Gas and electricity costs

I pay for what I use each month rather than by DD over the year. December was £102, most other winter months around £70, dropping to £60 in summer. I am in a tiny mid terrace with 2 ft thick walls. can't afford to run the electric heaters all that often but light the logburner instead. Don't run the hot water often either - but I live alone so I can get away with it.

We’ve got an air source heat pump, insulation blah blah. Works well. Not sure if it’s cheaper or more expensive tbh! Always warm.

Gas is piped straight to our homes. Non-renewable electricity has to be generated (often by burning gas!) There are significant losses in power stations, and further energy is lost in the transmission lines.

4 bed bungalow, we use the washing machine and tumble dryer a lot, and put the heating on when it's cold. £295 a month for both

About £153 pcm. Semi retired so at home most days. Never have on at night.
Four bedroom semi detached, old and draughty house. Have had it on lower/a lot less since investing in my utterly fabulous, heavyweight heated throw, though 😀

Thanks for the motivation to go and check my current fuel plan and last year's usage, and calculate that if I use the same number of kWh of gas and electricity in 2025 that I did in 2024 it will "only" cost £1430.79 for the year, so my monthly direct debit can stay at £120.

I was surprised to realise that the standing charges are now £226.74 a year for electricity and £102.89 for gas, and reminded to be grateful for gas central heating, because the price for a kWh of electricity is 20.97p compared to 5.56p for each kWh of gas. Why is gas so much cheaper than electricity?

Last year I paid for 2883.10 kWh of electricity at a cost of £1,311.42, and although I burned through 8931.20 kWh of gas it only added £626.96 to the annual bill.

Using the same number of kWh to heat the house with electricity, would cost £1872.87 (£1245.91 more) raising my monthly direct debit from £120 to £223.82. I don't know how people who don't have gas heating manage to afford to heat their houses, though it goes a long way towards explaining why so many people are so reluctant to switch on their central heating.

4 bed 4 people approx £140pm DD. Electric only (no gas in the house). Works out over the year. Sometimes more sometimes less. Currently using up credit from spring / summer as well not much left!

5 bed detached house 3 people, 2 of which WFH 3 days. Months range from £70 summer to £250 winter so average around £150. I'd say we are pretty frugal for the size of house though

Same - they say “oh it’s so much better - you only heat the room you are in!” ignoring that electricty is 4x the cost of gas!

Maybe if you live in a 5 bedroom detached house you benefit. But in a 1 bedroom apartment you don’t.

About £1800 a year, our monthly DD varies

Four bed house, two people, £117 a month combined bill (gas boiler heating & water heating).

5
Bedroom house 600 for December _all electrical heating and electric car. Usually 100
In summer

Two bed flat, two healthy people who are out most of the day. We pay £75 per month for gas and electricity and that more or less breaks us even across the year.

Looking at the smart meter display we have been averaging about £5.50 per day during this cold snap - more like £6 - £7 on days the washing machine and oven are also used. In summer it is more like £2.50 - £3 per day.

4 bed/2 bath detached house situated on top of a hill so pretty cold at times. (Semi rural)

During 2024 we paid £170 per month DD - Octopus - but we were £425 in credit by the end of the year.

Our heating is on 24 hours per day - 18 during the day/14 overnight - as we are both retired plus we use the living flame gas fire in the sitting room from 1230pm until 1030pm every day during the colder months.

We normally turn off the central heating - apart from heating the water twice per day - from 01 May until end of September and normally leave the country for 6 weeks per year - 2 weeks in the winter when we leave the heating on at 12.

It's a pretty pointless question because you are going to get everyone answering from 1 bed new build flats that use hardly any power to people living in 6 bedroom mansions from the 1600s that are ruinously expensive.

Plus at the moment we are just coming out of a massive cold snap. My heating was about £6 a day, or £180 a month for this past week. But over the next 2 weeks or so it will be less than half that.

4 bed detached out - 2 adults 2 kids. 1 adult WFHs every day.
£150 a month for both - breaks even over the year.

I think people find kWh and standing charges too complicated, and they don’t care to learn how to understand them. Also, most mobile phone contracts have unlimited calls and texts, and people like to assume that energy works on the same basis.

Electric radiators here. Way too fucking expensive

2 people, small 2 bed bungalow on pre-pay meters for both gas and electric. £80 on each and always have credit left over at the end of the month.

3 bed linked detached
£113 a month combined gas and electiricity combi boiler.
Just 2 adults

A heat pump would do the same job as GCH, with similar running costs. Of course the installation costs are somewhat higher.

Oh yes - I know. I said I was electric only it’s just very annoying! More me having a rant than being confused.

I know gas is more harmful to the environment but I have never wished more for gas central heating in my life!

Plus all the other variables (affordability, preferred temperature etc etc). Also people quote their DD amount which doesn't necessarily match up well with the amount they use, quite often too much or two little).

As a 'numbers' person I find it strange how MN seems to love comparing poorly defined numbers with people in completely different situations to themselves. What does it achieve?

It’s gone up 50% since I moved in a year ago it’s depressing to think about

Ah, that’s your answer, unfortunately. Electricity is, by far, the most expensive way to heat a property, unless you have storage heaters or a heat pump.