High energy bills

Robin9 · 13 November 2019 at 12:11PM

Jibber123 wrote: »

Quick update, i went into the meter cupboard last night at about midnight to try and get to the bottom of what was running at night. Wheni checked the timer clock for the nighttime E7 supply it appears to be 12 hours out it was showing just before 1300 hours at about 00:45 the morning. We did have an issue flagged up with this time-clock when we 1st moved in and someone came out from SSE to change the time, and i assumed all was fine. I've just got of the phone to someone at SSE and they said it's very unlikely that the time clock was 12 hours out they accused me of miss reading it. I'm sure it's wrong as the meter is flashing rate 2 from about 12:30am-7:30am which is the normal rate and also rate 2 is increasing during the night I read the meter at 1am, 3am and 5am.

What was your consumption last night ?

Even if Rate 1 and 2 are the wrong way around the figures you have quoted for day and night are very similar.

Jibber123 · 13 November 2019 at 3:58PM

I forgot to mention earlier, in my quest to save energy i found our energy efficient dehumidifier was costing over £350 a year to run. Just goes to show, just because a manufacturer uses the wording energy saving, green or reduced CO2 doesn't necessarily been it's the case, just its retrospective in relation to something that's not energy saving

twang72 · 13 November 2019 at 6:12PM

Had a similar thread few months ago here :

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=6034569&highlight=

As I was told it does not pay to stay loyal with your energy provider, you need to visit comparison websites and check tariffs and join the MSE energy club, they can compare and find the cheaper tariffs sometimes their even on their own energy company you use but the company wont say it even.

British gas did not tell me I could swop free to a cheaper tariff despite 4-5 members of staff saying I could not nothing. But MSE energy club gave me a better tariff with BG so I switched and now pay about £120 per month for a 3 bed semi house, its miles better then the £189 Bg demanded from me.

Sounds like you are hunting and doing the right thing, I have sorted all my lights in my house to LED ones (bathroom and kitchen are bit tricky but screwfix got decent led tubes), only my old LCD TV and ancient Fridge with a terrible E rating needs to be sorted and then all my electrical devices are A or A++ rated.

I still need to do more detective work though but imo £120 is not a bad amount at all, I am still baffled how anyone could pay £50-60 per month for both gas and electricity though,

I either felt those people are working full time and not at home most of the day or simply sit at home with no laptop, phone, tv, lights on or heating/gas switched off...... for the entire day that is !

Jibber123 · 15 November 2019 at 2:46PM

Thanks for the reply twang72
I'm starting to think your right, our bills are about right considering we don't live in a super insulated modern home and aren't both out at work all day. These people that pay £50-60 per month must hardly be at home. If we're out for the day or go and stay away for the night, when i check the energy monitor when we get back it shows around a £1 a day, where as when we're at home its nearer £2.50 a day. £1 per day for electric is £360 a year and that's only about £33 a month inc a standing charge. Add the same for gas and your at £50-60 per month. I'm still trying to get ours a bit lower but at least other people seem to be paying about the same which is reassuring.

twang72 · 15 November 2019 at 6:54PM

Jibber123 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply twang72
I'm starting to think your right, our bills are about right considering we don't live in a super insulated modern home and aren't both out at work all day. These people that pay £50-60 per month must hardly be at home. If we're out for the day or go and stay away for the night, when i check the energy monitor when we get back it shows around a £1 a day, where as when we're at home its nearer £2.50 a day. £1 per day for electric is £360 a year and that's only about £33 a month inc a standing charge. Add the same for gas and your at £50-60 per month. I'm still trying to get ours a bit lower but at least other people seem to be paying about the same which is reassuring.

Id hope I am right but tbf several people have replied to my thread and even I see on yours and some are saying £1 or £1.50 for both gas/electricity is the norm for them, must be circumstances, very few said its normal.

£2.50 is excellent per day is that for gas and electricity combined?

On my BG mobile app and even smart meter I easily hit £3.50-4.00 per day for both gas/electricity with 2-3 people at home this is with heating on 5-6 times per day since its very cold atm and general electrics like 2x TV on and laptop on, so roughly with my poor maths:

£3.50 per day for both gas/leccy x 7 days for 1 week = £25, then by 4 weeks to get 1 months is £100 bill, so imo £120 is fine to allow bit more usage time to time.

If your only hitting £2.5 or say £3 per day for some extra allowance that I think is roughly £81 per month for yourself, so maybe even £120 for yourself is a bit higher. If the extra credit builds up for those winter days then its ok I guess, otherwise you maybe able to refund the difference.

SeeMe · 15 November 2019 at 10:15PM

matelodave wrote: »

Likewise a couple who are out at work all day will probably use significantly less and consequently pay less than a family that's home all day.

This seems to be overlooked a lot so because someone says their bill is £70 a month, and they work 8hrs a day, it means nothing to a house where the heat is on far more hours a day.

Jibber123 · 16 November 2019 at 5:53PM

The only thing that makes me think our gas is a little high is we only put the heating on for maybe an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening if we're at home. We've got a log burner we keep running almost 24/7 when it's cold, it's only left to go out when the ash needs emptying a couple of times a week. We don't rely on the timer on the boiler to turn it on, both the hot water and heating switches are left off all the time and we just use the boost +1Hour button if we want to put it on. So like i said we're only probably using it for 1-2 hours a day for maybe 4-5 months of the year. If you work back worst case we've got a 30kw boiler running for 2hrs a day for 5 months of the year for heating and say 1hr a day for hot water for 8 months of the year. That's 300 hrs for the heating and 240 hrs for the hot water, which comes out to be just under £500 a year at £0.03 / kWh for gas.I know this is crude as there are inefficiency's in the boiler and pipework etc. but i'm just looking for a sense check really.

RelievedSheff · 17 November 2019 at 9:34AM

No two homes are used the same which is why comparing energy usage is really difficult.

During the summer months we were using a little over £1 per day for gas and electricity, so a shade over £30 per month. Now the weather has dropped colder and the heating is on more that has increased to about £2 per day so about £60 per month which is what our direct debit is set too.

Jibber123 · 19 November 2019 at 9:50AM

Thanks RelievedSheff, is there just 2 of you at home and are you out for most of the day at work? £60 seems quite low if you at home all day.

Jibber123 · 19 November 2019 at 10:01AM

Also while I've been up an night checking the electricity usage I've found the boiler is running intermittently during the night. The boiler is in a small lean-to outside the back door, it's enclosed but the door is badly fitting and it's only got single glazed windows and no insulation. There is a thermostat fitted in there next to boiler and it's set at 4C, which i'm assuming is the frost protection stat for the boiler. But when the temperature drops in the lean to the boiler comes on and runs for about 30 mins heating all the rooms in the house until the little bit of warmth from the boiler case and pipework warms up the lean-to enough to raise the air temperature and trip the thermostat off again. Surely the boiler only need to be on long enough for water returning to the boiler the be heater to say 15C to ensure it's not freezing and turn off again. I felt the return pipe to the boiler after about 5 mins and it was hot to touch so no risk of freezing. but the boiler continued to heat the house for a further 25 mins while we're all tucked up in bed, and don;lt need the heating on. I don't want to remove this thermostat as it's there to protect the boiler and pipework from freezing but it's trying the heat an un-insulated, drafty space with no radiator and ends up heating the entire house as a result. Could the thermostat be moved from the wall to nearer the boiler of above it where it will warm up quicker when the boiler comes on and hence turn off sooner?

High energy bills

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