Is this expensive for gas/electric?

[Ridingthegravytrain]

Just had a bill through for nearly £490 for 3 months October-Jan and I can't decide if we need to cut back (and if so how!). Works out about £3.50 a day for electricity and £2 a day for gas. We have gas central heating/water and hob. Everything else is electric

Does that sound ok? No tumble drier, not excessive washing (3 times a week or so) (clothes not me!!) 2 toddlers and 2 adults on a 4 bed 1930s semi

Thanks!

Might also be worth getting an energy monitor. Some library's lend them out I've been told.

Weve just had our bill checked online right now its bloody huge but its abig house i duno i think its too muchhow to get it down £1000 .

Our last house was big and we stopped using central heating coz it woukd be 500 just for gas the electric was cheap in scotland o er here its pretty much the same as gas.

we tried just electric when we moved to this new house but it was 500. So husband said use central heating lets see if its lower bloody just over 600 . I put cebtral heating on for 2 hrs in morn 2 hrs at nightsince its got nippy.

Any suggestions to lower bill im tempted to not use it but have 4 little ones and elderly folks here

One wastage mydad has gas heater in living room on day even on low setting. If i off it hw screams its too cold really walk in hits ur face the heat i cant sit in there puts me to sleep. anycheaper way to heat that room for him? he refuses to wear kore clotges god i hope im nota grump like him in old age lool

wehave two combi boilers outside and an immersion system in the house supposedly aback upsystem. We were using this for montgs because the boilers jaf a fault just been fixed.

Any saving tips please help

In a 1960s extended three bed terrace, two of us, having daily baths, our Oct/Nov/Dec total is £250.33 for dual fuel.

I have gotten in the habit of checking every year for deals. I use uSwitch via Quidco and normally get about £30 for a dual fuel switch. Anything to save money.

How many units have you supposedly used?

Hi Riding

Because there's too much difference in usage without power going somewhere. You would normally expect electricity to be higher in winter due to such things as extra lighting on dark evenings and eg tumble dryers - but if your dryer broke and you haven't put in a substitute? That should be a major offset. It's gas that is the big increase due to heating and increased water heating costs. (Water is colder coming in from the mains.) Not year on year though unless you've turned up thermostats.

Something has changed for your household, it seems. You're either using some new guzzler that you've forgotten about or not noticed (eg an immersion which was switched on by mistake) or something has been introduced into the equation like some mistaken wiring from next door or some work which has introduced a power leakage. (I'm ignoring DH's cannabis farm in the attic for the time being because that would really escalate bills and I don't think they're big enough for that. )

Get the torches ready and check out the meter this evening - as a start, anyway.

I think we can rule out the cannabis farm - but if you have a hot water tank you almost certainly have an immersion heater. It's quite easy for someone to switch on an unknown switch.

PS - Many many houses have electric immersion heaters as well as gas boilers and if you live in a 1930s semi, there's a fighting chance that you do also. ( And water can run cold even with them.) It's definitely something to check.

X post.

Great I will check the meter and turn everything off

I have hunted for an immersion switch (and accidentally turned of the boiler and the dishwasher and triggered the house alarm. So many switches in the utility room that are mysterious!)

Where else could an immersion switch be? In our old house it was by the hot water tank and had a light so was really obvious. Our house was renovated and updated 10 years ago with a megaflo

I have never been in our loft (and now I'm too scared to!! Is that why my husband was googling hydroponics??!! )

Do you have a hot water cylinder with your gas central heating? Our neighbours had an astronomical electric bill once, and it turned out that someone had turned on the electricity override switch in the airing cupboard, so the water was being heated by electricity 24/7.

My 3 bed semi is £60 a months duel fuel and we are in no way frugal with heating or electricity. It amazes me the difference between what people pay for their fuel.. Some people seems to pay absolutly crazy money

...and you should have an immersion as well as your boiler if you have a hot water tank - it is your backup source of hot water if the boiler fails.

dust off your O level physics for the calculation about heating water, given that most immersions are only 3kW that's why they take a LONG time to heat the tank.

The trouble is Riding (with regard to the renovation) that unless you check work yourself - and do it well - you don't always know what builders and tradesmen are up to. There must be a hundred 'Oh just do X - it'll work fine' sentences uttered/thoughts formed every day in the UK. Most of the time it does but there's the odd occasion.........

It's always a good idea to 'learn' your house and how the mechanics of it work. Time to go in the loft, I think?

Crikey. Judging by the plumbing Bob the builder did the work here so you are filling me with dread

In the meantime I've replaced the oven seal for a start..

Gosh. - no need for dread. Better to find out about any 'eccentricities' in the light of day as you're doing rather than in the middle of the night with no lighting and a storm outside.

Well done on the oven seal.

Katarzyna79 - we have heated blankets - like an electric blanket but goes over. Would that help?

What about an electric heater so you could regulate the temp better? Although I think gas is cheaper?