electricity+gas monthly

[paneer]

Sorry if this has been done before but how much is your monthly DD for electricity+gas?

I am in a 3 bed end of terrace Edwardian and paying £139 monthly. I switched suppliers in June, it was £148 before. It's just me and DD. Does this sound like a lot? Was talking to some friends and they said they were paying £70 each month but in the Midlands - does that make a difference?

[ilovepowerhoop]

its pointless paying less per month if its not going to cover the gas/electric you use. That's what some of the companies do - tempt you to change with a lower payment then further along the line hit you with a big debit balance. Get them to tell you how much energy (kwh, etc) you have used over the past year and then use that to work out who is the cheapest provider

[happybubblebrain]

Ours was averaging about £90 per month for both gas and electric.
I've just switched and it's now £67 - I hope it stays that way.
We have a 2 bed terrace and I work 4 days a week. We don't have great insulation and the heating is on whenever we at home, turned up high. I'm good at switching everything off when not in use though. We live in the Midlands.

Martin Lewis recommends switching suppliers regularly to keep the energy companies competitive. He also says companies will charge you whaever they think you can afford to pay, so maybe if you plead poverty or give the impression that you are poor your bills might come down. Maybe??

[RandallPinkFloyd]

Just had my winter bill, £300

It's a 2 bed mid-terrace but I only work 2days a week so I'm in a lot. Plus it's basically a colander with a crappy boiler and no thermostat for the heating. I'm tight as I can possibly be with it, only ever use economy washes on washing machine and dishwasher, don't have a kettle, nothing ever left on standby, but DS is only 18mo so I won't let him be cold. We always wear jumpers etc but I draw the line at coats inside!

I'm with eon and they've always been really good with estimating dd's to be fair, when it comes to May I'm rarely in debit/credit by more than £30 either way.

[MOSagain]

Just got letter from EDF saying that they estimate that my gas and electricity for the year (from last Nov to next Nov) is £3,958, which equates to £330 pcm! Looks like its time to move to another provider

[VicheartsJp]

cantspel -If the heater is on in your mums room overnight as she feels the cold have you thought about using an electric blanket? A hell of a lot cheaper to put on for an hour before bed and the warmth lasts all night... Little heaters are astronomical to run!! I believe an elec blanket is a few pennies for an hour.

[VicheartsJp]

We live in a 3 bed semi - only 3 years old so really good insulation, windows etc and we pay £50 per month for both fuels (also our account is currently in a little credit!)

I work for a utility company (no reduced rates for us tho) and the best tips I could give are firstly check uswitch or another comparison website - we stayed with the same company but just by checking uswitch and entering our average usage our bills went down from £90 per month to £50. It's an independent website so they will find the best deal dependant on your area, usage and payment type (direct debit, payment of bill, prepayment).

Secondly check ur cavity wall and loft insulation... These will cost you to replace or get to a good standard but will save you loads!

Lastly... The typical one's like making sure you don't leave appliances on standby.... Just turning the tv off each night can save you £40 per year... Especially on plasma/LCD tv's. I also wash most items of clothing on a 30 degree wash and have noticed clothes are just as clean.... Keep the hotter washed for more soiled clothes!

Hope this helps!

[cantspel]

I have just had my gas and electricty bills.
I pay via standing order gas £100pm and elec £80. I was in debit with both accounts and had to pay an extra £80 elec and an extra £160 gas.

My bills are high as my disabled mum lives with us and she really feels the cold so the heating is on 21 all day. She also has an additional elec heater in her room which accounts for the higher bill there.

[OneLittleToddlingTerror]

By the way, your supplier is supposed to give you a yearly usage so you can price compare, for those who don't know how much they've used.

[OneLittleToddlingTerror]

I have been with Southern Electrics for ages. Never switched and thought maybe I'll come here to see if I'm paying over the odds. But it seems I'm not! I'm paying direct debit £75/month combined electricity and gas. This is for a 3-bed semi. And we have heating on all the time, and thermostats set at 20C.

PigletJohn but I haven't switched for like 10 years so I don't have a low DD amount. My gas is only £7 in debit based on a reading in Jan. (As in I owe them £7 after half of winter). But you have a point about we should be comparing total usage. My gas usage for 12 months is 13129.94kWh, electricity is 2165.48kWh. I wonder if that's high, low or average.

[PigletJohn]

you are to some extent wasting your time by talking about the amount of your monthly direct debit.

this will be based on an estimate of the energy you use and the prices at the time it was calculated.

a trick frequently used by doorstep sellers and shopping-centre nuisances is entice you to change suppliers by offering you a low direct debit by manipulating the estimate downwards.

After a while, when the genuine figures accumulate, you find that not only do you have to increase your payments to reach the actual cost, you have to increase them still more to repay the debt you have built up while paying the fake amounts.

You need to track your meter readings, preferably at least monthly, and calculate how much energy you are using per year. Looking at a summer month won't help because it will be much higher in winter.

What meter readings have you got?

[5alive4life]

1 bedroom basement flat in london. we pay £53 gas&elec combined. nobody home all day,we put heating on when we feel cold

[nocake]

3 bed stone cottage with mostly poor insulation but double glazed. Combi boiler with TRVs on all rads and a programmable thermostat. Temp kept above 16 over night and varying from 16 to 20 during the day, depending on the day. No particular effort to save energy. £110 a month for both.

[digerd]

2-bed semi bungalow, 8 radiators, combi-boiler, just me here all day. Heating on from 6am-10pm, with room thermostat that turns the heat off and on after room reaches 21 degrees. 4 other rooms much cooler as TRVs turned down to halfway. Kitchen is open plan and small and oven after 25 minutes at 150c, warms sitting room/dining room by 0.5c
Use the kettle for the washing up, no dishwasher , Wash clothes in machine on COLD once aweek.
Pay£40 for electric and £40 for gas this year., with Npower.

Electricity price varies with region, but gas is the same.
My DB in Milton keynes pays less per KW than I do in the SE, which I think is unfair.

[countydurhamlass]

i live in the northeast and was paying £49 electric and £86 gas per month for our large two bed terrace (all the down stairs is open plan) (only central heating and fire on gas). we have just had loft insulation put in and i have just had my meters changed to prepayment meters so i can be more aware of what we are using (previously wasnt too concerned how long heating was on because we were paying monthly. didnt turn the heating off when it was really warm because we didnt really miss the money as it was dd). i know prepayment meters are more expensive but it is making us think more when we have to physically top up. i have worked it out and it costs £1.46 per hour for me to have my heating on.

[1stMrsFrugal]

I have a DD of £175 for both through Scottish Power. I've switched quite recently but I based the switch on accurate usage over the last 2 years. We are in a 1930s 5-bed house with a conservatory dining room (electric only heat in there) dishwasher, tumble drier, heating on all day....

[Geranium3]

£125/month,no gas in village so all elec including elec storage heaters, but have "ecomomy 7" for storage heaters and try and set wash machine and dishwasher to be used in these cheaper hours. Also use about £10/week for about 5months/year for our lovely open fire!
Provider is scottish power, fixed price tarriff untilspring2014

[paneer]

My bill from Nov 2012 -02 Jan 2013 is £345!

I have a cold drafty downstairs and need to work out where the electricity is all going. Are the OWLS any good?

[AphraBehn]

£127 a month combined for a 4 bed detached. Heating on from end October until end of April for around 8/9 hours a day. No tumble dryer.

Our electricity costs are fairly constant all year round, probably due to the tvs/xboxes/laptops.

[FlatCapAndAWhippet]

yes my gas is £183.00 from 7th Nov to the 1st Jan, electricity is £69.00 then I get a discount of £15.08 for direct debit monthly payment and £1.23 for dual fuel.

My supplier is EDF.

So bloody expensive and I try and be really careful, heating on an hour in the morning and four hours at night in the week, on more at the weekend though.

[Flossiechops]

My post christmas combined bill is £228 it's the bloody gas that's so expensive, £178!!

[FlatCapAndAWhippet]

£110, gas and electricity per month for us.

3 bed semi, combi boiler, good insulation and new extension to kitchen adding another 2 big radiators.

Only me and DD here too.

I submit a meter reading every month so that its accurate. £85 in credit as at the beginning of January. Nov and December totalled £280.

[inchoccyheaven]

We pay £89 for both gas and electric. We have 3 bed house and I am at home all day.

[JambalayaCodfishPie]

4 bed semi, btw.

[JambalayaCodfishPie]

I meter read every month and pay what iv'e used - just got the bill for 1 Dec-1 Jan, it was £158. More than usual, but obviously everyone has been home, and heating was on a lot - wasn't being cold for Christmas!