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 !

[Iliveonahill]

@WeepingSomnambulist

Why run the dishwasher overnight?

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

I have a cheaper rate from 11:30pm until 7:30am.

[Cheeseandcrackers86]

Not RTFT. We put our heating on for a bit just to work out how much it was likely to cost. We figured out it'll be about £1 for half an hour so needless to say we won't be having it on at all much. We are also on economy 7 and get a significantly cheaper rate overnight so our washers and dishwashers come on then. It's grim but try not to worry too much xx

[Zippedydoo123]

It cost me 40p to have the heating on today for just half an hour but I think maybe the new increases haven't kicked in yet.

[foxandbee]

For the new price rises averaging about £6 a day (including the standing charge). Haven't had the heating on yet, just hot water. Pretty scary. I tried washing clothes at 20 degrees, seems to be no different to 30 degrees so will keep doing that from now on.

[Unforgettablefire]

I used £4.60 yesterday. Had the heating on for just under two hours, boiled the kettle twice with only enough water for one cup of tea, used the foodi to make soup and had the telly on to watch Cathrine Cookson and call the midwife.
I'm on a standard variable with EDF.

Today up to now £1.38. I've boiled the kettle for one cup of tea. According to the agent I spoke to the in home display doesn't show standing charges so I don't know what the hell is using energy when only my fridge freezer is on.

[nannybeach]

The old economy 7 plans are not a thing anymore. Oh,yes they are I have had it for 50 years, when I had a smart meter fitted,chap was surprised I wanted to keep it. I have an electric fire in the living room,and bathroom. Emersion heater takes 30 minutes to heat the tank. Washing machine, dishwasher, tumble dryer if need be,goes on late at night, early morning,as well as my batch cooking,7 hours at 12p pkw, what's not to like.

[NewBootsAndRanty]

When you switch your heating on, the first hour's usage will be high as your boiler comes up to temperature; it should come down again after that as it powers up to maintain temperature (this is what my heating usage looked like on Saturday - it went on at 2pm and stayed on all day. You can see the spike for the first hour).

[InCheesusWeTrust]

@WeepingSomnambulist

Why run the dishwasher overnight?

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

Wveryone is still offering them

[NewBootsAndRanty]

@Unforgettablefire

I used £4.60 yesterday. Had the heating on for just under two hours, boiled the kettle twice with only enough water for one cup of tea, used the foodi to make soup and had the telly on to watch Cathrine Cookson and call the midwife.
I'm on a standard variable with EDF.

Today up to now £1.38. I've boiled the kettle for one cup of tea. According to the agent I spoke to the in home display doesn't show standing charges so I don't know what the hell is using energy when only my fridge freezer is on.

Is your fridge freezer running properly?

I replaced mine last month (my old one was using about twice as much power as it should have)and it made a huge difference to my (already low) usage - you can literally see it drop.

[NevieSticks]

It must show your standing charge. Have a look at midnight when it flips over. My standing charge appears then and by morning my meter shows about 1.38 which includes my dishwasher running overnight which is about 50p. @Unforgettablefire

[ChickinMarango]

Last winter we were spending between £10-£14 a day 😩 We had a newborn though so were using electric heaters in two rooms over night. Obviously not this year! Stopped using the tumble dryer too. Heating is already on but only for a few hours in the mornings and evenings when drops to 18 degrees. Spent £39 in a week so not too bad. PP are correct, you need to be using the economy setting for washing machines, fast cycles use a lot more kWh. Should be shown in your manual.

[mogsrus]

Modern f/fs don’t use as much as the older ones especially the inverter ones. Freezers pull most power when initialling the motor for the first time, that’s why you have to have a13amp fuse on the plug. Once it’s over the start it would happily run on a 5amp

[VapeVamp12]

We've used £6 over the last 2.5 days - thats gas and electric. 3 bed terrace. 2 adults 1 toddler.

[cakewench]

@WeepingSomnambulist

Why run the dishwasher overnight?

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

Sorry I only just saw this: our rate does include cheaper electricity from something like 11pm-4am. I'm not sure on the specific times as I try to leave him to that.

[teaandtoastwithmarmite]

I used £8 yesterday

[GasPanic]

@Unforgettablefire

Doesn't sound right. 1 kettle boiling should be a few pence.

I have a problem in the respect my fridge freezer is 15 years old. I have no smart meter and it is wired into the wall directly, so no opportunity to use a power monitor plug with it. I am going to have to figure out how much it uses from checking the meter directly while turning everything else off.

If you are up to £1.48 (just usage and not standing charges) that suggests you have used about 4kwh if you are on the 35p per kwh tariff which is a lot more than just boiling a kettle which should be about 0.1 kwh max !

4kwh is quite a lot in terms of standby equipment/random electrical stuff like PCs that haven't been put to sleep etc. In terms of heating it is not so much though...are you sure it isn't hot water ?

[Unforgettablefire]

@GasPanic

@Unforgettablefire

Doesn't sound right. 1 kettle boiling should be a few pence.

I have a problem in the respect my fridge freezer is 15 years old. I have no smart meter and it is wired into the wall directly, so no opportunity to use a power monitor plug with it. I am going to have to figure out how much it uses from checking the meter directly while turning everything else off.

If you are up to £1.48 (just usage and not standing charges) that suggests you have used about 4kwh if you are on the 35p per kwh tariff which is a lot more than just boiling a kettle which should be about 0.1 kwh max !

4kwh is quite a lot in terms of standby equipment/random electrical stuff like PCs that haven't been put to sleep etc. In terms of heating it is not so much though...are you sure it isn't hot water ?

The only hot water I've used today is to wash my hands and face.
I just don't get it. My fridge freezer is about 20 years old but it's a small compact one, it could be that I don't know but when I've got nothing switched on but the fridge freezer my in home display says I'm using 1p an hour. Tried talking to EDF it's like talking to a brick wall their customer support is horrendous.
I was on £1.27 when I got up this morning.
It's £1.55 now and I've got the washing machine on a 30 hand wash. Im baffled.

[Unforgettablefire]

Ps, a smart meter would tell you how much you're using or you can buy the plug in things that tell you what's using what.

[Unforgettablefire]

@NevieSticks

It must show your standing charge. Have a look at midnight when it flips over. My standing charge appears then and by morning my meter shows about 1.38 which includes my dishwasher running overnight which is about 50p. @Unforgettablefire

Thanks I'll try that tonight. It would make sense if the standing charge is showing as it's higher since the 1st Oct.

[GasPanic]

I have a plug thingy. But the FF is wired directly, no plug (as are all the applicances I have. I know it is rated at 200W (so 0.2Kwh used every hour) but whether the rating is the peak power or average power I have no clue. I do think the 0.2 Kwh is high because I use about 4.6 kwh a day - if the fridge was on 24/7 then it would use 24x0.2=4.8 kwh a day - so it clearly isn't using 200W all the time.

Anyway re your issue, how does your hot water work ? Do you have electric hot water heating that heats it up at a set time every day, or is it gas ?

[MissRainbowBrite]

Our smart meter tells us that we average about £3.50-£4.50 on a weekday and £5-£6 on a weekend per day, averages out to be about £38 per week for gas and electric. Heating has only kicked in a handful of though so expecting that to rise, we fixed our tariff back in March which helps and we're £500 in credit.

[Unforgettablefire]

@NewBootsAndRanty I'm a low user too especially now! That's some drop in usage, my fridge freezer is ancient but it's small and uses 85 watts I assume that's in a year? I was looking at new ones and they use a lot more so I'll keep this one till it's finished.
It does sound like a motorbike being revved up sometimes so it's probably on its way out.

[GasPanic]

If it is rated at 85W then if it is the same as mine (uses less than the max rating) then it should use 0.085x24=2.04 kwh per day absolute maximum. Which is about 70p.

Does it get hot on the outside ? Does it seem to be whirring (switched on) all the time ?

[Unforgettablefire]

@GasPanic

I have a plug thingy. But the FF is wired directly, no plug (as are all the applicances I have. I know it is rated at 200W (so 0.2Kwh used every hour) but whether the rating is the peak power or average power I have no clue. I do think the 0.2 Kwh is high because I use about 4.6 kwh a day - if the fridge was on 24/7 then it would use 24x0.2=4.8 kwh a day - so it clearly isn't using 200W all the time.

Anyway re your issue, how does your hot water work ? Do you have electric hot water heating that heats it up at a set time every day, or is it gas ?

I don't know either with electrics, I haven't a clue I need to do some homework on it!
My central heating and water are gas, my house is council and they put a new boiler in not long ago, I'm useless, the water comes from the tap hot so maybe a combi boiler or condenser

[Unforgettablefire]

It's not hot on the outside but I've noticed sometimes the fridge door is warm at the top. And it does make a noise sometimes it's like a chugging sort of noise it's hard to explain, it's not something I've heard anyone else's do.