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Why are we paying so much for electric?
Comments
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lovemurphy said:£0 on both. Honestly so confused and had the worst help from British GasSo it would seem that you are not paying off somebody else's debt, which is good.It looks like your meter is pre-payment only, and so you would ideally get it switched to a credit meter so that you can get the best tariff. Some info here:If you are having trouble getting a response from BG, then you may wish to start a switch to a different provider. I don't know the best place to search for pre-payment tariffs but there is a search here:Consider that if you do switch, you want to make sure that you are switching to somebody who will be prepared to put you on to a credit meter.There is some further info here:Note that you can change the meter without your landlord's permission, but they may be able to deduct from your deposit to change it back, so you probably want to have a discussion with them first. A lot of landlord's won't want a credit meter, and so even though they can't block you from changing it, they will likely try to change it back at the end of the tenancy.Whatever you do, heating your flat with electricity rather than gas is likely to cost you 3 or 4 times more, which is obviously very substantial. My gas bill is about £500 a year, but could easily be £2,000 a year if I was heating the same property with electricity.Are you able to move again at short notice, or are you tied into a longer tenancy agreement?
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We are renting from a close friend so changing the meter is no problem.
I checked the meter before bed last night and it’s gone down another £1 and absolutely nothing is turned on0 -
lovemurphy said:........... absolutely nothing is turned onNever pay on an estimated bill. Always read and understand your bill0
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lovemurphy said:We are renting from a close friend so changing the meter is no problem.
I checked the meter before bed last night and it’s gone down another £1 and absolutely nothing is turned on
You must remember that each kWh of energy you use in your home is electric. Electric is 4 or 5 times more expensive per kWh than gas. So to heat a home with electric is more expensive than to heat a home with gas.
Also worth bearing in mind that as you are on a prepayment meter you will be paying well over the odds for each kWh of electric as well. You certainly won't be on a good value tariff.
£5 per day probably isn't that bad with how cold it currently is outside. We spent £3 yesterday as we had the heating on pretty much all day and had the washer dryer on a couple of times.0 -
Don't forget all of your items on standby and as others have said the fridge/freezer, any alarms, lighting etc. It is surprising just how much your standby consumption can be.
I have a fridge and a freezer, a Sky Q box and 5 chargers plus a cooker clock and microwave clock, an Amazon echo and other small gadgets all on during the night and a computer on for an hour this morning and according to my IHD I have used 1.5kWh of electricity costing £0.44, including standing charge, since midnight,0 -
Ok thanks guys that’s very helpful indeed. I am a bit clueless when it comes to all this stuff. Can I please ask whether you think I should switch from British Gas to another supplier or stay with British Gas until we can switch to a credit meter? 28 days from the 26th Nov.0
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RelievedSheff said:lovemurphy said:We are renting from a close friend so changing the meter is no problem.
I checked the meter before bed last night and it’s gone down another £1 and absolutely nothing is turned on
You must remember that each kWh of energy you use in your home is electric. Electric is 4 or 5 times more expensive per kWh than gas. So to heat a home with electric is more expensive than to heat a home with gas.
Also worth bearing in mind that as you are on a prepayment meter you will be paying well over the odds for each kWh of electric as well. You certainly won't be on a good value tariff.
£5 per day probably isn't that bad with how cold it currently is outside. We spent £3 yesterday as we had the heating on pretty much all day and had the washer dryer on a couple of times.0 -
David28 said:Don't forget all of your items on standby and as others have said the fridge/freezer, any alarms, lighting etc. It is surprising just how much your standby consumption can be.
I have a fridge and a freezer, a Sky Q box and 5 chargers plus a cooker clock and microwave clock, an Amazon echo and other small gadgets all on during the night and a computer on for an hour this morning and according to my IHD I have used 1.5kWh of electricity costing £0.44, including standing charge, since midnight,
Our house is a 3 bed detached but that is irrelevant to this topic really as no two houses are the same with regards energy consumption.0 -
You seem to have ignored previous advice to think in kWh so that you can understand how your usage is being charged.You now know you are on a stupidly expensive tariff, 20.84p/kWh in the day, 8.67p/kWh at night and a daily charge of 28.423p. (I pay only 12.11343p per kWh at all times plus a daily charge of 13.2825p. No wonder your credit vanishes so rapidly !)What were the results of these tests, or did you ignore them as well?1
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RelievedSheff said:David28 said:Don't forget all of your items on standby and as others have said the fridge/freezer, any alarms, lighting etc. It is surprising just how much your standby consumption can be.
I have a fridge and a freezer, a Sky Q box and 5 chargers plus a cooker clock and microwave clock, an Amazon echo and other small gadgets all on during the night and a computer on for an hour this morning and according to my IHD I have used 1.5kWh of electricity costing £0.44, including standing charge, since midnight,
Our house is a 3 bed detached but that is irrelevant to this topic really as no two houses are the same with regards energy consumption.
As a comparison our gas costs per kWh are 2.33p with a daily standing charge of 14.8p and for electric per kWh are 13.79p with a daily standing charge of 16.85p.
As you can probably see by now your unit charges are extremely high which is why your credit is reducing so quickly. You need to change tariff ASAP. Have you contacted BG to check that you are on their cheapest tariff?0
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