Does my Octopus elec/gas bill look OK for a 3 bed terrace?

[Startingagainandagain]

Just received my last Octopus monthly bill and I am paying:

• £47 electricity
• £88 for gas (central eating and gas cooker). Reduced from about £138 for Dec and Jan.

Does that sound all right to people? This is a 3 bed 1930 mid terrace & I work from home.

I don't pay Octopus by direct debit (because I am concerned about them just taking some random amounts. So they give me the latest meter reading and I pay the bill electronically every month which I know makes things a bit more expensive.

As ways to reduce the bills they suggest on my gas account: ''You could save £32.79 a year by switching to Flexible Octopus and paying by Direct Debit. Alternatively, you could save £136.42 a year by switching to Loyal Octopus 12M Fixed.''

is anyone on the above tariff and is it worth moving to that?
**

[SandysMam]

How many people are in your household?

[Startingagainandagain]

@SandysMam

How many people are in your household?

Two.

[Toomuch44]

Everyone's bills are going to be different depending on how we live (ie bath/shower(electric or run off boiler), if we use a tumble dryer, dishwasher, cook with gas or electric etc, temperature and how much we have heating set to.

However, yours isn't too dis-similar to ours. There's two adults - DH doesn't work, I'm part-time, then DD who lives here 50% of the time. Submitted our readings this morning - electricity £54.02 and gas £90.02. We live in what was a two bedroom bungalow with converted loft.

[YouAndMeAndThem]

I am in a 3 bed terrace. Don't really think about when I have heating on or hot water. Just use what we need. My electric is between £60-80 and my Gas is £100.

[dementedpixie]

Its the price per kwh and standing charge you would look at to see if there is a saving to be made. I'm on the flexible Octopus rate just now. Havent really looked at fixes recently.

[GetWhatYouWant]

Seems reasonable to me. What's your objection to paying by DD? It helps with budgeting as you avoid the fluctuations in the different seasons.

I'm on flexible octopus because at the moment they keep reducing their prices so I wouldn't want to be tied to a higher cost per unit. I pay 140 per month on DD altogether and I submit a reading every month and they send me a bill so I know exactly what my usage costs are. I live in a 4 bed detached, electricity is around 55 a month year round but gas( cooking and heating) can vary from around 20 in summer to over 300 in winter so having a monthly amount spreads the cost.

I expect it to drop further as I'm still a few hundred in credit. They also have a facility online where you can adjust the DD yourself and ask for credit to be repaid.

[shoppingshamed]

Have you any reason to think that your meter or any appliances are malfunctioning?

Are the meter readings and tariff details used correct?

If the answers are no and yes then it would extremely unlikely that the bill will have been miscalculated.

If you think your spending more than you could be I'd look at usage of appliances that heat up or cool down as they are the biggest energy users

[Rosesanddaisies1]

That seems expensive. We're two adults in a 3-bed, both WFH, also Octopus. Combined elec and gas monthly bill about £100 in the winter. Definitely worth paying by direct debit, they can't change the amount. i always just switch to whatever their cheapest tariff is. We are frugal with heating, don't have a tumble dryer.

[flipent]

I'm with Octopus - I pay by DD but it's a fixed amount. Not sure why you think they will just 'take a random amount'?

[mitogoshi]

Very similar to mine op, also octopus

[Wafflefudge]

Seems very cheap to me. We spend about £100 on electric and didn't think we were extremely high users

[HardToUnderstand]

That's very cheap. Mine is £197 combined gas and electric, for three people in a new 3 bed home which should be highly efficient, being a top band B EPC, almost A.

[caringcarer]

I'm on the Loyal Octopus. My gas and electricity are always high because I live in a 6 bedroomed house. I'm home all day and I'm not sitting in the cold. I pay £400 pcm although I only use that much in winter. In another month I'll change it to £350 a month then in June £300 pcm. There is about £400 in credit.

[Notellinganyone]

I live in a Victorian 3 bed mid terrace and my Electricity is about £85 and my gas similar over a year. I pay 180 per month.

[shellyleppard]

Op I'm on the fixed tariff with octopus, mainly cos the price kept going up. It finishes in June so will have another look then. Two bed 1970's semi with 3 home all the time x

[Decafflatteplease]

That's very cheap, we are £300 a month DD (last few months we've used more like £350) and there's 6 of us in a 3 bed old and draughty semi

[Champagnebar]

Seems amazingly low to me - 3 are 3 adults, 2 are mostly home all the time. Not with Octopus but our monthly bills top £400.

[HideTheCroissants]

I’m in a 4 bed house with 3 adults (2 at home most of the time). Our combined gas and electric is £150 pm by direct debit so OPs sounds acceptable.

[Menomeno]

DM is alone in a 2 bed flat, with Octopus. Her combined bill is £150 a month, which is just about keeping her in the black, though I paid an extra £100 last month and she’s had her winter fuel payments too.

[UseItOrloseItt]

It seems expensive to me. Mine is about half as much again - but I'm in a 4 bed detached with 5 people. Kids leaving lights and appliances on all over the place, teens clicking the heating on when we're out and leaving it blasting for 5 hours etc 🙄

I'm with Octopus but the tracker tariff. Has saved me a fortune in the last year, it's a no brainer if you're already with Octopus.

[Startingagainandagain]

Thank you everyone so the advice is to switch to DD and make sure I am on the right tariff.

I installed a new boiler and the system/cooker was checked and I moved in by a gas engineer who found no leaks so I don't really have concerns but I just want to make sure I am paying around the right amount.

I have to work out what they mean by 'flexible octopus' and 'loyal octopus' tariffs though :).

The reason why I am not keen on DD is because I was with British Gas for the property I rented before buying this one and pay by DD. They constantly overcharged and it was a pain to get a refund when I closed my account...

[DirtyDensDog]

I'm with octopus. You can set up a variable direct debit which means they only take the amount of what you've actually used. So if one month your bill is £82.89, then that is the amount they will take with the variable direct debit. If the following month you use say £97.89 then that will be the amount they take.

[mitogoshi]

@UseItOrloseItt

Because the standing charges are high these days, it makes less difference on house size. We are using the same whether 2 are home or 5

[Startingagainandagain]

Thank you for the additional advice!

A variable direct debit based on actual usage sounds good to me :).

[DirtyDensDog]

@Startingagainandagain

Thank you for the additional advice!

A variable direct debit based on actual usage sounds good to me :).

Yes it works really well for me.