£600 a quarter, can't afford to keep on like this!

LolitaLove

We're with E-ON, and used to pay £75 a month for gas and electric, via direct debit. Then they raised it to £120, then to £175, and now it's £220 a month. The latest quarterly bill is £602.
Is it this much money for anyone else? It seems ridiculously high. The bill was over £300 for gas for this quarter, and £260 for electric.
Gas = I use the heating normally, when it's cold it's on when it's warm it's off. The stove is gas. Apart from that nothing.
Electric = There's the usual household stuff, washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwasher, the oven and the shower are electric. There's three tv's total (but only one is watched at a time usually) a couple of games consoles that are never on and then the laptops/computers but again it's only one at a time, so if the computers on the laptop won't be. That's the main stuff, then of course there's the little stuff like the hoover, iron hairdryer/straighteners etc. But I would say the above is all entirely normal household use. Everyone I know uses electricity for all of the above but pays considerably less on their bills. We're on E-ON track and save 9.
Can anyone suggest any ways to lower the bill, or any better rates? Thankyou!
Hiya no I don't have arrears. I'm on track and save 9, not sure what the rates are.
I don't monitor my usage, how would I go about doing that?
The property isn't overly large, 4 bed detached, but the garage has been converted into an extra room.

gazza975526570

Do you have arrears?

Have you recently checked if its cheaper to move tarrifs?

Do you monitor your useage? I do ours weekly - particularly at the start i did it daily as it helps to identify high use items

What size hourse do you have? Is it insulated?

I currently pay £64 for gas and electric and have paid around this for a few years on a 4 bed semi so to nme it seems very high.

johnatho

Money amounts are useless, we need your actual consumption in kWhs.

Preferably with dates.

macman

You can't begin to get to grips with your bills if you don't know what your actual annual kWh usage is-it's given on your annual statements, calll your supplier, or calculate it from bills one year apart (actual readings, not estimated).
Work out your figures, post them, and some meaningful advice can be given. Split out the figures or gas and electricity
Remember that a gas bill of £300 in the winter quarter is perfectly normal-your consumption will plummet once the heating goes off.
When did you last supply meter readings?

mummyroysof3

our nov to jan bill was £400..due to tumble dryer i expect

Icicle737_2

Are you on accurate readings or just estimates? Estimates can get very out of control!!

If you havn't givven them a reading for a while I'd start there!

E.ON_Company_Rep_Chris

Some great advice here LolitaLove.

There’s lot’s we can do work out why your bills are high and how to start bringing them down.

Just to echo what’s been said by the others you first need to check the following:

Are your bills based on accurate meter readings? How much gas and electricity do use in a year?

We give you this information on page 2 of your bill and you can use this on a comparison site to see how Track and Save 9 fares against other available tariffs.

I’d also recommend taking meter readings yourself, every day for a week and make a note of when you’ve had your heating and other appliances on.

One of our Energy Efficiency specialists will then be able to help you figure out what you’re using and when and suggest how to cut back. They can also advise on what may be a more suitable plan for your needs.

Is your boiler in good working order and serviced regularly? Property well insulated?

With your winter bill consisting of almost as much for electricity as gas, I think that this needs our attention.

Just a few suggestions there for you, it’s sometimes hard to know where to start isn’t it! :eek:

Do give us a call though, we’re here to help

Amanda