Electricity costs.

I know this is cheeky but I wondered if anyone would be willing to give me a "price comparison" for their electric usage?

My house is a large 2 bedroom bungalow. I say large because we have large rooms and a big kitchen dining room and extra big sitting room as well as two double bedrooms.

There is no gas main where I am so I use all electric - economy 7

The bill for this last year has come to £1086 . That includes the central heating last winter. The company is British Gas - so not the cheapest I am sure but given its E7 none of them come in greatly cheaper for my area (Cornwall) so I have stayed with who I know since they have been no trouble.

My eco conscious and money miser husband thinks our bill is high and wants me to look for ways to cut it. I cant find any.

He wants me to stop using my washing machine which goes on once a week - or maybe twice if I have anything big and my usual wash is 40 degrees although I occasionally use the higher wash rates for bed clothes and towels.

He wants me to use the dishwasher less - I put it on every other day at normal ( 55 degrees) wash and he wants to switch the emersion heater off altogether - it goes on for an hour each night to provide water for cleaning and washing every day. He says our bill is high ( the DD is £26 a month ) but I cant see where its going other than on things I need now.

My mum tells me her leccy bill is higher than ours yet she uses a coal fire central heating system ( but my parents are old and need the heat so do supplement it with electric fires and she has a much bigger house).

I just wondered what other people who are all electric in a comparable situation might be paying.

Sorry to be a pain.

Reply to
sweetheart
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I'm also sorry to appear flippant, BUT, you problem is not the electricity but your husband. If he want you to stop using these appliances, is he going to do the resulting extra work? If he want cheaper electricity, get him to seek out a cheaper supplier. Incidentally, I have found BG have improved markedly of late, but that doesn't make them the cheapest.

As for the bill, it sounds reasonable enough - I'm guessing the DD figure is per week !

All you can do is ensure there is maximum insulation, including excluding drafts, get on the lowest available tariff and adjust your lifestyle to suit. It's not just YOUR problem, but both of yours ! Sorry to sound unsympathetic, but his attitude stinks.

Andy C

Reply to
Andy Cap

Our monthly DD is =A351... we don't space heat with electricity. I've just given them a meter reading, online, and I'm reasonably sure I saw a page flash up saying the the DD is going to rise to =A361 and that I don't need to do anything. Oh yes I fing do, I need to contest that DD rise. I want to be under paying a little rather than over a lot!

You haven't managed to chuck him out yet then?

12 X 26 =3D =A3312. Bill =A31086 =3D shortfall of =A3774. The power comp= anies are normally very good at ensuring that they owe you money all the year rather than the other way round. OK we are talking Bristish Gas but I don't think even they are that incompetent. B-)
Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Ditto all wot he said.

Do you manage the account wholly on-line? Most suppliers now offer a discount if you opt for a fully on-line managed account. I get an extra 10% discount on my account.

Reply to
The Wanderer

Your pattern of usage seems very reasonable - you're already doing all the right things to reduce your bill.

What do you do for hot water for daily washing? Electric showers, or do you manage everything with the hot water from the cylinder?

You might look at running your immersion a good while longer than an hour on economy 7, if you're having to supplement it with hot water from elsewhere.

But *above all* what will save you money is any improvements you can get in home insulation - 250-300mm loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, draughtproof windows (which usually means modern double glazed units), hot water tank insulation, and tackling draughts - both those due to how the house is built (poor fit, cat flaps etc), and bad habits with doors left open etc.

Low energy lights might save you a bit, as might careful planning with electric cooking, only filling the kettle with what you need, turning down heating in less used areas of the house, thick curtains and carpets - it all counts - but house insulation is the big win.

Like you, there's no gas in my area, and I have oil-fired central heating and hot water - but have gone overboard on the insulation and airtightness - and reap the benefits.

Really, you sound to be doing all the right things, and your bill is probably around average for a rural all-electric house.

To get your bills down substantially, you're looking at extensive professional insulation and draughtproofing (an investment), or changing to a cheaper source of heating (oil, LPG, or even a ground source heat pump) - a large investment

Reply to
dom

In message , Andy Cap wrote

In the last 3 years I have found BG to be cheapest BUT this is for my usage of dual fuel. Comparing other peoples bills is often like comparing apples with oranges. Unless you live in identical properties and have an identical lifestyle the bills could be substantially different.

I agree, to me the figure does appear realistic and the stated usage of appliances on a day to day basis is not out-of-order.

If the OP has registered on the Web with BG they would be able to see the historic information on the account and they would be able to calculated exactly the usage in KW for a complete 12 month period. This figure could be then plugged into the web comparison sites.

The warning I would give about BG is that they will keep you on the tariff you signed up to. They may have a cheaper tariff they haven't told you about. You still need to go to the price comparison sites to see if BG have a cheaper deal. In my experience changing tariffs with BG takes around two minutes on line on their own web site if you have registered your previous account with them. Changing tariffs will mean a minimum contract period during which there is a fee if you change suppliers or tariffs again. However this minimum period is often around

6 months, which is shorter than with some other suppliers.
Reply to
Alan

Our monthly DD is £51... we don't space heat with electricity. I've just given them a meter reading, online, and I'm reasonably sure I saw a page flash up saying the the DD is going to rise to £61 and that I don't need to do anything. Oh yes I fing do, I need to contest that DD rise. I want to be under paying a little rather than over a lot!

Thank you for that.

You haven't managed to chuck him out yet then?

No, I do love him despite his obsession with money. I just want to know how reasonable it is and what should be reasonable fuel ( energy costs in total ) costs for a year.

12 X 26 = £312. Bill £1086 = shortfall of £774. The power companies are normally very good at ensuring that they owe you money all the year rather than the other way round. OK we are talking Bristish Gas but I don't think even they are that incompetent. B-)

I am sorry I did make a mistake there. The DD is £26 a week. That is for everything since we dont have any other form of fuel at all. british Gas have just raided it to that for the next period. We were paying a DD of 86 a month and now its to be £108. We are currently £122 in credit on the bill we received yesterday.

Reply to
sweetheart

No, to do this would be cheaper I know - about £30 cheaper but to be honest I have a phone bill on line and its a pain. I can never see what we are paying. I like to get the bill and see it. At least that way I know whats going on.

Reply to
sweetheart

In message , Dave Liquorice wrote

With BG you can give them your own meter reading on-line as many times as you like. A monthly reading will result in accurate bills.

A shortfall of £700 could result if they have assumed that heating is supplied by another utility company and no meter readings, either official or customer self read, have been applied to the account. However, there would be no shortfall if the OP has given the equivalent weekly DD amount rather than a more normally quoted monthly amount.

Reply to
Alan

£270 a quarter for all your needs - heating, light, cooking, all apliances, hot water - doesn't sound too high.

You don't give any detail about your central heating, so can't comment on the possible efficiency.

Using a dishwasher is usually more energy and water efficient than washing stuff by hand. [Some Anglican bishop got this pointed out to him the other year when he told people they should save energy and do their thing for the planet by not using the dishwasher and washing up by hand instead.]

The one thing I might agree with is turning off the immersion heater in the summer. If you have an electric shower and a dish washer then there isn't much you need a hot water tank for. We have turned our gas boiler off for the summer and don't miss the hot water.

There are obviously options for using calor gas, oil, or solid fuel to meet your heating needs but it might take you a while to recoup your investment.

Which has some fairly 'noddy' advice here:

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includes: " * Annual fuel cost for heating and hot water: £870 Economy 7/10 tariff * Carbon emissions per year: 6 tonnes

These yearly costs are estimated costs based on heating and hot water demands of a three-bedroomed, semi-detached, well-insulated house (insulated cavity walls, 270mm loft insulation and insulated primary pipe work), the efficiencies of typical heating systems and the current average price per fuel per kWh (as at Sept 2008). They are not derived from actual fuel bills."

From this it seems your electricity costs are not abnormally high because they also include lighting, cooking etc.

As has already been said, the best way to save money is to make sure that everything is well insulated.

HTH

Dave R

Reply to
David WE Roberts

Your pattern of usage seems very reasonable - you're already doing all the right things to reduce your bill.

What do you do for hot water for daily washing? Electric showers, or do you manage everything with the hot water from the cylinder?

Most of it is from the cylinder. We do have an electric shower but its not used so often as many may use theirs.

But *above all* what will save you money is any improvements you can get in home insulation - 250-300mm loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, draughtproof windows (which usually means modern double glazed units), hot water tank insulation, and tackling draughts - both those due to how the house is built (poor fit, cat flaps etc), and bad habits with doors left open etc.

We have all of that. The only problem I do find is living in a very damp part of the country we are constantly plagued by condensation since increasing the insulation. I have been told this is because we are totally air tight and we run the heating too low!

But we have double glazing, we have full insulation and the bloody eco bulbs.

Low energy lights might save you a bit, as might careful planning with electric cooking, only filling the kettle with what you need, turning down heating in less used areas of the house, thick curtains and carpets - it all counts - but house insulation is the big win.

I only cook properly once a week ( today) My husband has suggested I should get up extra early and run the oven on the cheap rate . The cooker is new ( as are the dishwasher and washing machine) so is A rated. In the week I do a minimum of cooking because I am out working.

I have told my husband ( he knows anyway) that we need to keep the house at a minimum temperature because I have a weak chest and get bouts of pneumonia if I get an infection and its left with me in the cold .

Reply to
sweetheart

I don't understand that. You may not get a paper bill in the post - but with most suppliers you can access a bill online and print it out if you wish. That is certainly true with my BT phone bills and my Scottish Power and Southern Electric energy bills.

Reply to
Roger Mills

Night storage heating and we have changed the heaters for new ones recently. My husband checks the usage daily in winter and he will turn them off if he thinks we are uasing too much ( that is what he thinks is too much) .

The dishwasher is almost brand new ( my old one bit the dust, was obsolete and the insurance company gave us a new one - its an AAA rating.)

The Washing machine is two years old and again AAA rarted.

My mum bought me a new fridge which is A rated my old one kept defrosting and OH wouldnt let me have a new one. The freezer is a little older - and may be higher on usage but it isnt THAT old - five years? B ut I dont use the dishwasher and washing machine daily. Weekly for washer and every other day for dishes ( I always ensure I run it full that way)

My husband uses the emersion heater to shave daily. I use it for cleaning. I know its an extravigance but it is set low on the thermostat. Boling kettles for hot water might be just as wasteful and time consuming.

In fact the kettle seems to be the only thing we havent cut back on - yet.

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This includes:

But it doesnt seem to work that way for me. I have seriously cut out everything I know now. We are a detached bungalow and I said - large.

Well that explains a lot. Unfortunately my husband will look at figures like those and expect me to hit them in our house.

Reply to
sweetheart

'pollies if this gets posted twice

The first thing you (that's _both_ of you) need to do is establish some hard facts. Don't just guess at where the usage or savings will come from or you'll probably miss something significant - as well as have arguments. Start off by getting an OWL, or similar, electricity monitor. See how consumption changes when various things are turned on. Although I have both gas and electricity, here are some high-level points about my energy - that's combined gas + electricity - usage. - half of it is used in winter for heating the house (gas c/h) - of the other half, half is used for hot water, over the whole year. - the final quarter is everything else: TV, computers (leave a computer running for a year is over £100 in electricity costs), electric kettle, gas cooker, low-energy lighting. - leaving stuff plugged in: e.g. phone chargers, or leaving stuff on standby makes no measureable difference to my consumption figures.

No doubt other people will be along shortly to advise you on energy/cost saving ploys, such as solar hot-water, air/ground sources heat pumps etc.

Reply to
pete

I pay £100 per month for dual fuel, and in a bungalow, but we're retired so in all day.

Reply to
brass monkey

I second the recommendation to get a whole-house electricity monitor. I like the CurrentCost ones, not least because they also tell you the temperature. My electricity bill has dropped since I got one.

Reply to
MuddyFork

That has not been my experience with either BT or videophone ( my mobile phone). The bills are erratic. On personal level I have to remember the log in details and on at least one occasion they locked me out despite the details being correct..

When I do see the bill it isn't like having a paper copy in my had to read. I can rarely make sense of them Finally online bill management seems to mean you have no right of recourse to speak to anyone, it has to be done online.

But bottom line is, I would like a bill sent . I am old fashioned and want to sit and read it .

Reply to
sweetheart

You might try a dehumidifier then. Because everything (especially clothes/upholstery) will feel bone-dry to the touch, you may be comfortable with a slightly lower room temperature. (However, if your house is a sealed box, you should really have properly designed house ventilation - usually by kitchen and bathroom extracts).

Electric blankets are great things in cold houses - also keeping the sheets bone dry and comfortable, in addition to the warmth - and very cheap to run.

And buy warm clothes - really, really expensive arctic stuff - and make that skinflint hubby pay.

Reply to
dom

You might try a dehumidifier then. Because everything (especially clothes/upholstery) will feel bone-dry to the touch, you may be comfortable with a slightly lower room temperature. (However, if your house is a sealed box, you should really have properly designed house ventilation - usually by kitchen and bathroom extracts).

Electric blankets are great things in cold houses - also keeping the sheets bone dry and comfortable, in addition to the warmth - and very cheap to run.

Best thing since the proverbial sliced loaf IMO. We hate warm bedrooms.

Reply to
brass monkey

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "sweetheart" saying something like:

Not at all.

26 quid a month doesn't equal what you quoted p/a, did you mean per week? Even so, it's not bad for all-in cost. Your husband is a miser, it seems to me. Ditch the skinflint and go weave baskets by the sea in a warm country.
Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

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