Electricity bill seems WAY too much!

leeandrew84

Hello everyone. I have been living in my current flat since Feb this year. It is a 2 bed flat with combined kitchen in one of the rooms and seperate bathroom. Prior to this i lived in a 2 bed flat with seperate kitchen and seperate bathroom, so i have essentially downsized. I have been using an electric meter in these last two addresses. Before that i lived in a much bigger 3 bed flat, with seperate bathroom & bath, seperate kitchen, onsuite bathroom in the master bedroom and a big hallway with 2 storage cupboards; for that flat i was paying a fixed monthly electric bill, and it averaged around £40 per month.

In my previous flat (which was the first flat i had lived in with an electric meter) i was paying on average about £50 per month, sometimes £60, though this was by no means living a 'normal' life. The building had problems which caused a massive damp crisis and i was forced to use electric heaters all day and all night for about 4/5 months.
I thought that had this not have happened i would have been paying about the same monthly as i did with a fixed bill. Some people even told me that electric meters are much more economic and work out alot cheaper!

The problem i have now is that out of all three flats i have lived in, this is the smallest. I have had the same equipment in all three, so i can accurately say that there has been no sudden lifestyle change. But i seem to be paying alot more than both of the two previous flats, and i mean ALOT more.
Once i suspected i was going through too many electric cards i started to make a log. I noted what the AMP was on the meter, how many AMP i added, how much this cost me to buy the card from my letting agent, and how often i was adding more AMP.

I started logging on the 29th March this year, and have recorded all of my activity since. Today (2nd June) is the 66th day since i started logging. So first of all, i would like some opinions of what you might expect to pay for 66 days worth of electric. Living a normal lifestyle. And bear in mind that i only have 2 rooms to my flat; the front/living room, which is combined with my kitchen, and my bedroom, which leads to a tiny bathroom.

Would you say £90 in 66 days is unreasonable to pay?
Would you say £100 is unreasonable?

After your views i will post the actual amount i have paid in 66 days. The reason i am not posting this now is that i want to see what people suggest as a reasonable amount to pay.

In my first flat i would have paid about £90-£95. But that flat was twice as huge, and with 2 people living in it, not 1.

Please reply!!!

leeandrew84

There is no gas in the flat. I dont think any of the tenants in the building have gas either. Everything is electric. I have an electric cooker. The radiators come on for 2 hours each night, but the landlord pays for the water rates, and the landlord has complete control over them, i can only higher or lower the temp. I shower daily for about 10 mins. I wish i was paying £1 a day. It actually works out at around £2.80 going off the last 66 days.
I have paid £162.80 on electric cards in the last 66 days. I dont know much about my meter; ie who the provider is. I know how it functions though. I just thought i might be paying over the odds because tbh i live very frugally, i dont have the TV on, i use the computer to do my uni work and thats it besides from the necessary things like cooking, showering etc.

tomstickland

I don't understand what the radiators have to do with water rates.
The bill seems very large.
You need to monitor the daily usage on the meter.
Then you can work out:
-how many units you are using per day and if sounds reasonable
-how much you are paying per unit.

Cardew

No I don't think your bills are 'way too high' for a house that uses standard rate electricity for heating.(unless your radiator comment implies that the landlord pays for heating??)

You need to find out 2 things:

How much electricity you are using in kWhs

The price you are paying for each kWh.