To ask how much you pay for Gas & electric combined

[dopeyduck]

As the title says really.

Taken back by the fact our estimated gas & electric usage and therefore recommended monthly payment actually turns out to be a quarter of what we're using.

Either the energy company have really underestimated - deliberately?! To make it seem cheap? OR something we're doing is going really very wrong!

4 bed house in the SE (if that makes any difference?)

According to our usage it's around £200 a month combined for gas and electric?

£70 combined, because we live in a terrace (3-bed)

3 bed in SW London, £96 per month for both combined, with EDF.

Dual Fuel - 3 bed bungalow, south east. Just two adults so the small bedroom is a study and we don't use the 2nd bedroom except for storage. Open plan kitchen / living room / conservatory with an insulated roof.

We just last month moved to Igoo which has just gone up to £181 per month (from £161 quoted when we switched) which is still cheaper than Scottish Power who we were with.

It seems a lot but we have a kiln which eats electricity, and a gas fire (which we don't skimp on), and the conservatory is open to the rest of the living space so can be chilly in the winter.

I'm quite reassured by this thread because I thought our monthly direct debit was extortionate (because of the kiln) but clearly not as bad as I thought.

£65

£150 for both. 3 bed detached, 5 people.

That's with 4/5 people constantly leaving lights on and dh having an unnatural aversion to the washing line meaning he uses the tumble every. Single. Day

Mine is £66 a month.

I live alone, but have a boyfriend staying more often than he isn’t.

2 bed flat, in a 1700’s building that was fully renovated and made energy efficient in the last five years.

Gas central heating, everything else electric. Also have a fan on for 8 hours a night almost every night.

3 bed semi, we're a family of 5. £84 a month. at some of these prices!

£125 per month combined.

Where are all of you getting gas and electric from?! I’m in a 3 bedroom house and my bill is £283 and it’s bloody killing me! I used to be with British Gas and that cost even more so I switched to octopus but it’s still so high

@Dita73

Are you sure none of your neighbours are piggybacking a cannabis grow off of your supply?

That sounds astronomically expensive. Have you had an EPC done in your property? Is it well insulated? Are you running any non-standard appliances off of your supply? Car charging? Hot tub? Extra freezers? Are your appliances old and less energy efficient?

Also SE. 3 bed house, 200 odd years old (the house, not me!), £50 a month combined.

@QueenOfPain thanks for replying. No I’ve got nothing like that at all. This is why I can’t understand why it’s so high. I’m at home most of the time so they’ll always be a tv or radio on but apart from that nothing. Appliances are all new so it’s not that. No idea at all

That's all. Clearly hugely underestimated how much this would be!

Yikes! Ok well seems like we're on the higher side of average - but the house isn't very energy efficient and needs a lot of work etc so not surprising.

We came from a newer house that had solar panels and we actually made money!

Right well I guess we better get back to the budget and make some tweaks!

I can't seem to see the unit cost anywhere but it does say we're on the cheapest tariff and I did do a comparison before we signed up when we moved in. There's an exit fee if we leave before the year is up so best to stick for now I think!

Thanks all for your replies it's been useful!

Average of whole of UK is around £100 a month, so with a larger than average house that's not energy efficient, you should expect to be paying more than average, £200 pm could be right, it could even still be an underestimate, given that it's summer and you won't be using heating.

It does seem odd that the energy company has set the price so low though, but I do think they do that to either make them look cheaper than they are, or so you get into debt, so you can't leave without paying a big chunk of money, which people either won't want to, or won't be able to afford to.

Your energy company should have a calculator on its website (or look somewhere like energyhelpline.co.uk) where you tell them about your circumstances and it comes up with a better estimate. You can then do that to either up your direct debit, or put some money aside so you can pay for what you've used when they start asking for more money.

2 bed semi £88 dual fuel. 1 adult plus 1 teen.

Roughly £50-£60 a month for both gas and electric together.

So this is likely to be from the winter months (feb onwards) so it does make sense just a bit annoyed that they never send an email or a letter or anything to say we were using more than we were paying. I hadn't logged in to the account until now and that's only because it showed as debt on my credit report so I went to check it out.

Agree it's to get people into debt so they can't leave and make it look cheaper than it really is and then people sign up to fixed deals.

I mean it's not a huge issue - we're not exactly rolling in money but we can pay off the debit and amend the direct debit and we're not going to be losing sleep over it we'll just have to less to spend / save for home improvements.

Making the house more energy efficient etc is on the to do list but it won't be for the next few years as the place was a complete wreck and we need new everything including flooring / kitchens / bathrooms and work to the roof and it's a case of prioritising and unfortunately that can wait for now.

Oh we have a smart meter so the bills will be accurate - it's just that it's away in a cupboard and I hadn't checked it or thought about it. Again, lazy of me I know.

2 adults and a teenager. I work from home 100% of the time, 3 bed semi - £115 pm

@dopeyduck

Oh we have a smart meter so the bills will be accurate - it's just that it's away in a cupboard and I hadn't checked it or thought about it. Again, lazy of me I know.

Well that completely pisses on one of the arguments the energy companies always give when trying to persuade you to have a smart meter fitted .

If the usage is from February, you have a good indicator of what your bill should be for your circumstances, as it includes some winter months. If you wait a few weeks until you have a full six months of usage, you could double what you've used to work out what you should be paying for the year.

Octopus energy. £85 a month for a 3 bedroom terraced house. Same amount all year around. If we get into credit we can have it paid back into our bank account straight away

I’m always a bit baffled by how much some people pay. I have pre payment meters, they were here when I moved in. Everyone always says they’re so much more expensive. I get yearly summaries and my average spend per month is £100. That’s 3 adults in a 4 bed house. I wfh and it’s a cold house in winter. Tbh I’m sticking with my meters. I’m not convinced I’d save money switching to bills.

4 bed, 3 people and about £190pm