Does my electricity bill sound high to you?
Discussion
Moved house last year and have just had a 'review' of what the electricity provider thinks I need to be paying per month on DD in order to keep up with the amount of electricity we use.
House is oil fired heated - so only electricity used is to run pump and blower.
Cooking is on oil fired (gravity fed so no elec used) Aga
Don't run anything unsual on the elec front - usual computers, TV's etc. Household is 5 people.
Based on what the meter is telling them, the reckon I need to pay £185 a month - does this sound high/about right to you? Prior to divorce I had a much bigger house - but at that time money wasn't as tight as it is now, so I didn't look too closely at the bills, having said that I don't remember it being as much.
I was just wondering what you guys thought was a 'normal' monthly amount to be paying for electricity on an average household these days?
Thanks
Igg
House is oil fired heated - so only electricity used is to run pump and blower.
Cooking is on oil fired (gravity fed so no elec used) Aga
Don't run anything unsual on the elec front - usual computers, TV's etc. Household is 5 people.
Based on what the meter is telling them, the reckon I need to pay £185 a month - does this sound high/about right to you? Prior to divorce I had a much bigger house - but at that time money wasn't as tight as it is now, so I didn't look too closely at the bills, having said that I don't remember it being as much.
I was just wondering what you guys thought was a 'normal' monthly amount to be paying for electricity on an average household these days?
Thanks
Igg
We're paying £75 a month, that's with electric cooker, washing machine and tumble drier that run near enough daily, 2 fish tanks, 3 computers plus two servers, and the usual lighting in the evenings. There's 3 people in the house, and the washer/drier runs during the night on Economy 7. Heating is gas.
Sounds a bit high. I had a bit of a shock when my fixed rate ended at the start of this year. Was paying £60 a month, now just over £100 for similar sounding household to yours.
I did get a 'power meter' that shows the usage/cost etc for the whole house,in real time.
I did identify a few things that could be unplugged (such as hi-fi that is rarely used by draws 20 watts on standby). Also I raid the kids bedrooms occasionally & unplug numerous phone chargers etc, all wasting electricity. Maybe try to cut down a bit & threaten to get the kids to contribute if they always leave unnecessary things plugged in!
I did get a 'power meter' that shows the usage/cost etc for the whole house,in real time.
I did identify a few things that could be unplugged (such as hi-fi that is rarely used by draws 20 watts on standby). Also I raid the kids bedrooms occasionally & unplug numerous phone chargers etc, all wasting electricity. Maybe try to cut down a bit & threaten to get the kids to contribute if they always leave unnecessary things plugged in!
£150 does sound approx double what it should be.
Take your own readings, over a week or so, and see how many units you're using. A lot of people still think electricity is 5p per unit, but it's 15-25p depending on what tarrif you're on.
If the weekly reading stacks up against what they're asking then get one of those energy monitor things and you can see exactly where it's being used.
Is there an elec immersion heater that's been left on?
Take your own readings, over a week or so, and see how many units you're using. A lot of people still think electricity is 5p per unit, but it's 15-25p depending on what tarrif you're on.
If the weekly reading stacks up against what they're asking then get one of those energy monitor things and you can see exactly where it's being used.
Is there an elec immersion heater that's been left on?
I have oil-fired central heating which is also used for heating the hot-water all year. No gas in the house so electric cooker. I pay £45 per month. However, I do actively try to reduce electricity use. Television/DVD/video off at plug when not in use; energy saving bulbs where possible, etc. I bought a £35 electricty consumption meter which allows me to see the electricity being used at any instant.
Plotloss said:
We're on £100 a month, which is double the national average, with gas fired heating and an electric hob/cooker.
So £185 seems steep.
+1So £185 seems steep.
I work from home and there are 3 computers at least on sleep 24 hours a day, 2 big plasmas, and a huge AV power amp which is on 24 hours.
I am a pretty heavy as any 4 bed home could possibly be and that is £100 a month.
The electricity companies are notorious for overcharging on the monthly payments though. As they guess an average and then add some, at any one time you could be hundred of pounds in credit.
When I left my old supplier I was about £300 in credit. If you compare that to paying quarterly 30 days after the bill comes in or more, then instead of you paying for electricity 3 months before you use it, you are paying up to 4 months after you use it.
7 months ahead with regard to cashflow. That doesn't sound a huge amount, but if you multiply that by millions of customers, you can see why they can offer a cheaper price for DD.
Igg said:
Thanks guys - looks like getting a power meter would be useful as a couple of you mention and have them.
Where would I get one please?
Thank you again
Igg
My supplier sent me one for free with the tariff I was on (standard tariff, could have cancelled the day after I got it if I wanted to). Where would I get one please?
Thank you again
Igg
Its pretty neat,inductive coupler? clamps around feed to meter. Wireless display unit can go anwhere in the house (but it is powered by another transformer!)
Jimboka said:
Igg said:
Thanks guys - looks like getting a power meter would be useful as a couple of you mention and have them.
Where would I get one please?
Thank you again
Igg
My supplier sent me one for free with the tariff I was on (standard tariff, could have cancelled the day after I got it if I wanted to). Where would I get one please?
Thank you again
Igg
Its pretty neat,inductive coupler? clamps around feed to meter. Wireless display unit can go anwhere in the house (but it is powered by another transformer!)
Igg said:
Moved house last year and have just had a 'review' of what the electricity provider thinks I need to be paying per month on DD in order to keep up with the amount of electricity we use.
House is oil fired heated - so only electricity used is to run pump and blower.
Cooking is on oil fired (gravity fed so no elec used) Aga
Don't run anything unsual on the elec front - usual computers, TV's etc. Household is 5 people.
Based on what the meter is telling them, the reckon I need to pay £185 a month - does this sound high/about right to you? Prior to divorce I had a much bigger house - but at that time money wasn't as tight as it is now, so I didn't look too closely at the bills, having said that I don't remember it being as much.
I was just wondering what you guys thought was a 'normal' monthly amount to be paying for electricity on an average household these days?
Thanks
Igg
Which supplier are you with?House is oil fired heated - so only electricity used is to run pump and blower.
Cooking is on oil fired (gravity fed so no elec used) Aga
Don't run anything unsual on the elec front - usual computers, TV's etc. Household is 5 people.
Based on what the meter is telling them, the reckon I need to pay £185 a month - does this sound high/about right to you? Prior to divorce I had a much bigger house - but at that time money wasn't as tight as it is now, so I didn't look too closely at the bills, having said that I don't remember it being as much.
I was just wondering what you guys thought was a 'normal' monthly amount to be paying for electricity on an average household these days?
Thanks
Igg
Hi,
We're paying £54/month with n-power. Oil heating, electric oven but propane gas hob, 9.5kw electric shower, washer/tumble drier and usual electric toys. Just 2 of us but retired so there's usually someone in the house during the day which obviously makes a difference in the winter months.
With 5 people I'd expect higher (more showers, washing machine use, consoles/tvs in different rooms, etc) but £185 does sounds steep. You can't compare with the past though, electricity has shot up in the last couple of years, I think ours went up over 20% last year.
For interest, I checked the prices from n-power; first 728kWh/year is 15.4p/kWh then it drops to 12.8p, that's in Lincolnshire if the area makes any difference. Might be worth checking those rates against your estimate ?
And if it does come out at £185/month, then maybe you ought to take down those christmas lights from the roof ?
We're paying £54/month with n-power. Oil heating, electric oven but propane gas hob, 9.5kw electric shower, washer/tumble drier and usual electric toys. Just 2 of us but retired so there's usually someone in the house during the day which obviously makes a difference in the winter months.
With 5 people I'd expect higher (more showers, washing machine use, consoles/tvs in different rooms, etc) but £185 does sounds steep. You can't compare with the past though, electricity has shot up in the last couple of years, I think ours went up over 20% last year.
For interest, I checked the prices from n-power; first 728kWh/year is 15.4p/kWh then it drops to 12.8p, that's in Lincolnshire if the area makes any difference. Might be worth checking those rates against your estimate ?
And if it does come out at £185/month, then maybe you ought to take down those christmas lights from the roof ?
Sounds rather high to me. I analyse commercial energy billing as a job. There are a number of reasons why your bill might be miscalculated. I suggest you read your meter morning and evening for week or so and see if you can establish your typical day/night usage. Get your sequence of bills and extract the actual reads to see if your use figure coincides with the supplier. Has your supplier just grossly over-estimated. Is the use figure in line with your demand reads and equipment using electricity.
Made me think a bit as I've not been keeping an eye on it.
Inc VAT, £91/month for Jan/Feb/March for a 4 bed detached with electric cooking and gas C/H. As we've four young children the washing machine is non-stop and in these winter months the tumble drier takes a bashing too. Which seems about right from the posts above. Which means the OP's bill seems a bit steep!
Inc VAT, £91/month for Jan/Feb/March for a 4 bed detached with electric cooking and gas C/H. As we've four young children the washing machine is non-stop and in these winter months the tumble drier takes a bashing too. Which seems about right from the posts above. Which means the OP's bill seems a bit steep!
Edited by FamilyGuy on Sunday 26th July 09:17
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