High energy bills

Jibber123

We moved into a new house a couple of years ago and switched suppliers soon after to a 12 month fixed deal. I was chatting to a couple of friends at work who both seem to think i'm paying way to much for my energy, we currently pay £121 a month which was a bit of a step up from last year when we were paying £99 but the cost of gas an electric is always going up so i thought this was ok. What are other people paying, just out of interest. We are a normal family 2 adults and 2 children, 2 and 5 years old. My wife is at home most of the time, but we don't have the heating on that much as we have a log burner in the sitting room which we keep during the day
quite bit in the winter and tend to sit in there if we get chilly. The temperature in most of the rooms in the house is 16-17C. Any other peoples bills for comparison would be great

RelievedSheff

If you switched to a 12 month fixed rate deal 24 months ago you will now be on the suppliers standard rate tariff which will be expensive. So you will be paying more than necessary there.

We pay £61.50 a month for gas and electric but have built up a lot of credit at that so after winter we will look to reduce that payment to something more suitable. This is for 2 adults in a three bed detached house. We don't do being cold either. Our house doesn't drop as cold as 17 degrees c, it will be 21 degrees when we get home from work!

matelodave

It's not how much you pay it's how much you use that you should be comparing as well as lifestyle, house type and heating type.

Two families with seemingly identical houses could use an identical amount of energy but one on a poor deal could end up pay £300-£500 a year more, just by being on a poor deal.

Likewise a couple who are out at work all day will probably use significantly less and consequently pay less than a family that's home all day. Insulation and heating system controls settings will also play a part

A family with small children may be using the washing machine, tumble dryer and dishwasher more frequently and possibly with smaller loads. Heating will be on longer and it's likely that a lot more hot water will used/wasted so it's not ever so easy to compare bills unless you take into account all the other variables as well.

hareng

You need to state the Electric and Gas usage or no one can compare.


Main big 6 4 months ago all quoting £118 upwards, Bulb came in £81 per month. We pay OFTM £66.1 per month about £6 per month more than last year. 3832kwh electric and 7116kwh gas

Gerry1

Unfortunately, it's as pointless as asking 'how much do you spend on petrol?' because there are so many variables.

Instead, you need to forget about the amount of your DD payment (which may or may not be keeping up with your actual usage) and think about the annual cost of your annual metered usage in kWh.

Check your usage by finding bills with gas and electricity actual meter readings 12 months apart. The electricity usage is just the difference in readings. For gas, you'll have to add up the kWh usage on all the relevant bills, or enter the two readings here, making sure you know whether your meter is imperial or metric.

Then check comparison sites that show the whole market, e.g. Citizens Advice and Which?, checking in turn for gas only, electricity only and dual fuel.

When you find tariffs you like, check whether MSE's Cheap Energy Club has a better cashback deal. Remember to keep submitting monthly readings to make sure all your bills are accurate.

Robin9

and the other standard question - estimated or actual meter readings ?

A copy of your latest bill (the bit that includes meter readings would be good) - blank out the personal info and use imgur or similar and make an obvious mistake in the link.

Read your meters now and add to your post.

Jibber123

Thanks for the reply's I should of said I changed supplies again at the beginning of this year after the 12 month fixed term ran out that's when it went up from £99 to £121. All the bills are read not estimated and i submit reading every month or so. Our usage for for 1st year Nov 2017- Nov 2018 was electric day 3655kWh night 2125kWh, gas 17644kWh, and Nov 2018- Nov 2019 electric day 3563kWh night 2556kWh, gas 13914kWh. We try and use the washing machine and dishwasher only and night and the tumble drier only get put on a few times a year in the winter when it's prolonged rain. I expected the gas usage to come down as we've had a new boiler and some new radiators fitted last September as the old ones were blocked and had TRV's stuck open.
We've also got all low energy led bulbs through out the house and although we've got 4 bedrooms (2 in the loft) these are not used as the kids share a room downstairs along with our bedroom so the loft rooms are shut off most of the time door shut and radiators TRV's on the lowest setting, unless we have guests stay maybe 2 or 3 times a year. Like i said we only put the heating on for a hour in the morning and maybe and hour or 2 in the evening and the house is mainly kept quite cool 16-17C apart from the sitting room which has the log burner in, and no radiator. We hold off putting the heating on until as late as possible only just started putting it on last week, and by April we try and have it turned off, weather permitting. We don't have it on every day either in the winter, if it's mild or we're out early and back late we don't bother so it's only on for maybe 75% of the time in the winter. Looking at a couple of your replys' above our electric and gas usage is extremely high nearly double

Jibber123

I forgot to say last week I've fitted and set up an npower energy monitor I had. I then went around turning stuff off and unplugging things everywhere until just the internet box, fridge-freezer, digital alarm clock and a battery trickle charger in the garage was left on, basically the stuff on 24-7. It was still reading 0.23kwh or 4p/h which is £350 a year does this seem high. The last thing i can think of trying is to turn off the circuits on the fuse board 1 at a time and see if any of them cause the energy usage to jump. Looking around the only other things in the house hardwired in are light PIR sensors in the outbuildings and outside lights, boiler/heating controls and the cooker.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

To start saving money, you will need to know what type your house is, and your emery consumption over the previous year is.


I currently pay £70 a month, but use this in a three bed detached, well insulated house. (Rate says I should pay around £63!)


Gas 9,900 kWh per year
Electricity 2,900 kWh per year.


lighting is all LEDs, this made a big difference by reducing the electricity consumption from 3,300 kWh per year.

Jibber123

I've also got these E-on power down plugs fitted to the 3 TV's in the house so that all the equipment associated with them, speakers, DVD player, free view boxes etc are turned off when the TV's turned off so we don't forget and leave them on. I don't think they will save that much but every little helps

Robin9

" Nov 2017- Nov 2018 was electric day 3655kWh night 2125kWh, gas 17644kWh, and Nov 2018- Nov 2019 electric day 3563kWh night 2556kWh, gas 13914kWh."

For a gas heated house your elec night use is rather high - what elec are you using at night? Have you perhaps an immersion heater heating your water - there should be two switches local to the i/h and both should be off.