How much do you pay monthly for gas and electricity?

[Crunchymum]

Leading on from the other thread I just wanted a quick straw poll.

I'm now paying £185pcm for a small 3 bed maisonette. It just feels so much?

So you've established that the issue isn't meter readings or tariffs, it's usage. Sorry to repeat myself but which type of energy is higher than it might reasonably be? What are your annual usage units?

Family of 4. Working from home only 1 day a week but using tumble dryer, hair dryer, dehumidifier and regularly charging electric car, £179/month with EDF

£401 per month. Small 2 bed bungalow. 3 adults. 2 electric cars, but 1 is mainly charged at work. Ridiculous.

@Crunchymum do shop around, you may be able to get a cheaper fixed rate.

HOWEVER it's not simply prices that are a factor.

1. Do you have a smart meter or give regular readings? Your usage estimation for your direct debit could be being based off of estimated usage. Be prepared though that if you need to correct this to your actual usage it could actually go up.
2. Evaluate your home. LED light bulbs, timers, unplugging/turning off things on standby all go a long way to reducing consumption. If you have an electric shower that's another big one and I know my DC would take 45minute showers if I wasn't strict. The biggest portion of electricity usage by far is lighting so see what you can do there.
3. Heating. Gas or electricity? Have this on a timer and the thermostat as low as you can get away with. Mine is set at 20 maximum and everyone has onesies, slippers and oodies.
4. Fix the draughts. You can buy all sorts of things for bottoms of doors and window gaps ect.
5. Reflective radiator backings and curtains to keep the heat in help massively.
6. Heating only the rooms you use. Turn of radiators in rooms you don't.

£125pm in a victorians 3 bed semi

I'll dig out my statement when I'm home later. I assume its electricity that's the issue but I'm not sure.

Yes I give monthly readings.

We have a combi boiler.

Thermostat is actually broken so we currently turn heating on and off when needed. Hot water is always on.

We don't unplug things on standby but it's only really 1 TV? Console is off when not in use. I turn microwave off overnight.

Due to mould prevention windows need to be opened everyday, even just a crack for an hour in winter but yes some windows are old / rattly / draughty.

We could invest in some cheap curtains (I can't spend much) as most of the house barring 2 bedrooms are blinds / wooden shutters (beautiful old wooden shutters, original features but not great for retaining heat)

I will be honestbut switching things off at socket, especially when you have only couppe on standby is.. Just waste of effort imho.

Do you use oven a lot?

What do you mean by "hot water is always on"?

If that's an immersion heater you may have found your culprit

£75 a month, end of terrace, small 3 bed and 2 adults. With British Gas .
We also have 5 solar panels which were free in a scheme run by local council and Scottish government. It definitely helps.

Octopus
3 bed semi built in the 60s - gets very condensation-y unless we keep on top of windows/heat/dehumdifier.
Two adults and a dog (I do put the heating on timer so it comes on for a hour on cold day for her 🫣) but we’re out all day at work. Heating is on for an hour first thing and probably about three/four hours in the evening.

Last year was our first winter here and we paid £160 a month electric and gas. We forgot to reduce it in the spring/start of summer, so we’re now only paying £80 because the usage predictor thing is suggesting we have enough of an overpaid cushion to make it through winter again. We will probably put the payment up a bit just to be sure and to keep it built up for next year.

We’ve replaced the boiler and the front door since we moved in so hoping that makes a difference too.

Combi heaters are connected all the time but only activate when the hot water is used - if the heating kicks in or a hot water tap is turned on. Guessing this is what the op means?

OP I bought my curtains over time from eBay. There are lots of deceased estates or second hand sellers getting rid of good quality, heavy, wool lined curtains and roman blinds. There may be try nice neutral plain curtains out there. I always bought massive things which I then had altered (some of them years after I bought them as I couldn’t afford to do it at the time). I put them all up myself to cut costs. There was one set that was too long because I had a radiator under the window - I cut the bottom off myself and had it sewn up properly a year later. I couldn’t afford to do it at the time so it looked naff but it did the job. If your windows are ‘ratly’ then I suspect you’re losing most of your heat through those.

£149 a month - 2 of us in a 1960s semi. I WFH and the tumble dryer gets a fair bit of use for DH's uniform though. :) We end up in credit over summer and then it sees us through winter.

What do you mean the thermostat is broken so you’re just turning the heating on and off? What are you turning it on to? It makes a difference if you’re telling the heat to just keep going or you’re telling it to go off once it’s reached, say, 20 degrees. Thermostats aren’t expensive and it’s a quick job for someone to replace it. I think this would make a big difference.

Also yes to curtains. Draw them as soon as it starts getting dark to keep the heat in. People are always giving away curtains on Facebook sites. We had a big curtain across our front door before we replaced it and it made a big difference in terms of warmth in the hallway.

£150/month in a draughty three bed with Octopus tracker, with central heating on virtually all day over the winter months. The tracker rate has saved us a FORTUNE over the last couple of years.

Eon, £74, live alone in small and reasonably well insulated flat.

@Fallulah I’m not that poster but we don’t have thermostats in our house for some reason. Heating is either on or off, we turn it on/off at the boiler.

The thermostat doesn't connect to the boiler. It doesn't "read" it. We think it's where it's placed. But also the boiler is old and needs to be replaced within the next few years. We're saving but cannot afford it right now.

So we currently turn the heating on at main control, house warms up and then we turn it off. Been doing this for the past few winters. It's not set to a temperature, we just turn it off when house feels warm enough (it's never left on all day and we keep it off overnight etc)

It will be more than just the TV, lamps, chargers, laptops, kettle, nightlight, radio, heaters, extract or fans. ANYTHING that stays plugged in with the switch turned on continues to consume energy.

Every little helps.

I also open my windows and doors daily. Year round. But when they are closed I want them draft proof.

Having curtains, carpets and soft furnishing also helps keep warmth in for heat savings.

So many people complain about energy prices but don't want to put the effort into improving their homes energy efficiency.

£380 a month for 6 bed detached and 3 adults all wfh.

£110 pm gas & electric. 2 bed, 1 adult

It is affordable, but it's crazy. I'm wondering what I should be doing about it now.

Thing is I've looked solar panels and the outlay is about 15k so never seems worth it for the supposed savings

£360 pcm for 5 bedroom bungalow, single person household and the heating doesn't go on till October. Combination of fixed rate electricity from Octopus and oil but it's been going up every year. I'm expecting oil prices to rise over the next year as well.

The only way to know if you're using too much, is a comparison with an identical house and same number of occupants.

Individuals don’t consume a fixed amount of energy, so that won’t work either.

Our direct debit is £450 per month. Most of the time it’s just the two of us, in a draughty 5 bedroom Victorian semi. My husband is retired and I’ve worked from home for the last 20 years, so there’s almost always someone in during the day. Now that it’s got colder, we’ve got the heating on already - I refuse to live the rest of my life being cold or bundled up in loads of layers.