If this is correct, how can a family afford to pay then?

[InTheNameOfAllThatIsHonest]

This is my latest electricity bill. I live alone, in a big (five-bed) house. I am very careful with electricity and gas usage because that's how I was brought up. I don't leave lights on when I leave a room, I use the washing machine every other day and same with the tumble dryer. I use a hair dryer/styling tools once every couple of weeks. Heating is gas and so is cooking. I have checked the meter and it seems to be working just fine. Does this bill seem correct to you? If so, do you mind sharing how much you use/pay and how many people you live with? AIBU in saying that this is not normal for a person living alone? Thank you.

FWIW I think you're using a lot - approx double the amount SSE estimate we would use and there's more of us albeit at work during the day or at Uni (which is about half as much again as we actually use, but I'm 'paying' their estimate as I'm sick of them holding a whole quarter's payments up front as cash in hand prior to a bill -so this time I'll have it as paid for estimated usage (at the cheaper rate) prior to the price increase.)

5 bed house, 4 people, 2 adults who mostly WFH (with various machines) & DC are on screens all the time. Lekki solar panels.

We used 238.0 kWh in 28 days on most recent bill.

OP used 1246 kWh in 46 days, so that's 758 kWh in 28 days. More than 3x higher than us.

I obviously don't care enough about fluffy towels!

ps:
How on earth does everyone find or afford to own 5-bed houses?

Frugality, inheritance, had kids late, living in a town with mediocre reputation, etc.

@Kennykenkencat have you looked at your daily usage? Who are you with?

[quote BearOfEasttown]@InTheNameOfAllThatIsHonest

That is a high bill, but I can't give you any sympathy because you are one person living in a 5 bed house.

Downsize![/quote]
Erm... why should I downsize???

That seems really high usage. Your house is much bigger than ours but surely if there's just you in a five bedroom house you would know if you had all the lights on etc. For comparison (and because I've just had to look into this having inadvertently swapped digits when I input the reading in January -no smart reader here) we are two people in a two bedroom flat, gas Ch , WFH, with an electric cooker, washing maybe 4-5 loads a week, and with a heated dryer rather than a tumble dryer, we average 3,500 kWh per year. And that's including a DH who is a night owl and often watching films until 4am while I sleep, an electric fire in the sitting room and nothing on standby.

Sorry meant to say everything left on standby

I don't really get what downsizing has to do with it anyway. Unless OP is switching lights and appliances on in rooms she's not using (which she says she isn't) then it's irrelevant whether she lives in a house with 2 bedrooms or 5 surely?

At one point there was only me and DH living in a 5 bed 3 bath house - but heating was turned off in 3 unused bedrooms and certainly no appliances on in them. DS is back home now ftb so usage has gone up but we don't want to downsize as a)trying to buy and sell at the moment is a bigger nightmare than normal, b) we don't want to leave this village and there's no smaller property worth moving to, c) we won't be downsizing until DS has settled somewhere permanently so he's not likely to bounce back home!

We have a 3 bed end terrace with a baby, toddler and 2 adults. All 4 at home all day, me on mat leave and dh wfh. We do 4-5 big loads of washing and drying a week, dishwasher on every day, TV on all day, DH's work computer, electric oven on 3-4 times a week and devices charged over night. Our Jan-Feb usage was 151.1 kwh for 31 days. We aren't particularly careful either. Your usage is around 8 times what ours is, so I'd definitely look into it. We don't have a smart meter but had someone out from our energy company to do a meter reading in Jan. We are not currently on a fixed rate and our electricity bill was £36.87 for Jan-Feb.

I think you are a high user. Assuming your meter is accurate, and it most likely is, where else do you use electricity? EV charger? Underfloor heating? Hot tub? Fish tank? You are using much more than a normal family do considering your daily unit use, and it’s way beyond a alternate day wash and tumble.

And as for how did we afford a 5 bed house - we bought a 4 bed in 1992 when property was cheaper and extended it in 2004 when building work was a lot cheaper. One of the benefits of being 'old'.

With difficulty. Johnson is giving very little help on energy bills. He prefers the big energy companies to make vast profits.

@DetailMouse

That looks a lot to me. I have a 4 bed house with two teenagers and their devices and inability to turn off lights. Washing machine on most days and tumble dryer probably twice a week. Heating is gas but cooking is electric and we used 435 KWH in Jan which equates to 644 KWH for 46 days.

Maybe the teens aren't quite as wasteful as I thought!

This thread has just prompted me to review my DD, as my fixed rate expires next month. I was paying £128 pm for gas and electricity combined and under the new price cap, the same usage will cost me £247pm.

There must be very many families for whom this is a complete disaster.

Blimey. We're on a fixed rate till March 24, currently paying £160 a month direct debit for both gas and electricity combined. That's 4 of us in a 3 bedroomed 30s semi. I think I'd better start saving now for March 24!

I use the washing machine every other day and same with the tumble dryer

why?

Postman literally brought this bill whilst reading this (or wouldn’t have commented) 6 people, 2 electric cars, oil heating, electric cooker, lots of screens fwiw!

[quote BearOfEasttown]@InTheNameOfAllThatIsHonest

That is a high bill, but I can't give you any sympathy because you are one person living in a 5 bed house.

Downsize![/quote]
What the?!

Why say this, just why? OP has not asked for sympathy, the thread is about electric prices generally.

It's not normal for a single person living alone, but then most people living alone wouldn't be living in a 5 bedroom house. 3 people in a 2 bedroom house & we pay about £60 a month gas & electric.

Mine is about £50 a week at the moment and it's only going to go up

We pay £127 a month for gas and electric (was around £70 before the increase) in a three bed house. I work from home (and the company give me no extras…), and we use the PS5/TV quite a bit. Your bill seems kinda accurate for a five bed house - and it really depends on who you are with. We are with bulb who were sooooo much cheaper than British Gas, although paying the price now they have gone into admin 😭

I just checked our daily usage. We average at 13.7 kw per day electricity. I think that's higher than the UK daily household average which is something like 8.5-10kw a day I think. Doesn't surprise me as the 2 teens are always on screens and DH has about 3 laptops going when he works at home. He sits with the telly on too. We have electric hob and oven. Tumble drier.

2 of us in a large 5 bed here. Ours is about that.

If you think that is bad, I advise you sit down before you open the gas bill

Yes but the usage itself seems high. Changing to a cheaper provider won't make any difference if eg all the street lights are currently being charged to op or a neighbourb has wired their hot tub into her meter

OP, if your average daily electricity usage is 27kw, that is WAY higher than the UK average of 8.5-10kw.

I'd check that out. It's double ours, and there's 4 of us.

Sorry just re-read my response and actually this isn't a funny topic as there are a lot of families who are going to massively struggle with these price increases.
Ignore my glib comment - sorry it was insensitive!

@mam0918

I know its not the point but...

How on earth does everyone find or afford to own 5-bed houses?

We really need a 4 bed (me and DH, teenager, disabled child and baby of opposite sex that by law cant share with teen) and as we both work from home so the 5th bedroom as an office would be great.

We live in a rented 3 bed, we have had a deposit ready for years but bar the 1 million+ houses (in a cheap area of the UK where average property prices run from 20k for a 1 bed do upper in a rough area to 300k for a 3 bed new build in a good area on average) then there are just no 4 or 5 bed houses around here.

It's obviously where you live. I'm in a four bed town house in Glasgow suburb and it cost £245,000

@AchillesPoirot

If you live alone, why do you need to have the tumbler on every other day? Set a drying rack up in a spare room?

Why is the washing machine on every other day to begin with? Once or twice a week would be normal for one person.