Electricity Bills have Rocketed

newbieni

Hi,

I live in a small house which in the past used £90 of electricity per month. Now on the same rate I'm going through £200 per month. The only item in regular use is the washer/dryer (Candy CSW 4852DE), could this be draining the electricity so dramatically?

Thanks in advance 

Robin9

Could we have some meter readings please?   I assume you do read you meters every month?

Mark_d

Once up on a time I was paying £60 per month for the energy bill in my flat.  I'm currently paying around £165 per month.  And I've been with British Gas for nearly 50 years

ButterCheese

It's easy to forget that other things are also using electricity, so I doubt it's just your washer/drier.

But anyway, washer/driers are notoriously poor at drying, they'll take longer and therefore use more electricity.

Looking at the spec of your machine, it uses an average of 5.5Kwh per cycle.  If you know your electricity rate, you can work out how much that might be.  In my case, a drying cycle would cost £1.22.  So if you're using it 5 times a week, 20 times a month, that's nearly £25/month.  Add the washing cycle to that.  And the fact that a lot of standing charges have increased (mine is 66p/day so that's already £20/month even if you use no electricty).

Your TV, Laptop, Lights etc will all use a little bit.  Not to mention the kettle, oven etc etc.  Maybe try and dry your clothes on a clothes horse or something for a month and see what difference it makes, that's what we do

ButterCheese

But yes, bills have gone through the roof.  We live in a 4 bedroom house with 2 teenage boys, and we're paying £133/month electric and £195/month gas on average

Gerry1

Mark_d said:

I've been with British Gas for nearly 50 years

Cause.

Mark_d said:

Once up on a time I was paying £60 per month for the energy bill in my flat.  I'm currently paying around £165 per month.

Effect.

badmemory

I don't think it matters who your energy is with.  Bills have shot up so you can't compare bills in £s then with bills in £s now.  The only way to compare is through kWh usage.  There are many reasons for those to have shot up too.  Working from home, spending more time at home.  Buying more appliances or appliances getting old & becoming less efficient.  My old freezer is using twice what it did 5 years ago.  So can you woirk out what is causing your increase?

EssexHebridean

newbieni said:

Hi,

I live in a small house which in the past  How far in the past? used £90 of electricity per month What was the unit rate and standing charge then?. Now on the same rate Is it the same rate? Things have increased rapidly over the past few years so unless you are on an unusually long fix...  I'm going through £200 per month. The only item in regular use is the washer/dryer (Candy CSW 4852DE), could this be draining the electricity so dramatically? 

Thanks in advance 

Questions in bold above.

Washer dryers aren't cheap to run - is this a new item that you've installed or have you had it a while? there's not too many reasons why if the latter it would be increasing its use, anyway. More likely as a candidate for increasing use would be things like fridges and freezers - we've heard cases of perished seals or ice build-ups causing increased running costs, as an example. 

debitcardmayhem

Robin9 said:

Could we have some meter readings please?   I assume you do read you meters every month?

And the amount you quote 200 is just for your direct debit?
Consumption data and billing data would help