£100 a month for gas and electricity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nemo1977]

Is this right?????? Our latest statment has come in and we usually pay £60 a month via direct debit. They come out and check meter approx every 4mths so it is not overly unchecked. Our latest statement says our direct debit will now be for £97 a month We have a small 3 bed semi. I am a sahm with 2 small kids and heating is on from 7am -10pm in these cold days but on warmer days it doesnt get switched on at all. I do have a dried which is switched on about once a day sometimes twice as I use cloth nappies for DD.so it this that is causing the huge bills?????? If so I think I need to go and buy some maidens.

First of all has your Direct Debit been covering the total costs or has the account been going into the red on £60 a month? You need to check previous statements to see what your balance has been and to see if its been going up.

Driers do use quite a lot - they are about 3kw so one hour costs about 30p (depends how much you pay per kwh ). 2 hrs daily would be 60p, over a month that would be £18. This winter has been colder than last so you will have had the heating on more.

Who are you with? If it's British Gas you want to change!

(Ours is £95 a month - medium-sized draughty Victorian terrace with attic and uninsulated roof. Yours shouldn't be as much as ours really.)

The direct debit has been covering our usage costs as DH cleared any pack pay when he set it up. WE are not with british gas due to them being rip off merchants[another long story..lol] think we are with powergen but would have to check.
Jan if that works out about the drier then it is probably that causing it as it is on for at least 2 hrs a day. Mainly due to having a 2yr old and a 9wk old.

We already pay £75/month. For a 2 bed FLAT that's on the small side to say the least. With only one electric storage heater in the whole place running. No dryer. Scottish Power is a fecking rip off.

Who an earth are you lot with for your energy?? I pay £35 a month for gas and elec from Powergen. I have an online account and send regular meter readings to keep it up to date. (reminds me, will do one today)
I have a 2 bed terrace, elec cooker, no tumble drier, but no garden so have to dry clothes on radiators/airers, no dishwasher.

OMG expat that is ridiculous!!!

Piece about saving energy here .

I've been googling and apparently some dryers use 4kw+, so if yours is one of those it will cost you even more - definitely worth getting an airer or 2 as long as it doesn't cause a condensation problem having wet nappies hanging around.

I have just signed up to switch to Ebico - there is a link to their website at the bottom of the article.

I recommend switchwithwhich.co.uk to look for a supplier. They offer more packages than uswitch.com. Nothing to stop you checking both of course!

We are about to switch again, we are paying what we consider to be a lot, at £85 per month electricity only, but thats for a large 5 bed semi with storage heaters and a pond pump and fountain running 24 hours a day!

I can't use switchwithwhich because they only show 14 electricity suppliers and don't include mine (ecotricity).

What about www.uswitch.com? I THINK they include ecofriendly companies

My gas has just gone up to 32 p/m but my electric is now 91 p/m I am switching supplies when I move.

According to this piece in the Observer they don't all include everything, Mary.

I just tried uswitch - it still didn't mention Ebico!

I've just tried the new Tesco site. It does have an option for Ecofriendly, but doesn't show the one you mentioned. Plus I found it offered me a lot less options (and savings!) than switchwithwhich

I really don't understand why peoples bills are so high.

I live in a 4 bed semi with gas central heating, electric cooker and tumble dryer which i use alot.

I have card meters. At the moment I put about £6 a week on the electric and £12 on the gas so thats only £72 a month for both, and it can be alot less than that if i am a bit more stingy with the heating.

We switched from British Gas to Powergen and our joint electricity & gas per mth is around a 100. It's a joke. we switched because we had crappy pre payment meters and were going through over 40 quid for 3/4 days of gas. In our old place, gas was 33 pounds per mth direct debit so we're waiting to see if the next bill comes down, if not we'll be switching.
Watching this thread with interest to see which is the cheapest.

How new and energy efficient is your drier.
Last winter we had quite an old one which wasn't very efficient, but we had a new kitchen and bought a new drier.We also had quite alot of building work done and I think they insulated a few bits that were not insulated before.We also finished double glazing the rest of the house.
This year we were £240 in credit, they have given us money back and reduced our direct debit so that we are only paying £50 a month for gas and electricity.
We are a family of 4 I use the drier most days, sometimes more than once and we live in a victorian terrace, which is sometimes quite drafty.
I'd look at a few money saving measures,insulation,low energy bulbs, more efficient appliances.

We live in a 4-bed detached house and pay £55 a month for gas and electricity through Sainsbury's Energy (which I think is actually Scottish Power). I used to pay £70 a month but ended up vastly in credit so they reduced it and it seems about right now.
I wonder if it's so cheap because I don't have a tumble drier?

my parents have a 3 bed semi with 8 radiators and their gas/elec combined is £84.00 a month