1 bed flat electricity bill £89 - £130 / mo ???

LondonNoob

Hi all,

This is my first post here - the content from this community has been very helpful for me in the past, so I thought I would seek some advice

My partner and I are living in a 1 bedroom flat (converted house). We are with Bulb energy paying 15.29p Kwh day rate and 7.46p Kwh night rate for our electricity. Our bills have been turning up around £89 to £130 per month.

The meter reading I took today compared with last month's read (measured to the day) shows that we have used 510Kwh over the last month alone... (355kwh during the day, 155kwh during the night). :eek:

I am working during the day, my partner works part-time and is out of the flat most of the time - we don't really watch TV but in the evenings we do both have our laptops on all evening, an air purifier (60w - energy class A) which we run from 10pm to morning (7am?) and we have a 1500w space heater (fan) which we usually have on for maximum of 2/3 hours at night. We have a washing machine which we run 3/4 times a week but no dishwasher.

So I worked out that 510kwh x 12 = 6120kwh / year :money:

But here's the thing, my parents use like 4200kwh per YEAR on their 3 bedroom house... that's with the TV on, washing machine, dishwasher, other tvs, radios etc etc. all the time...

Are we overpaying or have I figured this out wrong?

I don't understand whether this is something wrong with our meter, someone is tapping in to our electricity, we are overusing something, something is broken?

What would you recommend we do to figure this out? For my partner and I this is our first flat so we're not 100% sure what to do!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated :beer:
Thank you in advance!

Robin9

Please do not compare your utility needs with any one else - your usage, lifestyle, view on comfort level, how much you are at home - will be different.

What really matters is heating, water heating, showers - laptops etc are minor.

Forget about money (for the present) - what matters is your consumption. You already have the good habit of reading your meter every month. To get a better picture of your usage read it every day for a while.

Don't forget you are still in winter - consumption will drop in the summer so don't use 12 x 510 to get an annual figure.

molerat

How do they heat their house ? How do you heat your water ? Your electric heater on for 3 hours per day will use 1/3 my daily consumption.

JGB1955

Am I right in thinking you have an Economy 7 meter? If so, I would expect your night time use to be several times your day use - maybe as much as 20% day, 80% night.

dogshome

How are you producing the hot water? With an Eco7 meter it should be cooked up overnight on cheap rate
In order to do this the cylinder should have a control panel so you can set the hours it's on - If it's on during DAY hours, it really costs



The Eco7 night hours can vary from suppliers, and also the individual meter - To be on the safe side, set the boiler to come on from 1am to 6am