Electricity bill is disgusting - what can I do here!

[Coalasblack]

Prepay meter. Landlord will not give permission to remove and move to direct debit.

Yearly statement: £1298 on electricity alone

Heating oil was: £1100 on oil and the tank is already running low

House is empty 3 days a week when i'm at work.

Is my bill particularly high compared to others? 3 bed detached house. I do use the tumble dryer quite a bit, electric over, chest freezer and separate fridge. Other than that i can't think what on earth its all going on

*electric oven

Yeah that's high. I think prepay meters work out more expensive

I don't think your land lord needs to give you permission to change them. Do you know if they are servicing a debt? I'll see if I can find some info.

It's your tumble dryer. I'm on prepayment (and it's not allowed to be more expensive) I used £15 over one weekend with a tumble dryer. Got rid and now use £7-10 a week.(before I changed to prepayment NPower wanted £150 a month for g+e combined) That's a family of 3, I'm out 5 days, DH is postie so home early afternoon. Tablets laptops, phones charging pretty much all day sometimes. Try not using your tumble for a week and see what difference it makes.

I can't attach a pic but you absolutely do not need permission to get them removed. It comes up on citizens advice page.
I had mine swapped to pre- pay when I was up the financial swanny and my landlord was aware. It was in my contract that I couldn't but it isn't enforceable.
I'm happy to say that when I moved things were so much better I swapped them back.

That does seem high for both, we had a short time on a prepayment meter when we moved in and used about £10 a week (3 bed semi detached house). How long has that oil lasted? We do around that in a year but as we are learning what burns oil we are adjusting heat settings, hot water settings to use less.

electric wise could you talk to your supplier and see if they can bill you without the prepayment meter if the landlord won’t remove it?

@Coalasblack you don't need your landlord's permission to switch to a meter if you're responsible for the bill.

Here's the citizens advise link:
www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/get-a-better-energy-deal/switching-energy-supplier-if-youre-a-tenant/

This is citizens advice info:

Having prepayment meters removed or installed

Your landlord can’t stop youreplacing a prepayment meter with a normal meter that lets you pay after using energy rather than in advance. You don’t need your landlord’s permission to do this.

If you get behind on your gas or electricity bills,your energy supplier might want to install a prepayment meter. Your landlord can’t stop this, and you don’t need their permission.

Returning the original meters at the end of your tenancy

If you install or remove prepayment meters, you might have to put the original meters back at the end of your tenancy. This is because the change will count as an alteration to the property. You'll have to pay any fee your energy supplier charges for changing the meters back.

Most people's suppliers don’t charge a fee for installing or removing meters. If yours does, think aboutswitching supplier. Or tell your current supplier you’ll switch to another one - they might remove the fee if you stay with them.

I was told by supplier that huge fridge freezers cost a lot to run.
Not the tumble drier.

Four children so drying clothes would be a bloody nightmare without the tumble dryer. I don't use it in the summer. But because the heating is hardly on clothes just wouldn't dry in the house at all in autumn/winter.

We already have a black mould issue, drying clothes in the house would make it much worse.

Heating is set to come on to 18 degrees between 6.30am - 8.30 am and then 3pm - 9pm. Thats it! On the days I am home without the children I just light the fire and freeze on my own!

Forgot to mention we have an electric shower and everyone is allowed one bath a week so save on oil so I guess the shower is taking a lot of the electricity too.

There is no debt on the meter at all. It was here when we moved in 8 years ago.

Tumble dryers will be expensive as they create heat

Just contact your supplier then. The links say you don't need permission

Buy an electric airer from Lakeland instead of the tumble dryer.

Interesting that I don't need his permission! I think its written into the contract but I will double check.

I'm with robinhood electric, there wasn't much difference between suppliers so I went with the non-profit company. If I could get a normal meter I could shop around.

I'm utterly sick of having to drive to the shop to top up when the electricity runs out.

Change your meters cancel the cheque I was never charged either for installation or swap at the end of tenancy.

I use the same amount of electricity as you. Slightly more on oil/wood for biomass furnace

I live in a large 7 bed detached house in woodland (so for a lot of the year the sun doesn't get above the tree line and thus the house is colder).

Im not on pre payment but my duel fuel bill is £93 a month, im out of the house 3 days a week till school collection, i have 3 small children so tumble dryer is on at least once a day and my eldest sleeps with a hallway light on overnight. Include all the usual charging of gadgets and your electric bill for the year is more than my last years duel fuel consumption.

I'm also with the same electricity provider as you.

It doesn't matter what's in the contract if you're paying the bill. You can always get it changed back at the end of the tenancy

Did you get a new key when you moved in? When our bills were sky high on a pre pay meter we found out we were paying the LL's debt.

Mine was in the contract too. Just get them changed. Speak to your provider and explain the situation and discuss getting them changed again if required. Mine were nothing but helpful.
Have you considered a dehumidifier? I know the last thing you want to do is add another electric appliance but it will make the ho use easier to heat and help with the mould problem. I use it to dry clothes in place of my drier. I just use the drier for smalls now.

That does indeed sound horrendous. Definitely change your electricity meter - doesn't matter if it's in the contract, he still can't force you to keep it. I suspect that the high bills are a combination of the electric shower, which is likely using a fuck ton of electricity, the tumble dryer and the prepayment meter.

I also suspect that your boiler is also horrendously inefficient. We have a large-ish 4 bedroom house and we haven't filled up our 1200 litre oil tank since October 2017. We still have a fair bit left too, heating is on for at least 4 hours a day, thermostat set to 20C. That is with a very new boiler though.

If you need to tumble dry could you get an economy 7 tariff and try and do it early in the morning when it's cheaper? If you're showering early in the morning then that would also bring the cost down for that.

@Coalasblack even if it's in your contract, as long as you have it changed back to how it was when you moved in, the landlord cannot make you keep the pre-paid meter.
In the same way, you are also entitled to change the provider if you wish

It's not actually true that pre payment is always more expensive that billing meters. I work in the industry.

Ofgem set pre payment meters pricing to ensure they are in line with billing. Being charged more for simply being a pre payment customer is a thing of the past.

You may be able to get a better deal, so shop around. But it sounds like you use alot of electricity, billing meters may not save that much more.

Also remember you will more than likely need a credit check so check you name is spelt right on the account etc.

even if it's in your contract, as long as you have it changed back to how it was when you moved in, the landlord cannot make you keep the pre-paid meter.

This can also be an issue. If you give a months notice, it can take longer to change the meter back.