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Original poster

We're paying £90 a month for electric alone and it's still not covering it, is anyone else paying this kind of amount?

83 replies

LoveMyGirls · 04/10/2008 09:56

We have gas as well which is costing about £100 a quarter. I just don't understand how our electric bill can be so high?

OP posts:
DaisySteiner · 04/10/2008 10:18

SHOP AROUND!! We pay about £46 a month at the moment for a 3 bed semi with 2 adults and 4 children (actual readings) Our fixed rate ends in November and we'll then move onto a tarriff with a different company which will only just a couple of pounds extra a month. We're not especially careful with electricity although do try and use dishwasher/washing machine/tumble drier on economy 7.

jollyoldstnickschick · 04/10/2008 10:23

oh no piratecat im sorry for misleading you -my central heating/hot water is gas too although i dont have the heating part on only in 2 rooms i do use it daily for hot water.

peanutbutterkid · 04/10/2008 10:24

Our lekki bill is about £25/month, these numbers always amaze me. We have 4 DC, an electric cooker, hot water + heating are on oil (lekki-driven pump).
Tumble dryers are supposed to typically cost about 30p/load, but I don't know how many kg of clothes that really is. We radiator-dry on cold-wet days.
I wish I knew exactly what we are doing right so that we could pass on tips, we don't have a t-dryer for a start, though. Clothes have to be obviously dirty (smell, marks) before I wash them. I only wash full loads...Bed-linens washed only every 2-3 weeks. We do have a dishwasher, and that hasn't resulted in more lekki or water use at all, to our surprise. We turn off EVERYTHING when not in use.

Don't know if just those things are what adds all up.

peanutbutterkid · 04/10/2008 10:25

Also, we are on a green-lekki tarriff that is always higher than the market average, so it's not like we have a cheap lekki company.

piratecat · 04/10/2008 10:38

that 90 is high still for a month jollyold.

is that a meter reading? I use the same as you, I have hot water come on, by a gas boiler, twice a day. My hob and oven are gas, but i can't say i use them an awful lot, as just me and d, and the oven is prob only on 5 times a week for an hour. My quarter gas bill is prob £80-100. but alot more when the heating has to go on.

kerryk · 04/10/2008 10:42

we are £140 a month for both gas and electric, but we are also paying back a debt at a rate of £130 a month.

the £270 a month is killing us just now (my heating has not even been on since easter) but the debt will be payed of in april, then we will be back to £140 a month.

(just in time for the next price hike i would imagine )

kerryk · 04/10/2008 10:51

btw i am going on the theory that as our gas has risen by 42% and electric only 20% it is cheaper to have the drier on for 1 hour to get clothes bone dry rather than hours being turned on the heaters.

lucykate · 04/10/2008 11:07

we've just had our latest bill, was £100 for elec and the same for gas for the last quarter, so that works out at £65a month for both, £90 a month just for elec seems a lot.

lulumama · 04/10/2008 11:10

we pay £100 for leccy, just reduced from £124 per month. i read the meter and phoned them up and turned out we were £170 in credit.

we pay £145 for gas. we are also in credit with them and going to reduce direct debit and we are getting a new boiler.

we are on fixed rate tarriffs whch are pricier but cheaper than the rate prices are going up

was thikning about pre payment meters, but on balance, thanks to some good advice on here, i have decided against it

going to get on of those wireless electricity monitors and see whre else we can cut costs

not put heating on yet either !

CantSleepWontSleep · 04/10/2008 11:15

Think we prob pay more than this, and around £2.5-£3k annually on oil too (no gas where we are).

Ivegotaheadache · 04/10/2008 11:18

That really seems high. Were your bills being estimated before and now they have taken an actual meter reading, you're having to make up the difference?
If not I would query it.

We're on a card meter, it was here when we moved in and I find it much better than quarterly bills. Also it's 2.5% cheaper than getting it quarterly bills.

We use around £15 a week on electric, but I do use the tumble dryer quite a bit though I know I shouldn't, also we don't have gas so the hob and cooker are on quite alot too. The shower is instant electric too.

As we don't have gas, the heating is oil and the tank has to be filled up before you can use it and any amount you buy can be paid off monthly but has to be cleared within 6 months.
I pay £50 per month for the oil and by the time the tank needs to be filled up again I'm in credit by £100 or more.
But we don't have the heating on very much.

brimfull · 04/10/2008 11:25

we pay about £70 /month for electric.

gas has been about £10 /mnth recently,
heating only just turned on so haven't haad bill including that yet

Fizzylemonade · 04/10/2008 11:57

We are getting one of those electricity monitors

here

We do have a plug in one where you plug the appliance into it and it tells you what that particular appliance is using.

My tumble drier is a 7kg but my washing machine is 6kg so I do tumble a 6kg load. It costs around 32p but it is only 1 year old AEG thing and it is a sensor so stops when things are dry.

My washing machine which is a bosch uses electricity even when it isn't on, which we only discovered when we plugged it into that device! We now have it on a switched socket.

My advice as a previous adviser of electricity consumption (used to work for npower many years ago) is to go into every room and turn off (if possible) ANYTHING plugged in. Decide whether it needs to be switched on all the time. You will also be amazed at the amount of electrical stuff you have and your children!

Any appliance/device with a low voltage transformer plug ie the massive plugs not a normal plug (mobile phone chargers etc) uses electricity all the time turn it off also stereos anything electronic ie laptops, cordless phones, wii, playstation,, all use electricity all the time when plugged in whether on or not.

It is why it is good to have switched sockets or switched extension leads to turn everything off.

Hope this helps everyone.

Mercy · 04/10/2008 12:04

We've just paid our electricity bill, it was £94 for a quarter.

LMG, which company are you with?

expatinscotland · 04/10/2008 12:19

£110/quarter for electric here. BUT you should see our gas bill. WAY more than £100/quarter. More like £400/quarter.

I think £90/month is pretty good.

GentleOtter · 04/10/2008 12:39

Sorry to hijack but can anyone advise please?
On Monday a man came and put a card meter in the farm cottage where my son lives.
There was a £10 emergency in it but that ran out in three days despite my son only heating some food on the hob, boiling the kettle and two electric lights on.

Today we went to the Hydro Board to put more money in the plastic key thingy but they told us that it was a Scottish & Southern meter! We did not ask for a meter as we pay bills quarterly so what is going on and where do you get the key thingy charged up?

We are miles from town and in winter it will not be easy to use as it runs out so quickly.

Is this legal ie putting a meter in when we are not their customers?

lulumama · 04/10/2008 14:36

bump for you otter as i don;t know the legalities.

GentleOtter · 04/10/2008 15:23

Thank you lulumama.
I am mortified after spending ages trying to get through to them and having a rant only to discover that Hydro and Scottish & Southern are the same company.
It transpires that because the last two tenants never paid their electric bills (one of them had not paid the bill from his previous address
either)- we are being charged for the back payment.

We have never defaulted on our bills and I cannot understand why this is happening despite letting the electricity company know about it more than a year ago. I am livid.
I drove bloody miles this morning to put money into the key thing and though I paid £50, it automatically took nearly £5 off without using any electric. The food in the small fridge/freezer is ruined because the card ran out on Thursday night and 'though I tried to get the key charged on Friday, the Hydro shop said I had to 'prime' the key first.

Fizzylemonade · 04/10/2008 16:37

GentleOtter, you can never be charged for someone else's debt however the electricity company may feel that they have had a succession of tenants who have run off without paying so can insist on a prepayment meter being put in.

The £5 taken out immediately is to pay the emergency credit on the meter which is technically what you "borrow" from the meter when you run out of electric.

Is the account in your son's name? If it is then he can set it up to be paid by direct debit so that they can ensure they get their money and they do of course do a credit check. He can cite that it is difficult for him to get to charge the key but they can argue back that he could pay lump sums just like on direct debit to charge the key as you did with £50.

I don't know what they mean by "priming the key". The way is works is the key is married to the meter (stay with me) then when the key is charged in the shop the information gets passed down the phone line that that particular meter is now married to that key. There should never be an issue with the key like that.

When someone loses a key and a new key is given by the shop they have to press a button on the console to say whether it is a new tenant or a replacement key.

I used to work for npower years ago but the old brain seems to have retained some info.

Hope this helps.

Fizzylemonade · 04/10/2008 16:41

oh forgot to say that as it ate electricity so quickly it may be set higher to collect back a debt but your son should only be responsible for his debt and no-one elses.

Have you got tenancy agreements to show when he moved in, or a letter to say when he bought it? Did you take meter readings when he moved in?

Will look back on this later, must feed hungry boys

Tanee58 · 04/10/2008 16:55

We pay 40pm elect (no tumble drier, turn off as many lights, plugs etc as poss), but £100 a month gas - which I don't understand as our cooker is electric, so the gas is only for heating & hot water, and I have only just turned the heating on these last few days. Can't live without warmth I'm afraid, though DP finds it too hot. 3-bed terrace, try to turn everything off that can go off, only the phone remains plugged in all the time! Try checking your supplier on uswitch or one of the others. I've changed suppliers about 3 times in the last 6 years and am just about to change again, to a capped tariff which may be cheaper in the long run. Pretty hopeless either way, though

GentleOtter · 04/10/2008 17:29

Thank you Fizzylemonade.
My son was never in debt as we pay the electric bill and it is in our name now. We have never defaulted on a payment.
We have paid the bill from the day that the last tenant left and informed the electric company who then came and did a reading.

I have had a real problem with the electric company as they wanted the money for the last tenants 2 properties. I argued that they had to pursue the last tenant as it was his debt and not ours. They are demanding roughly £600 for his last address then the bill for our property on top.
I informed his lawyer and passes all the bills on.

It just does not seem right somehow especially when we did not ask for a card meter - it is such a palaver going to charge up the key as we are in the middle of nowhere.

The best of it is that the last tenant's bill for his previous home was an estimate and his house was empty for a long time so all this trouble is quite needless. Is there an electricity ombudsman that I could write to?

fizzbuzz · 04/10/2008 17:33

Our combined fuel bills are £245 per month

We live in draughty Victorian house, which cannot be cavity wall insulated. We can't have proper double glazing either as some windows have the original leading on them

There are 5 of us in here, incl 2 teenagers who seem to be online 24/7. Am totally pissed off with the cost of heating this barn....but guess what...we can't move as houses aren't selling at the moment....

GentleOtter · 04/10/2008 17:35

fizzbuzz

kiddiz · 04/10/2008 17:37

I am pretty sure it is pcs that eat the electricity in our house. Our consumption went down considerably when we had no broadband for 3 months so dcs and dh did not have their pcs on all the time. ds1 and ds2 regularly leave theirs on overnight. I am always switching them off. Our combined gas and electric are £89 a month