How strict do you have to be with electric

[babypleasenow]

Hi so I've recently been granted an award to clear the debt on my gas and electric. I wasn't able to work for a while due to having kidney failure and was waiting for pip and esa to go through, it took fucking ages so I racked up a bit of debt.

Anyway, going forward I really don't wanna do that again. How strict do you really have to be? I live in a one bed flat and it's saying I've spent nearly 50 quid in less than a month on electric. I have two tvs but only use one at a time obviously. I don't understand how it's costing me that much! Any tips?

Is your shower electric? Oven? Any electric heaters? They will be the main things, not the television. All lights switched to LED? Mine is usually around £40 a month for electric so not much lower.

The standing charge is around 53p a day. You are least £15 a month before you use any electric. Based on estimate of 21 days you should be using 5-6 kw of electric which probably about average for a one bed.
maybe look at your washing machine. Reducing the water temperature is supposed reduce electricity usage.

£50 in a month for one is entirely reasonable.

Look for things that unnecessarily suck power when they're not in use; every watt in use 24/7 costs £3/year at the moment, roughly. This means that leaving a games console on standby at 15W is £45/year. Adds up.

If you have a TV, don't leave it on for background - it'll be using 60-150W all that time the screen is lit and that does add up over time. Use a radio/music/podcasts instead if you need to fill the silence.

Don't worry so much about short high-power stuff - your toaster or electric oven isn't going to break the bank. It's the long term stuff like a telly on 15 hours a day and the heating that get you.

We're a family in a 2 bed house. Our electricity is on a prepayment meter due to previous owner.

We spend £55 a month and we don't really keep an eye on usage. The only thing is that cooking a roast was epically expensive last week so we'll be doing quicker meals / traybakes instead.

Our hot water and heating is gas and DH works from home.

Gas needs to be rationed here! Obviously heating is off now but I noticed that a shower sand timer (£3 off eBay) really helped. We take meter readings weekly.

I found an old budget of ours from 2015ish and we used to pay £55 for both gas AND electric 😂

Hope you feel better now. Sounds awful for you!

Is your heating electric? How is your water heated?I find using the eco setting on my washing machine makes a difference.