OS Singlies - We Do It Our Way!

moneyistooshorttomention

Can I ask those singlies who live on their own for an idea as to how many units of electric they use per day and/or what monthly electric bills average please? Ditto for gas.

Opened an email from my (joint) fuel supplier this morning and went:eek::eek:. They've told me they are going to put my monthly fuel debit up from £80 to £216 for 4 months, as they figure I have underpaid them on the amount set:eek:

Calmed back down a bit now, as I thought "Well its only for 4 months and, they will be basing my usage on what I have been using since I moved into this house".

I seem to recall I was paying combined gas and electric debit of about £70 per month in my last house. So, I mentally put it up to £80 per month on this one (things like it being detached and I've swopped from a fridge-freezer to separate large fridge and even larger freezer), so I thought I'd better allow a bit extra for that.

Am guessing that its down to extra electric usage? I've had workmen using electric for various work on the house and doors/windows have often been wide open because of the work and me whacking on electric fires to compensate for that near me. Am now keeping a check on the electric meter in this house (which has been replaced since I moved in) in case that isn't set right, so will be writing down how many units of electric I use each day to check that's okay.

I've also had to use electric fires a lot (instead of my gas central heating) over last winter, because that heating wasn't fully functional to start with (no radiator in the kitchen when I moved in) and has spent weeks of cold weather with the system not working (hence more electric fire usage).

So just wondering how many units of electric per day a singlie living on their own expects to use on average please? (so that I can check that meter out). I'm hazarding a wild guess that that meter should be clocking up about 8 units of daily usage, but I don't know at present.

Does hope this is just a temporary blip! I would not be at all happy at a monthly fuel debit of anything like that much as the "real" amount even if on full pension. Obviously, whilst I'm still waiting for the State part of my pension and cursing that revised State Pension Age of mine each month for the fact that that part of my income is still missing at the moment, then a bill at that level would be Very Bad News.

So, come on fellow singlies, how many units of electric per day does your meter say you are using please on average?

calicocat

Byatt wrote: »

I've been researching which alcoholic beverages are good for increasing oestrogen levels, seems it's red wine, beer and bourbon!

Yay.....always a silver lining somewhere.

Off to bed when I get outa here, catch up later.




Oh....dont fancy any sink holes..!!!

BookWorm

MITSM - I don't know what my daily units are

I can tell you that I pay £75 a month for gas & electric (3 bed semi) I could probably have a slightly lower amount but I prefer to let a slight buffer build over the summer so that I don't have to worry if I want the heating on longer in the winter

BookWorm

Ok I just went to check last 3 bills and they appear to average betwen 4 and 6.5 for electric and 2 -5 for gas depending on what time of year.

moneyistooshorttomention

Thanks Bookworm for checking.

So my guess at £80 sounds about right to me. I've done my shopping around for fuel supplier, so I know that I've not got a particularly dear one. Wonders if its my rather LARGE fridge and freezer, but they are both only months old and something like A++ rating, so shouldn't be "energy grabbing monsters". My computer shouldn't be either, as its about 2 years old. Hmm...am taking pretty much hourly meter readings of that electric meter at the moment, in case its wrong. Its been using about 1 unit per hour at the moment and usage so far of electric has been lighting, computer, toaster, kettle a couple of times and a hotplate for a few minutes. Obviously there will be bursts of electric usage throughout day (eg meals and use of washing machine).

Will keep monitoring...

Anyone else?

greenbee

Heating using electricity costs a fortune, so that may be where the expense is from. It is well worth submitting monthly meter readings if your supplier allows (I'm on a tariff that allows me to pay for what I've used if I do this), or using something like imeasure to track your usage weekly and compare to others with similar properties and lifestyles.

3forholidays

MITSTM I can't help with the average utility costs for a singlie as I live with my parents.

I know that running an electric fire is expensive but how expensive depends on the wattage of your appliance so a 1kw (kilowatt) fire costs about 15 pence per hour to run, a 2kw fire about 29 pence per hour and a 3kw fire about 43 pence per hour.

The prices above include VAT and are only for one appliance. Hopefully this helps.

We used to have an electric fire in our old house but only used it sparingly as we had electric storage heaters.

Forgot to mention that 1kw = 1 unit

moneyistooshorttomention

From that, I am guessing a lot of the "culprit" is down to the electric fanheater I was having to run a lot in my kitchen when the kitchen radiator was still missing.

I had always thought those halogen type electric heaters are only pennies an hour to run and that's what my other electric heaters are, so don't know if isn't being "told like it is" about that and they would cost the same to run as electric fanheaters of same kw power???

I've been doing the "catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" thing too of bribing workmen with endless cups of tea and coffee. I think that's worked out at goodness only knows how many extra kettle boils a day, so maybe kettles are expensive items to use too? As soon as I latched onto workmen don't seem to be that used to being offered drinks here, that was me straight into "Workmen = sigh heavily to friends about the "housemaiding" aspect of the number of drinks they expect (well in my experience previously....) and keep making them"..... I'm a great fan of the "bribery and corruption" school of thought...LOL

JustKeepSwimming_2

Hi All - have finally caught up (ish) but this is a quick post as I have to deal with stuff, rather than spend time pottering & having a nice time.

Hope all are well & big dodgy :grouphug: to all that need one. Sorry to hear that some of you are having a horrible time - its all a bit rubbish here too just now with a perfect storm of work & Mother being PITA, problems with DS at school & his overall behaviour, ex being an idiot & now health problems of my own (probably not helped by all the stress :rotfl:), so I'm feeling a bit fed up to put it mildly.

I know some of you are having/have had much worse times than me, so apologies for mithering again.

Will try & catch up properly later.

3forholidays

MITSTM A kettle will cost between 1.5p & 2p to boil one litre of water.