Just gas alone has cost us £170 last month

[Hoochyhoo]

Does this seem high to you guys?
It was obviously a lot less in the warmer months but everyone I have spoken to has commented on how expensive it is for our gas and electric. We have paid around £250-270 the last 2 months (per month).

Can’t understand why it’s costing us so much.
We use a prepayment meter with bulb and live in a 3 bed end of terrace property

@WarmForDecember

I don't really know how to work our smart meter well but I can make it show the dialy totals. So

28th £18.33
29th £16.87
30th £12.67
31st £15.95
1st £13.19
2nd £15.36
3rd £17.79
Today so far £4.56

At this rate even our £500 per month isn't really going to cover it and we're never going to repay the deficit.

Wtf! Aaargh! It's not even that cold here. I'm going to speak to DH and figure out if there's anything we can do.

Can you log into your online account to see actual consumption in kWh? I can do that with mine.

It seems ridiculously high unless you live in a enormous draughty house.

@Littlewhiteballs

I'm so lucky my little flat is quite warm so don't spend more than 50 per month on gas. Electric however,

A large portion of it goes on the basking light for dd's snake. We bought him a year ago and if I knew then that energy prices would rise I would have steered her towards a fish or stick insect. I may have to crochet him a little dressing gown and wooly hat

At least you wont have to bother knitting booties :)

Not read entire thread but Bulb is one of the most expensive companies now...switch and try to get rid of that meter.

Bulb are on standard variable rate, just like everyone else. Unless prepayment is different?

My combined is £110 of actual usage (bulb) Very large 5 bed, very well insulated and upstairs is cooler than down. We dress appropriately.
I also spend £150-200 on wood.

Get an oodie/ snoodie etc.

Two bed end terrace and ours is £100 electric and £40 gas per month ( prepayment meters) with British Gas.
So yes yours does seem high op.

Those saying switch - the advice is to WAIT. Martin Lewis is crunching the numbers at mo and making an announcement soon.

I'm increasingly anxious about this.... Our bill is currently on a fixed deal (150 a month for 4 bed detached) but this ends in a few weeks. We're going to go onto the standard variable rate but can anyone tell me the cost per kWh and daily standing charge that the cap applies to? We're with British gas atm but I couldn't find the rates anywhere so I can compare them with current rates and see what we might have to pay out as of February. The fixed deal cost I was quoted was almost 300 a month. I don't even know how we would afford this

We are in 3 bed dormer semi detached bungalow.
We pay £92 per month on a standard rate.
Gas and electric. They wanted £127 for a fixed rate.
So we are staying as we are not fixed in.
This is with Scottish power and on a smart metre.
They have now brought in where they do daily readings.
I can see how much my bill is each day.
At the moment since 1st January it stands at £11.93.
The central heating is on for a couple of hours in the morning and
a few hours late afternoon. We have a gas fire which is on other times.
We are at home most of the day as retired.

@caramelchaos ask your provider for their standard variable rate charges as they may vary slightly compared to others. The rates for the SVR on Octopus I have been given are:

Electricity: daily charge 24.86p/day; unit rate 20.20p/kWh
Gas : daily charge 26.11p/day; unit rate 3.96p/kWh

[quote dementedpixie]@caramelchaos ask your provider for their standard variable rate charges as they may vary slightly compared to others. The rates for the SVR on Octopus I have been given are:

Electricity: daily charge 24.86p/day; unit rate 20.20p/kWh
Gas : daily charge 26.11p/day; unit rate 3.96p/kWh
[/quote]
Thank you so much! I will contact them tomorrow

We are rural - three bed detached money pit. Electric only. Both working from home.

We were originally told £139 a month (ha ha), then it shot up to £450.

In reality it's turning out to be about £230, based on what we've spent in the last three months.

I think E-On are taking the piss with their estimates, but electricity is wild atm

We are with bulb. DD 130 pm.

We used to be in a 3 bed 1930s terraced. Not very well insulated.
Having heating on as much as i wanted within reason and doing a million loads of washing and dryer on constantly. No more than £120 a month. Before fuel crisis.

Now in a 4 bed detached, very well insulated. Heating on no more than 4.5 hours a day max. Only 3 loads of washing/drying a week. It's easy £130 a month.

On the days i have the washing machine and dryer on plus 4 hours of heating, it is about £7-£8 a day!!

We have a thermostat, and water tank.

I hate having to think about how much we are spending, i don't like just wearing layers as your face is never warm, always a chill in the air 😶

Sorting out radiator thermostat valves next but that has an associated cost to it too for parts and labour.

Also our washer and dryer are all A+ appliances.

Thanks for starting this thread @Hoochyhoo

We recently downsized and I anticipated savings on fuel bills but they have massively increased!! Currently paying £330 a month combined gas and electric. In a house with 2 less bedrooms and 1 less reception room than before.

Trying to work out if it is the increase in prices or there is something about new house needs changing e.g poor insulation or inefficient boiler.

Interesting thread. I'd just absconded to octopus before the crisis.
Bulb was the most expensive I'd ever encountered. Between bulb and octopus I was with OVO. OVO was awful too.
My bills for an end of terrace 3 bed (but large rooms) very draughty house is £92.
I'm not great at understanding the mathematics of usage.
I try to stop the house from going to freezing cold as I understand it's uneconomical to do so. I have a thermostat (it's a condenser boiler) and recently replaced valves on two cranky inefficient radiators which cost £200!
I've no idea if any of what I'm doing is going to help to avoid a huge crank up on DD.
It's a huge worry.

We're with OVO on a pre-payment meter for our small-ish 3-bed semi. Last month we paid £85 for gas and £35 for electricity.
I am so so shocked at some of the prices people on here are paying...

@TheDinnerWitch

We're with OVO on a pre-payment meter for our small-ish 3-bed semi. Last month we paid £85 for gas and £35 for electricity. I am so so shocked at some of the prices people on here are paying...

We got our first bill last month as just moved into a rented terraced house whilst between houses.

My last house a 4 bed detached which had the heating going full blast and the tumble dryer on each day I paid by dual fuel monthly direct debit about £75 in the summer months and £150 per month in winter

Our first bill in this much smaller house was so large my bank issued a fraud warning
We are in this house solely on electric. We have a Smart metre.
We only heat one room, our tumble dryer lies unused while I waste time trying to hang individual socks and items of clothing onto a clothes airer, I live in constant cold sometimes spending the night wide awake because I am so cold.
My arthritis has got so much worse over the last couple of months. My joints are in so much pain.

If this is the future. That we should be all electric and gas boilers should be ripped out and replaced by a fuel that whilst it is deemed greener no one can really afford
It seems like we have gone backwards.
The coldness of this house reminds me of my childhood where I was constantly freezing cold

I think if I had the heating on and the tumble dryer going in all the house I think our bills would be nearer £1000

Five bed well insulated house, heat onky the rooms we use, thermostats at 20 degrees.
Do use tumble dryer ALOT!
3 adults living here full time, all wfh.. So quite a bit of tech stuff on charge etc.
Run three smallish fridges.
Bills duel fuel were £180/month fixed tarrif.
New fixed tarrif in Feb £456.
Or go to variable rate £226/month.
I'm thinking take risk on variable rate and save some extra each month into separate pot in case of big bills... But seems outrageous there can be such a difference.

I'm currently monitoring our gas/elec usage since EDF increased our DD to £250 (and then sent me a refund cheque for £350, go figure). Our annual usage for electricity works out to be 6000 kW, for gas just under 2000kW.

Reading the thread, our gas usage seems 'normal' for an older combi boiler that keeps the house warm from 6am to midnight. But our electricity usage seems very high. Anybody else have such a high electricity usage, any ideas as to why? I work from home but surely that cannot be the reason. Tumble-dry two loads per week. No electric heating. Thoughts?

Fridge freezer?
LCD tv?

Could be. I feel as though I'm going to have to check the usage (no smart meter) on a daily basis, work out if it's a steady high usage. Then start looking at what is switched on, i guess.

Mine was £168 for gas and electricity together. 2 bed terrace and it's only me here. Trying to layer up and not turn the heating on as much as I can (it's 15/16C in the house for most of the day with heating off) but getting worried about future bills ☹ There's no help for people like me either because I'm not entitled to any benefits and obviously only have one income coming in living alone.

I'm with Octopus on the variable rate (have been for 4 years) my DD is £100 for duel fuel, they offered me a fixed tariff at £150 per month and I declined. I have a 200 year old 4 bed terrace cottage with very thick walls so it holds the heat, 4 of us live here, the central heating goes on twice a day as does the tumble dryer, my dc are crap at turning off the lights and my smart meter readings do not go above £4 a day. I seriously am struggling to understand how some companies are charging the amounts I have read in pps.

We’re a 3 bed end terrace, single skin construction so no cavity wall insulation possible.

We were paying £118 with EonNext, and they’ve put the direct debit by £19 so we’re not doing too badly.

Though we have recently had a log burner and new windows fitted which is probably helping.

@JenniferAllisonPhillipaSue

I'm currently monitoring our gas/elec usage since EDF increased our DD to £250 (and then sent me a refund cheque for £350, go figure). Our annual usage for electricity works out to be 6000 kW, for gas just under 2000kW.

Reading the thread, our gas usage seems 'normal' for an older combi boiler that keeps the house warm from 6am to midnight. But our electricity usage seems very high. Anybody else have such a high electricity usage, any ideas as to why? I work from home but surely that cannot be the reason. Tumble-dry two loads per week. No electric heating. Thoughts?

Are you sure the gas figure is for kWh? It seems very low. Could it be the meter units figure?