£1958 electricity bill for small 2 bed apartment?

[Aprilsund]

Is that really high?
How much do you pay for similar?
Just been told my bill will be going up around £181 per year

Not sure how I'm going to afford that

What you can do:

1. Ask your supplier to check your meter in case it is faulty. If your flat is a converted house, you might be paying for more than just the electric being used in your flat.
2. See if another supplier or a different tariff would be cheaper.
3. Use less electricity. Anything which generates heat will use more electricity than things which generate light or sound. Cutting down your tumble drier use seems like a good starting
4. Is there anything you can do to improve how well your home is insulated? Having thick curtains and using them to prevent heat loss through the windows etc.
5. If you are eligible for any benefits, are you claiming them?

Yep, those numbers seem normal at first glance. The tumble dryer caught my eye. That is going to use a lot of electricity. I don't have one as I have no space for one and given how much energy costs nowadays, it'd be foolish to have one anyway. I'm lucky in that I can hang washing outside when the weather is decent, otherwise it gets hung up inside with a dehumidifier running.

I wash every day and use the tumble dryer every day. I use the cooker, and other appliances as I wish. As I said earlier I'm hugely in credit with Octopus. I genuinely think there is either something wrong with the meter or an immersion heater is just left on constantly.

I'm in a 2 bedroomed bungalow. I pay about £100 - £150 a month. That is for gas and electricity.

I stand corrected, thank you, I should know better than to believe everything I read elsewhere without checking

I pay about £80 a month for gas and electricity (gas central heating, boiler and cooker) in a two bedroom flat, two occupants.

It seems high. I’m in a 4 bed rural property all electric until recently and used about £230 a month.
I would check the immersion heater is switched off. Then turn all electrical items off in the flat and see if the meter is still going round (or the smart meter equivalent). You need to try and identify what’s using all the electricity.

Gosh. Three bed terraced house here and I pay £717/year. We have a dryer too. Gas central heating/hob.

100% this.

Meaningless figures plucked out of the air by the energy companies, thread after thread.

How can strangers help when people don't have the nous to post their actual energy use, it isn't difficult.

I send in monthly meter readings and pay for my actual useage. The past 6 months this has been between £58 and £80 per month. 4 bed detached house, dishwasher, tumble dryer, heater airer and washing machine all on multiple times a week, oven used most days too.

Oil heating so don't use electric for heating or hot water. One electric shower used daily.

You need to regularly read the meter and send in readings, otherwise you're just paying for what the energy company thinks the average should be for a home of your size, which is often well over the odds!

Or get a smart meter.

Mines currently £115 for both.

You need to check recent bills to see if they are accurate and based on actual readings.

That amount is suggesting an insane amount of electricity use for a 2 bed flat that's also got gas heating and hot water. We live in a 2 bed house and our bills for gas and electricity are about £1400 per year and we're not particularly careful. That estimated amount is nearly 50% higher, with gas on top.

How long have you lived there? Have you been paying on DD up to now? Is there any debt on the account? What estimated usage figure does it say on your bill? Are you sure that's not for both G&E? It would still be high though.

As well as looking at your bills, you need to double check that there's not an unknown immersion heater switched on somewhere. I'd also be wondering if you're accidentally paying for a neighbour's electricity too. What sort of flat is it (house conversion or purpose built and how old?).

Ringing them is a complete waste of time they estimate of previous usage

you need a smart meter totes k your daily usage then you can workout where you spending your money

I mean mine is a cash cost but it is the actual cash cost of my electricity.

Don't you think that sometimes understanding what people are paying can help because if you aren't super confident with numbers you can use the cash amounts to tell you that you are paying too much (or conversely that you probably aren't) and then that it's worth putting the effort in to work out if your issue is the unit price or the amount of electricity? I always assume if someone was confident with that sort of thing they'd ask for the electricity use in kWH when they posted, so the fact that they don't probably indicates that the former is still a useful starting point.

I don't remember my kW usage (would need to check the statement for that) but I do know exactly how much I am being charged monthly. Smart meter, £90 for both gas and electric in warmer months, goes up to £130 once the heating comes on. My direct debit is £110 per month.

Electric shower, oven, tumble dryer, etc., 3-bed semi, 3-4 people.

People are not stupid and do know the difference between the DD and actual consumption.

People are not stupid and do know the difference between the DD and actual consumption.

Well, some people do. Others don't. Some even think that the price cap figure given is the maximum they'll pay, not the average household usage figure. The many threads on this topic illustrate the broad range of knowledge (or lack thereof) out there!

Yes you need to put disclaimers on top of any post!

Yes I take regular meter readings and submit them so my usage is correct etc.

With my octopus account they often switch around day and night readings or even the prices (charging me high for night and low for day for a period)

Looking at my octopus letter they do think I shall use far more units in the day than I do (7 generally over 12 they expect) so my estimate for next year is big.

And that's them getting meter readings every month from me but as they keep swapping meters around on me, the average is screwed their end.

What other people are paying is meaningless as you have no way of knowing how they live.

Working out how much electricity you use and how much it costs is basic maths.The sort of maths that wouldn't challenge a child.

Even if you are poor at maths, the device you are using right now will have a calculator.

Number of kWh x price per unit. Then add standing charge.

But no, time and time again people posting what the energy companies want them to pay but unable to post what they use.

What other people are paying is meaningless as you have no way of knowing how they live

Exactly. I always find it baffling how many threads there are on here where people want to compare their circumstances with others and even when 95% of the answers are completely different, they hone in on the 5% that are similarly extreme and thank them for the reassurance that there's others in the same boat. Bizarre.

But for the OP, Moneysaving Expert has a 'is my DD fair' calculator that all you have to do is input your usage and your tariff details and it will tell you what your DD should be. No maths required.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits/#calc

Do you send them meter readings ? I would also get one of thse plug in meters that show you how much electricity you are using on an appliance and try it on the tumble dryer .You can get them for about £12 .

I have checked what octopus is basing my "next year you will pay this under new prices" letter on.

they said i used 4500 day units and 2500 night. Total cost £1950 next year.

But actually i use 2500 day and around 3580 night. which is around £1000 for next year. They have all these readings. my DD is only £66per month.

So their estimation per that specific letter is MAD. but it doesn't affect me much as they charge me on actual usage and i monitor when they get it all wrong.

Wow that's insane!

Our situation is comparable to yours. We pay by variable DD (so for actual monthly usage, not averaged) and our electricity bill is always between £50 and £60pm as heating is by gas boiler.

What on earth have you been using to run up such huge useage last year?

Your useage is also very high as it doesn't include heating!

Do you always tumble dry? Got an American style FF?

The tumble drier will be a few quid a go unless it is very new and super efficient. You say you use it a lot? 3-5 times a week could be costing a few hundred a year alone.