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Cost of living

Stretching your budget? Share tips and advice to discuss budgeting and energy saving here. For the latest deals and discounts, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

How much is your gas and electricity?

112 replies

Wishmelucknow · 15/07/2023 12:17

Hi
how much is yours? Ours has gone right up to £770 a month for both with united utilities. We have a 5 bed house and do have a hybrid car. We are in arrears as well on the costs. It seems excessive to me.

OP posts:
BarbaraofSeville · 18/07/2023 03:59

They're not helpful at all. All households have different heating systems, that are used in different ways, also differing amounts of showers, cooking and laundry etc.

Then there's electric cars and solar panels to account for and variations between payment methods, direct debit is a few percent cheaper than pay on receipt of bill.

Then someone will be quoting their last bill, others their direct debit amount, which often bears little relation to the average amount their gas and electricity costs, the '£60 pm and in credit by £800' poster being a case in point. They either use nothing at all but for some reason overpay or, more likely, have reduced their DD amount to use up the large credit they've built up. So no indication at all as to what their bill is.

For all the arguments the price cap amount caused, it does serve a useful purpose in that if you are a 'typical' household, ie a medium sized one when averaged over the entire population, your G&E should be roughly that amount, and obviously if you are in a 5 bed house you should expect it to cost more, although probably not as much more as the OP is paying, and if you are in a small flat, it should cost less, although the amount it can go down to is limited somewhat by the standing charge which I believe is about £30-40 pm.

But yes, it is possible to reduce your usage significantly. We've cut our gas use by over a third by closing one door so we're only heating the living room and not the entire house and the outside world due to our drafty front door. We've also cut our electricity use by switching to an air fryer most of the time.

linelgreen · 21/07/2023 12:43

Ours has just dropped from £820pm back to £490pm due to less gas being used in summer however I shall keep the direct debit at £650 as this will lessen the rise when colder weather arrives.

Wishmelucknow · 23/07/2023 11:47

Ok tell me about the electric car tariff and which providers give these. My provider hasn’t done this yet. Only economy 7 - car charging is doable between 12 and 7. But all the other stuff isn’t eg washing, drying etc

OP posts:
Franticbutterfly · 23/07/2023 12:29

Last month it was £175. Our dd is £230.

5 people, 4 bedrooms, 12 rooms in total.

CookieDoughKid · 23/07/2023 14:43

What's your last month's kwh consumption and standing charges and per kwh charge? That's how you compare. Everything else is not useful.

Jay2131 · 09/01/2024 22:40

If you heat all rooms up
Probably right
We live in a 2 bedroom bungalow and is around 350 to 400 a month
And only heat livingroom and bedroom

seagull82 · 09/01/2024 22:52

£136 pm for Gas and Electric using a smart meter. 3 Bedroom house with 3 adults all working 8-5 Monday-Friday so only using energy in the evenings and weekends.

sewingstockings · 09/01/2024 22:53

£115 a month plus £230 on coal a year. 3 bedroom end terrace. Have the house warm as I at home all the time.

slithytoveisascientist · 09/01/2024 23:22

£360 DD and we use about £300

SurferTodayAndTomorrow · 10/01/2024 09:20

Large 4 bed detached, 5 people. We're high users, far higher than the average figures often referred to. Heating on quite a lot, teens that game and leave lights on everywhere 🙄.

We pay £250 a month. Since November this has just covered the usage, as summer approaches we'll go back into credit.

We're on Octopus Tracker, it's the best 'risk' we've ever taken and has saved us a small fortune.

P0ppet · 20/01/2024 17:53

Our last bill was £126. 3 bed end terrace. But we have solar (which isn't doing much just now) but have battery storage so can buy electricity during the night on cheaper rate then use it during the day.

Zanatdy · 20/01/2024 20:30

Wow, that’s massive. I lived in a 5 bed house for 3yrs and moved to a 2 bed flat last year. Bill was £350 in the house, but had a log burner so used that a lot in the day. In my flat it’s £120 but that’s not right as I’m in credit. It’s a million percent warmer in the flat too. How often is your heating on for that cost? I’d be wearing a few more jumpers more often

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