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.

@RandomMess

If your meter is faulty it's an issue with the electric supplier.

It may be worth you getting a smart meter, then you can turn things off one by own and see how much they are using - you could do that with just the meter tbh.

The OP has a smart meter. You can see that from the photo in the first post.

It’s really unlikely to be a faulty meter. It’s only around 2% of meters that are faulty and smart meters tend to be newer because they haven’t been around so long, so are statistically less likely. It’s because the OP is using a lot more electricity than the opening post suggests. A lot more.

@AnneKipankitoo

I think that’s cheap. You can have mine . £1300 .

How big is your mansion tho?

Three of us, five bed house, electricity comes in at circa £45 per month at the moment.

Downton 😂

@delilahbucket

Three of us, five bed house, electricity comes in at circa £45 per month at the moment.

Whatever deal that is, I hope its not about to end 🙄

We used 203kwh last month. Our unit price is 19.4. Family of four.

So just under £49 for 30 days

I calculate that you are using nearly ten-thousand kwh a year, which I think is something like three times the national average. Sounds excessive to me.

You have a smart meter, are you able to get a half-hourly breakdown of your consumption? You might be able to guess from that where the electricity is going, e.g. tumble dryer.

I think you need to put up an airer in one of your spare rooms and use that instead of the tumble dryer.

@Getoff

I calculate that you are using nearly ten-thousand kwh a year, which I think is something like three times the national average. Sounds excessive to me.

You have a smart meter, are you able to get a half-hourly breakdown of your consumption? You might be able to guess from that where the electricity is going, e.g. tumble dryer.

I use 10,000kw a year and I run a hot tub for 6 months a year, have a leccy shower, oven and hob.

We have used just over 600 units for the last calendar month. There are three adults, probably eight wash loads all tumble dried per week. We have electric ovens and a gas hob and oil central heating and water. Currently we pay just over £100 per month but we also have 16 solar panels which probably make us about £800 per year.

Having just spent 48 hours without electricity courtesy of Storm Eunice it's worth very penny.

Saying that, I realise that for a lot of people the rapid increase in cost is challenging.

2 of us in a 2 bed bungalow. I have a pre-pay meter that I top up with £49 every 4 weeks. Never had to use the emergency credit and have £69 on it before topping up again tomorrow (payday). I don't have a tumble dryer, dishwasher and only put 2 loads of washing on a week though.

We have a 5 bedroom house with 4 adults often working at home. We use between 450 and 500 kWh per month at 20p a unit roughly.

Well insulated 3 bed, family of 5 = £120 per month

It's completely normal - what I would expect in the situation you describe over 46 days (not a month) and using the tumble drier so much.

I wouldn't waste your money booking an electrician.

@SleepingStandingUp we're on a variable rate with Octopus, have been for years. It's our gas price that's gone through the roof.

Tumble driers are horrendously bad for energy usage. You seem to do a lot of laundry for someone who lives alone

A family who had bills that high and couldn't afford them could usually make changes. It's not like council tax where you get the bill and can't do anything about it unless you move somewhere cheaper. Of course, it's difficult for those with high usage for a reason such as age or disability, or those with low usage who still struggle with the cost.

I dont know why people get so excited about the cost of tumble dryers :

"An example 9kg vented tumble dryer uses 5.34 kWh for a full load cycle and approx 636 kWh over a year. This means that this vented tumble dryer costs £1.07 per cycle to run and £127.20 per year on average.
An example 9kg condenser tumble dryer uses 5.2 kWh for a full load and approx 617 kWh annually. This means a cost of £1.04 per cycle, equating to £123.40 a year – that’s almost as much as a vented model.
An example 9kg heat pump tumble dryer uses 2.16 kWh for a full load and 259 kWh per year. This means that you’ll be spending just 43p per cycle and only £51.80 a year to run it."

So even if @InTheNameOfAllThatIsHonest is using it every other day that is 22.50 pounds

or 110 Kilowatts (approx) in this time period.
What is she using the other 1130 odd kilowatts hours?

My smart meter for today shows 1.76 which includes a tumble load , a roast dinner in oven and other normal stuff ( 2 fridge freezers, 1 chest freezer)

It sounds about right for
A 5 bedroom house with a big bed and muddy hobbies.

Are all your bulbs low energy? , it is expensive to replace them in a big house but they pay for themselves in the first year.

are any of your fridges or freezers very old they can sometimes use vast amounts of electric if they are older models.

I use a heat pump tumble dryer every day and it hardly uses any electric.

Not read the whole thread.

Has anyone mentioned the average electricity usage is 2900 KWH per year?

And yes - as I have seen mentioned, it's the usage that matters.

Knowing what devices use a lot of energy and are on for longish times.

@Alwayscheerful

It sounds about right for A 5 bedroom house with a big bed and muddy hobbies.

Are all your bulbs low energy? , it is expensive to replace them in a big house but they pay for themselves in the first year.

are any of your fridges or freezers very old they can sometimes use vast amounts of electric if they are older models.

I use a heat pump tumble dryer every day and it hardly uses any electric.

My big fridge freezer is a 21-year old Bosch. It has never played up so I wouldn't think it's using up unusual amounts of power. I had not heard of heat pump tumble dryers - I will look into those. Thanks!

We live in a 6 bed, 5 person household. Washing machine and tumble dryer go on daily, often many many times, all through the year. Dishwasher on every day, usually goes on twice, large gas hob and electric oven on for hours every evening, hot tub is heated all year round, lights are on, underfloor heating throughout the whole house and set to 22 in each room, warmer if im cold, TVs in every room, what I’m trying to say is we aren’t careful about our gas and electric use in any way. Our last bill was £400. I think yours is a lot considering how careful you say you are to be honest.

It seems incredibly high to me. I also live in a 2bed, mainly just me and sometimes DP (but I don't do his washing or anything that would use much electricity), with gas heating and cooker so similar to you and my electricity bill averages out at £15-20 per month, so yours is more than 10 times higher. I don't use the washing machine anywhere near as much as you, and don't have a tumble dryer, but do WFH so have computer, extra monitor, fan heater, phone charger etc on for 8 hours a day.

Do you also have an electric shower/dishwasher you use frequently? That's the only thing I can think of that would increase your cost, but still not to that amount!

845 kWh per year -1,700 kWh thats what a fridge freezer 20 years old is likely to be using a year

361 kWh if you swap like for like a new fridge freezer