Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

Oh my god !! has anyone else had sky high gas and electric bill yet !!

94 replies

kristatwin · 12/02/2009 09:39

I have just had my gas and electric bill through and on average it has cost me £180.00 a month to heat and use my appliances, i live in a three bed semi, not a castle in scotland, been on the phone most of the morning and apparently this is correct,(as she put it bills have gone up) has anyone else nearly had a heart attack at the cost of living lately, this is crazy

OP posts:

AnnVan · 13/02/2009 12:26

We have a prepay meter and at the moment it's costing us over £200 per month. Blimming rip off. Oh, small 3 bed terrace no double glazing or anything though, we stuff towels at the bottom of the doors as well, to try keep some of the draft out.

corblimeymadam · 13/02/2009 15:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

midnightexpress · 13/02/2009 15:29

Oh god I'm dreading ours. We've had the heating on 24 hours a day since about early December - we turn the radiators right down to the frost setting at night, but need to take the chill off the LOs' rooms so they are left on a wee bit, and it's been so blimmin COLD. We pay by dd, but I feel sure that this next one will be way over the amount we've paid.

DanJARMouse · 13/02/2009 15:33

We are on gas and electric meters through choice because I couldnt afford monthly/quarterly bills like that.

We are putting either £15 or £20 a week on both at the moment.

Summer is better though as we only tend to need £20 a month gas and £40 a month electric with some left over.

LuckySalem · 13/02/2009 15:35

We had a elec bill this morning for 3 months costing us £256 I'm SURE they've got it wrong I really am but I can't see where they got it wrong.

PippiCalzelunghe · 13/02/2009 15:39

mid oct to end of jan in a 4 bed terrace: gas and elec short of 400 pounds each!! I had mega shock. thought/hoped it was a mistake but it seems that's what everyone elses paying.

PurpleCrazyHorse · 13/02/2009 15:43

We're on DD with Scottish Power. Will take meter reading tomorrow unfortunately DH works from home but think it's cheaper for him to heat office with little heater than heat whole house. Honestly it's criminal but we do have capacity to up our payments so for that I'm grateful.

claireybeemine · 13/02/2009 16:03

We've been paying £35 a month for gas and £25 a month for electricity. Have definitely used a lot more than that with the gas but we were £150 in credit so hopefully that will go some way to covering it...haven't had the bill yet though so who knows!

MumOfBaby · 13/02/2009 18:59

You have to ring them and tell them, they are estomating high bills because they're having financial difficulties (arn't we all?) and they need to claw money in some way.

ProfessorCalculus · 13/02/2009 19:00

Our gas was over £450 for the last quarter and leccy ovr £300. Was gobsmacked.

oxocube · 13/02/2009 19:09

Eu 270 pm for a 4 bed end of terrace.

Twistle · 14/02/2009 08:38

Our electric is ok - we pay annually 'cos we get a discount that way, and it was 600 in September, and we're staying in line with that so far. No tumble dryer - seems to be item that makes a big difference.
But the oil, omg. We have a big tank so tend to fill once a year. Bought 2000litres in Aug/Sep just after the price had come down 10p/l to about 50ppl (yup £1K aargh! used to be half that price 2 years ago), thought it was going up again, and it bloomin' went down again that week. We'd have spent £130 less if we'd waited another week. If we hadn't thought it was going to go up we'd have bought less even. Such a gamble.

Schlumpf · 01/03/2009 16:11

Yes, tumble dryers are a biggy, we got rid of ours and it makes a difference..

We're with Utility Warehouse and they're really good, quite good prices that stay low in the long term, even if it is possible to get a better deal if you're ready to switch every few months (I can't be bothered)...

Rocky12 · 02/03/2009 11:41

We have a large 4 bed house and I work from home 60% of the time. The house isnt easy to heat and our bills are shocking. I hate being cold!

A couple of tips:

Blankets to use on the sofa when watching TV have made a huge difference to all of us. John Lewis had some nice washable ones as do M&S. About £30 and last for ages.

Wheat bags (gel ones that you put in the microwave) are really good if you have cold hands

I heat my office at home using a oil fired portable radiator. I used to have a convector heater but it started to make me feel drowsy. Get a reasonable size one if you are just trying to heat one room. Argos are a good bet.

Electric blankets

Scarf around your neck but I have seen people look at wearing hats, lots of layers, gloves. Would draw the line at wearing a hat inside TBH. Also have been known to wear a fluffy dressing gown when I am here on my own over my normal clothes and take it off when the door bell goes. Slipper socks on top of normal socks are a good idea.

Do not use the tumble drier unless you have to. We are a family of four and I have a couple of racks that I use planted by a radiator. Do clothes really need to be turned around in 2 hours? Our electricity bill wasnt too bad this quarter but I have moved from 10 tumble drying sessions a week to one. There are some things that really do need drying quickly but school socks etc can be put on the radiator and will be dry by the time the kids go to school.

Do remember to read your meters EVERY quarter otherwise you will get a horrible shock. It is not up to BG, EON to do this. I believe that they only need to come around once every two years but someone might correct me on this.

nomoreamover · 02/03/2009 11:45

Ours is hidious - and we only have the heating on for an hour and a half in the morning. Its an A rated energy efficient house too......I think its just all part of rising fuel costs......I've just decided to stomach the extra and work a few more hours.....I refuse to be cold!!

MitchyInge · 02/03/2009 11:50

I actually want to cry about my bill which arrived a couple of days ago, it's £630 for gas and electricity for one quarter (no arrears, Nov to Feb) but based on estimates so I optimistically took meter readings only to find it was underestimated. Waiting to find out how much more it is going to be. The one before was £400 and that was a shocker but I'd be happier with it now!

I live in a tiny little house, all squished up with my 3 children in just one and a half bedrooms, we have ONE radiator downstairs which is powered by an ancient boiler - no timer, no thermostat. It's either on or off. My middle child has anorexia and was frequently hypothermic so I can't skimp on the heating, such as it is.

my oven broke down a few weeks ago, tumble dryer long before that, we don't use the electric water heater and don't have electric heaters except for one emergency one. I just can't see how I am using so much fuel? We have low energy bulbs and switch everything off when it's not in use.

MrsMattie · 02/03/2009 11:52

£500 for gas & electric for one quarter here. I was expecting it to be even worse, as we have been hammering the heating loads, but it is still a huge amount of money, isn't it?

MitchyInge · 02/03/2009 11:56

I just wish it hadn't coincided with a slow but steady drop in income over the past few months!

I could help myself by looking into tax credits I suppose but I don't understand how they work - if based on previous tax year I'll be entitled to loads only to have to pay it back next time because for most of last year I was fairly flush

argh snap me out of my misery!

Simplysally · 02/03/2009 12:19

My electricity bill was £190 odd - I had a credit to work off so it went down to about £125. I've since set up a dd again for £45 which still seems too much for me (2-bed flat).

I sent them a snotty email though as I've been providing meter readings each month but they chose to estimate it at the end of Jan instead of asking for a new reading .

kerryk · 02/03/2009 12:26

er yes.

just had to pay £1132. do i win?

Shoshe · 02/03/2009 12:32

Bloody Hell Kerry, think you do!!!

Am waiting for mine, we had a 183.00 from November to January when we moved house were with Npower at old quarter, British Gas had new quarter, uswitched straight away but dosnt take effect till today, so wonder how much BG will charge from Jan9th till today?

DaphneMoon · 02/03/2009 12:38

We pay £30 per month each for Gas and Electric. Duel fuel discount and on direct debit does make a difference. Four Bed detached heating on 8 ish hours per day, gas heating. During the summer, I find our gas credit mounts up and we can not worry too much about the heating being on in the Winter. Have cut down drastically on electric, have not used tumble dryer for months, use the "free heat" coming off the radiators. We did freeze our bills last year sometime though.

Doors4Paws · 02/03/2009 12:41

We have just had our elecrticity bill in and thank God we have been overpaying for the lastyear as the bill was £880 .
It was mor than the as bill and given we have our heating on all day in the Winter I was really shocked.I can only put it down to the damn fan heater we have on in the playroom (which I have since binned)

DaphneMoon · 02/03/2009 12:45

I am actually genuinely shocked by some of the amounts on here. I won't feel so bad about ours now. Feel really sorry for some of you, it is a shit when we have to worry about how much it is costing to keeping the DC's warm.

AprilMeadow · 02/03/2009 12:51

Our bill came in at £690.
Kerryk at your total

Flip

1 2 3 4