How the fuck am I meant to afford this? Electric bill this month

[LadyFlumpalot]

My electric bill is £643 this month. SIX HUNDRED FUCKING QUID.

It's correct, I've checked and double checked. It was £400 last month. In the summer it was approx £180 a month.

I'm in a three story attached town house thing, fully electric. Two adults, two children. One fish tank. Usual tumble dryer, appliances etc.

I've got a balance built up of £450 so with my usual monthly payment I will just about break even this month. Next month will be a challenge though 🥶

And it's only going to get worse.

Not really looking for advise - just sympathy and solidarity. We are about to go full fucking Victorian. There will be no tumble dryer, no dishwasher, no charging appliances at home during the day.

@Onnabugeisha that's really helpful.

@Onnabugeisha Think you're missing the point - why the fuck should she be paying it in the first place!

I don't understand either. How can someone's monthly bill be nearly £700? Just for the electric? The most I have known someone's electric bill go up to is £225 a month, and that's for a 3 bed semi with 2 adults and 3 children aged 4 to 12.

Ours was over that but we are quite high usage. It's absolutely crazy, it's more than my (admittedly very low part time) salary but how are people supposed to afford it?

Sorry posted too soon! @LadyFlumpalot I am really sorry it's so dreadfully high, and it cannot possibly be right. I would contact your energy company - and if they CBA to help, then contact citizens advice. Good luck.

Can you move to a night time tariff? We have cheaper electricity between 12:30am and 4:30am, so only run washing machine, dishwasher and hot water between that time. I've given up on using the tumble dryer.

Because she used the electricity? And it’s utterly predictable that electric use is a lot more in winter compared to summer?

Fucking hell, where is a wall to bang my head against.

Bloody hell for that price I’d be looking to fit an oil boiler/tank!!!

No need to stop using the dishwasher or charging appliances, they don't cost much.

It's your heating, tumble dryer and possibly shower that's the problem.

Not sure why you don't want advice though, neither sympathy nor solidarity will reduce your electricity bills.

turn the heating down and use hot water bottles to keep warm at night

no tumble drier

do get a smart meter so you can see which appliances use the most power - it isn't always the ones you'd expect.

Harsh but fair. All the people in the summer saying “just pay for what you use”. This is the difference between a winter bill and a summer one.

dds we’re not the problem.

Electric only is hideous. We used to be in a 3 storey, electric air vent storage heating home and even on a super low tariff a la 2018 it was 300 a month in winter and we only got 2 hrs of hot air per day. That compared to 65 in summer.

We resorted to oil radiators in the end as was cheaper

Because the OP's house is all electric so they heat by electric too. Was the £225 bill for heating as well as everything else?

OP I empathise completely - ours is OUTRAGEOUS too. January was £900 for dual fuel. Also in a Victorian townhouse terrace. Thank god we had a massive credit.

We spent Oct-Jan being VERY careful and seems to have made no bloody difference.

@BarbaraofSeville - not after advice because I know I've been an absolute twat by being blasé about it because I thought we were doing ok. I know I've been using too much electricity etc. I can probably bring it down myself for next month. After solidarity/sympathy because I'm scared and upset and cross at myself.

We haven't ever had a tumble dryer or dishwasher. Not because we couldn't afford the appliances but knew they were incredibly energy wasteful.

Your bill is very high but given that it includes all of your heating and hot water as well as cooking, appliances, lighting etc it's not as bad as it sounds.

We do have gas but still use the oil filled electric radiators a lot. They are very energy efficient and stay warm for a long time after they've been switched off

Ours was £120 for duel fuel in December. We are careful but not cold.

OP, can you look into installing solar panels?

It is high but not exceptionally so (in terms of the current energy crisis) based on the fact that it is everything, including heating.

It's still brutal though. I'm in a similar position - the credit from the summer had seen me through the worst so far, but these next bills are terrifying me.

In my case (Ireland), they'll automatically increase my direct debit. I'm putting my fingers in my ears and pretending it's not happening just now. I have had a new boiler installed & hoping that helps eventually as more efficient, less unnecessary use compared to the last crap one I had to keep turning on to get any bit of heat.

Yup, £450 here. It's criminal.

you don't have a water tank with immersion heater, do you?
if yes, try to find the switch. our old house had an unused one in the attic with a switch in a cupboard. we were scratching our heads about the high bills until we found that.

I am sitting here in full thermals underneath, jeans & two sweaters with a dressing gown on top.

I can only afford to have the heating on in short bursts and am already thinking about getting into bed to keep warm.

Come April, all these energy companies will publish the billions of pounds of record breaking profits they have made.

Confused about the comments about fixed DD......we are on one....so our bills are the same every month. If you are on one why aren't yours?

I assume that when the fixed DD period ends there will be a ready reckoning and we will owe the balance between our credit and our actual usage. Which I'm sure won't be pretty but we will deal with that at that stage...