How much is your electricty bill?

[kellie80]

Just got me bill in this morning and they have put up my direct debit payments to £78 a month. We are with Southern electric and we live in a 3 bed terrece. I think this sounds like a lot of money cos in only a year they have put up my payments by £38 a month. Is this normal? We only have normal stuff in our house! I rang tham up to see what was going on and she was just saying have you got patio heaters or things like that but we haven't.

 

[Becky&Willow]

rubbish

i dont get a bill as we have meters and i only but on £25 a month but patio heaters is that woman you spoke to stupid they run on gas canisters.

it sounds unjustified to me.

have you ever thought about top up gas and electric i know it can be a pain but you dont get a wacking great big bill every month.

 

[Nic'n'Keeley]

I pay £30 a month for a two bed flat i'm with powergen

 

[Nicola]

£58 per month for gas & electric - 3 bedroom mid-terrace.

Moving this weekend though to a bigger detached....not sure what it will change to then but less I suppose as there is no gas in the village so it will be electricity bills only, fill up the oil tank once every 6 months or so but pay that as we want the re-fill type thing.

I think £78 monthly for your type of house etc is rather a lot.

 

[Tangerinedream]

We pay roughly £30 per month for our 2 bed end town house, it will prob work out a bit more now im on mat leave and am in during the day

 

[AllieW]

That does sound excessive. They definitely try and diddle you with these set amount DDs. When I finally gave up on EDF electric (to move over to Good Energy where it is sourced from 100% renewable sources) they had to pay me back well over £200.

In your shoes I would do two things. Firstly, ring them up and insist that you are switched over to a DD where you are charged for what you use rather than a set amount. You can do that on either a monthly or quarterly basis. Secondly, find a decent price comparison website (Uswitch or similar) and look into switching companies. I found switching companies ludicrously easy. Just a case of contacting the new company who will also inform your current company. You're then sent a final bill and all is hunky dory. Well worth doing in your situation, I'd have said. I'm guessing they'd owe you money, too. Have you checked your meter reading recently?

 

[NIE]

That is ridiculous babes.

I'm with Scottish Gas and have a pre-pay meter.

I live in a 3 bed mid terranced and I have all the usual things including electric cooker and Gas central heating.

At the moment I am toping up my meter with around £20 - £25 a month. In the winter it's more like £40 - £45.

Keep an eye on your meter readings and it might be worth giving energy watch (I think they're called) a call. They were really good with me when Scottish Gas tryed to make me pay a bill of over £100, when I am pre-pay. I won my case. xxx

 

[kellie80]

I'm guessing they'd owe you money, too. Have you checked your meter reading recently?

Well you'd think wouldn't you! They put it up to £54 some time last year and I was a bit peed off with that. I got a letter last week with an estimate on it saying they were putting my payments up to £68 a month so I took a reading and gave it to them and they put it up again to £78. I think the bill is right I just can't understand why its so much! I have checked on the switch sites and its saying they are the cheapest for the area I know its probally a stupid though but I couldn't be anything to do with dodgy really old wiring could it? Otherwise I'm at a loss! Maybe one of the neighbours has them selves hooked up to us

 

[AllieW]

That does sound odd. Do you have a lot of gadgets etc left on standby (TV, computer, stereo etc)? Because that eats power for a start. I try and make sure that everything is properly switched off now and it makes a big difference.

If you're generally fairly good about conserving energy, then it's likely that something very odd is going on. What did the meter reading say on your bill? Did it correspond with the one you gave or have they fouled up? It's just that £78 sounds more like a quarterly, rather than a monthly, bill to me.

I wonder if you'd be able to get an electrican out to check? (Or p'raps a mate if that would prove expensive). Equally, as NIE suggests, contacting the ombudsman might be a plan.

Either way, it sounds decidedly iffy.

 

[kellie80]

No its definatly £78 a month I do have a lot of stuff in the house but no more than most people i'd say and I do try to save when I can like hanging out the washing and stuff. I might try to get someone to look at it. It won't cost me anything cos its a rented house.

 

[Emmylou]

Our bill is £60 a month, and that is ALL electric so we have to heat the water/ apartment with electirc too etc. I so think £78 is excessive, only thing I can think also is you could be on the wrong tariff?
Are you on Economy 7 or Standard? Our bill came down when we moved from Economy 7 to Standard because of the way the units are priced.

 

[fynemum]

I know what you mean...

I am with Scottish Gas for both my Electric and Gas bills....

I paid mine on Saturday morning ......

**Electric**
Billing Period Date; me giving real readings
from 14th march 07 until 14th July 07........ £ 152:21

**Gas**
Same dates, my readings again...... £143:78

just a kick in the bum off £300 for 4 months...... EEKKK ! ! ! !

This is for a Mid Terrace 4 bedroom house.....no tumble dryer...dish washer or patio heaters
Out working , kids at School 5 days a week..and not much in the way of heating during the summer months..... So where did the BIG bill come from ???
But i admit i am worried once I become a full time mummy about when home, one wage and constant use of amenities.... How2 much will my WINTER stay home bills be? HELP!

Lv Yvonne xx

 

[kellie80]

only thing I can think also is you could be on the wrong tariff?

I don't know I didn't even know there was different tariffs! Whats the difference? Looking back I really do think its wrong cos we are NOT even all electic, we have gas cental heating and a gas cooker too and that bills only £25 a month.

 

[frangelle]

We live in terraced 2 bedroom house and our bill is about, £200 for 3 months. We don't have patio heaters etc, just the basics...

 

[AllieW]

But i admit i am worried once I become a full time mummy about when home, one wage and constant use of amenities.... How2 much will my WINTER stay home bills be? HELP!

Lv Yvonne xx

Do you have loft insulation, double glazing etc? 'Cos if you haven't, it's well worth investing as that will save you a lot on your bills.

We don't usually have a very high gas bill, but then my fella doesn't feel the cold and I'm still in student mode (despite having graduated 6 years ago). Therefore, if I'm cold, I have something to eat, make a hot drink, put on a jumper or sit under a duvet before I even think of switching on the heating. Old habits die hard I suppose!

 

[jenna]

id get that checked. We had a high bill and it turns out theyd estimated it wrong or something so we called them up and they apologised and gave us our money back, was over £100!!!

 

[Baileysmummy]

Ive had to have a meter put in as we got a bill and it was £761.97, no way could we afford that in one go... they take £10 a week of us now, but still were paying £40 a week in tokens