Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder how much your gas and electricity bills are?

73 replies

Dolcelatte · 09/11/2013 09:36

I have just received my bill for the last 6 months, which has come in at a huge £2095 - admittedly for both gas and electricity - but it still seems very high to me.

We have a 5 bed house and we do run a gas Aga, but even allowing for this, it seems a lot. I was thinking it might be better to change suppliers.
I am currently with Scottish Power. They estimate our annual bill for next year at nearly £5,700 but will graciously give us a discount of 10% as we pay by direct debit.

I was wondering what your average gas and electricity spend is and whether some suppliers are better than others.

OP posts:
RufusandJasper · 09/11/2013 16:57

Oh and that is with British Gas

treaclesoda · 09/11/2013 16:58

don't have gas but pay about £90 month for electricity. Oil central heating costs about £60/month averaged out over the whole year, but that's based on maybe 3 hours a day usage in winter and none in summer.

Loshad · 09/11/2013 16:58

Draughty old 5 bed here, electricity dd is £220/ month,we can't have the cheaper deals as we don't have mains gas. Tanked gas costs us probably another £1500/ year and then we have one wood fire that is on most nights nov- March. Eye wateringly expensive and rarely really warm.

Rufus44 · 09/11/2013 17:43

4 bed detached, down south

They tried recently to charge us £150 per month, my husband complained because he said we are in credit so they reduced it back down to £100. It should probably be about £120

Tabby1963 · 09/11/2013 18:50

Just received revised DDs for my gas and electric from our supplier, Utility Warehouse, for coming 12 months:-

Est. gas usage £312 for next 12 month
Est. electric usage £372 for next 12 month

This works out at a gas DD of £26 pm and, because we had overpaid our electricity DDs this year (having a credit of £269) an electric DD of £10 pm.

We have a 3 bedroom detached house in central Scotland but I had loft insulation put in two summers ago, cavity wall insulation done at the same time and last year a new double glazed porch and front door and double glazed back door done (replacing the draughty porch/doors we had). I also removed horrible the gas fire in the lounge (we just use the central heating). It has all made such a difference to temperature in the house and reduced the amount of gas we use.

We put the central heating on for the first time since spring last Tuesday.

Straitjacket · 09/11/2013 18:59

2 bedroom flat which is quite big. We pay £100 a month for both with EDF.

I would be broke paying your bill Shock

Sparrowlegs248 · 09/11/2013 19:00

Omg i am constantly astounded and a bit scared by how much people pay!! We pay £40 per month for electric. There are just the two of us, no dryer and don't use dishwaser.

We don't have gas, we have oil c/h and live in a LARGE old two bed. The rooms are massive, the windows and doors are draughty and the quarry tiles are freezing! We use about £1000 of oil a year. Maximum.

We are both out at work all day so heating is generally on for a few hours in the evening. We do have an open fire and log burner.

gamerchick · 09/11/2013 19:02

1800 quid a year for a big 4 bed.

I had to fix prices till next year.. I'm still reeling from the last increase.

I would cry at a bill like that OP.

Sparrowlegs248 · 09/11/2013 19:02

Should add that our roof isn't lined either - you can see daylight through the slates. We also have 9inch solid walls so no cavity insulation.

Original poster
Dolcelatte · 09/11/2013 19:02

Lion, what is a 3 phase electric metre please?

OP posts:
MrsRogerSterling · 09/11/2013 19:03

£81 for gas and £41 for electric per month with British Gas. Last time I looked we did seem to have about £200 credit but that will diminish over the winter I am sure. We live in a 3 bed, 3 storey Victorian semi.

DiaryOfAWimpyMum · 09/11/2013 19:10

Monthly Direct Debit of £90 for gas and electricity and Im currently in credit with Scottish Power.

That's for a 3 bedroom mid terraced house, we also have solar panels and its eco friendly and I am very careful with the heating

Damnautocorrect · 09/11/2013 19:10

£330 per month, bungalow, single glazing no central heating.

youbethemummylion · 09/11/2013 19:48

Tbh i dont know what a 3 phase meter is exactly dont work in the right dept but i do now people with large houses or large elec usage due to say a swimming pool are sometimes advised 3 phase is better for them. Give your supplier a call they will be able to put you through to the right dept who know all about it.

RedToothBrush · 09/11/2013 20:05

I don't think you need to change your supplier; I think you'll find that they will be all there or thereabouts and not hugely different.

I think you need to have a good look at both your useage habits and how efficient your heating/insulation currently is and whether it would be a worthwhile investment to try and improve it.

FWIW £4000 annually is ten times what we pay for a two bed house. We are also with Scottish Power. So even allowing for it being a bigger, older house with more people...

dimdommilpot · 09/11/2013 20:07

We have a 4 bed and ours is 80/m combined. This annoys me as 2 years ago we were only paying 66/m in winter!

youbethemummylion · 09/11/2013 20:10

I agree assuming you are on the best tariff with your current supplier you wont find any huge saving in switching they are all much of a muchness. But do call your current supplier and talk to them about getting your bills down they will be able to advise you.

ilovepowerhoop · 09/11/2013 20:12

if the OP doesnt currently pay monthly direct debit for dual fuel and is on a standard tariff and doesnt run the account online then they will almost certainly be able to get a cheaper deal. She also needs to look at what is gobbling up the gas/electric - the supplier will be able to give a breakdown of what is used/paid for each and then the values can be used to get a price comparison.

ilovepowerhoop · 09/11/2013 20:13

I was on the best deal with my current supplier but have switched to a fixed deal with a supplier that hasnt raised their prices (yet!)

Debs75 · 09/11/2013 20:24

We are in a draughty 4 bed and I put £25 per week on both gas and electric. It is our first winter here so no idea what we will use. They are prepayment atm but Eon have said on their dual fuel it will be about £125 per month.

When I have a spare 4 hours I will be ringing to get them taken out. We are currently plugging gaps to make it less draughty

QueenStromba · 09/11/2013 21:27

We're in a new build two bed flat in a victorian building. We used 388 kWh of gas and 1423 kWh of electricity from the 29th of April to the 12th of October which came to £253.57 for the nearly six months. Our electricity usage went up by about 50% in the last month and we've figured out that about half our usage is lighting - we have 4 or 5 50W spots in each room. I've spent £30 on LED lightbulbs which should pay for themselves within two months.

Mumsy48 · 08/03/2018 15:40

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

listsandbudgets · 08/03/2018 16:26

For goodness sake Alex Smythe or whatever your name is... STOP DIGGING UP OLD THREADS ... wonder how much you get when someone signs up?

Anyway Ive reported your post as spam

New posts on this thread. Refresh page