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.

Is a scheme for solar panels an option for you? Or invest in them? If you’re staying where you are then they will pay for themselves with those kinds of bills every month

Well, I remember both my grandad and great aunt had a pulley thing from the ceiling that they hung clothes on and the heat from their coal fires dried washing. As a child at home (no coal fires), I just remember everything taking an age to dry and getting that horrible damp smell.

Once you’ve bought a heated aider and dehumidifier though and have plugged them in, a dryer probably isn’t that much more expensive.

Well that’s what you sign up for when you reject a monthly fixed direct debit 🤷‍♀️

So beautifully, empathetically reassuring

I agree with thank god for the smart metre. Our house is set to 15 degrees. I am only washing what I absolutely have to right now. If we have a shower each I try not to do washing that day. I try to keep the metre under £10 per day. It's getting impossible if I use the shower, dishwasher, washing machine and drier. It's worrying.

Dehumidifier and heated airer in the spare room with the door shut
It's not perfect but there's no room for a tumble dryer and I'm not allowed to dry washing in my garden

*didnt show

but I expect a Freudian slip joke…so lol very funny.

Same here. My heat pump is very economical to run.

I am just so sick of it all, of being cold, of rationing the heating, of measuring water into the kettle before I make one of the three hot drinks I allow myself each day, of being worried if I need to use the oven (gas) for more than half an hour. Went to Asda today, shelves half empty, couldn't get at least 3 very standard items I needed, prices are up yet again, life just feels unrelentingly grim. I have just got over a (not Covid) virus that knocked me out for nearly a month and now have a streaming cold. I know cold doesn't give you a cold, but I am sure that being constantly cold affects the immune system and its ability to fight infection. Longing for Spring and a lessening of the constant low grade anxiety I feel when it is as cold as this.

Don’t have either of those things (sigh). New build house, so don’t have a flue for a chimney and no tank in airing cupboard. Not sure I’m tall enough to chuck things over doors….and the dog would probably think it was a great game and drag everything all over the floor 🤣.

I’ve worked out that my heat pump tumble dryer evens out at £1 a load.

Has anyone answered this as I’d also like to know
We ve got clothes hanging all over the house but it’s so cold nothings drying.
Its been weeks like this
Have told everyone there’s no point in washing at the moment.

No excuse for what? Being in the same position as the OP which I have said more than once now and also being stressed about similar bills in a similar house?

If this is you being reassuring you might want to work on your delivery, I'm not the only one who has commented on your posts

I hate this attitude of it being OPs fault for… you know… living in her bloody house. I refuse to sit shivering in my house, or not dry our clothes, or not let my kids take a bath when they want. I have a £200 fixed DD which I know I’m exceeding but won’t get my bill for another few months. Frankly they’ll have to fucking wait, I’ll pay what I can but I’m not stressing myself out over the greedy bastards.

How are they on electricity usage. ?

@SecretVictoria Don't know if you have one but I hang my fitted sheet and duvet cover over the bannister on the landing. (I now have a new 1600 spin washing machine 😊 so these now dry perfectly within a couple of hours as heat from downstairs rises of course.)

@LadyFlumpalot I totally agree with your
OP. These bills are ridiculous! How on earth are small businesses coping - business rates are even higher per kwh- let alone normal households? Where are people expected to magic up hundreds/thousands of pounds extra from every year? 🤬

I am lucky in that we can afford the extra but are still cutting back massively as why the F* should I spend a huge chunk of our disposable income in.paying massively inflated utility bills. However, not using a tumble drier, turning down the thermostat and using heated throws, hot water bottles , taking short showers etc.etc.
It's like when I first got married in 1979 FFS. Why should anyone have to live like this in 2023? 🤬🤬🤬

No help at all I know but you have one here who definitely understands your point .👍

No excuse for fear mongering. OP doesn’t need more stress right now.

Yep. It’s all going to roll over and they can’t charge any interest. Another hot summer and they’ll have their money then.

Apparently i am not supposed to use an immersion heater or an electric shower

I can't afford an electric boiler or solar hot water so now apparently it will be my own fault if my bill is high for daring to shower

Meanwhile British Gas are expecting higher than average profits.... Sure its my fault 🙄

You are mistaking sharing the same stresses and worries for fearmongering

I don't need any more stress right now either but by all means keep coming after me specifically for the same things other posters on the thread have also said

OP, I've only scanned through your replies so forgive me if I'm repeating everybody else, we had a turtle tank which was costing us around £1.50 a day to run, so £45 a month, his light was on a 12hr schedule so coild be more if fish tank has a light on 24hr, it shocked me!

@ConfusedNT fuck em. I could owe them money until the day I die for all I care, they’re not going to turn anything off unless I point blank refuse to pay a penny, which I won’t. I’ll offer them £5 a month 😁

That's good to know actually as this was starting to make me feel incredibly stupid and worthless

It's bad enough being stressed without been sneered at, accused and patronised for it.

time to step away to nicer threads, thank you