To ask you how much Gas & Electric you have used today ?

[specialk9]

We've used £3.30 already. Yesterday we used £5.80

No heating on
Washing machine has been on a quick cycle
2 x showers (total 10 mins?)
1x TV on
Kettle boiled 3x
Usual things plugged in / on standby (fridge/freezer/other TVs etc)
No lights on

Still need to do another wash, 2 small children need a bath (will share), 1 teenager needs a shower, kettle will be on at least another 3/4 times. Dinner to be made.

We can never seem to stick to our 'budget' (who sets that? The company?) unless we're out all day.

How do you manage to stick to your budget ? Seems unmanageable (2ad, 1 teenager, 1 infant school & 1 baby)

We're £400 in credit over the summer but DD has gone from £105 to £291 !

I genuinely have no idea, we have spent 30 years struggling and juggling and we now are retired with pre tax income of £49 k ( will hit £57k in a few years) and investments of £250,00, garnering interest.

We live fairly frugally anyway, so I will not be cold and I will not apologise for finally being up on my financial feet.

And I don't care who I offend.

Don't know, don't care.

This is why I won't get a smart meter. I don't have the time or energy to obsessively pore over every penny spent.

@VeridicalVagabond

I hear you loud and clear.

All I know that in September we used £21 of gas and £46 of electricity. It does look not too bad. We are family of 4- 2 pre-teens.

Also, forgot to mention:

I am fed up of being afraid! First was Brexit, then covid, now energy prices! Enough is enough! My energy company (Eon) tried to put my dd up twice already 'because of price-hike', and I ended up cancelling my DD altogether! Will see how it goes, but I don't think it will be as bad as they say it will be. Besides, I've read somewhere that energy companies using our money (dd overpayments) to buy crypto currency now- Greedy Greedy Greedy!

I have become a little obsessed ! Today was our most expensive day for a long time !
Nearly 7 pounds when we went to bed.
no heating or fire.
3 loads of washing. 1 tumble drier.
oven used for tea.
a few kettles.
1 bath.
a lot of cleaning so probably used more hot water than usual cleaning bathrooms etc.
otherwise, usual kids on gadgets, TV for me and DH in the evening.
I’m predicting 20 pounds a day for us once heating goes on.

Electric is £1.50 - £2.00, depending on how much laundry I do. Gas is running at 60p-£1.00 for a little heating this last week and another 50p each for a bath. There’s only two of us, and I’ve cut back everywhere I can pretty obsessively, though.

Don't know. We don't want a smart meter. Everyone in our city got £150 from council tax so we paid that into our energy account and increased our direct debit from 95 to 120 in the summer.
That's put us 400 in credit. And the government is taking 66 a month off our bills for 6 months. So not concerned

That's very good. We are 2 adults and one teenager and our electric was £78 but we had fans on all night and day when it was still warm.
Gas was only £25__

Just checked and it was 74p for gas and electricity, though warm in London today so not sure the heating came on.
Yesterday was more like £1.50 as cooler and gas fire on for several hours in the evening.

Mine yesterday was around £5.20, but I did batch cooking and washed clothes at 50C (they are work clothes that need high temperature).
I cooked 15 meals and some sides to go in the freezer and our dinner yesterday.
Usually we are on the £3.50 or so per day, so not bad at all for all those many meals.
I do have a smart meter, so I can track exactly how much I am spending on the cooking.

@Starlitexpress how do you managed so little usage? It is really good
For us, our fridge/ freezer/ washing machine and TVs already come over that figure.

Is that including standing charge? Ours averages £1.80 without heating.

This just isnt true. The standing charges would be more. A gas fire on for several hours is not £1.50.

We were £7 in the end! But that was an unusual day as we've just come back from being away so had 3 wash loads and tumble dries. Usually we are around the £3-5 mark depending on what we are doing.

Have you Smart Meter tariffs updated yet?
Mine still show the old ones.

That 74p is putting me and my 5kwh a day use to shame😂

I am assuming it's a good fix still running

My standing charges are 74p!

Sorry, no, doesn't include standing charge. I guess it's just been a low usage few days, though that will change as both washing machine and dishwasher on.......Still no heating as unseasonably warm round here!

Keep looking at the meters will drive you nuts with anxiety in the end trying to think where the last 49p went or whatever, it’s all gone up so we just have to knuckle down

I just really want to say, I know there are a lot of popular posts about boiling your kettle, but it's literally pennies per boil. It's nothing compared to doing a hot load of wash, taking a hot shower, etc. If you don't believe me, and you have a meter which gives those kind of updates, check before and after you do the boil.

I say this as the long-suffering wife of an academic who spends his entire life (outside work, but inside work he does specialise in electricity, autonomous vehicle design, etc) obsessing over our electricity (even before this crisis). We have an electric car we charge from home, he squeezes every penny until it cries, and even he doesn't give a shit how many times we run the kettle.

What he does care about: taking showers on eco mode (literally half the cost of a normal hot shower. Slightly less hot but noticeable savings), running the washing machine as cool as possible, dishwasher only on eco mode and run overnight. We almost never use our tumble dryer and I try to minimise using my hair dryer.

Hope this helps anyone. I feel like this crisis is finally making him interesting at parties. (jk. mostly.)

Why run the dishwasher overnight?

The old economy plans were electricity was cheaper overnight arent really a thing anymore.

Guessing if they have an EV they have an EV tariff with super cheap night rates, balanced by slightly higher day rates.

New rates are now on my smart meter.