Typical electricity costs per month

[Staffbull]

Just wondering where our house sits compared to others

4 bed semi, 4 people (2 nippers), oil fired heating/water.

electricity cost per month =A355 ( this is before I'm doing an efficiency audit!!)

[visionset]

35 quid a month 3 bed semi - 2 people, electric cooker, gas heating, pc on all day.

[Staffbull]

I thought mine was a bit OTT !!!

[Derek ^]

OK, I just submit our own results for comparison ...

Electricity cost = £230/qtr

We know it's a high charge but we have a big family & do all our laundry drying by electricity.

:-(

[Staffbull]

ouch!! thought ours was bad !! I'm suspecting an old fridge we have is not helping, it seems to be constantly on ( compressor that is) and I've found the freezer was set to the max setting, I've turned it down from 6 to 2, anyone know what the setting is on a freezer, cant really make that much difference to the temp as frozen food is frozen food I'd have thought !

[Stuart]

Get a freezer thermometer .

[Dave Liquorice]

Yep, though the house is bigger most of it is not used.

=A347.50/month around about 22 units/day. Cook by electric, heat by oil.=

[Andy]

ouch!! thought ours was bad !! I'm suspecting an old fridge we have is not helping, it seems to be constantly on ( compressor that is) and I've found the freezer was set to the max setting, I've turned it down from 6 to 2, anyone know what the setting is on a freezer, cant really make that much difference to the temp as frozen food is frozen food I'd have thought !

Freezer should not be warmer than -18C AFAIK.

Andy.

[visionset]

Depends on the star rating. And yes it does matter. Colder temp means food lasts longer. Ever tried fish that's been in a 1 star (typical front loader) after more than a couple of months?

[The Wanderer]

Best bet is to invest a few bob in a freezer thermometer from your local hardware shop. Ours came from Bettaware a few years back, but seems to serve the purpose OK. Out of the freezer it appears to show the room temp reasonably accurately, and in the freezer it shows a temp just slightly lower than 18°C[1]

[1] Ah, my memory didn't fail with the keycode for the '°' symbol! :-)

[David Hansen]

On 17 Nov 2006 16:23:28 -0800 someone who may be "Staffbull" wrote this:-

As others have said, get a thermometer and set it at the correct temperature. Defrost regularly, but not every week. Don't keep the door open too long. If it is on its last legs replace with a modern one.

The number of pounds is not as useful as the number of kWH. There is a variation of electricity tariffs which means that the number of pounds could simply indicate an expensive tariff.

Do you have a separate fridge and freezer?

What sorts of lighting do you have, how long is it on for?

Electric cooking, heating, tumble drier?

What do you want from electricity? The cheapest bill or something else. If the cheapest bill then consider Ebico, as long as you agree with their business objectives which are clearly stated on their web site. If you want something else then Ebico offers one option too, another option is the 100% renewable electricity of Good Energy, but this does cost more money.

[Staffbull]

Yes

Mostly normal filament lamps at the mo but the newly built kitchen is 3 times the size of the old one but only has 100w of lighting compared to

220w in the old one, so i'm on the right track :-)

Electric cooker n' hob, and yes the dreaded tumble is used this time of year :-(

Cheapest bill is good for me !! I'm getting annoyed that the energy companies hike their prices when their costs go up but dont follow suit when they come down!!! It's the old "chippy" scenario, Around 12 yeasr ago there was a potato famine in the UK, price of tatties went through thr roof, hence price of chips shot up to =A31 from 30-35p, one season after and plenty of spuds around, many seasons on and whats the price of chips !!!

[David Hansen]

On 18 Nov 2006 04:29:10 -0800 someone who may be "Staffbull" wrote this:-

Have you fitted a saver adapter, particularly to the freezer?

Time to fit energy saving lamps where suitable (which these days is just about everywhere).

A gas hob and tumble drier will be cheaper to run. Many people like electric ovens.

[Staffbull]

[Brian Sharrock]

According to my freezer's handbook; food should be frozen to -24 deg C and stored at -18 deg C.

BTW, soft-scopp ice-cream really is soft scoop at -18 deg C.

make that much difference to the temp as frozen food is frozen food I'd have thought !

It's more than possible for food to be 'frozen' and above -18 deg C.

[David Hansen]

On 18 Nov 2006 07:49:47 -0800 someone who may be "Staffbull" wrote this:-

I see that there is a shortage of the things at the moment. However,

are taking pre-orders. is what the manufacturers have to say on the product.

Like many small energy saving steps this will not cut your bill to zero but, as the saying goes, if one looks after the pennies then the pounds will look after themselves.

Do you have a jug kettle?

Do you cook mostly on the hob or the oven? A hob, even an electric one, is cheaper to run than an oven. A hob won't do ready meals, but they are expensive in many ways anyway.

Do you have a slow cooker?

[Staffbull]

for lunch. Not sure about a slow cooker but we have a steamer thingy which does the veg/rice

[Dave Liquorice]

EBICO are not the cheapest unless you have a fairly low useage. The flat rate and no standing charge (not even a disguised one) *is* great if you have low useage. But you can probably do better if you are going to use significantly more than the higher rate units per quarter on a tarrif with a disguised standing charge or a normal one.

10/units a day is when it becomes more economic for me to have Scottish Power Online Standing Charge over EBICO, as we use >20units day thats a difference of 50p/day...

This is one time that websites like uSwitch etc are very good plug in some basic data and see what they come up with, then look at the tarrifs offered and use a spread sheet to check.

[Colin Wilson]

I'm probably paying over the odds with Ebico as I set up my monthly=20 direct debit for gas & elec at =A360 each, but I feel better knowing that= =20 while i'm not necessarily saving much (if any) money myself, i'm helping=20 them to keep the cost down for others.