Exceptionally high energy bills. Anyone else?

[HighBills]

We moved into our new home last summer. It's a 3 bed semi detached, but quite large (1500sqft).

We've got 2 babies and so we have the heating on quite a lot so their rooms aren't freezing overnight. We're also constantly washing clothes and the tumble dryer is used daily. We are home during the day as I'm on maternity leave.

Our bill this month for heating and electricity is £440. Gulp. Is anyone else paying this much? We're with Octopus and on the best rate for us.

The vast majority of the bill is gas. I'm sure there are some things I can do to bring the electric bill down a bit - but very little I can do with gas as we need to keep the house warm. Just curious what others are paying?

Bump

I’m in a detached 4 bed. January use was 53 units of gas which is about 600kwh costing £45. I’m pretty low use though. My heating only comes on once a day for 2 hours and hot water every other day. My electric was 122 units (122kwh) at £47. Maybe look at what appliances your using to see if you can cut back?

Ideally you would look at ways to insulate your house, but obviously this costs money before it saves you money. We have a similar sized house and heating on 19/20 most of the day but our bills are lower. It's off at night though. We have however added internal/roof insulation as well as new boiler and new windows (big expenses!). You could look at things like draft excluders to try to improve things for a small cost.

We don't own a tumble dryer (the house is warm enough to dry clothes fairly quickly) but as you said, the electricity is a fairly small part of your bills.

At least you should have less issue with mould etc causing you expenses in the long run.

The last month has been one of the coldest ever, so your bill will likely fall.

You need to look at the whole picture. What's the house insulation like? Can you improve it - does it need better insulation and/or new windows and doors? If yes, and you can't afford these, thick curtains, closed during darkness, will help a little.

What temperature are you heating to? You don't need 'full' heating on at night, just don't let it fall below about 17/18 C. You can also limit the heating used by closing doors, or using a thermostat and smart valves if possible.

Do you really need to use the tumble dryer so much? Can you use a heated airer or little baby clothes and even nappies will dry on a socktopus above a radiator in a few hours.

Our monthly direct debit of £450 per month with Octopus. We're in a quite draughty five bedroom Victorian house, but I don't think we're particularly extravagant with energy.

Thanks for the replies so far. We had the house refurbed before we moved in. This includes extra insulation, new boilers and windows downstairs.

I'm just curious to see how much others are paying this winter.

We have never had heating on overnight even when there were babies in the house. Heating is on for a couple of hours am and pm and hot water is on 1 hour per day. We don't have a tumble dryer.

Last month our charges were £293 for electricity (have an electric car that gets charged at home) and £114 for gas.

4 bed detached with 2 adults and 2 teens. Lots of clothes washing and use of electric showers also drives our electricity bill up.

We're with Octopus - our January bill was £343 and we're about 1800 sq ft in a draughty Victorian terrace with single glazing.

We have the heating on for much of the day, run a heat pump tumble dryer at least once a day but never have the heating on overnight - same as a pp we've never heated the house overnight, even when we had tiny babies.

Just to add - our monthly energy DD is £190.

We're in a very poorly insulated 5 bedroom 70s town house, I'm home most of the time, and our December usage was £320. Young kids really don't need it that warm, or if the house is warm, clothes would dry without using the tumble dryer (if ventilation is fine, damp shouldn't be a problem). We do have Hive and keep the heating set to 15° overnight so no one freezes.

I would try putting clothes on an airer (overnight if you don't want it out). Then just finish them off in the tumble drier.

I mean, it's a lot but this is why you build up credit to use across winter.

I think it’ll be the heating and the tumble dryer. That’s what does it for me. I need to get some draft excluders and some door curtains

Hi I'm in a two bedroom semi detached. My gas and electric bill was £172 last month.....a record even for me!!! Can you put extra blankets on the children bed at night?? Our heating is on twice a day, night time its extra blankets. Clothes go on the airer/rails on radiators and airing cupboard

Well its been a coldish Jan, so a £440 bill with heavy Gas central heating to maintain room temps 24hrs a day feels about right. Its on the high side of average but not unrealistic for the conditions you describe.

Would probably equal about <finger in the air> £275/mth average direct debit annual usage. Seeing it this way often helps with budgeting.
Looking at a winter month in isolation is always a bit stark...

You might find some of your summer bills are sub £150/mth to balance things out.

My humble opinion is that heating the house through the night for babies comfort is pretty luxurious. If they are not in a draft and have blankets, there is unlikely to be a need (I never did).
Personally I believe that thicker PJs and another blanket costs less... and yes I could tell stories of frost inside the window panes of the house we grew up in and Scandi mums leaving the kids to sleep outside on the porch in winter etc and everyone lived.
But its your money - spend it as you wish eh!!

Get a few heated airers from John Lewis if you can afford it I think that’ll be less expensive than a tumble dryer

I'm on a 5 bed new build town house. My bill is around the 200 mark for gas and electric . But I have probably had the heating on less than 10 hrs this winter

We're with Octopus. We live in a 3 bed semi detached cottage and pay £200 a month. Our bill for January was £121 for electricity which is just above average for us and £200 for gas. My heating is on throughout the day and we use the washing machine and tumble dryer most days. We borrowed a thermal camera from Octopus earlier this year which showed the cold spots in the house which we addressed, mostly filling gaps, adding curtains and draft excluders.

Jesus, that sounds miserable.

Thanks everyone. Again, I'm not asking how to lower the bills. I can see where the money is going and how I could lower if need be 🙂

Interested in whether others are paying similar to us.

As an aside, we heat the house overnight to keep our room at 18 degrees or so. Our youngest is newborn so we'd rather not have a chill. Especially as he freezes when we do nappy changes. As PP said, it is a luxury to do so, we just scrimp and save in other areas so the room isn't freezing for him at night.

I think our house is roughly 12000sqft. We've been paying £137pm, but recently put down to £100pm as we're £600 in credit, so been overpaying. Compared to you, we don't use a tumble dryer. Also, in 29 years, heating has only been put on twice at night during exceptionally cold nights. One of us is here all day, but heating isn't on constantly. Never has been. It's set to around 18c. Our income massively reduced just after we had DD, so had heating on even less then - she was one of the healthiest babies we knew. Obviously she got colds and tummy upsets, but always seemed to recover quicker than her friends, so being in a chilly house didn't affect her. We made sure she had layers on and if lying/sat still put a blanket over her legs. Also, we shower rather than use the bath (as we prefer) but heating water costs a lot.

I think our gas bill was £150 for January. We have a four bed detached, we keep the house at 17c through the night and 20.5c/ 21c throughout the day.

4 bed detached, total fuel bill was £243 for January with Octopus. Gas heating on from 6am to midnight every day at temperatures varying from 17.5 to 19. I pay £135pm DD and am still in credit.

Why ?

10 hours of heating across the whole of winter...I mean, even the most energy efficient home must be unfathomably cold with such little heating?...Wait, unless you are one of those smug woodburning stove users who lets the neighbourhood compensate for your heating bills with poor air quality?

3 bed detached Victorian house, I’m not sure of square footage have a combi boiler & heat pump tumble dryer (probably use once a day) bill for January was £70.00 electricity £256.00 for gas the heating is on 6am-9.30am & 2pm-10pm I have overridden the timer quite a few times last month as it was so cold we pay £225.00 dd & have built up quite a bit of credit so not an issue going over the dd amount which I’m grateful been in a position to do so, think the only way you could decrease the bill if you don’t have it on overnight but with a newborn can understand why you would be reluctant hopefully it will warm up a bit soon.