to ask how much you pay for fuel each month?

[Newmummytobe79]

I'm currently on maternity leave so stressing about our fuel bills. Before DC we were both out of the house from 7am - 7pm so heating wasnt an issue, but with a baby I obviously need to keep our house warm, use the washing machine more etc

We live in a small semi detatched and our monthly payments are £117 for gas and electricity. This is based on our usage prior to me being at home ... so I havnt a clue what we'll owe once winter is over!

I want to move company but keep reading about how they are all as bad as each other.

Is this amount excessive or reasonable in the current market?

Ah PigletJohn, that would involve me moving a tonne of crap out of my filthy soot-filled loft on my own.

It's always a job for 'next year.'... But you are right, of course.

If I offered to give you £150 cash, would you move it?

npower put it up recently from £98 to £129! But I went to go compare and changed tariffs and got it back down to £110. That's gas and electric in 4 bed end of terrace.

electricity is £45pm on DD which is probably about right as have just switched and based on actual KwH last year.
oil is about 2,000 litres a year, so upwards of £100 a month.

4 bed detached, 1 adult, 2 children.

£30 a month for gas and electric but I do work really hard to keep it that low

PigletJohn do you know roughly how much does it cost per hour:

Washing machine
Dishwasher
Electric oven
Electric hob
Gas shower
Tumble Dryer
tv
pc/laptop
Lights

OP, there will be a HUGE varation depending on how many bedrooms people have, how many kids, if they are a SAHM like you and of course the levels of insulation.

My 4 bed detached is a new build with all the insulation you'd expect and a relatively new boiler means my bills are way lower than my last house which was a 1970's semi with a crap boiler.

I moved to British Gas over a year ago and to be honest I haven't had any problems with them. I'm on their online saver 4 tariff which means I read my own meter once a month and input it into their website. This then means I can see exactly how much I am spending.

Their website also shows me my past, present and predicts future usage. It means I won't get a nasty shock given I know month by month what I am spending.

I even rang them and threatened to move to nPower who were showing up cheaper on uSwitch and they offered me a £100 retention bonus in 12 months time if I stayed. Sounded easier to me than switching. Worth others trying it out. Worst case they say no.

£60 electric, no gas, huge amount of oil as soon as we put the heating on! ( think £1500 to fill the tank). 6 bed very uninsulated old cottage.

Laquitar

Apart from the tumble drier and the lights, most of them vary because the heating element goes on and off controlled by a thermostat (e.g. oven and washer)

Tumble drier is easy, they are usually about 3kW, and they use it all the time they are running, and this year electricity is costing about 14p per kWh, so a 3kW appliance is (3x14) = 42p per hour. A kettle uses about the same, but is only run for a few minutes, not for hours per day.

A 15W CFL (energy saving bulb) costs (0.015x14p) = 0.21p per hour

An old-fashioned 100W lamp (filament bulb) cost (0.1x14p) = 1.4p per hour

My computer seems to use about 300W so (0.3 x 14p) = 4.2p per hour

A typical bathroom extractor fan is about 20W so costs (0.02 x 14p) = 0.28p per hour (so I get very annoyed by people who have damp, mouldy bathrooms)

You can sometimes get "electricity used per cycle" figures from appliance brochures or "Which" tests.

For example looking at recent "Which" best buys, I see they say a particular Fridge Freezer uses £31 per year and a particular washing machine uses £29 assuming using the machine on the cottons wash program four times a week for a year. I make that 14p per wash so they must have measured 1kWh per cycle. For a particular tumble drier they say £106 per year assuming using the machine on the cottons wash program four times a week for a year, so I make that 51p per load. Those are all modern best buys, I know our older appliances use more than that. I recently got rid of an old, silent Electrolux FF that used 5kWh per day (70p!)

pigletjohn Your computer uses 300watts an hour - buying a new laptop to use instead will likely pay for itself in only a couple of years just on the electricity used if you use it for quite a few hours a day, my laptop tends to use around 30watts an hour (only a 12" screen though)

3 bed semi (3rd bedroom = loft conversion)
£20/month electricity Npower tarrif fixed just before the price hoik
About £700 per year on oil

We are double glazed & insulated/Eco bulbs etc BUT do at least 1 wash a day as have 2 under 2 AND run an Aga. Don't use kettle/iron & don't need a tumble drier as Aga multitasks.

We pay £185/month for a 5 bed house. DH works from home and has just started to having the heating on during the day.

£60 monthly direct debit, not sure how it's split as they're both the same company. A couple of months ago we were a good bit in credit so I'm assuming that'll just run down over the winter.

House is 3 bed Victorian, big single glazed draughty sash windows and gaps. However, we have a 3 year old combo boiler, cavity wall and loft insulation. Heating is on once a day for a couple of hours max, washing machine ands dryer every other day for a couple of loads.

£22 a month for electric and £32 a month for gas in a two bed mid terrace new build. We're both out during the day. Definitely worth checking if you can save by switching -try and use your energy usage (should be on all your previous bills even if they're online ones) to compare prices rather than how much you pay.(or do both if you have the time/inclination!)

£43 per month for gas & electric combined, 2 bed flat in a purpose built block. We are actually in credit as it doesn't cost that much over the summer months, but I expect it'll balance out over winter.

It's cheap for us as we're surrounded by flats above, below and on both sides. When I lived in a house up north it cost much more, but it's double glazed here and we're also in London which tends to not get as cold because of the smog. It's so much more convenient and cheaper to live down here as things like travel are cheaper, and houses generally are a pain to live in as it costs more with the costs of gardening, buildings maintenance etc.

PigletJohn I'm not sure anything would persuade me to go up a ladder and try to drag down heavy boxes that would be covered in soot and that contain the detritus of my life in the form of old letters and that I would then start to read and I would frighten the children with my uncontrollable sobbing.

I think I'll go for NiceGuy2's retention bonus, if I can be arsed to pick up the phone amidst the Kirsty-Allsop-alike cookie dough and edible glitter shite.

I do think you talk a hell of a lot of sense, though. Thank you.

Seems high
We live in a 3 bed detached and comes to £90 a month, but there is usually someone home 5 out 7 days a week.

Very small just about 2 bedroomed ground-floor flat. We pay £30 a month gas and £58 a month electricity ( or the other way around) but some of that latter figure is arrears so I think more like £50 a month.

However, DD was born in January so heating was on a lot then and I'm still at home so heating on in day sometimes and cooker on. I'm sure it will go down once I'm back at work.

We've also just got a new tv which uses a ridiculously small amount of power when on stand-by. My laptop is probably the biggest culprit, that and the tumble-dryer.

£50 - £60 Electric
Approx £30 gas

In a 2 bed newly built flat. My electric seems to be extortionate. But, there's some problem with the washer - it's set on the cold tap but all through the wash cycle the boiler kicks in, using extra electric.

4 bed link detached. British Gas and Southern Electric. New prices: £61 for gas pm and £50 for electricity pm. Berkshire. Tot it up and it's £1332 pa. And if anyone's interested, I'm a pensioner an older person with a total gross income of £15000. That equals 8.88% of my gross income. I bet I pay more than the poverty level of 10% net income! Can anyone work it out?

And I qualify for no benefits whatsoever.

"our monthly payments are £117 for gas and electricity."

Wow! That is a lot. We live in a good sized 4 bedroom detached house and pay £58pm for gas and £33pm for electricity (£91 pm total). I cook with gas as well and I only work part time, so if it is cold during the day we aren't stingy with the heating. I am frugal with the tumble dryer as they really are heavy on electricity, but we do have a dishwasher.

Bunbaker

Who are your suppliers, please?

Utility Warehouse. We switched a couple of years ago and get our telephone and broadband from them as well (£25 pm for unlimited UK phone calls at any time of day, including line rental and broadband - OH works from home and uses the phone a lot during the day). We review it on a regular basis and haven't found anyone else to come up with similar prices for all the services.

UW still tops the best supplier list in Which (I have just checked)