Does this seem excessive to anybody?

wasowski

Hi there, I have recently added up my gas and electricity bills for the past year as I recieved a bit of a shock at my end of year review from EDF.

On my Gas bill (for a entire year) I have spent £383.22 I use gas for central heating, hot water and my hob is gas...
However..
My electricity charges for the past year total £720 which I have been paying them in monthly instalments - which in itself seems a bit steep - and on top of that they have sent me an end of year bill for £201.41!!:eek:

Now am I being naieve, or is £900 for a years worth of EDF too much?
I am a housewife, I live in a 3 bed (only use 2 of them) relatively new ( less than 10 yr old ) semi with my 2 year old son, my husband works away and only comes home for 2 days a fortnight.
I accept that I will be using more electricity than those who work during the day but I still find this a bit over the top. I always unplug all my appliances (obviously not fridge/freezer) overnight, trying to save the polar bears etc, and although I do have a tumble dryer I try not to use it unless absolutley necessary. I dont have any more appliances than any other household and I just cant understand where all this electricity is going, especially when you compare it to my gas bill.

In 2006 we lived in a house with a key/pre-payment meter and I was only putting £5-10 per week on that, my husband was not working away at that time and we also had a lizard which had to have a permenant heat source! I also know that key meters are the most expensive way to have power and I now get a discount for paying my bill by direct debit so I really cant get my head around the huge difference in the cost.
Surely energy costs havent escalated that much since we moved into this house?
I would love to hear others opinions on this and hopefully advice as to what I can do about it!
Many thanks!!;)
P.S have checked the meter reading and it is correct.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

The average household energy bill is now over £1,000 per year.

In consumption the average is 20,500kWh for gas and 3,300kWh for electricity.

So if you look at your gas bills you will be below average. However you will be well above average for electricity - more than double.

There will probably no single reason for that heavy use; but it will probably involve some form of heating.

Check you don't have your immersion heater left on permanantly - assuming you have a hot water tank.

You would be well advised to get a power monitoring meter from Maplins(they are on offer now) and start monitoring your various appliances. For instance a door seal gone on a fridge or freezer can use a lot of electricity.

P.S.
I see you have posted the same message twice - easily done.
If you go to the other post, click 'edit' and you can delete that post.

Joyful

I am sure the average cost BEFORE the latest increases was £1000 per year so it doesn't look excessive.

Joyful

You beat me to it Cardew!

Cardew

Joyful wrote: »

I am sure the average cost BEFORE the latest increases was £1000 per year so it doesn't look excessive.

But her query is on a £900+ electricity bill(£720 + £201) which is very high.

Mum_of_3_3

Sounds pretty excessive to me!

If you turn everything off, have energy-saving bulbs etc, then I would think the extra £200 was a bit ott!

Maybe go to a comparison site & check if you can get it cheaper based on the amount of KiloWattHours (units) you have used in the past year.

I find that a better way of comparing as if you put in your monthly payment it doesn't ask you if you are then in credit/debit to them at the end of the year.

I know that Martin is advising everyone not to change for a while though, so maybe waiting until he switches on the green light & then compare & switch?

Good luck!

M_o_3

~daisy~_2

in the last 6 months we have gone from being approx £20 in credit each quarter to just receiving a bill with a £270 deficit and wanting to put our monthly payment up to £90 so i know exactly where you are coming from

in my case - apparently i was on a price promise that finished 6 months ago so my unit costs shot up without me realising

i have now changed tariffs and will be having my meter changed to try and prevent this happening again

other than commiserating i have no constructive advice sorry !!

wasowski

no heating run on the electricity, no immersion tank either! fridge and frezzer doors are all okydoky, just cant fathom it!

Poppycat

Since March last year we have used 4543 kWh of electric it has come down a bit March was a very high bill and was with a old supplier until April, we have a lot of appliances but I try and turn off when not needed and also have most of house in low energy bulbs

moonrakerz

Cardew wrote: »

The average household electricty bill is now over £1,000 per year.

.

Are you sure that is right old chap ? "energy" bill. perhaps ??

phil140701

that sound's very excessive to me my yearly bill for electric is only £480 and i usually get a rebate of around 5% even with the tumble dryer doing 2 loads a day ,pc on all day ,tv on all day ,fish tank pumps heaters and filters ,massive upright fridge freezer plus 16 cbft freezer 2 video recorders on constant record ,cctv cameras plus lots of other stuff most on standby and we are on a prepayment meter with edf we put £10 a week on the meter and never use all of it ,plus our gas is around £5 a week with heating on constant

so to cut a long story short i think you have a problem somewhere and it needs investigating (may help if you threaten to switch to one of their competitors)

good luck
phil