British Gas bill too high

macman

These NSH's with a boost facility really are the spawn of the devil, because hardly anyone who has one seems to realise that running it on boost costs at least 300% more than night rate.
As above, only use the immersion heater boost should you run out of hot water.
The reason your friends with 3 b/r houses have lower electricity bills, is that their houses are probably heated and hot watered by gas, which costs a quarter of the price that you pay for peak rate electricity.

SwanJon

Another option to manage your payments is Fuel Direct - the payment for your energy comes directly from your benefits.

However, you lose the DD discount, so if you can stick with that it will be cheaper.

https://www.gov.uk/bills-benefits

Marleynme

I enquired about this warm home discount, despite being too late to apply, and was told I wouldn't have been accepted for it anyway. I have no idea why as they didn't say.
I've since been using my storage heaters properly, collecting heat over night, which hopefully will save a bit of money.
If there's anyone here that knows a bit about storage heaters I would be grateful for extra advise. I can't find a manual online ANYWHERE and I'm not fully clued up when it comes to them.
I have two switches on the wall beside the heater. When I switch one on in the day the heater comes on, if I use the other switch instead, the heater doesn't come on. So far I've been leaving that one switch on and the other off but I read somewhere that one will provide off peak and the other on peak, is this true? If so how do I tell which is which?

Dird

You said it's your first time paying bills yourself, where were you living before?
Maybe you could go to the local library during the day time & use their electricity & Internet to cut down on costs

Marleynme

Yes, I lived with my parents before. I'm entirely new to paying bills, hence why I had no idea what was a normal amount to be paying, or about electrical stuff like storage heaters.
I'm hoping that once I'm definitely using the storage heaters right then my bill should be ok. I've started making other changes like using the washing machine after midnight too.

molerat

Marleynme wrote: »

I have two switches on the wall beside the heater. When I switch one on in the day the heater comes on, if I use the other switch instead, the heater doesn't come on. So far I've been leaving that one switch on and the other off but I read somewhere that one will provide off peak and the other on peak, is this true? If so how do I tell which is which?

The switch that works in the day is the normal rate expensive heat. The other one is the off peak switch which will load your heater up with cheap heat overnight, usually somewhere between 11pm and 8am. The best way to find out the times is to wait up one night and see what time the meter switches over, often if all off peak devices are turned on the lights will flicker when they all switch on. https://customerservices.npower.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/179/~/what-are-the-economy-7-peak-and-off-peak-periods%3F
If you have an old mechanical timer then the switching could be at any random time as they often go out of sync with real time.

Dird

Marleynme wrote: »

Yes, I lived with my parents before.

Did you move to a new city or get into a fight? If not the biggest savings would be made by moving back in or maybe move into shared housing if not locked in a 12 month rental agreement

Marleynme

The switch that works in the day is the normal rate expensive heat. The other one is the off peak switch which will load your heater up with cheap heat overnight, usually somewhere between 11pm and 8am. The best way to find out the times is to wait up one night and see what time the meter switches over, often if all off peak devices are turned on the lights will flicker when they all switch on. https://customerservices.npower.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/179/~/what-are-the-economy-7-peak-and-off-peak-periods%3F

Thank you so much for clearing that up Molerat. I shall give that a test tonight.

Marleynme

Dird wrote: »

Did you move to a new city or get into a fight? If not the biggest savings would be made by moving back in or maybe move into shared housing if not locked in a 12 month rental agreement

Nope, same city Dird. But moving back in with parents isn't an option as they no longer have a bedroom for me. So far I'm doing ok with everything else, it's just been my electric bill which has been particularly high, obviously due to me not using the storage heaters accordingly.
As mad as it sounds, my rent is cheaper now than if I was to go in to shared accommodation, because my flat is a tiny studio.

CashStrapped

If you look on the storage heater itself. There will be a manufacturer name and a serial number. Type them here and we can find a manual for you.