How much do you pay for electric on smart meter

1993j

I'm am currently with utility warehouse for my gas and electric on a smart meter on pay as you go. I'm currently paying around £130-140 monthly on my electric, I'm not using anything excessive either. Is this high? What do you pay? We are in a 3 bed house and there is 2 of us 

Ayr_Rage

How long is your piece of string?

How many kWh do you consume in a month and at what rate for each kWh?

How do you heat your home and for what hours?

Do you tumble dry a lot of your laundry?

Are all your lights fitted with LED bulbs?

Do you have an EV?

slipthru

£50 a month on electric. but as the above post says it really depends on a whole heap of other factors.

CliveOfIndia

The fact that you've got a smart meter doesn't affect how much you pay - all it does is allow you to monitor your usage a little more accurately than with a traditional meter.

The main things to look at are (a) are you on the best tariff for your usage pattern, (b) are there any obvious sources of wastage (lights being left on unnecessarily, that kind of thing), and (c) is your home insulated as well as is possible?  Aside from that, there are just far too many variables to compare one person's consumption to another's, even in near-identical houses.

WiserMiser

Think kWh not ££.

If you pay by so-called Fixed DD the amount means very little: it's just a top-up of a kitty, but there's no guarantee that there will be enough in the jam jar to pay the bill.

Find two actual readings 12 months apart (Customer, Meter Reader or Smart, but never Estimated) and compare your annual consumption.  The average is 2900kWh electricity and 11500kWh gas but it all depends on so many things e.g. property size and type, insulation, solar gain, latitude, mountain or valley, and whether you prefer it temperate or tropical.

matt_drummer

WiserMiser said:

Think kWh not ££.

If you pay by so-called Fixed DD the amount means very little: it's just a top-up of a kitty, but there's no guarantee that there will be enough in the jam jar to pay the bill.

They do not, they are on a prepayment meter, they called it pay as you go.

dunstonh

How much do you pay for electric on smart meter

£180 pm for electric, which is an accurate representation of my annualised use.  About 17,000 kWh per annum.     (heating is oil and wood).

However, as mentioned above, you need to look at kWh. Not the monthly direct debit.  Use is kWH.  Not what you pay per month.

Look at your readings on your bills and try and get ACTUAL readings (not estimates) that are as close to 12 months apart and let us know what they are.  

matt_drummer

dunstonh said:

How much do you pay for electric on smart meter

£180 pm for electric, which is an accurate representation of my annualised use.  About 17,000 kWh per annum.     (heating is oil and wood).

However, as mentioned above, you need to look at kWh. Not the monthly direct debit.  Use is kWH.  Not what you pay per month.

Look at your readings on your bills and try and get ACTUAL readings (not estimates) that are as close to 12 months apart and let us know what they are.  

They are on a prepayment meter, so what they pay is their use.

Spoonie_Turtle

Currently an average of 16.7p/kWh, although I expect that to go up to nearer 20p/kWh with the colder weather and lower wind.  - because of having a smart meter to be on this tariff.

In terms of kWh that's been a bit over 900kWh for the month, including all heating, hot water, modest amount of tumble drying during prolonged damp/wet spells, etc.  At the standard variable rate it would have cost us ~£260, 4 adults in a 3bed house, all electric including an electric shower (which might actually be the biggest expense after the heating, to be honest).

The way to proceed is probably find out your actual annual usage then do an audit of everything that used electricity in the house - first a list, to identify the most likely culprits, then investigate them for actual power usage.  E.g. an old or American fridge will likely use much more than a modern energy-efficient one; a freezer with a defrost function may use more than one without, etc.

I note you said you have gas and electricity so assume your heating and hot water are gas?

Heedtheadvice

Lots of info above.

Although to do comparisons properly a lot if info ( as above posts) is required but even so there will be several unknowns such as lifestyle ( how much time you are home, do you keep devices off when they are not needed, frequency and length of use of power devices such as heaters, washing machines tumble driers etc.).

Nevertheless pay as you go is probably the most expensive way of paying for what you use. If you can get on to Direct Debit but that is not easy once on PAYG particularly if that has been forced on you owing to payment problems. EDIT [ My understanding is out of date! Corrected in the next post!!]

Ayr_Rage

Heedtheadvice said:

Nevertheless pay as you go is probably the most expensive way of paying for what you use. 

I think the recent changes have turned that on its head for those on the SV tariff.

• For standard variable tariffs: Under the current energy price cap, prepayment rates are slightly cheaper than direct debit rates. This is due to a government-led change that removed the "prepayment premium". 

A fix would likely be cheaper if available to the OP.