Bills

Caterina

We are 2 adults in a 3 bedroom terraced house in London. Water bills (metered) are £17 per month after a 6 month fight with Thames Water. They were charging us silly money for unreal quantities of water. It took us several complaints to finally have a technician visit. He found that the meter was leaking. Finally we got a refund but It was based on an estimate so I don't believe we got all the money back. But at least they put us on an averaged monthly DD of £17 based on several months of real consumption..

We had a fix of £37.50 to include gas and electric on a green tariff. The other day I got an email from the company saying our contract is ending and to stay on the same tariff and fix it for 2018 it would cost around £54 per month. I called and asked how they got that higher figure. He said it's based on an estimate of annual consumption. I asked him to look at my ACTUAL consumption over the year. He got back to me and admitted that at £37.50 per month we were still in credit! But as we were coming out of a fixed tariff it would increased slightly. We agreed on £40.50 per month and I'm confident that we'll be in credit by the time spring comes.

The problem with utilities companies is that they estimate on average consumption for size of houses and number of occupiers. They don't often come across OSers with plaids on sofas, extra jumpers, woodstoves and a dogged determination not to give their precious money to The Man LOL!

Our house is a bit draughty, Victorian building. DH put insulation in the roof and strips around the outside doors. We use curtains and a "sausage" on the front door.

Here is how we make savings:

Electric: the rule is one room one light. No corridor lights left on, no fancy lighting in the living room. In the kitchen we have LED spot lights so we can have more than one because of very low consumption. In the bedroom we have one side light each and they are very low consumption too. Dishwasher 2-3 times a week (saves water and heating it compared to hand washing) and wash machine also 2-3 times per week. It would be less but DH needs his martial arts suits cleaned weekly. Everything switched off as soon as we finish using it etc.

Gas: we cook normally for 2 but sometimes we have cold (salad, sandwich, fruit) lunches. We use our pressure cooker for everything stew and once it's on pressure, unless it's beans which need longer, we switch off and let the pressure finish cooking the veg. We're almost 100% vegetarian so there's no need to cook anything for long. Beans and pulses are cooked in large batches and then refrigerated or frozen for future use, 3-4 meals at a time.

Heating on as and when needed. Jumpers whe n cold and plaids on living room sofa help a lot, as does the woodstove (scavenged wood from skips and local tree surgeons). We often boil the kettle on the stove. Takes ages but hot enough to heat the water for the hot water bottles. Radiators switched off in rooms not in use and in our bedroom. Warm duvets, extra blanket and hot water bottles do the trick there.

Water: modest consumption of shower water, standing in a bowl then use shower water for toilet flushing. No flushing for every pee unless we have guests. Clean teeth with tap closed and use water only for rinsing. Washing machine and dishwasher both efficient (A+) and only used when full. In summer we water the garden liberally with hosepipe and also use water butt but because we are so careful in other areas the consumption is never high.

It might sound a bit extreme to some but we really don't suffer, it's second nature. Because of all these precautions we have low bills. I have to add: we'll never suffer the cold. If one of us is unwell or the weather particularly inclement, up goes the heating and it stays as long as needed.

Hope it helps.