Energy bill increases

[fossyant]

I just had my first inflation-boosted combined fuel quarterly bill from British Gas. It was for £258. That is well over double what I normally pay at this time of year. The next winter is going to be EXPENSIVE!!!! Let's hope that the weather is kind to us.

I don't have remote monitoring of my meters. I will go down to the cellar and read the electricity meter then set an alarm to remind me to do it again at noon tomorrow. I will be interested to see how much power I use with a couple of lights on for 12 hours, 7 or 8 boiled kettles, and laptop and/or TV on for 12 hours, plus a few things on standby.

Worth doing - I just read the meter once a month, but doing it every few days this week to see if the new fridge/freezer makes a difference from the really old fridge and freezer units (they were knackered). Pop it in a spreadsheet.

 

[ColinJ]

Worth doing - I just read the meter once a month, but doing it every few days this week to see if the new fridge/freezer makes a difference from the really old fridge and freezer units (they were knackered). Pop it in a spreadsheet.

Oh yes, I forgot the fridge! It might be worth me buying a new one soon. The current one has seen better days...

 

[cougie uk]

I know - still recon there is enough being used by the hot tub pump, but it's a permanent installation. Unfortunately, 2 gaming PC's are often on for hours and they consume 500w or more.

Although last couple of days the air con has been on and that uses 1kw, so will account for a fair bit of the use. Our house becomes stupid hot in this weather in the bedrooms.

Have you tried black out blinds on the windows letting the hot sun in ? I think we will need to plan our houses better for the heat in future - air con isn't going to be viable for a lot of people.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I'm not sure it's worth me buying timers to switch stuff off at night for this.

As I understand it & I'm willing to be educated that I'm wrong, but the time switches often use as much electricity as the units do on standby. I have 3x dawn till dusk lights around the back of the house, they only have 4W bulbs in them, but the units take 6W units even during the day, I've put 2 of them on switches, it's not convenient for the 3rd.

 

[si_c]

Have you tried black out blinds on the windows letting the hot sun in ? I think we will need to plan our houses better for the heat in future - air con isn't going to be viable for a lot of people.

A lot of people are going to end up opting for the portable units which vent out using a hose, but they're horribly inefficient and don't cool a building nearly as well as a proper installation, which will just make things worse. Blocking out the sun will work for most and properly designed homes are the way to avoid temperature extremes inside.

 

[presta]

Paul Lewis has just been on the radio saying that Shell wholesale are not allowed to use their profit to subsidise Shell retail. That's interesting, because I assumed that was the reason why I'm getting such a good deal from them. (£1250 fixed from Sept 2021 to Sept 2023)

its getting increasingly difficult to talk to anyone

I followed every option on the Post Office auto attendant once, and none of them reached a human.

Been looking at electricity consumption and we're around 18-20kw a day, so there is still room for improvement - it was more than double that !

Unless you have electric heating, you're still more than double the average.

see if the new fridge/freezer makes a difference from the really old fridge and freezer units

I used to have a cooker with a dodgy thermostat that switched the oven on by itself occasionally, a 43 year old fridge with a torn door seal, and the gap between the freezer and the floor was filled with ice. My bill halved when I got rid of them.

 

[fossyant]

Have you tried black out blinds on the windows letting the hot sun in ? I think we will need to plan our houses better for the heat in future - air con isn't going to be viable for a lot of people.

Thick curtains closed - it's the walls that radiate heat. Modern building, cheap as chips on gas heating (not electric due to gadgets), but the walls retain heat over a number of sunny days. Great in winter, not summer. Can't open the windows much as we have 'house cats'.

 

[gzoom]

It staying in my bank, no way im paying a 185 monthly direct debit……..i pay when the bill arrives and for what i use.

For interest I just looked at our energy bill for Jan 2021, and costed out the likely change based on FIXED prices for Jan 2023...

We used 500kWh of electricity at 16p/kWh and 5000kWh of gas at 2.6p/kWh = £210 without standing charge.

Current FIXED prices are 70p/kWh for electricity and 20p/kWh for gas = £1,350 without standing charge.

These are costs coming to ALL of us very very soon .

 

[Jody]

I just had my first inflation-boosted combined fuel quarterly bill from British Gas. It was for £258. That is well over double what I normally pay at this time of year. The next winter is going to be EXPENSIVE!!!! Let's hope that the weather is kind to us.

Just had Bulb advise my DD needs putting up to £160 a month as apparently I'm using £157 a month. Highest bill this year was £120 so not sure who's in charge of the calculator. Apparently it's to help me build up credit ready for the winter

The prediction is showing December to be just under £200

Definitely going to be an expensive winter

 

[jowwy]

Thick curtains closed - it's the walls that radiate heat. Modern building, cheap as chips on gas heating (not electric due to gadgets), but the walls retain heat over a number of sunny days. Great in winter, not summer. Can't open the windows much as we have 'house cats'.

we use harness's on the cats in the summer and long retractable leads, they love em, as they can wonder in and out when needed........the Mrs is sat out there now on the deck, both cats led on the grass in the harness's just sleeping

 

[jowwy]

For interest I just looked at our energy bill for Jan 2021, and costed out the likely change based on FIXED prices for Jan 2023...

We used 500kWh of electricity at 16p/kWh and 5000kWh of gas at 2.6p/kWh = £210 without standing charge.

Current FIXED prices are 70p/kWh for electricity and 20p/kWh for gas = £1,350 without standing charge.

These are costs coming to ALL of us very very soon .

mine is 30p kwh electric and 7p kwh for gas........were are you getting the above from if its that high?? my last bill was £92

mine is the standard variable rate and pay when bill arrives ( no DD for me with utilities)

 

[jowwy]

Im sat at my desk at the moment and i have the smart meter next to me, this is how much i have used since it reset at midnight last night. Also shows you how much im currently using too.

 

[ColinJ]

I have just been in touch with British Gas to try to switch to monthly billing to avoid the shock of huge future quarterly bills. They said that I need smart meters. I pointed out that I do actually already have smart meters, only the data transmitter is broken and they failed to fix it in 2 attempts during the pandemic. I am now booked to get a new unit fitted at the start of September, will then switch to monthly billing, and be able to monitor my daily energy usage without having to go down into my cellar to read the meters!

 

[si_c]

I have just been in touch with British Gas to try to switch to monthly billing to avoid the shock of huge future quarterly bills. They said that I need smart meters. I pointed out that I do actually already have smart meters, only the data transmitter is broken and they failed to fix it in 2 attempts during the pandemic. I am now booked to get a new unit fitted at the start of September, will then switch to monthly billing, and be able to monitor my daily energy usage without having to go down into my cellar to read the meters!

You should be able to switch to a monthly DD regardless of meter type. Might be worth making payments at the level you anticipate each month until they can figure their shoot out.

 

[ColinJ]

You should be able to switch to a monthly DD regardless of meter type. Might be worth making payments at the level you anticipate each month until they can figure their shoot out.

If they had set a much later date for the meter update then I would have made more of a fuss but I can wait just over 3 weeks. They actually would have done it sooner but I will be away on the earlier dates that they offered.