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Cost of living

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Utilities cost, central London

9 replies

Loveambala · 29/03/2024 11:27

Hey wise hive,

Looking for some help. I live in a 2 bed basement flat in Central London. It's a new build basement within an old Georgian house and we're 2 adults and a 7 year old.
I WFH but no heating and minimum lights go on during the day with DH and DS out to work and school.
Despite this, we're paying, what I think is over what we should be. Our bill last year was £2088 for gas and electricity and £828 for water. We have smart meters for both and all bills based on readings. We're on a fixed rate with OVO.

Anyone in a similar household and wouldn't mind sharing their bills?
I'm trying not to be paranoid but I don't think the flat is energy efficient enough or there's something amiss with connections.

Thanks!

OP posts:
Loveambala · 29/03/2024 21:06

Bump

OP posts:
952048A · 29/03/2024 21:43

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Loveambala · 30/03/2024 00:03

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You'll find that I asked if anyone was in a similar household that could share the amounts they pay.
Hence, you might be the moron.

OP posts:
Bjorkdidit · 30/03/2024 07:36

That's definitely high for the situation you describe.

But there's so many variables (usage, tariff, insulation, type of heating etc) that even if a load of your neighbours posted, it wouldn't give you a definitive answer.

What's the fix - is it at/around the price cap rates or is it a lot higher, which would explain the high utility bills but not water.

One thing I'm wondering is if you're paying for the whole property and not just your flat - it sounds like someone has converted the basement into a separate dwelling in the building? How many other households are there and what size are they? Have you seen the meters? Also, how long have you lived there and if you've lived there more than a year, is it just last year the bills were high (obviously accounting for increases in prices over the last couple of years).

You say the bills are based on meter readings but were they just for 1 year, ie not catching up after previous underestimates.

Basically, you need to go through your bills systematically, check they are indeed correct in terms of your usage (and only yours), that you're not on a silly high fix and if they are right, see if you can do anything to save energy and reduce your bills.

Your water is also very high. Is that rates or a meter? Again, do you know it's just for your flat and not other households too? Do you have any historical usage to compare? Your water company website should have a calculator where you can estimate what your metered supply should cost - it might be presented as whether swapping from rates to a meter will be cheaper - you can enter information about how many showers, loads of washing etc you do and what the cost will be. You're not a 'wash everything after one wear/use and 2 or 3 showers a day each' household are you?

Also, have a look on Moneysaving Expert for energy saving advice and pointers about checking if your bill is right.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/

Westfacing · 30/03/2024 07:56

For a three-person household the charges don't seem too high.

By comparison, I live alone in a 2-bed ground floor London flat and I'm paying just over £1000 pa for gas & electricity, and £300 pa for water.

G & E both smart meters, and I send monthly readings to Octopus

Water is metered and I send monthly readings

Bjorkdidit · 30/03/2024 08:10

By comparison, we pay about £1600 per year for utilities for an extended 2 bed house in northern England, so colder and likely a larger property. I also WFH and do put the heating on a few time in the daytime. Plus we cook and shower with electric and that's more expensive than gas. Our water is unmetered, so more expensive than rates for smaller household and it's about £4/500 per year.

alwaysmovingforwards · 30/03/2024 08:17

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Harsh but fair, I do agree.

Share the standing charges and £/unit of your tariff to see if it's a good deal or not.

General waffling about comparing usage is pointless.

LittleBearPad · 30/03/2024 08:21

The water doesn’t make sense.

Live in 4 bed/bath house just outside London and ours is £40 a month.

DSD9472 · 30/03/2024 08:45

We have a 2 bed flat between zone 1-2, both WFH, but our usage is irrelevant, because we aren't living there full time now. We are with octopus, don't have gas and have economy 7. These are our rates if it helps for comparison:
Unit Rate (Day) 35.90p per kW/h
Unit Rate (Night) 15.17p per kW/h
Standing Charge 34.88p/day (£127.31/year)

Thames water for 155days
Fresh water 1.7760 x m2
Fixed charge £9.98
Waster water 1.0017 x m2
Fixed charge £30.10

I agree with another poster to check that when they made your flat, that the electrics were done correctly and you aren't paying for another properties usage. I'm not sure how you'd check that though.

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