gas and electricity bills

[cuttleshocks]

not sure which section i should be in.

doing a daily tally of my gas.
using 12 units a day if it is on all day and 6 if i switch it off. my bill is going to be massive isnt it. really worried as i am a single mum

If you're worried about your winter bill you might be able to talk to your gas provider about spreading the cost through the whole year via a monthly DD (assuming you don't already). You could look on comparison sites to make sure you've got the cheapest provider and, if not, then consider switching. If you have gas & electric with the same company there are often savings. Then there are measures you can take at home to keep the costs down... turning down the room/hot water tank thermostats & dressing more warmly, wall/roof/window insulation etc. Good luck

thankyou for replying. doing everything i can to cut costs. worst thing is im trying desperately to get a job. i have sent off 12 more applications yesterday.

Cuttleshocks I am a single mum and watching the pennies too. I'm with British Gas and am able to enter my reading online and it tells me how much gas/electric I have used and then predicts what my bill will be. I'm finding this a great help. It's the energy smart whatsit so I also have an electricity monitor so can keep an eye on that too. I also pay by direct debit so during the summer months my account will be in credit meaning I will be able to afford the heating in winter.

did you have to pay for your energy smart meter. sat here with no heating on until 30 minutes before DS2 gets home. keeping busy to keep warm

No love, I didn't have to pay. I have also invested in electric blankets and me and dd go to bed early, snuggle up in my bed and watch tv, read or play games until her bed time. I don't need the heating on at all then so they have been a good investment. When I am downstairs I have an old single duvet that I use when I'm sat down and that does the trick. Also, it's amazing how much warmer your house feels if you come back in after a walk so I try to get out for an hour every day, sometimes twice a day!!

Cuttleshocks, I've just used the predict my bill facility and entered the units you mentioned in your OP to work out an estimation of your usage.

As I said above my supplier is British Gas and the charge rate is 6.355 pence per KWh on Teir 1 and 2.927 pence per KWh on tier 2 so I don't know how that compares with your supplier.

According to the predict my bill 12 units would be costing £5.27 per day and 6 units would be costing £2.62 per day. I hope this helps you.

Try Uswitch - I work for a call centre selling utilities and we have just been told that Uswitch is the best one for being unbiased.

Are you on prepay? Get with a company that doesn't charge you extra, and I would recommend finding one that hasn't put it's prices up, then getting on a capped price plan as they will probably all end up going up.