Electric DD

Peter_Pan

Ouch!!!

We have been paying £50 a month DD Electric but have recently changed bank accounts and there a very small delay in setting the new one up so i called British Gas who said that if i gave them an up to date meter reading they could reset DD up from new account.
They now want £77 a month:eek: , i suppose it is because i have technically missed a payment because the first DD payment on new account is in December but it sounds very high and a big jump.

Can anyone tell me how much electric a computer uses if its on all day? We managed to get our children a PC each from freecycle (avoids no end of arguments) and was wondering if this is accouting for the high bill?
Son also has an electric guitar which he plays an awful lot as well. Does this use a lot?

Any advice would be appreciated as we really need to cut our bill so need to cut our Electric useage. We are a family of 5

Cardew

Computer power consumption varies a great deal.

Older PCs(presumably from Freecycle they are old) tend to use less than modern ones.

That said the older CRT monitors use more than LCD monitors.

A 'ballpark' figure for each PC + monitor would be 1.5p to 2p an hour.

Electric guitars use very little.

Your best bet is to get one of these cheap power measuring meters from Lidl/Aldi for £6 and you can monitor your consumption.

Terrylw1

Hi,

The fact that it has jumped to £77 may be down to the following factors:

1 - we are entering winter & BGas assess your usage every 6 months. So they will increased it to cover your estimated winter usage - so make sure you give them a reading when you get your next bill which will bring it back inline if it's too high.
2 - you have been billed to estimates, so you may have been underbilled so the actual meter reading makes you catch up caused a jump in your bill
3 - you missed a payment so they will spread that, but it may be point 1) or 2) or both that has added some on top.

BGas could clarify why they have lifted it. Remember, if you were underbilled their estimation of your future usage will increase as well from that point on.