Electricity prices, There aving a larf...

[stevebuk]

i recently phoned Southern electric to give my reading from the meter, as usual it didn't recogise my acc no. and patched me to an operater. On giving my reading she says, hmmm this is a very high reading, are you sure of the numbers, yep, well i should leave it a week and phone back with another reading.
A week later i phoned back, same story, only this time they told me to take a reading every day for a week and call back, today i did just this.
They say the bill currently stands at £450, down from £1500 they say it was when i first phoned
Considering the wife and i are at work most of the time, i use 1 electric radiator on frost gaurd in my cabin, and i'm only in there wed/thurs sometimes, and only use one machine at a time, would this rack up this amount of cash, i would be interested in hearing what others pay.
Got a bloke coming to check the meter next week, hope he finds a fault..

 

[cambournepete]

I think we pay about £60 per month on direct debit.
4 bed detached house; gas central heating; SWMBO at home all day.

 

[Doug B]

Are you paying for the neighbours leccy as well?

What a generous chap you are :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[wizer]

I think we pay about £60 per month on direct debit.
4 bed detached house; gas central heating; SWMBO at home all day.

We pay £120 a month on electric, 4 Bed Semi, gas central heating, me at home al day. Gas is almost as much IIRC. It's crippling us atm, we need to move.

 

[big soft moose]

we pay 80 notes per month by direct debit - but we have night storage heaters and electric water heating (ands also the house has rubbish insulation) which racks it up particularly in the winter.

the workshop portion of the bill is tiny by comparison.

so if thats 450 for a quarter something is seriously wrong either with the meter, the reading or your electrics. (if its one of those old meters with little dials you are remembering to rouynd down not up arent you )

 

[WellsWood]

We pay £120 a month on electric, 4 Bed Semi, gas central heating, me at home al day. Gas is almost as much IIRC. It's crippling us atm, we need to move.

or perhaps just stop using so much - maybe turn your heating off at night ? :wink:

 

[big soft moose]

We pay £120 a month on electric, 4 Bed Semi, gas central heating, me at home al day. Gas is almost as much IIRC. It's crippling us atm, we need to move.

or perhaps just stop using so much - maybe turn your heating off at night ? :wink:

and down the rest of the time and just put more jumpers on.

swimbo is terrible for this - shes likely to have all the heaters on full whiule its freezing outside and be wandering about in a T shirt - whereas I would rather turn them down and save money and wear a, sweatshirt, fleece and a couple of jumpers.

 

[CHJ]

4/5 bed property, oil heating, no mains gas . this time of year dryer used extensively, dishwasher at least every other day,
shop tool cabinets low watage heating 24/7, parrots pen 150-250 watt heating on 24/7 this time of year if pen below 15deg c.
£54 per month electric we are always in credit.
Average daily usage currently 15.36 kWh

 

[andycktm]

We always pay at bill time, dd no thanks.
The amount of (advanced) money the utility companys must
have which doesn't actually belong to them must be incredible :evil:
If a million people are £100 in front..............

 

[wizer]

Well having the heating on at night doesn't account for the electricity being so high and neither seem to go down very much in the summer. Never less than £100. I'm giving readings weekly at the moment and we never get any money back off them. Tried changing supplier, just the same.

 

[RogerS]

I'm missing something here. Reading your post, Steve, suggests that the meter is either going backwards or is giving different readings. Is it a digital one or an old-fashioned one?

 

[cambournepete]

Might be worth getting one of those "green" electricity meters that lets you monitor the usage more easily - one of theseperhaps?
At least you can check you're proper meter is working properly...

 

[big soft moose]

Well having the heating on at night doesn't account for the electricity being so high and neither seem to go down very much in the summer. Never less than £100. I'm giving readings weekly at the moment and we never get any money back off them. Tried changing supplier, just the same.

i would guess that your electrickery is high due to having a four bed house with associated lights and electronic appliances , not to mention all that machinery in the 'shop - i bet the BRM draws rather more current than your average lathe.

also having the heating on will effect the lecky bill as well as although the heating is gas it is pumped round the rads by an electric pump.

(other major consumers are big electric cookers, plasma tvs, and showers that heat their own water.)

 

[RogerS]

It's that gas-guzzling Jet planer/thicknesser that does it :wink:

 

[Digit]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Busine ... ply_Threat

Roy.

 

[matt]

£104 per month covers BOTH gas and electric.

Gas heating and water.
Electric for everything else, including oven, hob, tumble drier, fish tank, and an electric heater in an uninsulated garage.

Wife at home every day.

 

[wizer]

I realise that our 4 bed house and our consumption would indicate high fuel usage, but I don't think our usage compared to our old house is drastically higher to warrant such high bills. We have a plasma in the living room, but it's used for maybe three hours a day. In fact the only difference between the two houses is the workshop and the fact that this house is bigger. I really don't believe that my workshop is creating 40% of the electric bill.

Anyway. We're moving, so this is all moot

 

[Digit]

Any minute now we're gonna have a post from Mike G about the number of pence his bill is! :lol:

Roy.

 

[wobblycogs]

We have a draughty, nay windy, old 6 bed house with solid brick walls and single glazing. Gas comes in at £4.61 a day on average at the moment for heating and water only so I'm expecting a yearly bill in the region of £1000 - £1100. I've not been keeping a close record for long so it will be interesting to see how the average changes in the summer.

As for electricity I did monitor it sometime last year but I can't find the figures right now. I know it wasn't anywhere near £450 a quater though. I was running a server and various other bits of computer stuff 24/7 then too.

 

[oddsocks]

We always pay at bill time, dd no thanks.
The amount of (advanced) money the utility companys must
have which doesn't actually belong to them must be incredible :evil:
If a million people are £100 in front..............

Andy, i just looked at my bills and gas is £85 per month, Elec is 39£ and each quarter i get £6 discount for DD - so that's on £372 or 1.6%, which is reasonable 'interest payment' in the current market (and certainly more if the money stayed in the current account).

So my per quarter total is £360 (£6 dd discount and £6 dual fuel discount) or £1440 a year. Normally in previous years I've been in debt to them during winter and catch up and go just into credit in the summer months, so DD also works in my favour. However last June we had the walls cavity filled and loft topped up so our actual usage has dropped (looking about 20% on the gas) and I expect the DD to be reduced next quarter. This is for a 4 bed detached house where I work from home 2 days a week.