Electricity bill gone from £27 per month to £95!!

Naf

amiehall wrote: »

fridges are more efficient when empty as it lets the air circulate.

Really?
I didn't know that.
I thought it was most economical to fill it quite full, but make sure there is still plenty of circulation room.
We have little option to fill our fridge choc-a-block; until we can get a nice new big one. Probably a SMEG :-p

victor2

amiehall wrote: »

All good advice, I would just point out that while freezers are cheaper to run when full, fridges are more efficient when empty as it lets the air circulate. So stuff the freezer full of newspaper by all means but keep the fridge nice and clear.

But surely, when you open the door, a lot of the circulating air in an empty fridge escapes and is replaced by room temperature air. Whereas, food tends not to escape (teenagers etc. permitting ) and retains its temperature inside the fridge.
So, unless the fridge is kept closed all the time (in which case it might as well be switched off), isn't an empty one going to use more energy?

pinkteapot

Your monthly charge sounds about right to me I'm afraid. I lived in a two-bed flat with just two night storage heaters until two years ago. The flat had no gas, and our electricity bill worked out to around £85 per month (we paid quarterly bills rather than using DD). Huge bills in winter, tiny in summer. With the increase in utility prices in the last few years, £95 per month sounds feasible.

We now live in a four-bed detached house with gas central heating. For electricity and gas combined we pay £80 per month - less than the flat to heat a big house!

It is the heaters which are huge guzzlers of power and unfortunately you can't do much to reduce the bill as they are usually on overnight or off (no option to have them on for less time). You can turn them down a bit, but then they probably won't get warm enough (in my experience).