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

I'm in a similar position - prepay meter and seem to be topping up constantly. The house is freezing, the windows rattle and there are draughts everywhere so I resent spending so much on heating when it is not being retained. I had covid and was v cold over Christmas, so had the heating on loads so until payday i will just have to suck it up as I just don't have the money to try to have the heating on.

@Kennykenkencat

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.

@Kennykenkencat - I live in an old house and never have the heating on at night. I'm never cold as I always have a hot water bottle. Warming your core, keeps your whole body warm. If you're not getting to sleep until 5am through cold, why is this? Thats no way to live. What makes the house your badly insulated?

@Itonlytakesonetree Can you try and fix the draughts? It makes a big difference. Try draught excluders along the bottom of the exterior doors, you can get tape to go around the edges of the windows and Stormguard do a film to go on window glass. Thermal blackout blinds are good, and thermal curtains. IKEA do honeycomb structure blinds, they are awkward as they can't be altered, they are warm though.

@Kennykenkencat Try thermal layers and socks, 100% wool blankets under your duvet are amazingly warm and get hot water bottles with fake fur covers that help retain the heat in them (try Boots for this) so they stay warm for hours. Are there any draughts in the house?

We are unfortunately with Bulb so waiting to see what happens there. We are paying £170 per month for gas and electricity a few months back we were paying £95.

All those saying that theirs hasn't gone up too much must be (like me) currently on a capped price deal. Mine hasn't changed at all but my "fix" ends in March and I am bracing myself for something horrific.

@MyGreenTutu

I think you're confusing the energy cap with fixed price deals. The cap only applies to people on the standard variable rate, not those on fixed price deals.

The energy cap will be raised in April, which is when bills are likely to increase further for a lot of people.

[quote MidnightMeltdown]@MyGreenTutu

I think you're confusing the energy cap with fixed price deals. The cap only applies to people on the standard variable rate, not those on fixed price deals.

The energy cap will be raised in April, which is when bills are likely to increase further for a lot of people.[/quote]
I'm not, I just used the wrong terminology. I'm on a fixed price deal until March. My bill is still the same £110 it's always been. But it's going to leap when my deal ends, I know.

@MyGreenTutu

Yes, my fix ends at the end of April so am expecting the same then. Now kicking myself for not picking the two year fix that I considered!

I was paying £43 pm dual fuel in a 3 bed new build until Pure Planet went bust! Now waiting for a full winter of billing from Shell.. and just about to move to a large Victorian house so absolutely dreading what that might cost.

@BrizzleMaverick

We are unfortunately with Bulb so waiting to see what happens there. We are paying £170 per month for gas and electricity a few months back we were paying £95.

Why though ? The rate per kWh hasn't changed has it. Are you building up a decent credit or using more gas/electricity.

Annabelle69

Kennykenkencat
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.
@Kennykenkencat - I live in an old house and never have the heating on at night. I'm never cold as I always have a hot water bottle. Warming your core, keeps your whole body warm. If you're not getting to sleep until 5am through cold, why is this? Thats no way to live. What makes the house your badly insulated

The house I don’t think is badly insulated, terraced house, double glazed, probably 1980s build. It is just because we can only afford to heat 1 room for the day so the rest of the house is freezing and if you open the door between the living room and kitchen all the heat escapes very quickly.

I hate the cold. All the hot water bottles and thermal socks and blankets won’t warm up my face. I can’t think when the last time my core was warm.
Something isn’t right as my feet, because I ran out of thermal socks are like blocks of ice.

I never have ever left the heating on at night. But when we had gas central heating the whole house and everyone in it were warm when the heating went off and the gas heating was on a timer to come on in the morning when it started to get into the colder months.

Kenny - can you ask for your immersion to be changed? I am on E7 rates and overnight I leave the immersion on for it to be hot water in the morning and I use up just over 2kwh which is 32p. Some of that power will be the fridge freezer and the microwave on standby as well so yours seems extremely expensive and could possibly be badly insulated? Your property must be E in the EPF report (if you’re in England) if it is let.

Other things to keep warm are a heated blanket to wrap round you during the day, which cost the same as a lightbulb to run, and an electric blanket for the bed at night.

I have lived in very cold, very old houses myself and my current house is very old and with no wall insulation plus is all electric so I am very careful about bills but your immersion can be changed. Or lagged or something.

My electricity bill is about £120 pcm with day rate of 22p and night rate of 16p.

@KravMaga

Kenny - can you ask for your immersion to be changed? I am on E7 rates and overnight I leave the immersion on for it to be hot water in the morning and I use up just over 2kwh which is 32p. Some of that power will be the fridge freezer and the microwave on standby as well so yours seems extremely expensive and could possibly be badly insulated? Your property must be E in the EPF report (if you’re in England) if it is let.

Other things to keep warm are a heated blanket to wrap round you during the day, which cost the same as a lightbulb to run, and an electric blanket for the bed at night.

I have lived in very cold, very old houses myself and my current house is very old and with no wall insulation plus is all electric so I am very careful about bills but your immersion can be changed. Or lagged or something.

We have. Economy 7. However 2kws = 52p per hour.

We are with OVO. The company that said if you are cold hug a pet.

@Kennykenkencat I feel your pain, many years ago I rented a cottage with night storage heaters and the bills were extortionate then, and I had to supplement the heat with a calor gas fire, just to stay warm as I had a young daughter then.

I have a friend who has been complaining about her electricity bills - she lives in a large barn conversion and has night storage heaters - before any increase she is paying £400 per month. The government are going to have to do something about the price of energy.

What worries me going forward is this insistence that we need to get rid of gas boilers and go the electric route because it is greener.
Except from what I have seen with people who have installed a heat pump in their new build houses is that the house is cold and they have to look at more polluting ways of keeping warm. It also costs a fortune to heat your house
Wrapping myself in a heated blanket, never taking my coat and gloves off when I am making a sandwich is not living

Nor is electric heating a greener alternative if in order to be able to work I have to drive around in my diesel van to get the heat going so I can do paperwork because i have lost all feeling in my fingers.
It is cheaper to do a few miles in my van than it is to turn on an extra radiator for a few hours.

Ours is currently £160 a month for a 4 bed townhouse. We are with bulb and I don't think ours has gone up for a while so maybe a higher bill is coming.