argh energy bill! help pleaseeeeeeeee

[trixipaws]

when we first switched to npower a couple years ago our dual fuel bill was £83 per month. it did increase to £99 per month- but just got our six-monthly statement, they are putting our direct debit up to £165! this is NOT what we need when we need to be saving for the new baby. i am baffled as to how we even consume so much energy???

yep, the house is quite big, it has high ceilings, and its old (1890's)

the heating is set to come on for only 2 hours on mondays and tuesdays (one in morning one in evening)- and the other 5 days when millie and one or both of us are home all day its 6 total hours (two in morning, one at lunchtime and three in evening) and it cuts off when the temp gets to 21 degrees, which i dont think is excessive???

we have a new combi boiler (whatever that means!) and the cooker is used only once a day (sometimes none! )

electricity-wise, the only appliances we really use are this laptop i am on (erm about 4 hours every evening but often its "on" all day altho i close it so the screen is off and u cant hear the fan does that still count as "on"??!!)
DF has his ps3 on about 5 hours a day, and the tv is on much of the tme maybe ermmmm 12 hours or summink???
erm, baby monitor 5-6 hours a day, fone chargers x2 every 3 nights or so, microwave about 5 minutes a day! boil the kettle about 6 times a day!
i do my hair every 2 days so 10 minutes hairdryer 30-45 minutes straighteners!!!
i have the washing machine on every 2 days but on economy program where its done in 45 minutes. and always only 40 degrees.

gosh thats IT thats actually IT how on earth do we cut back on that????!!

please, any tips! does anyone know which of those areas is our culprit and what we can do instead without living like cavemen!

 

[Lou]

I had a masoooooove increase recently with British Gas so I switched to EDF.

They are taking the pee with their increase so don't just sit back and pay it, ring them and give them a reading and if they won't reduce the payments then switch !

 

[lauramumof2]

Im in the same boat and we tried cutting back. I changed to Npower from Scottish Power to try and save.
Didnt work. For about 8 months they were charging me £80 dual fuel which I knew wasnt right but I was a bit skint in the summer so I thought I would wait till the next statement came in. I wasnt ready for that, it went up to £235. I phoned them and they have taken it down to £190. Woo hoo.

Its mental. We have an old house too with high ceilings. Its a bugger but I dont see anyway round it.

 

[Hazel]

I have a key meter for gas and leccy. This month I have put £60 on the gas and £50 on the leccy. I'm at home all day with my heating on full whack as I'm always cold. The tv is on all day as is the computer. I also have an oil filled electirc radiator turned down to lowest setting in Connie's room at night to keep her warm. 2 baths a day as DH does shifts. I live in a small 30 year 2 bed semi.

In the summer I put about £30 on each (I think).

I know people say having a key meter is more expansive but at least I know what I'm paying and never get an unexpected bill.

 

[Lou]

Here babe, I posted a thread about Briitish Gas putting my bill up....They kept quoting me diferent prices! Have a butchers, its only a little thread....

viewtopic.php?f=51&t=96430&hilit=+British+Gas+are+a+bunch+of+clowns

 

[Babylicious]

mines gone up too, by £66 a month

 

[drea b]

just got our quarterly bill though yesterday - £564 for 3 months

set up the d/d so it's £185 an month - double what I was paying last year.

 

[badgergirl]

Ring them and query it - particularly if you haven't had a proper meter reading for a while.

We got a MASSIVE bill from Npower last year, and we thought there was no way we could've spent that much. They made us do daily readings for a fortnight to see how much we consumed, then traced the readings back and found that one of the readings that one of their people had taken months and months before had been completely wrong.

It's worth doing it - it's a faff but if it comes out that your bill's wrong it's great.

 

[Lola's Mummy]

Hun

I work for npower business and deal with all the direct debits and stuff but only for business customers. I'm certain it's all the same though

I would advise you to take a reading from both of your meter's and give them a ring. They should be able to produce you an upto date correct bill and then have another look at the direct debit cause chance's are it was system estimated

If you have any problems let me know and i'll do my best to sort something out as one of the ladies on my team has some good contacts in domestic as she was a team leader there

 

[Cixes]

Its really bad i know my mum just told me her dual fuel for the quarter was £600 and she has ripped out her gas fire and now has a real fire going, doesn't put the heating on during the day at all, mum and dad work full time so are out all day usually she really can't understand why its so damn high!


I have the Key meters too and i put £25 on a week between the two, £15 gas & £10 elec.

I have my heating on most of the day and we have the t.v on all day, the laptop on all day, and the xbox is usually on all day from kids getting up until 2am some mornings! Plus i have the washer and dryer going quite a bit!

I am with EDF and last week i got a rebate on my Gas of £8!!!

Got a statement today and it said i have cut my gas consumption in half since this time last year and thats because i have had my loft insulation done and my draughty door fixed!

 

[kellysomer]

Flippin heck! We are with Scottish power and pay £66 a month for both together. We have a large 3 bed house?????

 

[lea m]

Npower are bad for this! They did it to me too! I had them install a pre payment meter (which is supposed to be more expensive) but we are putting in about £45 - £50 a month instead of the hundred and something they wanted us to pay!!