Ideas please

mitchfam

I bought my first house in august and had no end of problems with SSE and pay as you go meter . Finally new meters were installed and I moved supplier to British Gas . I dont have a smart display as my house isn’t compatible so have to give readings . They asked did a gas one so I have them it and thought a bill would be created seeing as it was 6 months . I ha e them electric and asked for bill . I didn’t want to be carrying on if direct debit wasn’t sufficient . My bill came in and first off the final reading from SSE ans first fir them was wrong . I had this out with SSE and them months ago and paid final bill on the correct reading . Besides that I ha e used £400 of electricity in 6 months which shocked me . I work in a school nursery I am out from 8 till 5 every day . I use a hairdryer about twice a week . I don’t drink tea or coffee so no kettle boiling . I have a fridge freezer . I cook mostly on a gas hob ans use oven couple times a week . I use washing machine 3 loads a week . I hang on airer ans tumble set when almost dry my towels and bedding . I don’t have any fancy lights . My tv is LED and I mostly use my phone to watch stuff . Yet my bill is higher than my mother who washes every day sometimes twice a day .parents work from home do kettle is never off . They have a plasma that uses electricity and a monster of a range that they cook on every night and use oven . They also have 30 spot lights in kitchen . 

I am at a loss to see how I can use more than them . We are on similar tarrifs . My electricity meter was supposedly swapped out last august as it was faulty . Thank god my mum made me ask for a bill I could have gone on all year and be due them more than I am now . My gas was high but I had Covid and was off work for a month so I accept that as I did have it on . Even being home for a month didn’t make me use more electric I was bedded and slept . 

niktheguru

Welcome to the forum.
First you need to check what electricity tariff you are on, is it an expensive one, can you go cheaper. With british gas it is almost certain it'll be very expensive.
Next, have a look at your consumer unit (fuse box).....what is connected to it (it should have many things labelled, e.g. sockets, lights, smoke alarm, oven, immersion heater etc) Is there anything there you don't recognise?

Next have a look at your meter. Take a reading first thing in morning, next before you go to bed, and then again first thing. You'll be able to see how much energy you use at any one time.

Things to look out for that are high electricity users: Immersion heaters, electric towel rails, electric underfloor heating. 
You may think you're heating the water with gas, but sometimes have the immersion on as well.

Also check the serial number on your meter is the same as that on your bill. Check that the bill is based on actual readings rather than estimates (sometimes despite giving readings the company uses estimates, so check!)

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Gerry1

Welcome to the forum.

You need to think in kWh.  ££ comparisons between properties are fairly meaningless because so many things can vary: tariffs, insulation, lifestyles, occupancy, tropical/temperate preferences etc.

Have you been sending monthly readings?  If not, estimated readings are a formula for disaster when a catch up bill arrives.

It's also worth doing a meter sanity test, especially if the meter is external to the property.  Do a blackout test: after dark, switch everything off at the consumer unit, watch the red light (marked 1000 Imp/kWh or similar) for five minutes and make sure it never flashes once.  Then switch everything on, especially the high power devices and make sure the LED flashes rapidly.

Electric heating is the usual culprit: make sure you're not using any underfloor heating, towel rails, immersion heaters, convectors, panel heaters etc, it should all be gas.

What is the electricity kWh and daily charge inc VAT?

Reed_Richards

The most expensive thing you can do with electricity is to heat something.  Here are some possible candidates roughly in order of significance for heavy electricity usage:

Room heating (visible)
Electric underfloor heating
Heating your hot water with an immersion heater
Electric showers
Tumble drier
Electric hob/oven
Microwave
Washing machine/dishwasher
Old style filament or halogen light bulbs that get hot to the touch
Kettle

mitchfam

Hi thanks . All I have is a washing machine that does three loads a week . Microwave hardly used I use the gas hob . Lights are all energy saving . I have no downlighters . Shower is from gas . Tumble dryer is used to finish off after they have been in drying screen so I am at a loss why I am higher than my parents . Who boil kettles have down  lighters that use washing machine once if not twice a day . I am hardly at home . It seems weird that my habits have g changed ans I used £100 in 4 months before they took over and rate is cheaper 🤔

JJ_Egan

From the above list Tumble dryer is a culprit .

niktheguru

mitchfam said:

Hi thanks . All I have is a washing machine that does three loads a week . Microwave hardly used I use the gas hob . Lights are all energy saving . I have no downlighters . Shower is from gas . Tumble dryer is used to finish off after they have been in drying screen so I am at a loss why I am higher than my parents . Who boil kettles have down  lighters that use washing machine once if not twice a day . I am hardly at home . It seems weird that my habits have g changed ans I used £100 in 4 months before they took over and rate is cheaper 🤔

Do the meter sanity test as gerry1 described.

Reed_Richards

mitchfam said:

... I have no downlighters . ...

LED replacements for halogen downlighters (GU10 type or similar) typically use about 5 W each and are highly energy efficient.

knightstyle

Are you still with BG?  You can go to their Facebook page for help.
I find BG PAYG very good, I give a meter reading on the same day each month, they then send an invoice based on that reading and a DD is taken a few weeks later. Plus I am on a fixed deal till middle of next year.

mitchfam

I am with British Gas on a fixed tariff it was the cheapest by far at the time . I ha w has heating , the shower works from the gas through combi boiler and the hob is gas . My gas bill was higher than I expected but I had Covid and was off work at home for a month in February . I has the heating on most of the time so that doesn’t concern me . I am going to take photo of meter when I get up in the morning and then again when I come home from work and again before I go to bed . I will also do the blackout test .  My habits haven’t changed since I moved in . Yes I was home
more at weekends in lockdown but that would have been more gas used . I am at an absolute loss how . I don’t have smart meters my house isn’t  suitable 

Gerry1

Having established that the meter really is yours, that it's not merrily flashing away when everything is switched off, and that the meter number is the same as that shown on the bills, it's easy to do some simple detective work.

The little LED is your friend.  Keep watching it like a hawk, switching off various appliances and circuits and seeing what the results are.  It's easy to do the sums, 1000 flashes and you've used 1kWh costing 15p, pro-rata for other impulse and kWh rates.

You can also check for a rogue meter by switching on just one known high power item (e.g. 3kW kettle) and  seeing how many flashes there are in a minute.  Slightly rough and ready because the rating may be approximate and will vary with the local voltage, but it will detect any gross inaccuracy.