Energy bill increases

[Scaleyback]

While it can be interesting to compare it is pretty pointless isn't it ?
Energy use is so dependent on lifestyle / building / ability to pay / and many are still on a fixed contract.
I can imagine this 'unhealthy' scenario:- ' I only have a 3 bed house and I'm paying as much as his 5 bed house ' or similar.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Our gas smart meter stopped working in mid Dec during cold snap. I tried to get a manual reading off it on Sat but it won’t even do that. Be interesting to see if it’s recorded anything at all when they replace it.

 

[Buck]

While it can be interesting to compare it is pretty pointless isn't it ?
Energy use is so dependent on lifestyle / building / ability to pay / and many are still on a fixed contract.
I can imagine this scenario:- ' I only have a 3 bed house and I'm paying as much as his 5 bed house ' or similar.

You’re right. I was thinking more along the lines of a year on year comparison being more meaningful for all.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Must be a 'huge' house. Ours for Dec was £250 for a 5 bed house.

It’s a large 5 bed , with effectively 5 adults living in it . Two living rooms plus large dining room. Large open plan kitchen. Solar going in this month hopefully !

Also on the standard tariff , will see another rise in April . It’s big old house to heat .

 

[gbb]

It’s a large 5 bed , with effectively 5 adults living in it . Two living rooms plus large dining room. Large open plan kitchen. Solar going in this month hopefully !

Also on the standard tariff , will see another rise in April . It’s big old house to heat .

Its inevitable the amount of people in a house will influence the bills immensely. Normally there's only 2 of us, our son has since returned home, his demands will inevitably raise the bill. Now we've had 2 grandkids here for 2 weeks, tv is on incessantly, more heating, more electric, more washing, more drying, more cooking etc etc etc. Weve seen our bill double since the last one.
Technically ours is a 4 bed, converted to 3 so still a relatively large house compared to the rabbit hutches they build now. I'm grateful it seems to be well built ( new town corporation build from the late 60s early 70s), well insulated, and perhaps importantly, mid terrace and well sheltered from the elements due to houses around us. Despite its relatively large size, historically our bills have been pretty good.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Don’t think my bills were that bad when we first moved to this , coming up 4yrs . £150 a month on DD for gas and electric . We even had a hot tub running . Not now with the huge increases . Just had an email that they want to increase my DD again by another £20 a month . It’s utterly crazy !!! Of course that won’t be happening, awaiting a phone call to explain that PV panels are going in a couple of weeks .

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Of course that won’t be happening, awaiting a phone call to explain that PV panels are going in a couple of weeks .

TBH I wouldn't bother, you're only going to get a chicken at the other end who is only going to read off their crib sheet or the flowchart & you're probably not going to achieve anything other than winding you up.

 

[fossyant]

December wasn't too bad, electric went up to £210 for the month from around £160 usually, and gas jumped to £170 due to the cold snap and the house being occupied and heated during the day for the last three weeks.

Electric is usually around 12-15 KWh a day (two gaming PC's contribute to about 5 KWh), but the last three weeks with Xmas etc it's been 21 KWh (conservatory heated too) - looking back a year we were averaging 40 KWh a day, so that's all good news with using less ! Pre Christmas, even in the cold snap, we were 15 KWh

Gas use looks the same in KWh terms as last year, possibly down a little peaking at 45 a day with the heating on (last 3 weeks), although those really cold days we jumped to over 80 KWh a day for 4 days. Although Autumn and Spring we drop to 20 KWh, and in summer anything from 3-5 KWh a day.

Still £600 in credit !

 

[fossyant]

Looking back I've got very accurate data from February last year. I started my spreadsheet from the January reading, then did a reading a month later. I was then monitoring use weekly, more recently once every two weeks as we've made the energy savings. I started looking at the gas from February also.

Feb 2022 Electricity KWh - 1500 (blimey)
Feb 2022 Gas - 1500

Dec 2022 Electricity 600 KWh (yes a third almost)
Dec 2022 Gas 1650 KWh (with the cold snap)

Just shows - Gas bill was £60ish in February, that's now £170 for roughly the same amount of juice.

PS we were back at work too in Feb so house occupancy was actually less than the last month.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

We hit £123 for electric and gas last month. Highest bill yet. This is on the standard variable tarrif, I.e. max they can charge subject to cap.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Got my actual bill in and December was spendy on energy . £539 in total . Nov was £315 and Oct was £224 . So you can see how heating has driven the cost up massively . Very cold month . However Dec and Jan are usual peak months for me . So hopefully can try and keep a lid on things , it’s to be mild for the next while so hopefully that flows through into cheaper bills.

 

[fossyant]

Got my actual bill in and December was spendy on energy . £539 in total . Nov was £315 and Oct was £224 . So you can see how heating has driven the cost up massively . Very cold month . However Dec and Jan are usual peak months for me . So hopefully can try and keep a lid on things , it’s to be mild for the next while so hopefully that flows through into cheaper bills.

You certainly see it in gas use as soon as it get's proper cold. As it's quite mild, it's not taking much to heat the conservatory as I work, but it took nearly 100 KWh of juice to heat in December, 50 of that being in and around Christmas. That's £30 quid for just the conservatory. At least with my energy monitoring Smart Plugs I can see where it went.

The 'old' Christmas lights from FIL's house, just 2 silhouettes, used 35 KWh, so that cost me £11. The rest, more modern, cost less than £2 to run for a month.

 

[Jody]

Feb 2022 Electricity KWh - 1500 (blimey)

Wowsers.

Sure you didn't have a farm in the cellar?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Wowsers.

Sure you didn't have a farm in the cellar?

Takes a lot to grow cannabis

 

[tom73]

T

Takes a lot to grow cannabis

They don’t normally pay for the electric.