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Original poster

how much do you pay for gas and electric per month ?

27 replies

chocohead · 22/04/2009 07:39

Just had our bill we have been paying £112 per month over the winter and this still hasn't covered it, they now want to put it up to £140 which we can't really afford.

Is this about right? it just sounds so much, it says our gas for 6 months was £650 !!!! live in 3 bed semi.

Anyone ? and the government wonder why we have no spare money to spend, SO Frustrating !!

OP posts:
mankyscotslass · 22/04/2009 07:50

Sounds about right, sorry to say.

We pay £140 a month for both at the moment.

We are also in a 3 bed semi, on the best price deal we can find.

We do take readings every couple of weeks and let our supplier have them so we don't get a nasty shock.

southeastastra · 22/04/2009 08:10

our gas was £244 for a quarter, electric a bit more. really bad isn't it

LoveMyGirls · 22/04/2009 08:14

We were paying £90 a month for electric but that has just come down to £40 because we did owe some and now we don't.

Gas we've just paid £250 for sept to now and we're going to pay £60 a month from now on so still £100 a month but not as bad as it was!

duchesse · 22/04/2009 08:24

We live in a 5 bed detached house in the country and are on LPG (no town gas here) which is more expensive. We also have solar tubes that heat the water throughout a normal summer (not last year, but usually no need for the boiler between May and September). We run lots on economy 7 (eg- washing machine and dishwasher are on timers and come on in the night).

Electricity is £100 a month (less in summer, about £75)

Gas is £130 a month. We are going to switch to a wood fired system this year hopefully.

PolkaDotRachel · 22/04/2009 08:43

We live in a 3 bed detached and we pay:

£75/month for gas
and
£40/month for electric

Our house is quite energy efficient - new cavity wall insulation and loft insulation last year and not an old building anyway.

But we do not have the heating on much and I am quite anal careful about switching lights off/things off the the plugs etc.

duchesse - solar tubes sound like a great idea! do you mind me asking if they were v expensive to install?

Have you checked what tariff you are on? Sometimes they just put you on the standard most expensive tarrif unless you actually ask for the cheapest! We are with one company for both and I have switched to an online tarriff (you need to choose online billing) and we also get a discount for paying by DD.

PolkaDotRachel · 22/04/2009 08:45

ps. make sure they are calculating the bill from ACTUAL meter readings not made upESTIMATED ones!

duchesse · 22/04/2009 08:46

Rachel- we had them fitted 5 years ago, and not knowing any better, went for the option of having them fitted by a specialist company. Because of the peculiarly high cost of LPG vs town gas, ours have pretty much paid for themselves already. I have since discovered that you can buy them off the peg from a place in Wales for 25% of the price we paid (we paid £6000 for ours, fitted, they are £1500 in this place in Wales) and have them fitted by a plumber. I can find out where to get them if you like.

sarah293 · 22/04/2009 08:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

PolkaDotRachel · 22/04/2009 08:59

duchesse-

Yes - if it's not too much trouble where do you get them?
My DH is a builder so can get plumber on the cheap to fit them.
Now I have to presuade DH! I know the gov want us to spend spend spend but it's difficult not to put off "non essential" purchased until things are looking a bit more hopeful!

Slightly off point but my DH recently did a loft conversion type job and two of the rooms could not easily have normal windows fitted so the clients opted for these tubes called "sun pipe" to allow in natural light - to my knowledge they don't create any energy but still a good invention!! Not sure how you'd get out in a fire though !

duchesse · 22/04/2009 09:01

Rachel- I've been investigating those. Do you think you could ask your DH if they were the rigid or the concertina type? And also what he thought of the light quality? And how long the tubes were?

I'll email my friend to ask her where in Wales she got her tubes.

PolkaDotRachel · 22/04/2009 09:29

Yes I will ask him tonight!

ruddynorah · 22/04/2009 09:31

3 bed semi, new build, £75 a month for both.

MitchyInge · 22/04/2009 09:36

I want to make the switch to wood fired, my last quarterly bill was £650 combined gas/electricity and I cried . I don't care if the solid fuel costs more, it's the principle, I live in such a small house yet it feels like I'm paying to heat the Albert Hall. Wouldn't be so bad if the heating did actually heat the place but I suppose without replacing windows and so on it will always be 'well ventilated' here!

MitchyInge · 22/04/2009 09:38

anyway that's obviously over £200 a month

hopefully the next two will be much cheaper

hedgiemum · 22/04/2009 11:17

Prepare to be shocked - We realized last week that we have been using £300 worth of electricity a month over the winter!
Can anyone beat that?!

Gas was £700 for 6 months.

lilacclaire · 22/04/2009 16:24

We pay about £150 p/m for both and tbh it isn't really covering the usage.
Also a 3 bed semi.

duchesse · 22/04/2009 19:53

Rachel- my friend went through this company. She says the prices have risen since she bought hers, but are still competitive vs going to a specialist accredited company.

duckyfuzz · 22/04/2009 19:56

£91 a month combined, 4 bed detached

ilovetochat · 22/04/2009 19:57

£103 per month for both and we are in debt with them so should be more.

Wilts · 22/04/2009 19:59

£90 combined - three bed mid-terrace.

feedthegoat · 22/04/2009 20:01

Three bed semi and we pay £80 gas and £40 electricity. Gas is £150 in debit too.

sherby · 22/04/2009 20:01

two bed bungalow

£170 a month

CarGirl · 22/04/2009 20:05

Small open plan 3 bed terrace

just gone up because of the cold winter

£56 per month

I am anal about not using the tumble dryer, only full loads in the washing machine,, turning everything off not using standby, if I need to use the large oven then I cook enough for 2 meals in it etc etc

Also with 4 dc we're quite crowded so that probably keeps us warm. Plus we get the sun on the front during the day which really warms the place up.

Can't wait until we get double glazing downstairs to make it toastier in the winter.

PolkaDotRachel · 22/04/2009 20:48

Thanks duchesse!

Spoke to DH and he said the pipes were ridgid until the very top where it needed a slight bend to align with pitch of roof (if you see what I mean :s) but it is possible to get ones which bend to fit your space. He said they had 2 bedrooms with one pipe in each and that was more than enough light to fill the room but presume you could have more than one.

He said they come in any length you need - these ones were not long as not far to go since rooms were in roof space anyway. They do not protrude much on the roof. He said very easy to fit.

He reminded me that they also have these at center parcs in the bathrooms and kitchen and now I think about it they do provide a lot of extra light - apparently the insides of the tubes are all mirrors to reflect the light.

As these ones were fitted in bedrooms there is a mechanism to wind a "blind" over the top of the pipe to make it dark if you wanted to sleep in the middle of the day for example.

Hope that helps!!!!

IwishIwasmoreorganised · 22/04/2009 20:58

We pay £38 a month for gas and £44 a month for electricity. Both are with British gas.

We live in a 4 bedroomed (extended from 3 bed in 2007) semi-detached house. We have double glazing throughout, good loft and cavity wall insulation.

I'm shocked at how much some of your are paying.