Huge bills and little energy useage - am I paying too much?

rk222

Hi, I’ve become concerned with energy bills in my student house. I set up all the bills myself so they’re not going through any middle man. However, my bills seem extremely high.
I live in a big 6 bed house, rooms are large and spacious. I understand that this means my house will be less energy efficient, however, we Hardly ever use the heating. Maybe 4 hours a week on average in winter (most days we have it off becaus we can’t afford it), and not at all in summer. There are 6 of us living here so obviously hot water is used quite a lot but not excessively.
Despite all this, our energy bills are massively expensive. Electricity is currently only estimated to cost around £750 for the year which I feel is quite normal considering 6 of us live here. However, our gas bill is estimated to cost us £1300 for the year, at our current useage. (We moved in in July, and didn’t start using the heating until the middle of November). This seems really high to me considering we hardly ever use the heating? We literally sit in our house shivering and it’s really uncomfortable, but we do it because we feel it’s worth it to have cheaper bills.... however we’re not even getting it cheap!! Is this normal?! Please help!!:(

JJ_Egan

What tariff prices .
How do you heat the hot water ?
Meter readings ?

Robin9

Whatever you do keep reading those meters - then you will be in control.

The supplier will have based his estimate on previous years

JohnB47

Yep, the answer is to really understand what you are paying and to take and keep regular meter readings - as well as supplying them to your provider every month. As you are now questioning things, I'd go for weekly readings for a while, until you understand your usage patterns and costs. Then go for monthly.

Among your student friends, is there someone who is handy with spreadsheets? If so, it's relatively easy to put one together on which you enter the meter readings and the various cells calculate the days since the last reading, cost for energy, cost plus standing charge and running total. This is very handy for showing your usage - you can put in daily readings if you wish.

Also, as previously said - do check if your supplier is using estimated or actual meter readings and find out when it's best to give them the readings. I found that I needed to supply readings on the last day of the month for them to be used. If I supplied a few days earlier, they were ignored and an estimate used.

wavelets

rk222 wrote: »

Hi, I’ve become concerned with energy bills in my student house. I set up all the bills myself so they’re not going through any middle man. However, my bills seem extremely high.
I live in a big 6 bed house, rooms are large and spacious. I understand that this means my house will be less energy efficient, however, we Hardly ever use the heating. Maybe 4 hours a week on average in winter (most days we have it off becaus we can’t afford it), and not at all in summer. There are 6 of us living here so obviously hot water is used quite a lot but not excessively.
Despite all this, our energy bills are massively expensive. Electricity is currently only estimated to cost around £750 for the year which I feel is quite normal considering 6 of us live here. However, our gas bill is estimated to cost us £1300 for the year, at our current useage. (We moved in in July, and didn’t start using the heating until the middle of November). This seems really high to me considering we hardly ever use the heating? We literally sit in our house shivering and it’s really uncomfortable, but we do it because we feel it’s worth it to have cheaper bills.... however we’re not even getting it cheap!! Is this normal?! Please help!!:(

Consult a comparison site to see if there would be a lower cost alternative for you.

More information available here:
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity/

Mrnkar_2

I would say your gas is very high. I live in a large 4 bedroom house with 11 radiators. I have a had Combi boiler. My heating is on for about average 8 hours every day from about September until May. My annual bill is approx £500 for electricity & £700 gas to give you an idea.

Carrot007

The gas sounds reasonable for such a household. So is just likely to be an estimate they made when you signed up. if you are giving regular reads at least one a month then the estimates and DD (I assume you are paying this way) will reduce.


Otherwise you will get money back at the end. Of course this depends on the supplier. The smaller ones seem cheaper but review less often and want more up front. Cheaper in the long term probably, but not much use to a student.


Do also be sure that no one is using an electric heater instead of the gas. This will just mean what you were due back (potentially) on the gas will hopefully pay for the electric additional and maybe not if multiple people are.


Myabe take daily reasds yourself and make a spreadsheet and calculate costs (don't forget standing charges). I pay around £6 a day at the moment (the most expensive month of the year), you would be expected to pay more.

HampshireH

Do you have a housemate which may be being a bit economical with the truth & whacking the stat up when they are home. Its wouldn't be the first time its happened in a shared house and everyone is wondering why the bills are so high

grumpycrab

rk222 wrote: »

Electricity is currently estimated to cost around £750 for the year... gas bill is estimated to cost us £1300 for the year (We moved in in July)

FIRST. Tell us the gas and electric ACTUAL readings in July and now.

matelodave

As said above start reading the meters every week and make sure that your bills/statements are using actual meter reading and not estimates. Look at yoor tariff and see if you can get a cheaper one.

If you dont monitor your energy consumption then you can't control it because you dont know whats uing it and when. It's too late when the bills come in because you've already used it.

Then start looking at what is using it all.

Lots of showers?, Spending more than 3-4 minutes in there?, Running hot water down the sink?. Rinse stuff (including your hands) in cold water, don't waste hot water.

What about washing dishes, clothes etc can you be a bit more economical.

Using the central heating timers and thermostats to control the heating times and temperatures. Check that no one has a crafty heater in their rooms.

What about light, does evry turn them off when they aren't required, think about LED bulbs, especially if you've got halogen downlighter in some of the rooms.

How many TV's, computers, playstaions and other techy devices are there all sitting using leccy - turn them off at the wall and dont leave them on standby when they aren't being used.

Even over filling kettles and saucepans when cooking or making tea/coffee all adds to the lecy bill

mrnkar

I think it's more the gas bill the Op is questioning & the fact his heating is hardly on. There are 6 people in my house who all have a bath or shower everyday. Lots of tv's, electronics etc & my electric bill is about to the same as OP's but my gas only half with a lot more hours of my heating on than theirs. Karen