£65/month Electricity - How am i using so much??

[flatmouse]

OK - 4-bed semi, landing light stays on all night, do maybe 6 loads washing 3 loads tumble-dry each week (tumble-drier is a sensor one and so uses less than i was with old tumble-drier).

Why oh why is it so much?

Tumble drier I reckon. Try not using it and see if it makes a diff, I know my mum used to go on and on about how much electricity it used when I was a child, we were almost NEVER allowed to use it as a result.

Ours is about £40 a month for a 3 bed but we're all out all day.

if you find out - let me know
robbin effin bastards.

and i live in a shithole of a shithole i am still getting fleeced

IS landing light a 100+ watts bulb?

Landing light is 40W bulb (i think) could maybe replace it with those saver-bulbs - not sure if they do small enough to fit in light fitting though.

I thought maybe tumble drier but we seem to be using more and more electricity and yet i am using tumble-drier less and less.

Would an electrician be able to do some kind of test to see which circuit is draining the supply do you think?

It doesn't sound a huge amount to me
Electricity has become very expensive lately!

Oh - ok - perhaps i should start a new thread "How much do you pay for electricity/month and how big is your house so we can get basic comparisions"

I think i'm so shocked as i remember it only being £30/month last time i really paid any notice to it.

sounds a lot to me tbh - i suppose we're in a 2bed terrace but i thought we were paying a lot at £36. How many people are home during the day? But I would deffo also get a check done, no idea I'm afraid if it's possible but woudl think it must be. Cheap version - possibly remove each of your fuses for 1 night and see what effect is on elec use for 1 day (oooh! exciting science project for non-flammable kids)

I won't insult you with the usual turn-your-TV-off-standby stuff but AFAIK the big ones for electricity use are heating (not you, obv), kettles, computer monitors (so worth switching monitor off even if leaving processor on for a bit) and apparently it is always worth turning lights off however short a time you are out of the room.

We also leave our landing light on, but have got an energysaver for it. These candle bulbs are listed in this site's energy saver section - could ring and find out if they really are?

I live in a 2 bedroomed terrace house and my DD is £30 per month for gas and leccy, in the winter I probably use a couple of pounds more in gas because of the heating.

Flatmouse - we've just received a quarterly bill for £265.00 - NOT GOOD! We dont have a tumble drier and have loads of energy saving light bulbs... apparently the electricity rates have gone up loads in recent times, so perhaps thats it?

It really pee's me off!

4 bed detached, no tumble drier but 6-8 loads of washing, we are in all day as dh and I both work from home. Bill has just come for last quarter and it is £220. Gas is the same roughly.

It has gone up so much in the last year or so.

Could it be your fridge? We had a really old fridge and whn they are unwell they can use LOADS. Bill dropped when fridge was replaced (sorry bad grammar but BF while typing)

flatmouse - we were paying that too. With Seeboard (changed into someone else whose name I can't recall). Ours also went up from around 30. It was confusing because the change coincided with a new kitchen which had a dishwasher and the loss of our 'traditional' washing line for a while. But I think that the main thing was that the prices were seriously increased. It tends to just creep up on you doesn't it. We've changed to npower recently and we now pay £40 a month - that includes a discount for DD and for supplying both gas and elec.

Ah yes, I do think that not having the dual fuel package is costing us more, also we're not on a direct debit at the moment. We have been about to move out of this house since the day we moved in nearly 18 months ago and so I've never got round to shopping around tbh.

do you really need a landing light on? How about getting one of those children's nightlights that plug into a socket- they are much cheaper.

Make sure that everything that can be turned off at night is; TV, DVD etc.

How about doing your washing at night on Economy 7? Give your washing an extra spin after the cycle has finished, then it won't take so long to tumble. Do you have a spare room? Hang things on a rack over night (or over the bannisters) to dry out a bit before tumbling.

ooh, and chargers (mobile phone, toothbrush)- when you've finished charging, take the charger out of the socket. They can use electricity even if they're not charging any more.

4 bed Edwardian house so the old part of the house has freezing cold solid walls...
Elec £57/month
Gas (inc central heating) £74/month tho I was pleased to see from the last bill that we're about £160 in credit at the moment.

fish tank? My bill went up quite a bit when I got my first tank and then up again when I got a bigger one.

Landing light is more so everyone can see their way to toilet - kids do have touch-lamps if required, but no handy sockets on landing to plug nightlight into - it's not the main light, we have 2 small alcove lights on landing which are on separate switch.

Economy 7 not an option for washing. And when not drying outside most clothes do dry over hanger thingy - but i tumble dry sheets, towels (cause i like them fluffy), underwear and kids clothes - so yes, could try to make some savings there - and that should decrease as weather improves.

Think definitely need to review energy saving bulbs. We also have a number of lights on timer - well i guess the timers themselves are using electricity ...

Good points about chargers/fish tanks/etc. But i can see nothing really having "changed" here in terms of increase in demand - hence my suprise over the new DD amount. As many of you have said, it must be the basic fact that electricity is costing so much now.

Do you have a socket in the hallway where you could plug in a night light? They hardly use any electricity but provide just enough light to stop you tripping over the cat on the way to the loo!

FM How much actual electricity are you using per month? That would be a more reliable comparison than costs as everyone is on different rates. And is it different from previous average months' use (adjust for season)?

I live in a 3bed semi and pay £65 a month for gas and elec combined! We use tumble dryer couple of times a week and have a tropical fishtank plugged in all the time.

Actual usage i haven't really paid much attention to - i know the meter is being read so these are correct readings as opposed to guestimates.

I suppose i'm going to have to pay better attention and check out the last few months readings off the bills.

And check your fridge (see earlier post)!!

A reasonable suggestion, Jilly, and one which i didn't ignore, but i did wonder "how" to check my fridge - or freezer for that matter - both newish (within last 5 years) - any tell-tale signs i should look out for?