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Why are we paying so much for electric?
Comments
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RelievedSheff said: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.They probably won't tell the OP. Very few tariffs are listed on the BG website: the best ones are only available via some comparison sites. They don't want to alert their existing customers that they're being ripped off !British Gas Evolve is often cheaper still, but it seems thay may not offer prepayment. When it was British Gas X, the BG staff were telling people it was a scam !0 -
Do PP bills give the same sort of info re best tariffs like Credit bills do? My Credit gives - Cheapest Similar Tariff and Cheapest Overall Tariff.Never pay on an estimated bill. Always read and understand your bill0
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Gerry1 insaid:
- Have you carried out all the previous suggestions?
- How many kWh are you using each day?
- How much are you paying per kWh and what is the daily charge?
You need to think in kWh: comparing ££ usage isn't very helpful because you could be on a stupidly expensive tariff.If there's a red LED on the meter marked '800 Imp/kWh' or similar, that will tell you how much you are using at any given moment: 800 flashes (impulses) and you've used 1kWh.Turn everything off at the wall switches, watch the LED like a hawk for a few minutes and make sure it never flashes once. You can then turn various things on and note what appliances and circuits use the most.Standing charge is £1.99 per week which works out at 28p a day.
We have started recording meter readings to check what we are using per day.We turned off the immersion heater and our electric heaters at the fuse box today. In 4 hours we have used 20p (hallelujah!) so we have put the high useage down to one of these. Unusually, the fuse box that turns off the socket for the electric heater is marked ‘storage heaters’ so I’m wondering if this may be an expensive circuit and our electric heater shouldn’t be plugged in here?
Sorry I don’t mean to ignore the advice. I appreciate it.0 -
I agree with what Gerry has said in that you need to watch how many units you're using and more importantly when rather than only seeing pound signs.I'm on a similarly priced tariff to you thanks to Yorkshire Energy's collapse, and I think if I used convector heaters to heat my home it would probably cost a fortune. I used to use oil filled radiators for a few hours here and there and throw a jumper on the rest of the time, however due to the huge difference between my new day and night rates (similar to yours) I've now gone back to using the night storage heaters instead - at least until I can move to a cheaper tariff.If you have night storage heaters at the property, it might be cheaper to use those rather than convectors. If you've only got convectors however, I feel it's going to be expensive either way and you can only do some "damage control" by moving to a cheaper tariff.Finally, it could be due to insulation. We're unlucky in that the flat beneath us have moved out so they're no longer donating free heat - and that the loft insulation isn't great above us so a fair amount of heat escapes through there. Blown windows etc will also contribute to using more energy to heat the place.0
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lovemurphy said:Gerry1 insaid:
- Have you carried out all the previous suggestions?
- How many kWh are you using each day?
- How much are you paying per kWh and what is the daily charge?
You need to think in kWh: comparing ££ usage isn't very helpful because you could be on a stupidly expensive tariff.If there's a red LED on the meter marked '800 Imp/kWh' or similar, that will tell you how much you are using at any given moment: 800 flashes (impulses) and you've used 1kWh.Turn everything off at the wall switches, watch the LED like a hawk for a few minutes and make sure it never flashes once. You can then turn various things on and note what appliances and circuits use the most.We turned off the immersion heater and our electric heaters at the fuse box today. In 4 hours we have used 20p (hallelujah!) so we have put the high usage down to one of these. Unusually, the fuse box that turns off the socket for the electric heater is marked ‘storage heaters’ so I’m wondering if this may be an expensive circuit and our electric heater shouldn’t be plugged in here?You're still doing it wrong ! Depending on how and when the standing charge nibbles at your credit, you may get misleading results when comparing short periods. Just look at the kWh figures for each register.Yes, your panel heaters will be expensive simply because they'll be used during the day. With E7, there are no expensive or cheap circuits as such, but the meter can switch off some circuits at times when daytime rates apply. The old storage heaters will have been on an E7 overnight circuit, but has this been switched over to a 24h circuit to supply the panel heaters? If so, you may find that the immersion heater is now also 24h, which will be very expensive. Check whether its outlet has an indicator light; if not, leave it switched off until the water is cool, then switch it on during the day and see whether it soon warms up.As previously suggested, look at the flashing light on the meter to check the consumption at any given time.0
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