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

Pre-pay meter with EDF.

£55 electric
£48 gas

3 bed semi.

Rarely put the heating on. We layer up.

@Phillipa12

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.

I think that is because you are dual fuel. We have now a Smart metre and only electric.

1 electric radiator = 52p per hour.
Dh is home all day so has the single radiator on from 7am-11pm= 16 hours x 52p per hour = £8.32 per day x 30 or 31 days per month = £249.60 or £250.12
Then we have kettle, dishwasher (Eco setting isn’t that bad), washing machine and emersion heater for showers and hot water.

Didn’t have a Christmas tree this year because we reasoned that the Christmas lights would be another expense. I think because of Christmas this months bills are going to be £400+
Even the daily charge is 24.7p per day so £7.41 on the bill even if we don’t turn anything on.£88.92 per year

When we had dual fuel I too couldn’t understand why people had such high bills

I think if you have only electric it creates a monopoly and you can’t move to anywhere else

I know I wanted to change when we first moved in but we couldn’t get a quote from anyone as the house was tied to Boost.
Which is in the same group as Ovo

Comparing how much you pay isn't really that helpful - you need to look at how much you are consuming.

If you are consuming a lot then your bill is going to be high.
But often there is a lot that can be done to reduce consumption - harder in a rental but still things like:

If you have a combi boiler, it will very likely have been set to heat water to too high a temperature so it doesn't actually condense and so never achieves high efficiency.

www.theheatinghub.co.uk/why-our-condensing-boilers-do-not-condense

Draft proofing strips like Stormguard around leaky windows and doors.

The UK has some of the least energy efficient properties in Europe. Energy was relatively cheap for decades so people were less incentivised to improve it when doing their homes up. And housebuilding companies lobbied hard against good efficiency standards for new builds.

@Kennykenkencat

I think if you have only electric it creates a monopoly and you can’t move to anywhere else

I know I wanted to change when we first moved in but we couldn’t get a quote from anyone as the house was tied to Boost.
Which is in the same group as Ovo

There is no reason why being only electric means you can't switch.

Did you buy a new build? Or this a rental?

You shouldn't be prevented from switching by your landlord - it's not allowed anymore.

@MojoMoon

Comparing how much you pay isn't really that helpful - you need to look at how much you are consuming.

If you are consuming a lot then your bill is going to be high.
But often there is a lot that can be done to reduce consumption - harder in a rental but still things like:

If you have a combi boiler, it will very likely have been set to heat water to too high a temperature so it doesn't actually condense and so never achieves high efficiency.

www.theheatinghub.co.uk/why-our-condensing-boilers-do-not-condense

Draft proofing strips like Stormguard around leaky windows and doors.

The UK has some of the least energy efficient properties in Europe. Energy was relatively cheap for decades so people were less incentivised to improve it when doing their homes up. And housebuilding companies lobbied hard against good efficiency standards for new builds.

The house we are in is a relatively newish house. Double glazing etc It’s main problem is it doesn’t have gas central heating, only electric and that is extortionate For £250 per month we get to have one radiator on. The house is freezing and we are paying £257.01 per month for the privilege. Before we even turn a light on, boil a kettle, use the oven or have a shower.

How would I go about reducing costs. I have tried turning the dial on the radiator to low and it saves 4p per hour. At the most that is £19.20 per month. But then Dh is making himself more hot drinks to keep warm so the price shots up to more.
I have never lived in a house where I am permanently cold. Not even in my childhood. We did have a very hot fire each evening in the living room

It is a rental and our landlord isn’t bothered about us switching.

I think because we have a PAYG smart metre for some reason you are tied to a group of companies.
I have tried Uswitch and phoning up Octopus and our previous gas and electric company and every other main or obscure power company and they don’t do this address. You cannot switch.

Sorry that was in reply to MojoMoon

I am not unfamiliar with switching energy or insurance suppliers

Make sure your heating is running and managed efficiently and settings are correct to reduce gas consumption.
Some combi boilers have a setting where a small amount of water in retained in an internal tank and kept hot. This obviously consumes gas when there is no hot water consumption.
Flip down the boiler cover and set Hot water temps lower so that it is not excessively heating water to only be mixed with cold by you at the outlet.
Reduce the radiator circuit temp a few degrees.
Reduce radiator thermostat settings or turn off rads in unused rooms. Also close doors to retain heat in living areas.
Check loft space and make use of grants to increase insulation depth to 25cm.

@saleorbouy

Make sure your heating is running and managed efficiently and settings are correct to reduce gas consumption. Some combi boilers have a setting where a small amount of water in retained in an internal tank and kept hot. This obviously consumes gas when there is no hot water consumption. Flip down the boiler cover and set Hot water temps lower so that it is not excessively heating water to only be mixed with cold by you at the outlet. Reduce the radiator circuit temp a few degrees. Reduce radiator thermostat settings or turn off rads in unused rooms. Also close doors to retain heat in living areas. Check loft space and make use of grants to increase insulation depth to 25cm.

What do you do if you are all electric and don’t have a gas boiler, only an emersion heater that runs at £2 per hour to have a shower and needs 40 minutes to heat the water. Actually think joining a gym might be cheaper if I could get everyone else in the family on board.

@Hoochyhoo That's a huge amount of usage - we are in a 4 bed terrace on 3 floors, and have used about half your electric at 2175kwh and less than a third of your gas at 6978kwh since 22 Feb last year so about 10 months. This has cost us about £79pm. I think you need to have a serious look at your usage per appliances and also get your boiler checked for efficiency - your landlord should be getting it checked annually so ask the engineer to let you know.

We're in greater London east so it's going to be warmer than Wales - our boiler is now about 12 years old as is the double glazing and while we do have a thermostat, it's not working properly so neither use nor ornament, we have our heating on November - March / April for a couple of hours in the morning and then from 5.30-9pm, as we would have done when not wfh. We probs have heating more at weekends and there's been a handful of afternoons where we've turned it on at 3pm when wfh, I spend most days at the mo with a blanket wrapped round me waist down at my desk as my work area is in a north facing room, overlooked by flats so no direct sunlight. Our hob is gas and we have a hob kettle so probs use more gas for cooking than average and we have about 18 showers a week between the 4 of us, using a combi boiler not immersion tank. There's 2 of us wfh full time and 2dc who were full time at home for a good chunk of that being off school - loads of IT, media, gaming, lighting as the kids are rubbish at turning lights off plus we don't have a microwave so use the electric over for 30-40 mins most days. Our electric usage also includes underfloor heating on the ground floor for a couple of hours a day. We don't have a tumble drier.

@Kennykenkencat

Does your house not retain heat at all?

Normally if you heat a house up to your desired temperature in the morning, it should only slow cool down - so you can heat for a couple of hours then have it off, then top it up again for a few hours later.

Where are you losing heat from that rapidly that the radiator needs to be always on?
It doesn't seem right if it's a modern property with decent insulation and double glazing. Is it actually insulated properly in the loft? Doors and windows fitted properly?

Mine currently loses heat very rapidly but am having new windows with double glazing fitted later this month and then a new back door which should help as the wind whistles through the massive gaps around it at the moment.

I avoid having the radiators on all day while working from home by wearing thermal baselayer and having an electric blanket. Blanket much cheaper to run than heating a whole room with a radiator.

No, it's missing a zero! 20,000 kWh for gas.

Sorry, that was in response to @OutOfSite asking "Are you sure the gas figure is for kWh? It seems very low. Could it be the meter units figure?"

@JenniferAllisonPhillipaSue what size property do you live in? I am quite shocked by the amount of electricity and gas some people use. Not having a go at you in particular.

@TheCatShatInTheHat

Pre-pay meter with EDF.

£55 electric
£48 gas

3 bed semi.

Rarely put the heating on. We layer up.

That was pretty much my December bill. 2 bed, 800sq foot, Victorian Semi. Two adults, working from home all day. Ee don't freeze, when it's cold we put the central heating on, today it was on for 12 hours. Never at night. Otherwise we layer up and I have a hot water bottle on my lap while I work, on sofa, in bed. We don't run a tumble dryer. Combi boiler.

I'm on Octopus variable which I went on in October as missed all the decent fixes.

Some of these bills are horrendous.

[quote MojoMoon]@Kennykenkencat

Does your house not retain heat at all?

Normally if you heat a house up to your desired temperature in the morning, it should only slow cool down - so you can heat for a couple of hours then have it off, then top it up again for a few hours later.

Where are you losing heat from that rapidly that the radiator needs to be always on?
It doesn't seem right if it's a modern property with decent insulation and double glazing. Is it actually insulated properly in the loft? Doors and windows fitted properly?

Mine currently loses heat very rapidly but am having new windows with double glazing fitted later this month and then a new back door which should help as the wind whistles through the massive gaps around it at the moment.

I avoid having the radiators on all day while working from home by wearing thermal baselayer and having an electric blanket. Blanket much cheaper to run than heating a whole room with a radiator.[/quote]
You are looking at this from the POV of someone who has gas central heating

If you have electric radiators then the radiators stop heating anything as soon as you turn them off. They don’t keep warm like a gas central heated radiator and they are relatively quite small.
Also heating the house up for a couple of hours in the morning and then a few hours in the evening would cost a huge amount

I have a smart metre so can see exactly what it would cost

I have 9 radiators in my house.
Each radiator costs 52p per hour to run (48p if on the lowest setting which hardly heats anything)

If I put them on for example 5 hours per day (2 hours in the morning and 3 in the evening) it would cost me

9 radiators x 52p per hour x 5 hours per day x 30 days in a month = £702 per month.

I worry that in a bid to become more green and getting rid of gas boilers that people don’t realise how expensive electric heating is.

I saw that the Scottish Parliament has ripped out their gas boiler in a government building to convert it to all electric heating.

I can see that the people of Scotland will have a tax rise to pay for the yearly bills.

@cocktailclub

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.

No problem, sorry to hear your suffering with high energy costs too.

I am wondering the same about mine, though I guess it could be both for me - rising energy prices and crap insulation 🥶

We living in 4 bed detatched and our supplier for gas/electric is Shell - last bill was:

£124.28 Total.

Electric - £82.50
Standing charge is 42.86p = £12.43
Usuage was 342kwh at 0.19p = £66.14

Gas - £41.78
Standing charge is 25.54p = £7.41
Usage was 781kwh at 0.04144 = £32.38

I have heating set to come on if it goes below 18 degrees between 8am and 10pm, then off overnight. I have gas central heating with combi-boiler and we both work from home all week (only us 2 in house).

I went onto a 3 year fixed tariff middle of last year, which to begin with i knew would be more expensive but in the long run likely save us money due to many planned rate rises.

Our electric is a little steep but i use washing machine,/ tumble dryer/ dishwasher a fair bit.

I moved in to a flat with an electric boiler in September, before the energy crisis.

It broke down a week later, and by the time I got a gas supply piped in, and a new boiler fitted, it was November and the crisis was in full swing.

Scottish power quoted me £396 a month for combined gas & electricity contract - so I'm just on "pay as you go".

It's been £180 for 2 months, with me entering monthly meter readings. This is for a 3-bed flat (100 sq m) & I am out 4 days a week at work.

The heating is on for 45 mins in the morning & 3 hrs at night, temperature 18 degrees & all the radiators have thermostats. The boiler is brand new.

It's scary times.

LookingOptimistic
We were with Shell in our previous house and I just expected bills to be similar

I could stomach a £300 per month bill if i was warm but it is £300 and it is freezing. Our fingers are permanently cold and we never take coats off indoors, we have taken to wearing our ski socks because if we are in the kitchen with only regular socks on your feet end up being like 2 blocks of ice. This is not living, to have to wear scarves, gloves and coats when you are indoors.

Even thought about just getting into bed fully clothed last night as my room was so cold I could see my breath.

It is impacting work as I am not getting to sleep until 5am as I am so cold I then am missing out on working in the morning.

Ours went from £270 to £430 this month. It's only going to keep rising I imagine

@Lacedwithgrace

Ours went from £270 to £430 this month. It's only going to keep rising I imagine

Ouch! That’s a lot

Kennykenkencat

I guessing you are in an old house ? Must be awful with those sorts of bills and a cold house.

@Lacedwithgrace

Ours went from £270 to £430 this month. It's only going to keep rising I imagine

That is some increase! I'd be eating beans on toast most of the month 😞