Electric bill

Madmike48

Can anyone help please. We had a big 3 bedroom house in Wigan and used between £30/50 a month in electric we have now moved to London with same supplier and it’s costing £10 every 3 days and we are using the electric a lot less. And are in a flat what is half the size of our old house. So how is it possible to cost 3x as much a month for less electric.   It’s taken us 6 months to get the meters sorted out as they had the wrong meter number for our flat. Anyone have any suggestions as to why it’s so high.. 

Robin9

Can you give us some meter readings please ?

Are you 100% sure they have sorted out the meters ? Do a sanity test and switch off at the consumer unit and see if you loose all the power to your flat.

Also check the serial number of the meter with that shown on your bill.

What is your heating ?  Do you have electric showers ?

Gerry1

With so little info it's only possible to make vague guesses.

Do you have gas, how do you heat the rooms, hot water and showers?  How much is the cost per kWh and the daily charge, inc VAT?

My guesses would be that some or all of these apply: you're all electric, using an instantaneous shower, using non-storage heating, on a rip-off prepaid tariff, possibly using an inherited card and paying off the previous occupants' debt, and you haven't switched supplier.

Think kWh not ££, take daily readings and things may become clearer.

niktheguru

Sorry, youre going to have to give more information.
Electric only flat or electric and gas?
How do you heat the house - panel radiators, water filled radiators, gas central heating, underfloor heating
How do you heat hot water - gas? immersion? is it always on, is it on a timer
What is your tariff, standard/fixed/is it the cheapest available.
Does you property have double glazing/good insulation etc etc

I'm guessing you went from a 3 bedroom house with gas and electric to a smaller flat on electric only right?

Reed_Richards

Clearly your supplier believes you are using electricity a lot more, not a lot less.  Have you checked that what you are paying tallies with actual meter readings and is not based on estimates?  You say you have the same supplier but are you on the same tariff?  When you arrived you would have inherited the supplier of the previous occupant and would have been placed on a "standard" tariff.  How do you heat the flat, is any of it electric?  Could you have some underfloor heating which is not that obvious?  What about the hot water?  Have you checked that if you turn of the main switch next to the meter that turns off all the electrics in your flat?  

Madmike48

Ok sorry we had gas and electric in old house. With a little in home display we topped up £30/50 a month on each in the new place it’s prepay the same as old place, we have electric only with them, we have heater on the wall but I’m under the impression it’s gas as we have a gas meter but we don’t pay that. So on Thursday at 5pm and fitted meter outside but didn’t have the in home display as he wasn’t given it so we can’t check what we are using just shows on outside meter that £10 ran out at 9:30 pm today. I have added a picture of the water and heat boiler witch is gas. Wierd thing is we used more electric on Friday then we have sat and sun bearing in mind kids were at school Friday.. 
we are on the same tariff ore payment as that’s the way we prefer to pay then we know when we top up that’s what we have to use for that period.. 

Gerry1

Gerry1 said:

With so little info it's only possible to make vague guesses.

• How do you heat the rooms?  Uncertain, could be electric panel heater.
• How do you heat the hot water?  Uncertain, could be immersion heater left on.
• How do you heat the showers?  Uncertain, could be instantaneous electric shower or immersion heater left on.
• How much is the cost per kWh and the daily charge, inc VAT?  Uncertain, probably very expensive.
• Using an inherited card and paying off the previous occupants' debt? Probably.
• Switched supplier?  No.
• Sensible boiler temperature? No (set to absolute maximum)
• Sensible boiler timing? No (set to 24/7)

Unfortunately you're doing almost everything wrong.  If you don't deal with all the above points (including switching to a credit tariff) then it will always cost far more than necessary.

Madmike48

Ok to be honest I can’t answer I just use the combi above to adjust heat and water .. 32 for rate one and 18p rate 2  tarrif is prepayment with Utilita The heating is gas,
When we moved in the meter was EDF so I don’t think we owe and money on the display on meter it says owed £0 

why would a gas boiler matter if it’s max or not as it wouldn’t be using a lot of electricity would it?? 

As for the water and shower we use the boiler as above and turn the dial from 0-6 we put ot on 6 to get hot water. 

Reed_Richards

I agree; the boiler will have a pump somewhere which will use electricity when it is on but not a lot.  If you don't pay directly for gas there is no financial harm in having it on 24 hours at the maximum setting.  You're not meant to adjust the dial on the boiler; it's supposed to be set and forget.  I would be surprised if it makes any difference to the water temperature from the hot taps.  

Gerry1

Madmike48 said:

Ok to be honest I can’t answer I just use the combi above to adjust heat and water .. 32 for rate one and 18p rate 2  tarrif is prepayment with Utilita.

Oh dear, it just goes from bad to worse.

If you're paying 32p/kWh for electricity on rate 1 and 18p/kWh for electricity on rate 2 then that's almost THREE times as expensive as it should be.  And what's the daily charge?

The two rates also suggest you are on a dual rate such as Economy 7 which is bad news because you don't need it if you have gas central heating.  The day rate for E7 is usually more expensive than single rate, so that's another reason to switch.  You should be able to pay about 14p/kWh instead of 32p.

If you don't know how your systems work and you don't get a sensible tariff then sadly you'll always pay a fortune.

niktheguru

Gerry, with utilita they don't have a standing charge but instead they have two rates where the first 2 kwh in a 24hr period is charged at the higher rate and all remaining electricity usage is at the lower rate, so it isn't like economy 7.
But it certainly isn't a cheap way to run the electrics. The op would be better advised to get a credit meter and go on a cheap tariff.
You need to investigate why your usage is high. The way you use your heating or hot water sounds a bit fishy. You sure you haven't got an immersion heater on by accident heating the water continually?