Utilities

[SO16_Saint]

Just seen that EDF and British Gas are putting up prices by >9%....£120 per year increase.

 

The BBC say that the average annual bill for dual fuel is C£1500. This seems very high.

 

We've just had our Gas, Elec and Water rates REDUCED. We haven't changed providers, either.

 

Think we pay £75 for the lot per month. We're a household of 2 adults and a 2yo in a 3 bed terraced house.

 

I can't see how the AVERAGE is double what we're paying... Or how anyone could afford to pay this.

[Turkish]

We were paying £150 in our old house, a 1930s 3 bed semi, when we moved into our new house, a newish 3 detached our bill for the two was £85, result I thought, Scottish power said it'll be down to the Better insulation in newer houses, paid £85 a month for about 4 months which I was happy with. Then they decided to take £240 out in one go without telling me, so I rang them and said that my new bill is now £162 a month as they'd hugely underestimated our usage. This during a decent summer with just two of us and a now 6 month old baby. So yes I can well imagine the average is that, which is ridiculous.

 

Who do you use?

[SO16_Saint]

Blimey Turkish, that's horrendous. I don't mnow how we could afford it.

 

We've had loft and cavity insulation done about 2 yrs ago and have solar panels (the free ones) - so maybe that all helps more than I'd imagined.

 

I'm sure we use EDF for gas and elec, and southern water for water...just gone on to metered bills, and they have halved to £25 per month.

[egg]

Our water bill dropped from £80 PCM to £30 when we went to a meter. That's with 3 girls always in one of 3 bathrooms, washing machine on, washing cars etc.

 

Gas and electric is another matter. Think we pay £120 PCM, poss a bit more for a 4 bed semi. That's largely down to a layabout teenager sitting in front of TV all day, lights on, etc etc.

 

10% annual increase is outrageous and fuel bills will be unaffordable to many.

[Smirking_Saint]

Solar panels and decent insulation go an aweful long way into reducing your billing. The solar essentially stops you from paying for useage during the day so be smart and do your washing etc then not in the evenings (which is what they wanted to achieve with smart grid/metering technology)

 

You will find over the next couple of years the government will introduce a costing scheme designed to force users to use in periods of low loading, i.e the dead of night etc and so your electric per unit will cost more at 6pm then 6am etc

 

Gas/electric is stupidly expensive, luckily I get 20% off mine. I pay £80 a month for both, in a 3 bed mid terrace with me and the wife. I have solar heating but looking into a solar and battery arrangement to save and export back to the grid.

 

The problem is the governments policy Im affraid, lack of building any generation of any worth snd closing power stations, we buy the majority of our energy from abroad so it keeps their prices low and ours high. In turn I think the government slams the big 6 thus keeping pressure of themselves.

[trousers]

[buctootim]

Our water bill dropped from £80 PCM to £30 when we went to a meter. That's with 3 girls always in one of 3 bathrooms, washing machine on, washing cars etc.

 

Gas and electric is another matter. Think we pay £120 PCM, poss a bit more for a 4 bed semi. That's largely down to a layabout teenager sitting in front of TV all day, lights on, etc etc.

 

10% annual increase is outrageous and fuel bills will be unaffordable to many.

 

Your situation is identical to mine - same type / size house and identical bills.

[Wurzel]

3 bed semi but just the 2 of us now (most of the time). Gas/Electric £116 per month which, looking at bills, is currently in credit by enough to cover the winter bills without increasing it.

 

Changed to water meter - no choice but was going to ask for one anyway - in early summer. Yet to receive a metered bill, currently paying £55 a month, the above comments give me hope that it should come down substantially. One. thing annoys me, we have a combi boiler which reputedly saves on the gas compared to our old one. But running a bowl for washing up means wasting a whole bowlful of now metered cold water before the hot reaches the tap. Pretty sure kitchen is at the end of the circuit from the boiler, I guess the cost of changing the routing would far outweigh any savings on water costs?

[Turkish]

Our water bill dropped from £80 PCM to £30 when we went to a meter. That's with 3 girls always in one of 3 bathrooms, washing machine on, washing cars etc.

 

Gas and electric is another matter. Think we pay £120 PCM, poss a bit more for a 4 bed semi. That's largely down to a layabout teenager sitting in front of TV all day, lights on, etc etc.

 

10% annual increase is outrageous and fuel bills will be unaffordable to many.

 

Dont understand how your bill can be £40 a month lower than mine and we have one less bedroom and two less kids.

[buctootim]

Changed to water meter - no choice but was going to ask for one anyway - in early summer. Yet to receive a metered bill, currently paying £55 a month, the above comments give me hope that it should come down substantially. One. thing annoys me, we have a combi boiler which reputedly saves on the gas compared to our old one. But running a bowl for washing up means wasting a whole bowlful of now metered cold water before the hot reaches the tap. Pretty sure kitchen is at the end of the circuit from the boiler, I guess the cost of changing the routing would far outweigh any savings on water costs?

 

The rule of thumb for water meters is that if you have fewer people living in the house than you have bedrooms, you will save money. With meter I'm paying only half what I was before with 3 people in 4 bed house.

[hutch]

The rule of thumb for water meters is that if you have fewer people living in the house than you have bedrooms, you will save money. With meter I'm paying only half what I was before with 3 people in 4 bed house.

You don't have to count teenage boys. They don't use water.

[buctootim]

Dont understand how your bill can be £40 a month lower than mine and we have one less bedroom and two less kids.

 

Its colder up North? You should work out how much is electric and how much is gas. For electric the biggest consumer is appliances not lighting. An easy win is not leaving stuff on standby, including sky box, dvd, tv etc. For gas people normally spend much more on space heating than cooking or hot water (unless the water is heated to a scalding temperature, in which case turn it down to around 45 degrees). Obviously get the roof insulated and the cavity walls but for many houses simple draughts account for 30% of the heating bill.

Edited 18 October, 2013 by buctootim

[View From The Top]

I changed suppliers in the Spring and have been paying £180 PCM for a very big 3 bed Edwardian semi (DG, loft insulation etc), 3 kids, 2 primary and 1 secondary. This is the same price as I was paying before.

 

I enter the meter readings every week and so I'm currently in credit to the tune of £700, my bill will be way lower than expected with the bonus of cash back just before Xmas.

 

Had a new combi fitted 3 years ago to the week and it's already paid for itself when I compare pre/post bills and usage.

Edited 18 October, 2013 by View From The Top

[eurosaint]

I'm not in any way surprised that the average is £1500 per year (£125 per month) as I am paying £260 per month !

I admit that the house is sizeable and detached but there are only two of us for most of the time. I'ts a solid old place but I've tried hard to insulate it against the elements as we are right by the sea !

I negotiate on a regular basis and have switched once but I reckon that one is as bad as the other so am prepared to lump it !!

[Batman]

Missus has gone to utility warehouse for gas and electricity. Seem far cheaper than the others

[egg]

Dont understand how your bill can be £40 a month lower than mine and we have one less bedroom and two less kids.

 

You running tank system rather than combi? Baths rather than showers? Oven on lots? Tumble dryer? Non energy saving bulbs? Not using energy saving in your telly?

 

Ours would be much less if it wasn't for the layabout and running a dehumidifier 24/7. Something's amiss in your place.

[Turkish]

You running tank system rather than combi? Baths rather than showers? Oven on lots? Tumble dryer? Non energy saving bulbs? Not using energy saving in your telly?

 

Ours would be much less if it wasn't for the layabout and running a dehumidifier 24/7. Something's amiss in your place.

 

Yeah its a tank not a combi, also I have a shower in the morning and a bath most week nights nd the missus has bath morning and night too. Oven only on at night for tea, tumble dryer gets a fair bit of use but no more than anyone else I know I'd say.

[View From The Top]

We don't have a bath, just walk in showers, big one off the combi and one off the electric. The savings in in terms of gas use has been astronomical, especially with three kids.

 

All the main lighting is energy saving and everything bar my router/modem is switched off at night as opposed to just standby. The kids are still under training to switch lights off after them etc but massive savings can be made.

 

Combi boiler cost me around £1400 three years ago this week and it's paid for itself already.

[egg]

Yeah its a tank not a combi, also I have a shower in the morning and a bath most week nights nd the missus has bath morning and night too. Oven only on at night for tea, tumble dryer gets a fair bit of use but no more than anyone else I know I'd say.

 

There's part of your answer. Tank systems are horribly expensive. We run an efficient combi. Two showers are electric, the other is fed by the combi. We mostly shower and the bath gets light use.

 

We use the George Foreman as much as poss, rather than the oven. We steam veg over pasta or rice etc to use one ring rather than 3 or 4.

 

Our tumble dryer hardly gets used.

 

The house is really well insulated, walls and lift plus really good double glazing.

 

We're about as energy efficient as we can be but as prices continue to rise I'll look to make savings where poss.

[aintforever]

We pay £90 a month for electric and gas, that's for two of us in a big 3 bed detached. It is modern and well insulated but we do tend to like it warm. That's with a combi boiler.

 

At the last house we had free electric for 6 years so 90 a month is a bit of a shock. The last place was in some weird twilight zone where we had electric but no one sent us any bills.

[suewhistle]

I had new meters put in in August and a week later PV solar panels. Getting the last of summer/autumn I've so far used 18 units (m3? )of gas and 182 units of electricity, which works out at 2.56 a day I'm actually buying. Everything else I use I generate myself, so have adjusted my usage to when most power is being produced plus I have a little gadget which diverts surplus power to the immersion heater. Production will obviously decline considerably with the length of days and lower sun, but it will still be helpful: indeed over the winter I'll be exporting very little.