Smart meter reading shock

[Parkingt111]

We have moved to a new house two months ago and until now we're on a Direct debit with British gas of around a £100 a month. Finally switched on the smart meter and this is what it shows. Is this normal?? It seems incredibly high. We live on a 4 bed semi detached and have the thermostat set to 18 degrees. Today's daily usage is showing £12.50 for gas and electric which means on average the monthly bill will be £375? Is this how much most people are paying?

A TV on standby doesn't cost £25 a year, this has been done to death. Using a smart plug our TV doesn't use enough energy on standby to register, so less than 1 Watt.

Even if it did use 1 Watt an hour, so 24 Watts a day, 24 x 365 =8.76 kWh.

8.76 x 34 ( assuming you are on the unit price cap of 34p per kWh) is 297.84p

So less than 3 quid a year to eave a tv on standby, assuming it uses 1 watt, which is more than it actually does.

Most of the things you have listed use very little power.

This thread is worth a read.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/cost_of_living/4618028-the-how-much-does-this-cost-to-run-thread?page=28&reply=121974761

Not everyone can afford that. If I don't underheat then I will have to undereat, which will be more likely to make me ill with a fairly recent history of AN. DS is 16 and feels the cold less than me, he's in a t-shirt right now.

You will still be spending a lot less next summer in gas though even if the price goes up.

I’ve just read our meter and worked out in the last 20 days having heating atb18.5 from 6.30am-10.30 pm in a five bed semi has averaged at £9.50 a day so would be £285 for gas and £100ish for elec over a month. It will only be that much for a few months and is balanced by much lower usage in the summer.
still a lot for many people but our DD of £250 seems about right for our usage.

3 bed detached here and I've just checked my smart meter and it's £63 for this week so far. Heating is set to 22 7 hours a day, 4 of us in the house using electric, showers, baths, 2 of them are small kids so I do a lot of washing and tumble drying. I also have an electric car so that gets charged too.

It's a lot but it will even out in the summer. We will be using no heating, barely any tumble dryer, less lights and my car will get more miles from a charge. Next winter is a concern, we can afford a bit of an increase but not huge because the mortgage will be going up by potentially hundreds next year too.

@Parkingt111
my son specifically just bought a flat where the whole building was designed to be eco friendly and have very cheap heating
The building has something that’s called a biomass thermal pump in the grounds that heats the wet underfloor heating for the flats

To keep the flat at 19 -20 degrees cost around £10 a week in the winter . That’s for heating and hot water .
Even when it’s switched off the flat is still really warm
His electric with Eon is around £20 a week I think

And the building has solar panels as well

I honestly think that new builds that are being built now should have similar types of heating as it would be so much more cheaper for people

but it would mean the electric / gas companies wouldn’t make as much money so I doubt it

Modern TVs use hardly anything, the thing that does use more if anyone has them, we have 2, are the SKY+HD boxes, on normal standby they use 30watts, possibly more, they need to be put into eco mode which switches them off for a few hours at night if you are not recording anything, anyone with SKY Q probably needs to check standby costs also.

Our boiler has been broken for 3 weeks. A new one will be installed next month. £3-4k. Ouch.

Top tips for keeping warm without using central heating:

Single duvets on sofas with teddy bear fleece covers.
Hoody blankets. Layers. Fleecy loungewear. Slippers. Hats.
Electric blankets on all beds. With teddy bear fleece covers.

Hot drinks. Hot meals.

We've got a wood burner so using that to heat the living room each evening. That room gets to 22 degrees after a few hours.
It is 5-6 degrees elsewhere though. Not had ice indoors yet so still not as bad as my parents generation.

There is simply no way we could afford anywhere near £10 a day. When it works it's on for about 2 hours a day on very cold days.

The cap is going up to £3000 for the average household isn't it? Depends if the rates will go up by a similar percentage or if it will go disproportionately on gas I guess. Do you know if the cap is specifically linked to the average 2900 and 12000kwh, or if this average goes down this winter with many people cutting back, could they put rates up so it still comes to £3000? Worried they could do this and I really can't make more cuts.

You will still be spending a lot less next summer in gas though even if the price goes up.
Yes, once heating is off I can get by on 10 units, or about 110kwh a month. It's next winter I worry about.

The cap is being looked at every quarter - so I guess we find out in April.

It will be October 23 and Jan 24 where we will have higher charges and less support - I suspect that energy support will be targeted- and who knows what the kWh charge will be.

That's why I really try to ensure that I know my usage and what it relates to. Being able to budget.

Yes I thought that! 🤦🏻‍♀️

About right.

Most people are in credit by the time winter comes. It'll even out in the summer

im in a 3 bed on PAYG and spend £6 a day on gas and about £5 on electric per day

It's not up to the energy companies how we choose to build or heat our homes.

We earn our crust in forestry, I have recently sold a load of wood for bio mass for a client. He hasn't made any money out of it, it's just a way of getting his land cleared at break even level.

1 load is 30 tons and the balance of the cost cutting, gathering and moving it are very tight, there isn't that much moneys worth of energy in 30 tons of wood.

If he had done this a couple of years ago it would have cost him to get rid of it. There is a limited amount of biomass available and demand is high and likely to remain so.

Linking this, it's a turn down and save that gives you money for each kWh you save at certain times

https://loop.homes/turn-down-and-save/

Yes it will even out over the course of the year but perhaps by not as much as people realise, don't forget there is going to be another increase in April by 20%.

Yes - April, then July, October...

And Government subsidies will be reduced

It's so bloody cold. 19 degrees is fine if you're pottering about. If you're sitting on your ass, it's cold!

My heating is currently on full blast in my living room. It's the only radiator on. My feet are freezing.

I think my internal thermostat is broken. Our heating hasn’t been sat to above 18 yet, and we’ve been plenty warm enough (if not too warm sometimes). I thought maybe there was a fault with the thermostat so got out the old gro egg from when my children were babies and it seems it’s right, it is actually 18 in our living areas. When it went up to 19 yesterday I was boiling! My children and husband have said they’re warm enough too so not sure what’s wrong with us!

Get yourself a wheat bag to warm up in a microwave. It really helps with cold feet.

I think many people can just adapt. It's 10 degrees in here, admittedly I'm wearing winter hiking trousers as they felt safer with hiking boots to walk into town at 8 this morning. Otherwise just a top and jumper, slippers, blanket over my legs. I don't feel cold. I used to have the heating at 17.