Martin's latest Money Tips e-mail there is a link on there to getting a free electricity monitor if you are in receipt of certain benefits. I clicked through and qualified for one because of tax credits.
I can't wait to get it and then I will become a demon switching things on and off all the time

dancingfairy

This might sound stupid but I heard some metres measure in metric and some in imperial. In some cases the electric company thought that it was measuring one but it was measuring the other and resulted in a huge bill as they were then using the wrong calculation to work out the bills. To be honest I didn't get the technical bits of it but check what units your meter is measuring - you should be able to find out somewhere - you might also get more help on the gas and electric board as well.
Best of Luck getting to the bottom of it.
df

bonsibabe

Thanks freebyfifty ... i have clicked and managed to get on dla so fingers crossed I will be able to cut my spending on leccy very soon! x

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi, it always surprises me how much electricity costs vary from one family to another. We have an old, draughty 3 bed semi and I am at home most of the time. We have two older kids with all their electric gadgets and also use electric heaters to supplement our very expensive oil heating. We were paying £85 a month electric with Scottish Power then moved to EDF Energy who quoted us £58 a month. I dont think this is enough but we will see.

We have 3 XBoxes, although one is old and rarely gets used. I hope the energy monitor does the trick because it really does sound like something is wrong.

HappyMJ

YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »

Hi, it always surprises me how much electricity costs vary from one family to another. We have an old, draughty 3 bed semi and I am at home most of the time. We have two older kids with all their electric gadgets and also use electric heaters to supplement our very expensive oil heating. We were paying £85 a month electric with Scottish Power then moved to EDF Energy who quoted us £58 a month. I dont think this is enough but we will see.

We have 3 XBoxes, although one is old and rarely gets used. I hope the energy monitor does the trick because it really does sound like something is wrong.

It's not the monthly direct debit that you should be looking at. You need to know the annual usage. Scottish Power is one of cheapest in most regions although switching to EDF would have save you money it's highly unlikely to be 32%. They are baiting you by telling you that you can reduce your direct debit by so much and then in 6 months they'll raise it up to £85 again as it's not enough.

If you don't think it's enough then read the meter every week same day and at the same time. Make a spreadsheet and estimate what the monthly bill should be.

Fix the draughts..... Use the electric heating less. Although oil is expensive it's usually cheaper than electric radiators running on daytime rates.

boschiba

I've just checked our Scottish Power account on line. we are £840 IN CREDIT!!! (stunned, but not unhappy) I thought we were paying an awful lot... have submitted meter readings and will be renegotiating DD payment PDQ.