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.

I paid £55 a month it's going up to £119 😱

Have you always WFH? Do you leave your computer/laptop on all day. I notice a difference when my son isn’t working as his pc is on all day when he’s at home

Energy bills have shot up. My monthly bills in a 4 bed detached have gone from £40 pm to £120 pm in 9 months. I'm on a fixed, retirement income btw. I rarely put my heating on, just using gas for hot water & hob, have not used a dryer since my 4 kids grew up. We have all got to get used to not living in hot houses, not being wasteful with energy, it's back to the 50s for me, layers, throws etc. Upside is that this way is better for the planet, but I worry for families. How they cope on fixed incomes with trying to keep their children warm & fed, must be a constant worry.

I would stop using the dryer, get a clothes horse and dry that way near a heat source/fan if possible. Save up washing and dishwasher until you have a full load. Wash clothes in cold water. Only heat part of the house or wear warmer clothes inside and put the heat down. Consider downsizing if you will stay a family of 1.

Wondering why one individual living alone needs to put the washing on every other day. Unless they change clothes every couple of hours and have fresh sheets and towels daily.

Also big 5 bed detached house, 4 of us (including toddler and baby), washing machine and tumble dryer on literally every day, at least once a day. I am also at home a lot during the day. Our bill (combined gas and electric) is £140 a month, that's after the last rise. We go between having a zero balance and being slightly in credit every month.

OP sorry if I’ve missed it in your posts but have you compared this with previous usage. If your usage is higher than normal and you can’t account for it then you’ve either unknowingly left something on, a piece of equipment is faulty and gobbling up electricity or the meter is faulty. Or the council connected a street light up to your meter 🙄. There’s 2 of us in a 3 bed. No dryer but all cooking electric and mines about a third of yours. The units used does seem high

To all the people saying air dry and don’t use a tumble dryer - Air drying indoors can easily cause mold. Unless you open window but then that lets all the heat out. Or get a dehumidifier but again that’s a couple of hundred £ upfront plus uses electricity.

Dry outdoors as much as possible and even if clothes hang out all day and still come in slightly damp it’s cheaper to finish them off in the dryer. That’s what I do. We did try air dry indoors but it caused mold in the corners of rooms and the clothes took forever to dry and had that fusty smell after 3 days. No thanks.

air drying indoors isn't great for lungs due to the mood etc, especially bad for asthmatics.

As you say the window open means heat going out the window.

We use the converted garage that isn't insulated and separate from the rest of the house and houses the tumble dryer.

We dry indoors (don’t have a tumble dryer or garage) and don’t have any problems from mould as a result, it’s not an inevitability. We do have trickle vents in our windows which are open all the time so maybe that helps. Our downstairs is also open plan so air flow over a reasonable area I guess. Stuff generally takes around a day to dry in winter.

@ThanksForAllTheFish I used to live in a flat in a very damp, cold city with no tumble drier and no outdoor space. My laundry would sometimes take four or five days to dry. Sometimes I had to dry my pants and socks with a hairdryer in the morning if I hadn’t planned my laundry schedule properly. It was terrible!

My laundry would sometimes take four or five days to dry.

My big 'desk fan' is rated at 40w max (less than 1 unit per day) and usually dries everything, without any heat, within 36 hours - often much sooner if the heating's on, or it's warm or the window can be opened.

It also doesn't wear your clothes out like a tumble dryer does. They last for years longer.

Does noone use a launderette any more ours is often busy especially the dryers

I worked out that I can run a dehumidifier for 10/11 hours for the same electricity cost as 1 hour tumble drying. And a full load of washing in a small room (door and window shut) takes far less than 10 hours to dry.
And not damaging to clothes like the drier- I just hang everything up on hangers or airer, leave for an hour, then turn on dehumidifier. Takes a few hours. Far less electricity & no damp.

(Yes there's an upfront cost for the dehumidifier, but we bought ours in 2007 and it's still going strong, unlike washing machine/drier/dishwasher from then)

@justasking111

Does noone use a launderette any more ours is often busy especially the dryers

Have you seen the prices?

@justasking111

Does noone use a launderette any more ours is often busy especially the dryers

No, because they're expensive, & only convenient if you live very near to one or have a car.

My wonderful electric company has announced they are putting up their prices. Works out at around 70% increase.

70 f**king percent.

Are they f**king kidding
I will have to find £2000 just to cover the rent and the fuel bill for a 1980s terrace house in not a great area.

What has really really pissed me off is the fact at the end off the email it says my bill could be lower if I paid by direct debit.

In order to pay by direct debit you have to set up an account on line
In order to set up an account on line the company has to recognise your details.

According to this energy company I am definitely not with them so that is why I can’t set up an account.

I want to stop paying the bills. Bills I have to ask each month what the amount is because the email I receive tells me my bill is ready to be paid and to log into my on line account. It can take 2 hours to convince this energy company that I am with them and then they eventually track down my bill.
If I don’t ask another department email my daughter ((who isn’t on the bill) to say they will take her to court for being persistently late with payments.

I really don’t have time to waste hours of my life going through this shit show every month.

I think that there is much that power utility executives have to answer for. The have clearly got their supply sources wrong, relied too much on russian goodwill for gas and electricity and are using the shortage to profit excessively.
It hasn't helped that the government (Boris and his new wife) have put an additional strain on electricity supplies by making electric cars the main option for future motoring. Clearly the cars available today have not been developed nearly enough to provide the range and convenience that current cars provide, and the charging infrastructure is woefully inadequate. Encourage electric cars by all means, but do not dictate that car manufacturers cannot sell new petrol/diesel cars in the near futur. At least wait until effective and reasonably priced alternatives are available.
For anyone on a lowish income like myself, giant hikes in power costs are crippling. I cannot imagine how people who have pricey rents and mortgages will manage. I can only hope these price hikes are only temporary.

Google Resolver. Use it to complain about your energy company not sorting out the problems you mention in your next-to-the-last paragraph. Only communicate with them through Resolver until it is solved - resist any attempts by them to communicate via phone or any other means.
From what I have read, this is usually the most effective way of getting things sorted with energy companies.

Stop using the tumble drier. You and the planet don't need fluffy towels