OMG my electricity bill!!!!

tobykim

Just had my bill and it's £120 which I thought was a bit much, Electric oven (not hob) which I only use a couple of times a week, washing machine about 5 times a week, dryer about once, pc on most of the time, fridge freezer and chest freezer, gas heating and fire so I don't know where it's going, Oh I forgot dishwasher 7 times a week. I phoned Scottish Power and they said that my comsumption was average, when I suggested checking the meter they said it was impossible for anything to be wrong with it as it was a standard meter, anyone think this is excessive

Kimberley

Tobykim they should still check it for you, it's your right surely. I was getting high bills in the end i asked for them to install a key meter, i now pay my electric and gas as i use it. I put in about £20 a month for Electric and £25 for gas depending on the winter and summer usage. I would never go back to getting a paper bill again. Paying by key meter is just like PAYG.

gravitytolls

doelani, the most expensive appliance you can run is your tumble dryer. While it may not be practical to dry towels and jeans during the winter without it you'd be surprises how much you can be reduce by taking out all the cotton shirts and light stuff. 24hrs or less on an airer and they are dry. They also iron better when not tumbled. One year I was exceptionally good and didn't use the dryer at all and reduced my leccy bill by almost half.[/QUOTE]

If space is for an airer is not available, pop shirts and woollies on hangers and hang overnight from door frames. They'll be dry by morning.I know it's a pain,and may not look great, but overnight free drying ain't bad.:beer:

Cardew

gravitytolls wrote:

doelani, the most expensive appliance you can run is your tumble dryer. While it may not be practical to dry towels and jeans during the winter without it you'd be surprises how much you can be reduce by taking out all the cotton shirts and light stuff. 24hrs or less on an airer and they are dry. They also iron better when not tumbled. One year I was exceptionally good and didn't use the dryer at all and reduced my leccy bill by almost half.

If space is for an airer is not available, pop shirts and woollies on hangers and hang overnight from door frames. They'll be dry by morning.I know it's a pain,and may not look great, but overnight free drying ain't bad.:beer:

I think there is a danger of overstating the power consumption of tumble dryers.

Mine for instance consumes between 1.3kWh and 3.0kWh for a full cycle. The latter for 6kg of cotton at its driest setting.

Therefore it uses between 4p and 9p on Economy 7 and 8p and 19p on standard rates.

So using it every day it would cost between £1.20 and £5.70 a month.

I am all for saving money – which is why I visit this forum – but we should get things in perspective.

The sheer convenience of a tumble dryer is worth the cost to most of us. If you really are worried about the expense of running a tumble dryer, why have one in the house?

chinagirl

kim03 wrote:

Tobykim they should still check it for you, it's your right surely. I was getting high bills in the end i asked for them to install a key meter, i now pay my electric and gas as i use it. I put in about £20 a month for Electric and £25 for gas depending on the winter and summer usage. I would never go back to getting a paper bill again. Paying by key meter is just like PAYG.

If I did that it would be JUST like PAYG. "Wot, No Credit" again. I couldn't risk running out of gas and leccy as well as phone credit. No I think I shall stay as I am and just keep paying by monthly Direct Debit.
But hey! If it works for you, well done.

Kimberley

You do get emergency money on your key meters if you run out, and to make sure you don't run out just keep checking your meters For me it's far better then waiting for a hefty bill to drop on your mat..

chinagirl

gravitytolls wrote:

doelani, the most expensive appliance you can run is your tumble dryer. While it may not be practical to dry towels and jeans during the winter without it you'd be surprises how much you can be reduce by taking out all the cotton shirts and light stuff. 24hrs or less on an airer and they are dry. They also iron better when not tumbled. One year I was exceptionally good and didn't use the dryer at all and reduced my leccy bill by almost half.

If space is for an airer is not available, pop shirts and woollies on hangers and hang overnight from door frames. They'll be dry by morning.I know it's a pain,and may not look great, but overnight free drying ain't bad.:beer:[/QUOTE]
i never had a tumble dryer until I had my third child. We found the sheer volume of clothes were getting on top of our dry on radiator and then in airing cupboard routine, and now I use the tumbler to dry small items and finish off jeans. I keep mine in the shed, so it is an effort to take clothes out to it and that in itself reduces its usage. Still, you can't beat drying clothes outside in the fresh air.

calleyw

I have a little tumble drier that I use to air as before now had no airing cupboard.

So I run it about once a week for less than 30 mins. I dry as much as I can outside. But when the weather is wet I fall back on my old style and old fashion cast iron arier rack that is winched up the ceiling. I had this even in a one bedroom flat in the kitchen. As it is on the ceiling it takes up no extra room.

And with the kitchen window being left open all night it dried very quickly.

At the moment argos are selling one for £4.99 in the clearance sale.

And that way it keeps the wet clothes in one area rather than all around the house.

Also using key meters means you pay more for your electric and gas. As £20 a month is a quarterly £60 electric bill. I would only have a £45 quarterly bill in a one bedroom flat. And quarterly gas bill of £75. My gas bill rarely got above £40 a quarter and in the summer I have had bills from BG of .75p with the prompt discount applied to it.

I would never revert to key meters as it is costly and only helps if you have arrears or bad with budgetting and can't stop yourself from spending the money for those bills.


Yours


Calley

roger56

You say you bill was based on a true meter reading this time.
I suspect the previous estimated readings were a little low (slippage!) and this bill has corrected that.

It's worth noting that if you don't pay enough per quarter as prices go up you end up paying the corrected amount at the latest prices (ie higher prices!)

So, it's best to keep payments on track. This can be easily done by providing your own readings regularly.

lipidicman

roger56 wrote:

It's worth noting that if you don't pay enough per quarter as prices go up you end up paying the corrected amount at the latest prices (ie higher prices!)

So, it's best to keep payments on track....

....or overpay to get the electricity at the previous, cheaper, rate!