Cost of Home Energy per month

[Richard]

Thought I'd pose this question as I've just had my Direct Debit reduced to £61 per month (we're all electric).

If you pay it 'straight', then it would be the average per month over the year.

No-one knows who's polled what BTW.

Thanks, Richard

[Orfy]

I'm frightened to find out!

[Meanqueen]

Just worked it out. May 07 to May 08. Pay quarterly cheque or cash, £23.41 per month. The gas man came to change the meter in June, I told him price increases don't bother me, I just cut down on my usage. I said the central heating doesn't work, he said is your pilot light on. I said I don't know. He looked and said yes it is, he said shall I turn it off for you, I said, OK, that will save me a bit.

Ilona

[chickentina]

Our direct debit for gas/electric is combined at £94 per month ( but hubby informs me it will go up soon) but i don,t think thats too bad for a family of seven..i do loads of washing and cooking etc and every room in the house is accomidated with games machines and dvd, t.vs etc have tried to cut down but its hard with a large family xx

[p.penn]

Our electric is £55 a month and oil is £159 a month. Mad.

[Richard]

Coo, that's a lot.

You see, I had a Chap come round from the Energy Supplier today. I was shocked at the electricity I'd apparently used and they were shocked at the amount I hadn't (I've blitzed over the last two years).

He was a really helpful and nice chap. He went through every reading since 2002, telling me the story in six month blocks.

Long and short is I somewhat disputed (got a strop) with the young Lady who had told me I should pay £150 per month back in April.

The Chap worked it out that on the last two years consumption it should be £61 per month and as a gesture of goodwill took £100 off my last Bill.
I paid up, sorted the Direct Debit and everyone's happy.

I was pleased because three years ago I was paying £80, so with price increases, I'm quite proud.

What was nice was he's a bit of an Industrial Historian, so I showed him round the old WindMill, site of the Steam Mill, the Water Mill, even the Shed up the garden which used to be the toilets !
He was so interested and nearly went to tears when he saw the old Electrical switches and circuit boards etc.

Strange, paying a bill was a most enjoyable event !


However, it's good to hear what people pay. Obviously there are many reasons like larger homes, big families, needs of storage etc. and obviously some of us can afford more than others - sobeit.

It'll be good to get lot's of others in the Poll. It will give us a better average etc.

[kdoc]

I thought i paid alot for oil,mine is£110 for oil and £67 for electric.I have been reallly tight this year and not had the heating on since begining of May,I have really noticed a difference in consumption.
KAren

[Richard]

What the Chap did recommend is the 'Effergy Smart Meter'.



This shows you what electricity you are using at any given time (up-dates every 5 seconds) plus being able to show you costs as well.
So you can literally see what you are spending everytime you turn something on and off.
By analysing it all for a few days, you could cut down on loads of things.

You can see it at 'Big Green Smile' by

CLICKING HERE

I'm getting one - when I can afford it though !

[Meanqueen]

I can see that the gadget would be usefull for a large family, getting the kids to watch it when they turn their games on. Teenagers earning a wage could be asked to contribute towards the bills if they sit for hours at their computers.

Ilona

[mellonia]

Ohhh dear its a sore point with me. I know that £180 is a lot a month for gas and elec combined, but here is the story, over a year and half ago i changed to npower from British gas from a doorstep canvasser who said they could make it cheaper for me, big mistake, when they said cheaper they meant pay less a month, but it wasn't covering my bill. they didn't read the meter for a year so ended up owing £600 so the figure of 180 is to cover the new bills and whats owing.

We are really trying to cut down obviously we aren't having the heating on at the moment, we are turning everything off at the plug every night, its fighting abit of a loosing battle with having two kids though because its not on there agenda saving cash, they aren't doing it on purpose but a bit forgetful. Trying to instill good habits in them both.

Wish me luck, really down about owing this and thinking about saving for christmas, my hubby is going to do the night shift at work for 2 months and i am doing an extra hour a work till half term in October. Going into town tommorrow my daughter needs a new school bag, polishing there shoes up to go back in will get them new in a couple of weeks my daughter got hers at easter so not desperate. Get my son a new school bag for chrimbo as a stocking filler, as he likes a skater make and they are £30, i don't mind as its big to wrap and better then buying trash so he has a pile to open, he does get other stuff.

Everything is soo expensive hope this fuel situation gets sorted we are all paying alot for fuel they have us all by the *****. What if we were on benefit, what would we do.

Mellonia

Sorry spreading doom and gloom and mentioning christmas. I have some good news i got a new kitten little black runt of a little called Alfie.

[chickentina]

oh mellonia i know exactly what you means hard to make things meet etc ...i have five kids ...fuel costs and simply feeding them is a nightmare i am lucky i can make meals out of so many ingredients and they always love them..sorry

Right we were offered one of those energy saving monitors for free the other week from e-on (who we are currently with we are always swoppin but to be honest there isn,t that much difference) but we had to stay fixed with them in contract until october 2009 and hubby wasn,t happy with that for some reason ( he deals with the bills)
Although i think they are a good idea

[spudley]

Our electric is £55 a month and oil is £159 a month. Mad.

thats a lot of money each month. somehwere down the line some one is making a lot of money out of you, Sorry.

Electric and solid fuel, under £50 per month.

[smallholderwannabe]

We pay £102 a month at the moment for gas and electricity combined. We don't have the central heating on with a timer in the winter but turn it on for an hour when we come in - our coming and going is a bit erratic to use a timer and I thought it would be cheaper to do it this way. That means if it is warm enough to do without then we don't turn it on. I try to fill the oven on the odd occasion we have it on and generally try to use as little as possible. I'd really like to get the bill down a bit. We've just fixed the price with British Gas until Christmas 2009 just before they hiked up the price as they were one of the cheapest in our area.

Any tips on economising welcome!

[Evie]

Our electric 35 pounds Gas 19 pounds pcm (sorry pound sign dont work on this pc) Want to get the electric down a bit.
Had the same problem as you Mellonia with electric, didnt get a bill for ages even after repeated attempts and many phone calls.
(Got southern electric to give me the money back for the calls though) I have energy saving bulbs in most of our lights which over the year makes a big difference. I have a electric oven and turn it off before the time stated if possible as it carries on cooking.
I agree though having children with all these games needing electric must be difficult to control. I rarely iron as that takes lots and I dont tumble dry.Heating been off since April and is staying off till about Nov,will just wear more layers.We dont like the dry air it creates.
Would love one of those meters to moniter our usage,reckon we would get a shock at just how much certain things are using.

[taff]

roughly £60-£75 in the summer, going up to £140-£150 in the winter.
Everything is electric, and I mean everything, which isn't good for a budding frugalista...then again, it's not my house, so I can't change much, but I wish I could get a wood burner put in, it would be so much cheaper in the long run.