Is my electric bill expensive or have prices just rocketed!!!

DarceyBear

Hi All,

I need a little advice. I live in a 2 bedroom property in a concrete purpose built block of flats. It is just m and my daughter who live there and after my first quarterly electric bill arrived I nearly had a heart attack!

Being a single parent I'm not exactly loaded but I am a pretty cautious power user to keep my bills down so I am at a loss as to why my bills are so expensive and in the last week I have actually had to turn off my heating (despite it being cold still and having a 1 year old daughter to keep warm) as I cannot afford to continue with bills like this.

To give you some idea of how my electricity works I will outline it...

I have night storage heaters, am on an economy 7 tariff with my electric provider and to take advantage of the cheaper night rate my hot water only comes on once a day, in the morning when the rate is still cheap. I rarely use the hot water booster button anymore as I know this costs me a bit extra - however its part of my daughters routine to have a bath before bed so depending on how much warm water is left I try to stretch it out without using the boost.

During the winter it did become so cold I had to buy a portable ceramic fan heater to use for the bathroom when bathing my daughter (there is no heating in the bathroom) and for when it really was too cold for her (on a few occasions she would be shivering, even with the heating on - the flat has large rooms with tall ceilings and the heating quite simply is not adequate).

Other than this I am a regular power user. My TV is generally on in the background during the day when I am in, I boil the kettle several times a day and use the hob / oven at dinner time. I charge my phone and laptop overnight to take advantage of the cheap rates and I always turn everything off when I go out or the things I don't require overnight also get turned off.

I know electric rates have shot up dramatically so what I really want to know is if my bill is normal. I received an estimated bill of just under £300 for the first quarter. This seemed expensive to me so I gave them an up to date meter and was staggered to discover that this was wildly underestimated and I was actually using £144 a month in electricity.

I cannot get my head around this, my parents have a 3 bedroom detached house and use far more electric that me and their bill for gas and electric is around the same!

Please can someone advise me if this sounds right for my usage.

All I know is that I cannot afford to continue at this rate. £144 a month is a huge chunk of my income and I had only budgeted around £75 a month as it had been at my previous addresses so I am now also behind in my bills and they want me to pay £250 for the next 3 months to play catch up then going down to the £144 a month.

I would appreciate your views please.... thanks in advance.

hannah899

I don't know any thing about it but that sounds crazy and not just the price, im meaning the thing about hot water once a day, Is that because of your supplier?
I know everyone uses different things so it not the same but for my circumstances,

I live in a house with no insulation or wall cavitys there is 3 single people with 1 working nights so we are all on different living and sleeping patterns and I used about £50 this month and that's an over estimate, I have a smart meter that british gas gave me where its linked to my meter so I know exactly what I use.

Like I say everyones different but may be worth looking at a price comparison site.
Hope you get it sorted and quick.

Wywth

DarceyBear wrote: »

Hi All,

I need a little advice. I live in a 2 bedroom property in a concrete purpose built block of flats. It is just m and my daughter who live there and after my first quarterly electric bill arrived I nearly had a heart attack!

Being a single parent I'm not exactly loaded but I am a pretty cautious power user to keep my bills down so I am at a loss as to why my bills are so expensive and in the last week I have actually had to turn off my heating (despite it being cold still and having a 1 year old daughter to keep warm) as I cannot afford to continue with bills like this.

To give you some idea of how my electricity works I will outline it...

I have night storage heaters, am on an economy 7 tariff with my electric provider and to take advantage of the cheaper night rate my hot water only comes on once a day, in the morning when the rate is still cheap. I rarely use the hot water booster button anymore as I know this costs me a bit extra - however its part of my daughters routine to have a bath before bed so depending on how much warm water is left I try to stretch it out without using the boost.

During the winter it did become so cold I had to buy a portable ceramic fan heater to use for the bathroom when bathing my daughter (there is no heating in the bathroom) and for when it really was too cold for her (on a few occasions she would be shivering, even with the heating on - the flat has large rooms with tall ceilings and the heating quite simply is not adequate).

Other than this I am a regular power user. My TV is generally on in the background during the day when I am in, I boil the kettle several times a day and use the hob / oven at dinner time. I charge my phone and laptop overnight to take advantage of the cheap rates and I always turn everything off when I go out or the things I don't require overnight also get turned off.

I know electric rates have shot up dramatically so what I really want to know is if my bill is normal. I received an estimated bill of just under £300 for the first quarter. This seemed expensive to me so I gave them an up to date meter and was staggered to discover that this was wildly underestimated and I was actually using £144 a month in electricity.

I cannot get my head around this, my parents have a 3 bedroom detached house and use far more electric that me and their bill for gas and electric is around the same!

Please can someone advise me if this sounds right for my usage.

All I know is that I cannot afford to continue at this rate. £144 a month is a huge chunk of my income and I had only budgeted around £75 a month as it had been at my previous addresses so I am now also behind in my bills and they want me to pay £250 for the next 3 months to play catch up then going down to the £144 a month.

I would appreciate your views please.... thanks in advance.

What is normal for an all electric property? :huh:

Your meter records your consumnption, and you are charged that consumption in line with the tariff you agreed to.

If you are struggling to pay the bill, talk the matter over with your supplier.

Edit:
You said back in December you were worried about using extra heating and the costs that would involve, so why, having decided to obtain an extra heater, have you not been keeping a closer eye on your consumption?
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=57733129&postcount=8

hannah899

also after a housemate falling behind on their share of the bills and having to pay of debts I pay £45 a fornight which is due to go down as the debts have now cleared it normally goes to £28 - £34 depending on how much we use but we are on a payment plan. hth

macman

Tell us your actual kWh consumption on each register, and the dates and tariff, and meaningful advice can be given. Posting £££'s DD's does not tell anything about your actual consumption.
£144 a month in the coldest quarter (and it has been very cold) is perfectly feasible.
Forget your kettle and laptop, what matters is heating and hot water. Run those on E7 peak rate and of course it will be expensive. Gas per kWH is less than a third of the cost of E7 peak rate, so you'd expect your parents to have much smaller bills. But your consumption will plummet now the warmer weather seems to be here.
£75 per month is not realistic at all: the average dual fuel tariff is now north of £1,250 pa, so that's over £100 pm without any debt on the account. An all electric property will cost more.

DarceyBear

Wywth wrote: »

What is normal for an all electric property? :huh:

Your meter records your consumnption, and you are charged that consumption in line with the tariff you agreed to.

If you are struggling to pay the bill, talk the matter over with your supplier.

Edit:
You said back in December you were worried about using extra heating and the costs that would involve, so why, having decided to obtain an extra heater, have you not been keeping a closer eye on your consumption?





There are many reasons I have had to buy the extra heater, as you know the weather has been extremely cold, I do not want my daughter to have to be freezing cold, she should be able to be comfortable in her own home, especially when bathing. I keep a very close eye on my consumption, as mentioned I turn everything off when not using it, I take advantage of the cheaper night time rates and I input my meter readings weekly on the providers website to see what I am using.

This is what my bill says to be more specific:

17th November - 30th January

day units - 1207 @ 15.21p = £183.58
night units - 2354 @ 6.73p = £158.42


Basically I just want some advice to see what else I can do to reduce my bill and keep my home warm enough for my daughter to be comfortable. If anyone has any useful suggestions I would appreciate it.

Many Thanks.

lstar337

In exactly the same situation as you OP, ours is on prepay and we easily use £150 a month.

We have all electric heating (4 storage heaters, Oil rad in bathroom), Water is immersion heated overnight during cheap rate, electric oven/hob etc.

Our usage is ~10-15kWh during the day, ~35-45kWh during the night.

I would say your bill sounds normal to me.

Don't forget, the unit cost went up just before christmas.

DarceyBear

Thank you to all who have replied. I think it is time to think about moving, I seem to have a lot more problems here than I have ever had anywhere else and last night just discovered that due to all the condensation in the bathroom I now have an infestation of silverfish. not pleasant! and add that with all the mould I keep constantly battling I'm going to look for somewhere with gas central heating!!

Thanks again.

lstar337

DarceyBear wrote: »

This is what my bill says to be more specific:

17th November - 30th January

day units - 1207 @ 15.21p = £183.58
night units - 2354 @ 6.73p = £158.42

Lol, lucky you!

We pay

18.03p for day
6.83p for night!

DarceyBear

lstar337 wrote: »

In exactly the same situation as you OP, ours is on prepay and we easily use £150 a month.

We have all electric heating (4 storage heaters, Oil rad in bathroom), Water is immersion heated overnight during cheap rate, electric oven/hob etc.

Our usage is ~10-15kWh during the day, ~35-45kWh during the night.

I would say your bill sounds normal to me.

Don't forget, the unit cost went up just before christmas.

- Thanks for your input, it is a relief to hear that it is normal... the cost of electricity these days is crippling!

DarceyBear

lstar337 wrote: »

Lol, lucky you!

We pay

18.03p for day
6.83p for night!

Well I shall try and feel grateful for it then! I think I may just be slightly out of touch with the costs of electricity these days.... :eek: