bills gas and electric

mililly

Been in this house for 24yrs. The meter was also for economy 7..no heaters in rooms. Old boiler and ducted heating at that time. Changed to combi and radiators in 1991. Had trouble with high bills tor years. Had about 3/4 service providers since. Bills just dont seem to fall..I live in a 3/4 bedroom house there are 2 adults and 3 kids..found out last yr was still being charged based on economy 7..they came and changed meter to new digital one and said should see a big difference as not being charged for economy 7 which is alot higher. Now my monthly bill has gone up from 205 to 235 a month. I personnally yhink this is very high and would appreciate any help or suggestions to help.

ic

Please post your annual usage as displayed on your bill as kWh. Are your bills based on meter readings? Has your house been insulated - loft, cavity wall? Have you sought to stop up draughts around the house? What windows do you have?

Beetlemama

So for 22 years you've had a boiler and radiators (of the 24 years you lived there) and the bills are more now? Sadly all our bills are high, we're two adults and a child and ours is £182 a month, its sad to see so much go on what feels like nothing, we even took the electric monitor thing off, it was making us miserable, we were just sitting looking at the power consumption an hour and fretting about it, the xbox sucks up an unbelievable amount of power

It doesn't sound outrageous to me at £235 for two extra people to have clothes washed and rooms heated and food cooked, water heated and baths run...unfortunately. I mean its all outrageous! but it doesn't sounds particularly outrageous....

mililly

Yeah all cavity walls done energy saving light bulbs you name it we've got it or done it..was just curious to see whether others had bills as high as mine.

Cardew

The average UK bill is around £1300 pa - say £110 a month.

In kWh the average is 16,500kWh gas and 3,300kWh electricity.

So at £235 a month, and thus paying over double the UK average, indicates something is wrong.

What are your kWh figures for gas and electricity PA?

mililly

Well after checking my bills from june 12 to june 13 I have worked out kwh usage for elec at 13053 and gas as 25969..sound a bit over the top to me dont know what anyone else thinks. Has any one else got usage around these figures. We are 3 adults 2 kids 4 bedroom house all out most days working apart from school hols. Same electrical item most families have. No laptops but have tablets.

macman

Your gas usage is not impossible, but something seriously wrong with the electricity, assuming gas CH and DHW. It's 400% more than it should be-so I suggest you go back and check the readings.
Forget your tablet, they use next to nothing. What burns power is heating, hot water, and white goods such as tumble driers.
Have you left the old immersion heater on 24/7 by any chance? Underfloor heating?
You aren't actually necessarily using £235 per month, part of that is probably arrears.

Cardew

I assume those consumption figures are based on ACTUAL meter readings - not estimated.

Your gas is about 50% higher than average, but in a 4 bed house with 5 occupants that might well be expected.

However your electricity consumption is 4 times higher than average. In fact with gas for heating/hot water it is difficult to understand how you could use that much electricity.

You need to try and see the cause - almost certainly some form of heating!

mililly

Well this has been going on for years..I have taken the usage from my bills from last june to this june. All bills had read meter readings not estimates. Yes tumble dryer on most days as there are 5 of us. But I suppose we dont have or use anything that the average 2 adult 2 children families have, as I presume thats what they have based the average on. Last august they removed the old meter and installed a new digital one..they said I should see a difference but looking at the bills I cant see it.

macman

I repeat, do you still have the old immersion heater that you used when on E7, and if so has it been left on? Tropical fish tanks? Cannabis farm in the loft?
Get an Owl monitor or similar and see what your background usage is-or get a sparky in pronto.
Why have you let this go on for years? You are wasting about £1,250pa at current prices.
The tarrif change should reduce your billing, but not your actual kWh consumption, which is what we are concerned with.

mililly

There never was an emersion heater well I say that there prob was but only for 2yrs until we changed to a combi boiler and since that was put in in 1991 I have always queried my bills but evrry provider I have had has just put it down to my usage. I have had fish tanks in the past but along time ago and got rid. I realky just want to know if I have a valid query on my usage or if there are other families out there who use much the same