Average gas and electric bill?

1plus1equal3,
I do have gas and electric but my concerns are similar to you...as many know that my mum passed away 4 weeks ago...I am on benefits for now but when I do come into Mum's savings I will lose what I get and then I hope I'll be given help when I get back to the threshold where that happens but that assumes that I still fit the criteria to receive the new benefits being brought in to replace the old...

I have done all I can to reduce what I pay in gas and electric and I cannot see anyway that I can get my bills any lower...like you I have a tv(hardly watch it at present)a washer which I use occasionally when I can do a big wash)a computer and a couple of DAB radio's. I eat less and try to mainly have cold meals but to save on energy I use a microwave/microwave combi and am in the process of buying a halogen oven which I am told uses even less power.

My average daily use of gas is 2 units per day(even if I avoid using it, the pilot light can use upto a unit each day)The electric is usually 4 units daily. I cannot see how I can reduce it any more. I am obssessed with turning everything off as soon as as I can...

I avoid switching lights on and only sometimes use one energy light bulb on the landing for safety on the landing as it can shine into every bedroom the toilet and bathroom and on the stairs, landing and into the hall...

I talked to the energy comparison site USwitch and they think that I'll still pay £2,000+ annually for gas and electric but they are going by the previous bills which are not a good guide as Mum liked to have the heating on 24/7...they told me to phone the utility companies that I use and ask for my annual consumption.

But that was artificially high...we're using Mum's bills whilst she was here...

NPower say going by my daily readings for the last 9 days for gas/electric I would pay(if by Direct monthly debit)approx £31 for both because they give £10 discount annually and also £109 discount through paying this way...as they stand with my meter readings before all the discounts they think the electric I use costs £7 and the gas £6 for 9 days but I am saving as they have no standing charges on either meter...

That's money saved or that could be better put towards being able to use the electric and gas more or might allow for price rises if I am fortunate to be in such a position to have any spare cash...so the electric would cost £284 approx and the gas £244 approx so that's £528, then take off the £109 and the £10...that's coming in at £409 so does that sound right? Or are my calculations wrong? That's around £8 per week...

I cannot decide if I have to add VAT on to the above prices and at what rate...that could take the amount nearer to what I originally worked things out in an earlier post. I reckoned on EDF's Blue Promise I was more likely to pay £935 annually but that was increased because they have a standing charge on both meters.

I phoned British Gas and to see what they say.

Update:Phoned British Gas and they had all kinds of discounts that bamboozled me but they have standing charges on their meters...they couldn't work out what I'd save on my electric even though they say their electric charges are lower than most other companies by 7% but they worked out that the gas I had used already for 9 days would come in at nearly £10 so that's £40 each month for the gas alone. So that's around £480 annually.

In the end I may be better going with NPower for both.

And you know what? I worked all this out for myself and USwitch gave me no advice in the end except when "I" mentioned saving on the standing charges on the meters at NPower the guy at USwitch said it was a no brainer...but I don't know if NPower factor what they lose by not having standing charges into the prices that we pay for the energy used. But if I use EDF's standing charges as a guide I am saving £150 annually as a guide.

This perhaps seems quite a boring post but paying for gas and electric is a bit of a worry at present...until I know where I am financially and things settle down...

I'm not hijacking the thread but my concerns are exactly the same as the OP. Its making me ill the worry about trying to afford what are basic needs...

hi, im shocked that you have been told to expect your gas and electric to be around £2,000, i thought i had a rough deal at £800 in my all electric house.Im really tight with my electric, most of the time im home alone, and though my lightbulbs are all energy saving ones, at £10 quid a time, i still dont have them on in rooms im not in.I have underfloor heating , and a new nibe airsource unit which runs the heating , it is meant to be energy efficient, but have had massive problems with it since moving in 3 years ago.My housing association have now told me that im using 18 units of electric a day, which they had researched to be the average for a 2 bedroom house, so they dont think my usage is too high, and it seems that my nibe airsource unit is no longer considered energy efficient, just average.Im not complaining about paying £10 a week in the summer , as it covers all my appliances and hot water, but then in the really cold part of winter it goes up to about £30/£35, which is really high, and a huge struggle as i am on income support due to illness, and only get a very small income. At the moment i have managed somehow, but many times i have been threatened with having a meter put in when i have struggled to pay my bill, how then will i be able to pay such a large sum of money, out of such a small income, but if i dont i wont have any electric, or heating.Its ok for the housing association to say they work out whether my airsource unit is working efficiently by using yearly figures, but i live weekly.Im sorry to hear that you are struggling to make sense of your bills, do you have a good friend , or relative you could ask for advise, i hope you get things sorted, as like you i also have other things to worry about too , like the migration from income support to esa ( which is a whole new ball game ).

Hi Popperwell
Just to give you an idea, i use 4 metric units of gas a day (1450 over the last year) for which i pay £60 / month on DD but recently was asked for an extra £170 making my gas £890 a year or £74 a month. I use 15 units of electricity a day (5374 a year) costing £60 a month. This is with EDF on a fixed plan (so guess not the cheapest) . 3 bedroomed terrace house with 3 adults. I feel its quite expensive.

Hi Cardew
Thanks for that. Its fixed until 2013 or 2014 (cant remember which). I know i paid about 20% extra at the start and soon after all providers put their prices up 10/15%. i bought on the assumption they would continue to go up but this has not happened (so much for the experts predictions). I think its £50 to get out of the contract (maybe for each) so i might look at this. I am in the Yorkshire area