Shit just got my electric bill!!

[2anddone]

Just got my electric bill it's gone up £200 compared to this time last year....it's going to get worse isn't it!
I have night storage heating which works on a thermostat and is set to low (17 degrees) plus a log cabin which I need to heat for my work (childcare so have to have heat!). I don't leave lights on unnecessarily, don't have my hot water heater switched on, only run my washing machine and dishwasher when they are full. The tv is on every evening but not in the daytime, don't have a tumble dryer.
I honestly can't see where I can save money on my electric bill (was over £400 this month)

I was paying 65 a month for my gas and electric on a budget tarriff that ended on 31st December I paid an additional 300 into my account to allow myself some breathing space and not worry too much about the heating this winter. EDF not only increased my monthly amount to 150 a month they refunded me the 300 overpayment, then the next week i got a message for them advising me to pay extra to prepare for the April increase! so i sent them back the 300! I have no idea whats going on and dont think they do either.

I live in a 2 bed flat. my bills have almost trebled and its not even april when the prices are meant to go up

I also have solar so can sell excess energy back to the grid, but I only get 7c per kw for that, and while I doubt if solar would be worthwhile for much of the UK, is it an option in the south?

It doesn’t matter where you are so much, as if you own your own home or not, and haven’t been so fleeced by the house prices being out of touch with wages for 20 odd years that you have the spare cash to pay for improvements.

We’re sitting ducks in the U.K. It all hits the poorest the hardest, and means there’s nothing worth doing here.

@PickledOnionSandwich

As an aside, the government are dead keen on us all having electric cars. Most people can’t even afford to buy one and now the electricity is going to be too expensive! I guess that idea is going to need to be reviewed (spoilers, it won’t be) 😂

Even if you were to pay the new price cap rate of 28p/kWh to charge an electric car at home, it would still be about half the cost per mile of a similarly sized petrol car. But most EV drivers don’t pay that, because we get a special tariff with a few cheap hours each night and charge it then.

Getting an EV has made me highly sensitive to the price of energy, with knock on effects on household habits.

I hope the weather stays like this. I've gotten away with no heating in my restaurant for a couple of weeks now. Guess it's quite a hot place with all the equipment but if it was as cold as it normally is at this time of year I would have to put it on. Obvs will probably snow tomorrow now

Do you have economy 7 for your storage heaters?

It’s shit isn’t it? The government could have chosen a different option, but no…

@Cappio

We can’t do anything about the price of electricity, the only thing we can affect is how much we use.

We’ve made brutal cuts here.

Dishwasher is gone. Washing up by hand is back.

Look at your laundry. Ask yourself, would I wash this now if I had to do it by hand? If the answer is no then it’s not that dirty. Underwear is washed after one use, everything else is washed when it is dirty not just because it has been worn

Showers, 5 min max

Deep freeze defrosted, seal checked, make sure it isn’t leaking cold air

Heating on between 6-7am for everyone to get changed. Comes back on 3-8. 18 degrees max. At 8 it drops to 16 degrees. At 10 it drops to 14. If you’re cold put on a jumper

Maybe it’s my age but most of what you describe here is what we’ve always done so these are not what I would call brutal cuts. We do still use the dishwasher. Washing clothes when they are actually dirty is sensible practice and good for the environment. Natural fibres are best for this and can be worn longer. Heating is pretty much as you described but we have a log burner which we light from 6-10. I have a stovetop kettle for the log burner. Showers have always been 5 mins or so ( we have egg time things for the teenagers) and I shower every second day with a wash in between if I need to. All lights are LEDs

i am not looking

Shit, dreading mine.

@Dibbydoos interested in your set up, been thinking about getting panels & batteries (the batteries being the important bit!), when did you get it installed and were you in receipt of any grants as well? Approx how much electricity (hours usage) will your batteries store and where are the batteries kept/how big are they in size?

We live in a two bed flat built in 2000...we used to pay about £80 a month but we were constantly using devices, tellies, and all that. We are with Bulb so we can't switch providers, and they've stopped answering the phone. Most recent monthly bill was £150. The bill doesn't make sense, in that we had tons of credit but they are still asking for £££, and we are still submitting meter readings, but we get the feeling they are just plucking numbers out of the air now. It's already changing our spending and consumption habits. I'm forever turning off switches, turning off the lights, running devices down to 1% before charging, eating more cold food and using the washing machine on all the eco-cycles (even though they are sh*t). Our boiler was recently found to be working very inefficiently so we replaced that at huge cost. Because we live in a well insulated flat I rarely put the heating on. All our lighting is LED now. I don't think anything is having much impact though. We might have to cut out our luxuries. I have a loan to pay back with a big repayment every month so I'm a bit worried tbh.

Our basic food bill for each week has rocketed up too. Used to spend £80-100 a week but now it's £120-150. So the energy crisis is already hitting food producers.

The Tory party is doing FA about this and it makes me so cross! £200 loans is NOT a solution to this problem. It’s a sticking plaster and makes me question their motivation.

Of course this will further drive up interest rates further in order to counteract all the massive price increases. I think a lot of families will struggle and ultimately lose their homes. I think there will be a recession as well. People just won’t afford to be able to live!

The Tory party are uncaring towards the situation and I don’t think they give a shit that this will ruin lives because if they did then they would be doing more about it.

They need to address the route cause of the problem. Has anyone heard any plans to increase gas storage? Or plans to limit rises like France has done? No. Because they don’t care! 😡 Rishi Sunak is a multi millionaire this won’t affect him or his family!

And you can bet that just like at the petrol pump, once the prices reach a certain amount they will NEVER go back down again.

Unless the public take action and literally take to the streets then nothing will be done and it will be the end modern life as we know it. I feel so sorry for children of this generation. What kind of future do they have? 😢

you cant reduce useage

Now that, right there, I’d fundamentally the problem with peoples attitude 😂

Of course you can reduce usage! You don’t need a fucking sunbed for a start. Go outside in the actual sun.

You absolutely need to know your usage, what devices draw a lot of power and see what changes you can make to reduce your power use.

There's a thread with some information here.

If you were on a very good fixed deal (like I was) , then the new price cap since the collapse of energy companies is going to hurt.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4471775-Confused-about-the-price-cap-and-energy-consumption-Heres-the-thread-for-the-physics-and-the-maths-to-help-you

@SpikeySmooth

Do you know your usage in KWh?

I was moved to Octopus. I used to pay £180 pcm but after I got moved I increased my own dd to £250pcm to try to get ahead. Have not had bill yet but not looking forward to it.

Op, Economy 7 is far from economical - more like astronomical and inefficient.

Well if there’s one good thing in all this shitshow, it’s people realising that they can wait until clothes are dirty before washing them 🤯

NZer here. We pay 16.3p per kwh. But probably use less due to our warmer climate on sub tropical North Island.

Wow - what provider are you with? I pay more than that and thought I was getting a good deal?

It’s definitely going to get worse. I’m just looking out over to my 87 neighbour, he is sitting in his living room eating breakfast with a thick coat and woolly hat on. Poor guy.

Oh ignore my last comment. I see you wrote 16.3p - I was thinking in cents!!!!

Can you make savings elsewhere? I’ve accepted that I can’t turn off my power any more than I do. But, I can save in other ways - let my hair air dry, not go to the hairdresser, dye it at home, shorter showers, use the car less, buy cheaper food/toiletries, less wine/snacks, less going out, use the library instead of buying books, buy less extravagant gifts, no new clothes

As it happens, we’re getting a log-burner fitted soon, so we’ll be able to heat the house with that rather than use the rip-off energy suppliers, which I’m loathe to support.

I've just been switched to OVO from Sourhern Electric and for the first time ever my bill is over £1000.

I always read the metre and we were billed £600 for the cut off from SE and somehow £400 + for one month with OVO.

And people making savings by not spending as much because bills have increased - and businesses who have to pass on increased costs to consumers - is going to have an effect on the economy...and people's jobs.

It's a bit depressing

I keep reading these threads, it sounds awful!. I am not in the UK and I pay $26.6 cents per Kw, which is 14.3p. What are you paying? I also have solar so can sell excess energy back to the grid, but I only get 7c per kw for that, and while I doubt if solar would be worthwhile for much of the UK, is it an option in the south? Petrol prices here are increasing to about $180 AUD where I live, which people are going nuts about, so I guess this is coming our way too, or is this a different issue?

Solar wotton U.K. and in the winter in the nirth, obviously not as well as strong as some countries but the solar panels. Have improved to get more out of them.

Electric is capped at 28p per until from April
Presently my supplier is charging 18p for electric and 4p for gas - the cap for gas will be 7p

Most households heat with gas not electricity

So my gas each week will be about £15 for heating, showers and stove. The electric is £10 for washing machine, lights, charging, oven & tumble drier

Petrol is £1.50 per litre Or £6.75 per gallon

$180 sounds a lot of money for a litre or gallon 😳