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.

PSA for lovers of fluffy towels - if you air dry them, and then just finish off in the dryer for 10 mins or so, it gets rid of the crispy bits without the massive energy use

I can't believe people are telling OP to just "downsize", like it's that simple!?! She may have grown up in that house, birthed and raised her children there. It's not easy to "just move" when you're v attached to a property. Selling and moving house is massively stressful. I know some people move house like they change their clothes but for many it's just too big an upheaval to envisage.

I know you've had a lot of replies so sorry if this has been suggested.

I got my electricity bill today and in a two month period we used 723kWhs, the previous bill was nearly 1200kWhs. I found we had a broken pipe. We have our own well, and as such pay the electricity for it to be pumped up to our house. With the broken pipe it was being pumped up and basically just leaking back out, causing the pump to turn on again to re-fill the tank. We didn't spot the leak as it wasn't visible anywhere in the house.

Your usage seems really high. About 90 kWhs is about right for us weekly. We are 2 people in a 4 bedroom household. I use the dishwasher daily (granted only on a v short cycle). About 4 loads of laundry (DHs overalls need a wash alone as do his heavy work pants + 2 hoodies), 2 loads will go into the tumble dryer this time of year. I wfh, but we are careful about turning off lights etc.

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

Not everyone, just those who do.

Any item that produces heat is a high energy use item. So if you are using high temperature washing in your washing machine, your tumble drier, any electric heaters, the kettle etc. The kilowatt amount on the appliance is how much it would use in an hour of use. So a 2kw heater would use 2kw in an hour of use

Thank you for this. I know it is obvious but often I need that

I have just checked our latest bill, we used 1207 kwh in 3 months and we're not what I would say careful, although we do try to keep lights off etc we have a dryer and I am currently working from home half of the week.

For comparison I live alone, 2 bed apartment and WFH
Gas annually 5598kwh
Electric annually 2434kwh

4 of us in a 5 bed house and that’s similar to my bill

Haven't RTFT but agree with this
I know you're only one person but lighting, internet, fridge, freezer, (and if you have a 5 bed house I'm assuming both of those are family-size) plus tumble dryer and washing machine every other day will use the same amount of energy no matter how many people are there.

Same with cooking. A lot of things might take the same amount of time if cooking 1 or 4 portions.

We are a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 tween/teens) and we use the washing machine 3 x a week and the tumble dryer probably less once a week. I dry everything on a rack and just put the towels in for about 5 min when they are just about dry.

General question about Smart Meters: does the meter have a dial that you can see whizzing round clocking the KWs?

I know that there are gadgets that can test the energy draw of appliances, is this because looking at a Smart Meter doesn’t give the same visual information as the older meters?

It’s quite enlightening to look at fast the KW use dial turns when boiling a kettle, running a tumble dryer or any appliance that heats up at speed. Cured my of my casual over filling of the kettle & machine drying stuff.

@InTheNameOfAllThatIsHonest I hope the electrician can help you resolve the mystery of the runaway KWs.

I've just worked out the rarely used fridge freeezer in the garage will cost £120 pa under the new cap!! Time to defrost it and turn it off.

That's 27kw a day yep I would say that's high ! I have a 5 bed house , dishwasher & tumble drier ours was 13kw a day . Adult son left home last month we have stopped using the dishwasher & tumbler drier , less lights on and less showers and our usage has dropped to 8-9kw a day that's with 3 of us .

Wow! I live alone in a 2.5 bed semi. My elec is £20 per month, gas this month £54 but usually gas is between £10 in the summer and £30ish in the winter. I do a machine once a week and air dry tho

I live alone in a 3 bed and pay £75 a month. In the summer I used around £55-£60 a month in the summer so am in credit. I now use around £95 a month but my monthly payment is the same and the rest is taken off the credit.

@UniversalAunt

General question about Smart Meters: does the meter have a dial that you can see whizzing round clocking the KWs?

I know that there are gadgets that can test the energy draw of appliances, is this because looking at a Smart Meter doesn’t give the same visual information as the older meters?

It’s quite enlightening to look at fast the KW use dial turns when boiling a kettle, running a tumble dryer or any appliance that heats up at speed. Cured my of my casual over filling of the kettle & machine drying stuff.

@InTheNameOfAllThatIsHonest I hope the electrician can help you resolve the mystery of the runaway KWs.

@UniversalAunt - no no dial - my parents one is digital but it goes up and down when e.g. you put the kettle on so you can work out what's eating up the KWs.

@pawpaws2022

For comparison I live alone, 2 bed apartment and WFH Gas annually 5598kwh Electric annually 2434kwh

@pawpaws2022 - mine is similar to yours. am dreading any increase in bills but not a huge jump yet. Has got more since I WFH.

Welcome to Tory Britain. This will only get worse and they don’t give a monkeys how much people will struggle and end up losing their homes, rack up debt and not be able to feed their families. That’s why they are pressing ahead with the NI increase and why they haven’t taken any meaningful action to counteract these price increases. If you don’t like it then vote them out at the ballot box. That’s what I plan to do.

Only thing I can think of is DH working from home so has his screens/computer running 24/7. It's been that way since March 2020 though.

We do use the tumble dryer a few times a week and the washing machine most days. Dishwasher every day. Other than that just normal stuff. The lights are on timers. Heating is on a Nest thermostat set to 20 during the day and 18 overnight.

I'm going to speak to DH and we'll see if we can work out what's going on with our useage figures. They seem astronomical in comparison to others.

The direct debit has always come out of DHs account and has just been part of general household costs so I've never given it a huge amount of thought. We got a smart meter fitted in December and at the same time energy company said our bill was going up to £500 per month from £350 which is why I'm interested now in costs/useage and comparison.

I live alone in a 2 bedroom house and pay £56 a month with Octopus energy.

For now. I'm sure it will rocket soon.

However I don't have a tumble drier and do about 1-2 washes a week. I run the dishwasher once every 2 days or so. (And spend about 2 nights at week at DP's house)

I live on my own, two bed terrace, gas heating but electric shower. My last bill was 98.4 KwH usage (approx £16 on my tariff).

I have a washer/dryer, which I do use (especially for bedding) in the winter, but I probably do one load a week max on avg (or more likely a couple of loads every other weekend). That, and my shower, are my main energy consumption, and I'm nowhere near yours.

I would suggest, if you don't have a smart meter already, you get one and see if you can pinpoint whether something is running constantly in the background, or if there's a particular appliance that is hogging the lecky. I would imagine it's the tumble dryer if you're using it 15 times a month or so.

@HeadingForHome I would stop using the dishwasher and tumble drier , is your heating on all night ?

@Cheesecakeandwineinasuitcase

Welcome to Tory Britain. This will only get worse and they don’t give a monkeys how much people will struggle and end up losing their homes, rack up debt and not be able to feed their families. That’s why they are pressing ahead with the NI increase and why they haven’t taken any meaningful action to counteract these price increases. If you don’t like it then vote them out at the ballot box. That’s what I plan to do.

And Putin's Ukraine.

Bizarre how people's usage varies so much

I have a 3 bed house with 3 adults (sometimes 4). All working from home.

Last month we used 137 kWH. Total cost £73.

Why do you tumble dry things?
I have two dcs and use the tumble dryer a few times a year. I can still hang things on the line all year round in the UK.

There are 5 of us in a 5 bedroom house. Oil heating, no electric shower, electric oven and induction hob, washing machine on most days, dryer 3 times a week. We use about 8000 kwh a year and I think that is quite a lot! (We are careful with lights etc). So I think what you are using seems way over.