Don't understand my electricity bill!

MusicalLawyer

I have recently moved out of the parental home and me and my boyfriend have got a place together.

We're super concerned about our electricity though.

We had a bill of £158 for just 39 days electricity.
We don't have gas to the property.

I'm not the only one that thinks that is a bizarre amount of electric right?

We realised we'd left the water on the whole time, and now we just turn the water on an hour or so before we need it, to warm it up. We also completely shut off one of the storage heaters, and turn off all the switches when we aren't using them. We also switched to energy efficient light bulbs. When we first moved in the storage heater didn't work, so we were using an electric heater fan for a week or so. We don't use that anymore.

I am due to give British Gas another reading in a couple of days so I am seriously hoping that our next bill is significantly lower!

scheming_gypsy

Did you give them a reading when you moved in or are they going off the last reading they had?

Torry_Quine

Is it an actual reading or an estimate? If an estimate get an accurate reading and tell them to get an accurate bill. Also did you take a reading when you moved in.

InsertWittyName

KellyKing1987 wrote: »

We realised we'd left the water on the whole time, and now we just turn the water on an hour or so before we need it, to warm it up.

If this was an immersion heater then that would be my first guess at the large bill (after the posts above).

MusicalLawyer

I do have an immersion heater yes.

We gave them a meter reading when we moved in on Oct 31st, and then on December 9th. The bill came in at £158.31. So this is all actual electricity used..

We did all as stated above. I did another meter reading today and we've now used £86 since our last bill. I still think this is too much, even though it's almost halved last months bill.

hostertlady

I haven't got an immersion heater but my electricity direct debit is now over £80 a month....
my gas is cheap tho....... phew!

MusicalLawyer

I have raised my Direct Debit payments to British gas from £40pm to £60pm. I am starting to think that £80 may not be *too* much considering we are in the winter. However, I don't have any heating on bar the storage heater in the bedroom, which only comes on during the night time at 11:30pm and goes off at around 7am.

On saying that, we budgeted (based on our parents bills) that we would spend £30 electricity, and £30 gas per month. We don't have gas so essentially we'd budgeted £60 electric. I just have to see what I can do now to reduce my bill by a further £20pm...

We have just unplugged all XBOX / PS3 / Wii etc from the extension lead they were plugged in to. So we will just plug in the one we will be using. And we will now be shutting off the plug to the TV & DVD Player. (We originally thought we'd lost the free view channels if we shut it off / unplugged it and have to scan them in each time, but we don't!)

I hope I can make a saving somewhere! Any idea's anyone..apart from doing laundry at silly o'clock in the morning! haha.

HappyMJ

KellyKing1987 wrote: »

I have raised my Direct Debit payments to British gas from £40pm to £60pm. I am starting to think that £80 may not be *too* much considering we are in the winter. However, I don't have any heating on bar the storage heater in the bedroom, which only comes on during the night time at 11:30pm and goes off at around 7am.

On saying that, we budgeted (based on our parents bills) that we would spend £30 electricity, and £30 gas per month. We don't have gas so essentially we'd budgeted £60 electric. I just have to see what I can do now to reduce my bill by a further £20pm...

We have just unplugged all XBOX / PS3 / Wii etc from the extension lead they were plugged in to. So we will just plug in the one we will be using. And we will now be shutting off the plug to the TV & DVD Player. (We originally thought we'd lost the free view channels if we shut it off / unplugged it and have to scan them in each time, but we don't!)

I hope I can make a saving somewhere! Any idea's anyone..apart from doing laundry at silly o'clock in the morning! haha.

Ideas...Yes...A storage heater in the bedroom is pointless. Put a fan heater or a oil filled radiator would be better on a timer to come on for an hour between 6am and 7am and you will wake up to a warm bedroom. You might need 2 hours if it's really cold. Much cheaper than 7 hours. That will save a lot.

Next...electric it has been said many times costs about 3 times that of gas so you should be tripling the gas bill and adding that to the electric bill...ok let's say double it if you manage to use less. So £30 times 2 plus £30 is £90 a month.

Doing the laundry at silly o'clock in the morning does save money. It's usually 1kWh per cycle so that saves about 10p each time. You then wake up early in the morning hang the washing out then when you arrive home if it isn't dry then put it in the dryer and time it to dry the clothes the next night at cheap rates. It's not as convenient but it is much cheaper.

The water heater should only be timed to come on at night for a couple of hours. It will keep the heat if the tank is well lagged for the rest of the day. Any heat lost will keep the airing cupboard warm and help dry your clothes.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

KellyKing1987 wrote: »

However, I don't have any heating on bar the storage heater in the bedroom, which only comes on during the night time at 11:30pm and goes off at around 7am.

as already stated by HappyMJ, all you need is something to take the chill off the room before you go to bed and get up.

No point in having a hot bedroom empty all day, if you need extra heat in bed then get an electric blanket, cheap to run.

What heating do you use in the evening?

Take a daily meter reading, morning and night for a few days to see if you can pinpoint the usage.

MusicalLawyer

The only heating we use is the storage heater in the bedroom. I tend to sit in the lounge with my duvet as it keeps me warm. And the flat is a little warmer in the evening anyway from cooking dinner.

Our dryer isn't very good it takes so long to dry clothes it's unreal, so we put our clothes on a clothes horse in the bedroom as it is warm in there. And they usually dry within a day. We dobt do washing everyday as there are only 2 of us.

I understand that in the summer the electric will drop further as we won't have heating / lights on as much - but still.

So some of you think £80 isn't bad seeing as we dont use gas.

grahamc2003

Drying clothes indoors makes the place damper, feel colder, and takes more heat to get to a comfortable temperature.

Having a storage heater on in a bedroom is pointless. Use an electreic blanket for an hour before you go to be, costs a penny or two (literally), compared to about £1.20 pn for a large storgae heater input full, output off, of about £2.00 input full output full).

If your dryer is inside your house, make sure it's a condensing dryer, when all the energy you use will both dry the clothes and heat the room, unlike a vented dryer, where all the heat is lost. Obviously use in e7 hours, about 6 in the morning so you get the benefit of the heat. Likewise, minimise water heating loss, by turning on an hour before the cheap rate ends (set timers, you don't have to get up at 6 in the morning).

£100pm during winter isn't too bad, should average about £75pm over the year typically. Look on the bright side - you don't need a gas service every year, which is costly and can be inconvenient.