Energy again - sorry - but a bit more complicated for me and I need help

[Graphista]

Partly I need help cos my maths is crap!

Situation is I am currently on prepay with a company that only does prepay and I wouldn't wanna stay with them anyway.

I think I can provide information on kWh energy usage from their data on me

Moving to a smaller place but similar building. I think I've found out who the current provider is.

With the energy price rises etc though I have no idea how to choose which company and which tariff to go with.

At the moment I am thinking to do a meter read when I move in and another a week later using everything as normal to get a baseline?

That will give me my kWh usage per week in winter I think?

Comparison sites are apparently useless at the moment?

And they always were for comparing prepay to credit anyway.

So can knowledgable/clever mners who know/understand this stuff PLEASE help me work out or signpost me to how I check prices to compare and what information I need to hand and what to look for etc I am SO confused at the moment by it all (as I'm sure many are)

I can't even check prices with the current provider to the new address as they only show them to existing customers! Wtf! I don't yet have an account with them will be calling them tomorrow

MSE advice is to stay on deemed tariff until prices can be checked?

I'm sure there must be energy industry people on mn - feel free to name change to help me I totally understand why you may want to do so in the current climate, pm if you'd prefer I won't out you in any way.

Just really need solid help/info on this as I'm on a low income and need to keep prices as low as possible - yea I know who doesn't!

I'm so wound up/anxious it's gonna be hard to sleep tonight yet I need to cos I'm gonna have to wake up early to phone a load of people not just the energy thing other hiccups too mainly due to people not doing their jobs!

So utterly maddening!

Why does moving house have to be SO HARD?!

Edf energy

I think you've got your unit prices and standing charges mixed up:

Electric is standing charge of 49.65 and unit price 27.84
Gas is standing charge of 27.22 and unit price 7.336

49.65 × 365 = 181.22
27.84 x 2232 = 621.39

27.22 x 365 = 99.35
7.336 x 2669 = 195.80

Total = 1097.76
Divide by 12 months = £91.48

Not sure if you'll be able to read this but the first figure in the peach column is the standing charge and the second is the unit price for electricity . The same is true for the blue column for gas

The figures I quoted are going to be around the same as the EDF one as it's the price cap.

I have put a screenshot for OPs area from the edf website. I think OP has taken details from the website as I posted it earlier but has quoted the standing charges rather than price per kWh

@dementedpixie is that the most expensive direct debit unit charges they have? I'm working on worst case scenario at the moment

I've got the same table I think same prices stupidly didn't manage to get in column headings.

My mistake I think

So
Based on that are the calculations (apologies long winded)

Elec daily standing charge 49.65p
X 365 / 12 = £15.10 pcm

Usage (based on current flat kWh) 27.84p x 2232kwh pa / 12 = £51.78 pcm

TOTAL PCM - £66.88

Gas daily standing charge 27.22p x 365 / 12 = £8.28 pcm

Usage (based on current flat kWh)
7.336p x 2669 / 12 = £163.16

TOTAL PCM - £171.44 - yikes is that correct?!

TOTAL FOR BOTH - 238.32

That's insane!!

I had the ch on last winter but not this winter last 30 days this winter =

Gas 28.78 kWh

Elec 289.65 kWh

Last winter it was cold and I very stupidly/lazily had the heating on all the time this was partly as it is awkwardly placed for me to turn on/off and partly it took me forever to find out make and model of boiler and how to work the timer. So I will have overspent massively in previous years! Kicking myself but I'm sure I won't be the only one

Won't be doing that again!

I've already located online instructions for new place inc the timer.

You have your maths wrong for your gas

7.336p x 2669 / 12 = £16.32

You need to check your maths so no you arent correct. I put the maths above

@Graphista
Your gas is £0.0736 per unit x 2669 is £196.44, divided by 12 is £16.40 a month.

So 8.28 monthly standing charge + 16.40 is 24.68 a month for gas.

So 66.88 elec and 24.68 gas totals 91.56 a month.

Oh ffs!! I've been doing 0.7336 for 73.36 PENCE it's 0.07336 isn't it? Crap at maths! I shoulda done 73.36/100 to start with to keep me right

You all wanna kill me now don't you?

@Graphista

Oh ffs!! I've been doing 0.7336 for 73.36 PENCE it's 0.07336 isn't it? Crap at maths! I shoulda done 73.36/100 to start with to keep me right

You all wanna kill me now don't you?

It's a good maths question for school.

Here are the KWH. These are the charges, You are the bank. Decide on what you should charge per month.

(Of course, the crafty students will charge more just in case and go on to get careers in banking)

So with the correct figure for gas (£16.32) you get
15.10 + 51.78 + 8.28 + 16.32 = 91.48 which is what I put earlier.

You need to take a deep breath and calm down I think as you're getting yourself all worked up and getting things mixed up and panicking.

Now thinking I did the standing charges wrong too Arrrrrrghhhh

Please don't kill me!

Joking aside I genuinely really struggle with maths. This is why stuff like this really stresses me out and why people like energy companies see me coming!!

Your other calculations were fine

@Graphista

Now thinking I did the standing charges wrong too Arrrrrrghhhh

Please don't kill me!

Joking aside I genuinely really struggle with maths. This is why stuff like this really stresses me out and why people like energy companies see me coming!!

You'll be paying around £90 per month - but don't forget that your gas use will be low in summer and may well increase in winter when the tariff changes. (maybe a conversation for later)

If you want advice on lowering energy usage, just post it. I enjoy doing the maths and the science.

Of course, the crafty students will charge more just in case and go on to get careers in banking



I seriously hate maths! Can't do anything beyond really basic whole number arithmetic always been like that

I am panicking I always get like this with maths based stuff - wanna know something REALLY scary? I used to be a hcp and had to work out meds doses based on patient weight - in kg!!

I'll have a cuppa and a calm down and try again

@dementedpixie are your calculations based on current 30 day usage but April prices?

Thank you for all your maths efforts pps I must honestly be driving you nuts!!

That said - why do the energy companies have to make it so bloody complicated? I don't even know what a kWh is!!

Bulb very expensive so you will find a bit cheaper...they have gone bust anyway so you wont be able to use them....just the company which has taken over their accounts.....i wouldnt fix until things settle....we are fixed already until 2023.....then will see how things are.

There were supposed to be several after cakeorwines quote

@Graphista I just used your figures for usage and the prices for April and then divided the resulting figure by 12. I got the same as you except for the gas one you got wrong

That said - why do the energy companies have to make it so bloody complicated? I don't even know what a kWh is

Ok

You need energy to make something happen such as a light work, a heater heat etc.

Energy is measured in Joules.

If energy is being delivered to a device at a rate of 1 Watt, that is the same as 1 Joule per second.

So a 1000 watt device (such as a hairdrier) needs energy at 1000 joules per second.

If I run a 1000 watt (and that is the same as 1 kilowatt) device for 1 hour, then I have used 1 KWH hour of energy.

If I run a 1000 Watt device for 0.5 hours, I use 0.5 KWH of energy

If a run a 2000 watt device for 0.5 hr, I have used 1 KWH energy.

So a high power device for a short time can use the same amount of energy as a low power device for a long time,

You'll be paying around £90 per month - but don't forget that your gas use will be low in summer and may well increase in winter when the tariff changes. (maybe a conversation for later)

If you want advice on lowering energy usage, just post it. I enjoy doing the maths and the science.

I've not had the ch on all winter partly cos I was afraid of the prices cos the news about the prices going up started months ago. Also partly as current heating a faff to deal with!

Its only me at home now so I've been using a space heater and wrapping up warm. I'm mostly in bed anyway due to disability I can't sit for long periods and wear leggings and a tee under pjs plus bed socks and sometimes even a hat!

My main usage is Wi-Fi/internet devices - again because of the disability/health side of things. Voice activated stuff is SO much easier for me. Plus I've ALWAYS got radio or streaming on as I get anxious otherwise. I also need main lights on rather than lamps as my eyesight is not great in artificial light. Cooking I don't use loads of energy as I either am cooking fairly quick things or if it's an oven thing I tend to try and batch cook, thinking of getting a slow cooker.

But very open to hearing any additional tips/ways to cut usage.

New place is at least draft proof current place is single glazing and drafty doors

@dementedpixie thank you! I will be very happy if I'm around £90 a month for energy - at least for now.

I know it's only a "best guess" as I don't really know what my usage will be and nobody knows what will happen with prices

@cakeorwine wow! Thank you! NOBODY else has ever explained this to me in a way I can understand I never knew why consumers needed to know the wattage of an appliance

My dad (engineering based career!) used to try and explain such things to me but nowhere near as simply and then he'd get frustrated with me being thick and just lose the temper and give up!

I'm actually gonna copy and paste that into notes on my phone and keep reading it so I learn it!

I really really appreciate everyone's patience with me!

If my maths teachers had been this patient maybe I wouldn't have had to retake my GCSE! (Scraped a C even 2nd time!)

I'm sure I won't be the only person struggling with the maths of all this.

^Cooking I don't use loads of energy as I either am cooking fairly quick things or if it's an oven thing I tend to try and batch cook, thinking of getting a slow cooker.

But very open to hearing any additional tips/ways to cut usage^

Slow cooker great idea, I got a very cheap one from Asda (£7! but it was a 'back to university student offer' so normal price basic small one might be more like £10-15?

Also, if you cook things in an oven (not sure about 'casserole' type things, or pizzas) but roast veg, potato products, sausages, portions of meat/fish etc, could you be able to find the money for an air fryer?

They're much quicker than ovens and it's a smaller space to heat up, so I'm sure they use less energy than a full oven (another calculation project for @cakeorwine? - I actually haven't dug out the rating info for our oven or air fryer to compare, but I'm fairly certain they're cheaper to run).

We got ours from Costco for £47, I'm not sure about costs elsewhere or if cheaper ones are any good, but it could be that both slow cookers and air fryers are the type of thing that people buy and don't use as much as they thought so have languishing in a cupboard or they buy while they have their kitchen done or if their oven breaks etc, so it might be worth looking on Freecycle, FB marketplace for both the slow cooker and the air fryer?

But anyway, I really like ours and it's often just me as DP either gets fed at work or works away quite a bit so I'm getting round to rearranging our kitchen a little so it can stay out rather than bringing it in and out of the cupboard.

It could well be that, if you only cook for 1/2 people, you could do nearly all your non hob cooking with a slow cooker and air fryer and not have to use the oven or grill at all.

Good that you're not a long or daily showerer (are you allowed to admit to that on MN??) as electric showers can be horrifically expensive.

Ours is 10.8 kW and I think I worked out that if 4 people all had a 10 minute shower each day (I don't actually know how long I'm in the shower) that would cost about £60 pm just on showering - can't remember which unit price that was at, they're going up so fast at the moment.