Electricity bill too high?!?

pinkshoes

I live in a 2 bed top floor(new build) flat, so have flats either side of us, and below.

We haven't turned the gas central heating on yet (too warm!), our water is gas heated (no water tank), and we have gas hob which we use to cook.

Our electricity bills are about £50/2months, which to me seems rather alot considering no one is in between 8am and 6pm monday to friday, so it's just the fridge/freezer running and the BT hub plugged in.

We don't leave phone chargers plugged in, the tv isn't on standby, only turn lights on in the room we're using, no electric heaters. I'd say we were pretty economical with the electricity.

So would £25/month seem reasonable?!? It just seems rather high to me!

(our gas bill is much more reasonable at £7 a month!! - almost suspiciously low!)

[Deleted User]

No way should your electric bill be £50/mo unless all your lights are 100w bulbs, or you have a computer or new-gen console that's on 24/7 or something. We've a 3-bed house and although we have energy-saving bulbs we're not all as careful as we should be about leaving lights on or switching things off at the wall - and we still get an average £30/mo electric bill. £50/mo for a 2-bed flat is silly. £26/mo would be in a reasonable ballpark, though a little high unless you were on an uncompetitive tariff. I'd be flicking trip-switches, plugging in/unplugging things and watching the meter like a hawk trying to isolate the cause, myself. It might also be worth keeping your own readings and checking them against the ones on the bill, in case you're getting charged for estimated usage that is way off. If you're in a block of flats, it's even possible that you're getting someone else's bill, or they've screwed up the wiring and someone else is using your electricity...

pinkshoes

Thanks! the first bit was a typo, it's £50 for 2 months, but it just seems rather high for 2 people in a 2 bed flat which also has gas!

Am gonna switch everything off and see if meter is still running! Thames Water got all the water meter numbers muddled up (we got billed for an empty property!) so I'm wondering maybe if the elec meters could be wrong too!!

Will also go ask neighbours who live below us, as they don't have gas, thus their bill should be much higher than ours!

In our last flat the landlord charged us a flat rate of £20/month for electricity (no gas).

oramgepekoe

What's your usage of the washing machine and tumble drier?

espresso

Rather than quoting how much it costs, give your actual consumption in kWh.

[Deleted User]

espresso wrote: »

Rather than quoting how much it costs, give your actual consumption in kWh.

I'd echo that - it's entirely possible that if you've just moved in and this was your first bill, you're on some horrible tariff that means that it's costing you over the odds for relatively little electricity. What were the meter readings given on the bill?