electric bill -aaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhh !

[biglips]

i rcvd my electric bill and its trebled from the normal amount bill that we was expecting . but it since weve bought the PC, me and my DP used it quite alot as per day we used it for average 6-7 hours ,on and off, per day but my DP's sis used it an awful lot as she is usually on it average 8 hours solid per day so she can leave us in peace if we are watching TV. (unlimited Broadband). (She was living with us for nearly 3 months as she lost her job and had no money) but now she got a new job and she comes every tues night to babysit for us whilst we are in night college.

just a question - If we dont turn the PC off by the main plug before we go to bed - does the electric still carry on going as if it was on ?

No. The PC is unlikely to be the cause of such a hefty hike in the bill anyway as they don't use much. have you been using electric heaters this year or something?

HA - yes we did use the electric fire for 4 nights, a week before xmas, as boiler was leaking and had to wait for a friend to come back and fix the problem

Check your previous bills to make sure that other have not just been a Estimate. Last year, we were paying approx £35 per month, we then had a bill for £100 which we cleared, the next quarter the bill was £800.00, stupid me forgot to check the bills and the idiot electricty company couldn't be bothered to take a acurrate reading. I am not waiting for the nasty letter to come through the door as I can't afford to pay it and they don't seem to care

ill have a look in a minute but poss its due to the electric fire we had on

Is it an actual meter reading, biglips, or an estimate? And have the previous bills been readings or estimates?

SP is right though, a PC doesn't use that much, although you should switch it off at the mains at night because a) it does use some on standby and b) there is a slight fire risk.

electric fire use a hideous amount of electricity - I bet that's the problem

But only for 4 days?????

its my "electricity statement" so its not a estimate but a bill.

yeah we had the electric fire on - more or less - constantly as my baba was then 8 weeks old and the house was freezing without it on.

Is there an E next to the meter reading though? If not then it is a proper reading; but find your old bills and see if they have an E (for estimate). It may be you have been paying too little before and now they have caught up.

Honestly 4 days of an electric heater wouldn't make that much difference (even if it was 3KW and you had it on 24 hours a day for 4 days it would only be about £30.)

thanks JanH, ill go and dig the old bills out now.

and no its doesnt show an E next to it (i was hoping it was )

Electrical Use

The longer electrical appliances are switched on and working for, the more electricity they will use. The actual amount will depend on the appliance?s rating in watts (W) or kilowatts (kW) (1kW = 1000W).
The amount of electricity use in your home is measured in units. Each unit is equal to the amount of electricity a one-kilowatt appliance will use in one hour.

Hope you havent been doing too much ironing

One unit of electricity, costing approx 7p, will run:

A 1kW electric fire for 1 hour.
A 20W low energy light bulb for 50 hours.
A 22-inch colour TV for up to 9 hours.
A fridge for one day.
An iron for 2 hours.
A kettle to boil 12 pints of water.
An automatic washing machine for half a load.

I would check your previous bills which may have been estimates. And would also read your meter yourself (sorry to say that today if its outside) and see if the reading is just a bit higher than your bill, just to check that the bill is right. How do you pay?

Biglips there have been documented cases of people having their electricity "stolen". As far as I know the only way to check this is to turn everything off (nothing on standby at all!) and see if the meter is still turning round? The other thing to check is that your meter number matches the one they've read and is printed on the bill - we once had an absurd reading that turned out to be next door's meter. And also, does the reading look similar to the current reading on your meter? (ie: only a little lower as they will have read it recently).

Its things that generate heat like fan heaters and tumble dryers that hike up the leccy bill.

i got sick of my electricity company sending someone round to read my meter and then sending me an estimated bill.

three times i gave them a reading and asked for an accurate bill as we were overpaying them, were in credit and they refused to pay the money back. in the end i had to tell them i was going to switch to another provider to get them to sort their act out.