£160 monthly bill from ScottishPower!!

WorkFromHome

maas wrote: »

The Gas usage seems reasonable but the electricity is high. I'd recommend getting an energy monitor just to educate you on what everything is costing.

After my first electric bill came in which was huge, I got an energy monitor and I was amazed what everything costed. I made changes and I no longer,

Fill kettle to the top just for 1 cup of coffee
Leave kitchen lights on all evening (6 spot lights)
Halogen lights in general - turn everything off if not in the room
Spare fridge virtually empty turned off

The 2nd thing I did was switched energy provider from SP to OVO and saved a further 15%.

Also, go into the TV settings and set a sleep timer to so it doesnt stay on for hours unattended.

Thanks for your help. Where can I get a monitor from?

maas

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/free-cheap-energy-monitors

There's a few recommended on here, I went with the Efergy one. Its handy as you can go around the house switching things on (such as lights,kettle,TV etc) and it tells you roughly how much each thing is costing. Plus it also records the usage and gives you an idea what your daily/weekly/monthly usage is in KWH and £.

I'd say its defiantly paid for itself inside a couple of months.

matelodave

You don't really need to spend £30-£50 on an energy monitor as you've got a perfectly good one already - it's your electric meter & gas meter.
All you have to do is read it regularly, try it daily for a couple of weeks, turn stuff off when it's not being used (especially stuff that sits on stand-by) and you'll get a good idea of what is using it and when

You'll be surprised at how much you can save if you put a bit of effort into it and monitor your own consumption. You should always check your bills and correct all estimated readings and make sure that your direct debit is covering the cost of what you are using
.
Make sure that you don't have an immersion heater switched on and that your hot water is only enabled for an hour or so before you need it (if you've got a hot water tank heated by the gas boiler). Ensure the tank is lagged and don't waste hot water by letting it run down the sink or basin when washing & rinsing.
Make sure you turn lights off when you aren't in the room. A room with lots of halogen downlighters will be expensive (10x50 watt lights = 500watts = 6-7 pence a hour). Consider changing lights that gets used a lot with LEDs with the £50 you would have spent on an energy monitor.

TVs, especially big plasma ones, Sky boxes, PS-3/4s, X-boxes etc all use quite a bit when on and you could easily be using 50p a night if they are left on all night - it doesn't sound like a lot but it's equivalent to about £15 a month on your bill.
Only use your washing machine, dryer, dishwasher etc when they are full, they cost just as much to run as when they are half empty.

anotheruser

WorkFromHome wrote: »

Thanks for your help. Where can I get a monitor from?

Some energy companies may send you one for free. I got two from nPower when they did them.

Alternatively, you could buy a Belkin Insight Electricity Monitor from Amazon.
Plug it in, then plug your applicance into it. You have to set it up so it knows how much to charge for electric but they are great as they are mobile so you can easily move it around the house and see how much the washing machine is costing or how much it costs to mow the lawn.

macman

If you have a gas supply, you should be using that to heat and hot water the property-not electricity, which is approx 300% more per kWh.
You refer to 'water heater'-what sort is it? f you have a gas boiler, can you use that to heat the hot water, rather than an immersion heater (which should take no more than an hour of so to heat a tank from cold, and will then stay hot all day if the tank is properly lagged)?

amtrakuk

As one of the previous money savers suggested, take regular meter readings every day and keep it in a spreadsheet. For me, I'm using about 10-15 units a day (with a computer on 24/7). However a meter is good for instantaneous usage.

If your OH has a habit of falling asleep, leaving the tele and digibox on all night, you could buy a cheap timer switch (£7 from B&Q) so it clicks off at mid-night - Depending on the size of TV could save 3 or 4 units a week.

On a side note my 10 year old fridge freezer gave up the ghost. An up to date modern version is using 5-6 units (50/60p) less a day!

WorkFromHome

Thank you all for your replies. I am still worried though that something isn't right. You see there is only the 2 of us and we only have 1 tv, no computer just iPad on the wifi. The cooker is only turned on once a day for an hour, lights are rarely used (we use one lamp in the living room). I really don't see how it is possible for us to be using over double the amount of electricity for an average household makes no sense. I have a friend who lives in a student house, they all have a TV in each bedroom and all cook at different times and yet only their elec/gas comes to £120 a month.

matelodave

If you got some arrears then you'll be paying some of that back together with what you are using now. You need to know how much you are using in kwh rather than how much you are paying in £.
If you've got arrears then SP will bump up your DD to claw back what you owe, add on what they think you are using and add a bit to make sure you don't get behind.


The friends you are comparing with may not have arrears and may be on a cheaper tariff and just might be using less energy. Unless your consumption is the same then it's hard to compare what you are actually paying.


If you think you've got a problem turn everything off and make sure that your meter stops recording. Then turn stuff on until either the little wheel starts whizzing around or the red light flashes furiously - you'll then know what's using it.


How long do you spend in the shower, do you have a bath every night - these use lots of energy to heat the water so the more you use the more it costs, ideally your gas boiler should provide your hot water so you really need to identify what is using all your leccy. Make sure you don't have an immersion heater ( or any other sort of heater cooking away in the background).
Everyone on here can chuck ideas at you but you are the only one who can identify what you are using and check when it's being used and try to reduce your consumption

amtrakuk

WorkFromHome wrote: »

Thank you all for your replies. I am still worried though that something isn't right. You see there is only the 2 of us and we only have 1 tv, no computer just iPad on the wifi. The cooker is only turned on once a day for an hour, lights are rarely used (we use one lamp in the living room). I really don't see how it is possible for us to be using over double the amount of electricity for an average household makes no sense. I have a friend who lives in a student house, they all have a TV in each bedroom and all cook at different times and yet only their elec/gas comes to £120 a month.

I'd say your going to (unless you have before) do daily meter readings, find out how much ber unit your being charged and do the maths. If your only using £4-5 a day (winter), that's £160 a month. at £120 a month works out about £3 a day which isn't bad.

What I would do is take a 24 hour meter reading, and during that time use your normal energy requirements. If you don't have your bill to hand phone up your provider and ask how much your being charged per unit of gas/electric and talk to them about your usage.

I ran a "heating on for a week" trial and found I was using a HUGE amount of energy. The investigation finding where the energy was going threw up some surprising answers by switching off a whole room at a time for 24 hours and taking meter readings.

teddysmum

We are just a couple in a 3 bed semi (house) and average only 7-8KWh of electricity per day.


We have tv, Sky, aquarium,electric cooker, dishwasher, fridge/freezer and freezer, washing machine, tumble dryer, microwave, an oil filled radiator (used in the kitchen) and several small appliances. I am home all day and use my laptop constantly (sometimes with powered speakers).