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AIBU?

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Original poster

Combined gas and electricity bills

29 replies

Quattrocento · 14/02/2008 19:22

I've just received a bill for £900 for a quarter for a combined gas/electricity supplier.

Is this a lot? It seems like a lot to me. AIBU to be slightly shocked at our profligacy (or lack of gumption in ever thinking about this)

OP posts:
stuffitllama · 14/02/2008 19:24

Seems like a lot to me too. Did you read the meter or is it an estimate?

nancy75 · 14/02/2008 19:25

thats loads! how big is your house?

PhoenixCymru · 14/02/2008 19:26

£900? Ours was only £170, but at the moment there are only the 2 of us. I would say read the meter and get in touch with them.

anchovies · 14/02/2008 19:26

That is a lot! Ours (only a 3 bed semi though) is less than about £300 a quarter.

robinpud · 14/02/2008 19:28

Ours is a 4 bed detached and bill was under £300.

Onlyaphase · 14/02/2008 19:29

We used to have direct debits of £110 a month for gas and £100 for electricity...so £900 seems a little steep unless you have forgotten to turn the swimming pool heater off??

LIZS · 14/02/2008 19:31

Our Gas was £180 and electricity £120 for last quarter and thought that was high. Do you live in a mansion? Were both previsou and current readings actual or estimated ?

Original poster
Quattrocento · 14/02/2008 19:31

I am hopeless. The house is only about 30 years old, and relatively modern, so should be well-insulated.

They read the meter, so I think it is accurate.

I am seriously shocked about this. We used to pay around £130 a month.

We have the heating on too much, I think, and we only have carpets upstairs.

OP posts:
Original poster
Quattrocento · 14/02/2008 19:32

We are rubbish at switching off lights (but the lightbulbs are all low-energy)

Not a mansion.

So why has it gone mad?

Has there been a massive price rise?

OP posts:
robinpud · 14/02/2008 19:39

Is it you Quattro with a bathroom for each day of the week...?

Onlyaphase · 14/02/2008 19:40

Was it an estimate last time? This has happened to me once or twice, and the next bill can be huge.

And yes, prices have gone up, by up to around 15% I think depending on your supplier

Onlyaphase · 14/02/2008 19:41

Am intrigued as to why only having carpets upstairs would increase your gas and electricity costs?

muppetgirl · 14/02/2008 19:44

Our 3 story, 4 bed house is £700 for 8 months (why eight months??? I don't know, that's what the time period covered on the bill.)

juuule · 14/02/2008 21:09

Do you use a tumble dryer a lot. That pushes our bills up.

PaulaYatesBiggestFan · 14/02/2008 21:10

quattro mine was 970! i sympathise

TheFallenMadonna · 14/02/2008 21:12

There's got to be a bathroom comment in here somewhere

robinpud · 14/02/2008 21:55

this report is useful in telling you how much energy various appliances use

robinpud · 14/02/2008 21:56

But, just noticed that is a 2006 report and electricity has gone up a lot since then so costs might be a little on the low side

evenhope · 14/02/2008 22:00

Just had ours. £205 combined gas and electric for the quarter. £900 is horrendous.

Original poster
Quattrocento · 14/02/2008 22:13

I thought carpets might be relevant because I think we have the heating on more because of not having carpets

Thanks for the link - will investigate - was really shocked actually

OOH inspired tumble dryer thought - we did acquire one in the autumn - we've never had one before - could partly account for the increase

Also I tend to leave the water on all the time. We can't have a combi thingy so to be sure of having constant hot water I leave it on all the time. Am going to cure myself of this bad habit.

Oh yes, bathrooms. Surely they'd cost less to heat being smaller rooms?

OP posts:
chocolatequeen · 15/02/2008 20:52

Can´t believe I´ve found this!!

Us too - totally shocked at amount on gas and leccy this quarter, we were happily paying about 160 a month by DD, thought this would easily cover it, now have a shortfall (even with meter reading), which basically means that our quarterly energy bill is around 900 quid. We are just amazed.

3 adults, 2 small kids in Victorian semi in london. We haven´t lived in the UK for 3 years, and when we did it was 2 of us in weeny flat with 2 radiators so hard to compare if prices have gone up. Gas guy came today and said that boiler is old and therefore inefficient, so will be expensive to run. we have the heating on twice a day, morning and evening, and use hot water for 3 showers and 1 bath a day. This is the first time I have ever had a tumble dryer and I am using it a lot. Also, our lights are in big sets - one switch turns on about 10 spotlights so quite a lot of waste I´d say. however, cost to replace the boiler was quoted at about 2-3 grand.... and it´s not our house.....

I went to moneysavingexpert.com, they have good comparsion sites under utility bills which will help you find a better tariff - apparently prices have gone up a lot over the past year, all of the companies have raised the prices now and so it is a good time to change (because there will probably be no price increases until next year now).

chocolatequeen · 15/02/2008 20:55

Quite amazed too at the discrepancies between the figures on here for similar sized houses - muppetgirl, if you don´t mind me asking, who is your supplier?

Fluffsuptheduff · 15/02/2008 21:44

we pay £400 a quarter for a 3 bed house, but that's because we were paying a fixed amount last year which didn't cover the meter readings, so we're having to make it up now. We had 2 lodgers which is why it was so much. I thought we were paying loads because we have a very open plan downstairs so can't just heat individual rooms, but I see we're onto quite a bargain compared to some people! We have the water on for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening and I just put the heating on when it feels cold. I think a lot of our costs come from having an inefficient boiler and a dishwasher, and a bath every day. £900 is just outrageous. Go to uswitch.com and see what they've got.

HonoriaGlossop · 15/02/2008 21:49

blummin hell. We pay £50 a month for both Gas and Elec combined. Three of us, two bed terrace.

greyskythinker · 15/02/2008 22:05

I thought we were bad at £600 per month. We don't use a tumble dryer though.