Electricity bill for single person in 1 bedroom flat

jh1955

I'm with Shell energy, electric only flat, they want to increase my direct debit to £150, although my account is in credit and my recent bill was £60. I realise I'm using less in the summer months. This seems excessive. Can anyone else in similar circumstances tell me how much they pay please?

la531983

A figure like that is meaningless. Provide some meter readings so we can tell you if it looks right, plus the name of the tariff you are on. 

400ixl

How long have you lived there?

If you have a full year then you can see how many units you have used in a year. You can then multiply this by the unit rate and add 365 days of the standing charge which would give you your annual bill.

Divide that by 12 and it will tell you the monthly rate you should be paying at the current rates (which will be going down in October if you are on the standard rate).

No one else can really help as everyone will be different. Using this method will be as close as you can get and is a good reasoning to argue with the supplier if they are asking for too much.

QrizB

jh1955 said:

I'm with Shell energy, electric only flat, they want to increase my direct debit to £150, although my account is in credit and my recent bill was £60.

Welcome to the forum.

As others have said, it's impossible to get a true picture of your annual electricity usage from the limited information you've shared so far.

However, if your £60 bill was for a single summer month it's quite possible that your annual use would be £1800 and £150 a month would be an appropriate DD.

If you give us more information, we might be able to be more specific.

Scot_39

It is not abnormal for winter bills to be 2.5-3x summer bills. 

Electric heating - on the whole - is much more expensive than gas for heating - so can increase that range.

And you dont say what your heating type is - storage heaters or normal day fed panels / plug ins etc, or your tariff rate or rates etc.

And as one other poster recently highlighted - flats on commercial rates can be even higher if not on a normal domestic supply.

But for a given configuration - it really comes down to how much heating you use - i.e. so how hot you keep the rooms in your flat and for how many hours per day you keep them there.

If you have past winter bills as well - look at total use over the year - and work out a likely number.

If you've just moved in - you could look at meter totals and divide it by years since install - if its a few years old itself - it might give you an idea of historic usage - as a very rough guide - but you are not the past occupants - so only a rough guide.

Without actual numbers - it's impossible to advise - but £150 is not an unbelievable number - but nor is it a low one.

Ofgems own all electric cap is about to drop to 3900 kWh for a medium sized all electric property - but thats not the same as a medium sized duel fuel home - you in a 1 person 1 bed - could be lower.

Ofgem also table a low use profile at - at 2200 kWh. 

At Single rate electric - ave c30p - 2200 kWh is around £860 inc ave SC  - £72 pm

3900 is c£1400 / £115pm - 

so perhaps £150 steep (and a good E7 should drop that average price below SR if your flat metering and heating suits). 

Loop took their data for smart meter smart phone app users - and tabled ave by property sizes - for duel fuel use -

https://blog.loop.homes/compare-energy-use-are-you-a-big-spender

1 bed 1 person - gas was 3770 and electric (not heating I guess) - 1961 kWh  - so that 2200kWh  Ofgem seems a bit of a stretch - and the loop c5700 kWh at SR prices - roughly £160pm.  Factor in say 85% for gas efficiency - drops that to £146pm.

But as I say - without knowing rates, heating types and your likely actual usage / tariff - these are all just guides.

There were posters in 1 bed flats getting £300+ pm bills last winter - you just need to be as efficient as possible and operate heating as best as you can for what you have.