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Original poster

To be on the verge of tears at our monster electricity bill

111 replies

pollyspantry · 07/01/2013 14:17

I was only saying to DH last night, "I expect that we'll get an electricity bill soon as we've been paying estimated bills since we moved into new house with new provider"

It just arrived.

  • We provided a reading when we moved in in May 2012
  • The reading that this new bill was based on was taken at the very end of Nov 2012, so this is for 7 months of electricity mostly over the summer
  • The house is heated by gas, and we don't have any pricey electric heaters or anything

I think we've been paying around £80 a month estimated and I expected an outstanding bill to reach £300ish, maybe a little more.

The bill is £1000 - £1200 with VAT. For 7 mths. Not including the estimated bills already paid.

I want to cry. I'm on maternity leave and not due back at work until May (not that I'll earn anything at all as I'll be paying entire salary into childcare)

Can this be right??? I have a horrible feeling it must be, as they don't often get it wrong, do they?

Is this really how much it costs to run 1 x TV, 1 x dishwasher, 1 x washing machine, charging phones & laptops and light for 8 hours a day in a 4-bed house? (but the bedroom lights must only be on for about 3 hours a day!?!)

OP posts:
woozlebear · 07/01/2013 16:02

We had something similar. DH has dealt with the electricity bill before as it was his account from his old place that we transferred with us. Unbenownst to me, DH has been happily paying stupidly low estimated bills for nearly 2 years (12 a month and less!!!). Last week a bill announcing we're £1400 in debit turns up. He claims he thought the low payments made sense as he'd started out in credit when we moved (yeah, a few hundred pounds!). I was mortified that I'd paid so little attention and he felt pretty stupid. British Gas admitted that they were 50% to blame for not reveiwing our unrealistically low payments for so long.

Anyway, after spending 3 hours on the phone to British Gas, we're now on an Energy Smart tarriff. We're going to submit our reading online every month and pay for what we use every month. They've also given us a little monitoring device that tells you how much electricity you're using at any time. We spent hours turning things off and on and finding out how much different things use. It's very sobering, and interesting.

Something must be wrong in your case though, check your readings and ring them.

zlist · 07/01/2013 16:04

I think we pay £127/month for electricity (that would come to £889 in a seven month period). That is for a 5 bed house with lots of gadgets on stand-by/in use, lots of lights and two adults who often work from home. It is heated by gas though and we also have a gas hob (we pay £76/month for gas).
Yours does seem very high when you add on what you have already paid. We used to use an electric heater to heat a conservatory a few years ago (we have now converted it into a proper room with radiators) and that did make our electricity bill go up quite a lot.
All I can suggest is that you monitor it a bit for a while - take very frequent readings and compare.
We have grossly underpaid in the past and it is a horrible shock to then suddenly get a large bill Sad.

LIZS · 07/01/2013 16:04

We're with UW , similar size house and appliances including electric oven. Cost for gas and electricity is about £125 pcm. Even if you were £80 pcm adrift it wouldn't amount to that much owed. Are you sure you are reading the bill correctly ?

Ilovesunflowers · 07/01/2013 16:05

I would turn everything off now when there is still a bit of light. No need to wait for your DH. I'm sure you can flick the trip switch to 'off' and have a look if the meter is still moving. Your kids will probably find it quite exciting!

ALittleBitOfMagic · 07/01/2013 16:05

Don't panic I highly doubt that is right . I was paying over £200/month for a year until it came to light they had mixed my meter readings up (I have peak and off peak meters because of storage heating) I'm now paying £64 per month .

OldMacEIEIO · 07/01/2013 16:10

switch everything off, but be wary of the trip switch
you'll end up having to reset all the clocks and the alarm might go off

LucilleBluth · 07/01/2013 16:10

I have had a few massive bills over the last few months, like £250 a quarter for a 3 bed cottage with a whacking great bill of £580 in the summer as we had apparently been underpaying so this thread is an eye opener.

DH says its all the spotlight things we have but I'm not sure.

Jins · 07/01/2013 16:14

Yes we got rid of our spotlights too. Changed them all to LEDs

Our neighbour worked out that his 10 spotlights in the kitchen which were on 8 hours day were costing him over £200 a year. The LEDs cost him £45

We thought it was worth the £40 it cost us to change the bulbs

Pendipidy · 07/01/2013 16:15

You haven't got your immersion heater on the hot water override , have you? A little switch in the airing cupboard that heats up water quickly for emergencies? That would cost you a fortune, plus the heater in conservatory.

CharlotteBronteSaurus · 07/01/2013 16:17

that is a lot
get your meter checked
our water bills kept creeping up and eventually i realised something must be wrong, as we were getting more and more miserly with our water use

i don't know how, but the meter was going round by itself. thames water owed us a small fortune.

Jins · 07/01/2013 16:18

www.sust-it.net/energy-calculator.php

Here's a calculator that leads to some eye watering results. Our 11kw shower cost 25p per ten minute shower. The male members of the family were having two a day and I managed on 1. £1.75 per day on showers or about £600 a year. We use the water in the tank from the gas boiler now and the bills have dropped dramatically

Themobstersknife · 07/01/2013 16:21

I once had an immersion on 24/7 by mistake and my electricity cost me a fortune, in a very small flat. It is almost certainly this, if your hot water is heated by gas, you would only ever use the switch in the airing cupboard in an emergency.

Allalonenow · 07/01/2013 16:23

You say that you have a meter reading from the week before you moved in, ask the supplier to accept that reading as your starting point, it is almost 300 units less than the estimated figure they used.

Not much saved I know, but every little helps.

Original poster
pollyspantry · 07/01/2013 16:24

OK so I just turned everything off minus the fridge and cooker.... the wheel was going very slowly. Came back in, popped lights in living room and kitchen back on, the TV and the kettle. Checked again and it was turning a little more. So i guess it's all us. Bollocking bollocks. Must get that immersion checked by a real man (sorry DH)

I am now very very very sad.

OP posts:
LIZS · 07/01/2013 16:27

Do you need the immersion on if you have gas CH ?

Original poster
pollyspantry · 07/01/2013 16:27

Allalonenow, if they started with the reading that was 300 units less, wouldn't we owe them for those 300 units now?

OP posts:
cantspel · 07/01/2013 16:28

If you have gas central heating you dont need to turn the immersion on at all. Just set your boiler to heat water for a hour in the morning and an hour at night. This should supply enough hot water for the average family but make sure you tank has a decent jacket or other type of insulation to keep the water hot.

Original poster
pollyspantry · 07/01/2013 16:29

LIZS I don't know - maybe we don't need the immersion at all? We are rubbish at knowing about these things. DH is ex-military. We've never had to deal with this stuff as we just had an oil tank and everything set up by the forces in every house... (yes, we're very sheltered and now looking very stupid). Before that DH lived in the mess and just paid for a room.

OP posts:
cantspel · 07/01/2013 16:31

have you got the hand book for your boiler? If yes read though it and it will tell you what the differnt buttons are for. If you dont have the handbook google the make and model and you should be able to find the instructions somewhere online.

armedtotheteeth · 07/01/2013 16:32

Turn the immersion heater off now (electric switch) and figure out how to set the timer to heat the water (using gas) instead. It will probably be on the same control panel that you use for the heating. If you/Dh can't figure it out ask a neighbour.

Then call the electricity company. If the.bill is correct they may at least be able to sort out a payment plan for you.

At least you didn't find out just before xmas

Jins · 07/01/2013 16:34

Bless - I just want to come round and show you how it all works :(

I really doubt that you have used over 3000 units in 6 weeks but I think you will have used quite a lot of them. Your meter needs checking and you would definitely benefit from a meter showing consumption. Most suppliers have them free nowadays

armedtotheteeth · 07/01/2013 16:36

Ps. You only need to use the immersion heater very occasionally if you run out of hot water as it heats up the water much more quickly (and expensively) than the gas boiler. Say if you had people staying who all used the shower in the morning.

Allalonenow · 07/01/2013 16:43

Oh yes Polly, got myself tied up in a knot there, and I was hoping to save you money!

Themobstersknife · 07/01/2013 16:44

Yes switch off immersion. You might have a switch in the kitchen - mine helpfully says Hot Water - of you might have a switch by / on the hot water tank. Take photos and put them on your profile if you are unsure. You should be able to work out what central heating controller you have by looking for a brand name. You can then google the instruction booklet. But all the ones I have programmed have been very intuitive. You can do this!

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 07/01/2013 16:56

polly - there will be a cable coming from your hot water tank to a switch somewhere on the wall of your airing cupboard. There will be a light on the switch panel, if it is lit then your immersion is on, if it isn't then it is off and it won't be that.