[banjo21]

OK perhaps my strangest ever post but since moving to my current house with missy I have felt I've been ripped off for gas and electric. Not by her mind you

Basically its a small 3 bed semi, 1930s style, gas central heating, gas water, gas cooking and we both work 5 dpw every week. No kids - no industrial equipment so basic usage is:-
Water heating - 20 mins a day for a shower each and 30 mins for dish washer
Electric - 2 hours a night for TV and main PC left on all day (this could be the culprit).

The punchline is our combined gas and electric bill is £141 a month and they just sent me a letter wanting £170 a month - thats £2000 a year for two peeps who are out all week!!!!

So is this a rip off? Have the previous owners sold my electric supply to the neighbours? The figure is right if you add up the meter reading and multiply by unit charge but I just cant believe such a small family in a small house with very little usage can in fact use £2K worth of fuel. I'm not looking for advice to change supplier as they would all be about same for this usage (10K kwh per year electric and 22K kwh py gas) - I just cant believe this gas and electric amount is really being used. I've averaged that over last 3 years. I am looking for someone to say "yep your neighbours have tapped in to your supply".

So whats your best estimate for the monthly combined dd for gas and electric for a 3 bed semi? What about fuel usage.

Understand if no one replies but I dont know where to go - this is my biggest expense after my mortgage!!

Many thanks

[Mr Incredible]

Geez! There's something seriously wrong somewhere. Do you actually have enough roof insulation? Do you have a roof even!!

FWIW I live in a large 4 bed detached dormer bungalow with gas central heating (new boiler 6 years ago), and the house is occupied every day with at least 2 pcs running all day with 5 monitors, plenty of cups of tea, 2 large live-at-home sons who use masses of hot water, and in winter our central heating is on from 7:00 am until 11:00 pm.

On average my gas consumption is 53,000 kWH and my electricity is about 15,000 kWh. I am on direct debit and my total annual bill budgets out at £170 pm, like yours. I'm with EDF dual fuel, perhaps you should change supplier?

[Matt_C]

Makes me think that my £21 pm bill isn't actually that bad

[bumper31]

I was in a similar situation, Single bloke, 3 bed Semi....Hot water on every day 5-8 am. AV stuff....never left TVs on standby.

I was paying 40 a month each for gas and electric (80 in total)...I moved out 1 year later and they sent me final bills for 300 for electric and 200 for gas....

So in my maths that makes 1460 for the year Over 120 a month....I thought that was ridiculous. And I ensured I told them so when I rang up to pay....I think I phrased it along the lines of I'll just bend over and they can carry on shafting me

Considering I was only paying about 10 a month for electric in the flat I used to live in...I couldn't work it out.

But there has been a lot of news about Wholesale cost of gas and electric

[Ultima]

That can't be right. Me and my better half live in a large 5 bedroom Victorian house are out all day working but the hot water is on maybe 6 hours a day and the heating on full time in winter. Computer is on all day.

Joint monthly bill is £85 but last year we overpaid by £175.

Martin

[zAndy1]

4 bed detached, paying £54pm electric and £34pm gas and averaged out over the year their about spot on. We're out all day but have 2 PCs on most evenings and weekends, TV on most of the evening/weekends as well, a lot of washing machine/tumble dryer/dishwasher use as well. Hot water 6 hours per day Martin, blimey, must be a lot of baths taken in your house!

[Kieron]

Last year £80pm. Then Powergen wanted £180 a month to catch up. Now they want £115 a month.

Who knows what's right or wrong these days. I just make sure things are turned off when they aren't being used....

[Woodywizz]

I posted something very similar to the op when I received a £600 Quarterly bill for Gas/Electric....live in 3 bed 1930s Semi, with no excessive usage.

The last bill was less - £400, but still feel I am paying over the odds.

Think I'll switch to EDF via Direct Debit - will compare my usage figures to Malice's first.

[johnscarlet]

3 bed detached , paying powergen £140 a month , constantly in credit and supplying my own reading on the first of every month .
I work 4 on 4 off ,so most of my kit is on , most of the time .

I think the biggest culprit is probably the numerous 50w GU10s everyone seems to have these days , Bring on the proper LEDS . If you have them , try dropping to 35w ones for an instant 30% saving . and try fitting dimmers where you can.
Kieron , I was in a similar situation .£80pm rising to £140pm to catch up , but with the price rises , its stayed there .
General Skanky works for Powergen . maybe if he looks in , we can all gang up on him . Only joking GS

John

[Jenn]

4 bed detached here, two adults living but out at work 5 days a week. We don't have central heating on all day in winter, just enough to keep the house warm. Computer on all evening and so is the TV.

We currently pay about £40-50 a month combined and are in credit for gas.

We did invest in insulation as soon as we moved in for the loft though, nice layer up there. Also we have double glazing and the previous owner got some cavity insulation put in for £250. Must help quite a lot.

[Ultima]

Originally Posted by zAndy1

Hot water 6 hours per day Martin, blimey, must be a lot of baths taken in your house!

Thinking about it, it's on too long

Changed now to come on at 6.30am off at 8am back on at 4.30pm off at 7pm.

[krish]

Originally Posted by woodywizz

I posted something very similar to the op when I received a £600 Quarterly bill for Gas/Electric....live in 3 bed 1930s Semi, with no excessive usage.

The last bill was less - £400, but still feel I am paying over the odds.

Yup this was the (closed) thread: www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=485470
... and I replied:

Originally Posted by krish

seems very wrong that

should be more like £50-60 shouldn't it (just basing that figure on my scot power gas and elec online account with monthly DD of around £38 for a 3 bed semi with gas cooker and GCH with just me) ...

am still paying that combined gas & electric DD, and slightly in credit at the moment

[ufitsy]

Have you been in the loft to see if next door are "borrowing" some leccy . You could turn off all electrical appliances & look to see if the dial is still turning.

[Jenn]

Could also be a faulty meter. At work our electricity bill was terrible, we complained, the meter was change dto a digital one and surprise surprise our bills have been just a third of what they used to be.

[banjo21]

Thanks everyone - I've done a USWITCH and THISISMONEY price comparison and Powergen comes out cheapest. So I'll switch to them (they estimate £111 a month versus £141 with SP). I'll also turn all appliances off and check nothing being used

Finally I'll ask for new meters - something has to be wrong.

Thanks again - great response.

[krish]

Originally Posted by banjo21

Thanks everyone - I've done a USWITCH and THISISMONEY price comparison and Powergen comes out cheapest...

could get cashback via www.quidco.com/powergen

[kbfern]

Banjo

You said that your bill works out correct when you multiply the units by the rate.What are the units of electricity and gas being charged at?.

I am with British Gas(you may all laugh)but I have a 4 bed 1930's house, work from home so heating & electric in use all day everyday and my electric & gas comes out at around £1100 per year(elecricity is fairly constant at around £150 per quarter).

My unit price for gas is 2.012p per kWh & electric is 6.816p per kWh and this is fixed till 2010.

[johnscarlet]

Originally Posted by banjo21

Thanks everyone - I've done a USWITCH and THISISMONEY price comparison and Powergen comes out cheapest. So I'll switch to them (they estimate £111 a month versus £141 with SP).

The comparison sites are good , but why can't they just show you the unit prices so you can do an easy quick comparison

I double checked last night and I found the following
PowerGen = PG
NPower = NP

PG Leccy first 900 @ 16.989p pkwh rest @ 9.465
NP Leccy first 728 @ 14.88p Pkwh rest @ 7.63p

PG Gas fisrt 4572 @ 3.23505p rest @ 2.57355p
NP Gas First 4572 @ 3.82p rest @ 2.15p

The NP prices I used are inc of VAT , not sure about the PG . not that it matters

John

[stealther]

My gas bill used to be a woping £80 a month in a 2 bed mid terrace and I complained several times about it eventually I claimed I could smell gas escaping from my meter box they sent someone out and he didnt test for a leak or anything just swapped the meter for a new type and went on his way. after that my gas bill averaged at £40 a month.

[banjo21]

My average daily elec is 27.8 kwh pd, and gas 62.1 kwh pd averaged over the last 27 months.

I've tried both Npower and Powergen and each are coming in at £111 pm for that usage which is £30 pm cheaper than Scottish Power and £60 pm cheaper than what SP wanted to up me too.

I'll also ask PG for new meters - as again I think the readings must be off for such a small house and family.

Thanks again for all the feedback.

[Saggy]

I have dual fuel from edf direct debit payment and am in a 3bed end terrace, wife and 2 small kids in all day, loads of washing/dishwasher and tv seems to be on alot of the day plus the wife and kids like the lights on at night (dimmed). My gas is £28 a month and the lecky is £30 a month. (gas central heating + hot water very old back boiler, gas hob, electric oven). But have got cavity wall insulation and double loft insulation and new double glazing. Another thing i found to really help me was to replace my old radiators. The new ones kick out so much heat that the heating only needs to be on for an hour and the house is toasty.

Martin

[kbfern]

Your daily electricity usage looks very high for a 3 bed house with 2 people out at work all day.

I have a 4 bed house circa 1938 with no cavity wall to insulate and consider my electricity usage quite high.I work from home and there are 2-3 tvs & 2 pc's on from 7am-past midnight, we have dishwasher/washing m/c and tumble dryer on the go 2-3 times a week,2 fridges 2 freezers +loads of other electrical goods and my daily average usage is 20.68 kWhrs.

If you are sure that your average daily usage is 27.8 kWh either you have loads of appliances working 24/7 or there is something wrong with the meter.

[Mr Incredible]

Originally Posted by banjo21

(10K kwh per year electric and 22K kwh py gas) -

Using my spreadsheet I have to keep track of my usage for over 6 years now, the current rates I have with EDF, fixed until 2008, are as follows:

Electric (incl VAT)
First 900 kwH in a year 10.4p
Additional kwH 6.825

Gas (incl VAT)
First 5860 KwH in a year 2.5788p
Additional kwH 1.9068p

On these charges with EDF, your consumption should cost you on average:

Electric
£60pm

Gas
£38pm


The average daily usage you reckon you have (27kwH) does seem high for the house being empty during the day. Have you an electric emersion switched on that you don't know about? Electric fire. radiator? A 500W security light?


My average daily electric consumption is 43kwH. As I said, minimum 2 PCs 5 monitors, dishwasher, washing machine, overnight security lighting, a permanently boiling kettle for tea (well it seems like it!), tumble dryer, two large fridges, 1 small fridge, 1 freezer . So perhaps 27kwH is not too bad then? Looking at the price though I'd say you need to switch ASAP.

[johnscarlet]

I'm using 9500kwh leccy a year and 18300kwh of gas . The gas fires a combi boiler , everything else is on electric . Its about 27kwh a day for me also .

Malice , I'm drooling at your unit price you lucky sod

I have switched to NPower this morning.At the prices I have quoted above I would be mad not to

[Mr Incredible]

Yeah, I swapped at the right time and managed to squeeze them for a little more when they made a mess of my billing after the first quarter.

[w3dal]

had a similar problem recently where my electricity was going up, and couldnt work out why. same story - work 8 till 5:30 everyday, plasma on 2 hours max a night, dishwasher at weekends and then 2 loads of washing a week and it was going up and up. Turned out that BG had the incorrect meter serial number and i was paying for next doors electric. well about 6 or so calls and a wait of around a month i have £130.00 credit on my account and the correct serial number is on my account.

make sure you supply readings when you can and the serial numbers match up.


good luck fella and let us know how it goes.

Dal

[bu5ter]

Ive had the same problem moved into an old 2 bed victorian terraced house in august and got our first gas bill which covered from august to January and it was 448 quid i nearly passed out.

[Mr Incredible]

Originally Posted by bu5ter

.....i nearly passed out.

From the heat?

[banjo21]

As a quick update just had a call from Powergen (whereas SP just emailed me saying not their problem if I use that much elec).

The guy was great - unoffically confirmed my elec usage at 10K kwh pa is 3x what he would expect for my house and situation. He explained that once the switch if complete we can get a meter check (parallel run with a very accurate one) and swap over if required.

Appears the gas is about average at 22K kwh pa for a 2+2 family - so I have to find those darn kids that must me living under the floorboards