Energy bills

Hi again everyone.
Thank you all for your comments and advice. It seems that having been on an economy 7 set up when the flat was built, the meter is still seen as that when Look After my Bills looked for comparisons. I called her current - and quite new energy company and they have now moved her to a different tariff so she should save about £30 per month. I hope so. So please, everyone else, make sure none of you are in this situation. Mum does like it extremely warm, as she is sitting still most of the day. She does wear plenty of clothes, but it's not comfy to be bundled up with so much that you're just not comfortable, so as long as she can afford it, I wouldn't try to turn things down or suggest she wears heavier clothing. Someone said I made no mention of a washing machine - there isn't one, as there's a communal laundry room for that, although I do it anyway. It seems like we all need to be as clear as possible with these things, as it's easy to end up being charged incorrectly for one reason or another!

I pay 88 a month small elect oven and as weather bad I have to back up with electric my solar hot water,nothing else electric so I guess I'm being ripped of by edf

I had a similar problem ! I moved into a retirement flat and the electricity (only type of fuel for heating, cooking, water, etc) my bills were 0 so I called in NPower to do a reading (before COVID !) and the meter had gone wrong so they provided another new one.....bills were fine after that BUT suddenly I received an estimated bill for over £1,000 .....so I got straight onto them ....I hardly use the heating as (luckily) as yet I don't feel the cold have the windows open a lot ...I used the washing machine maybe 3/4 times a week, and never use the dryer (cheaper to use those in the laundry here !) I ever use the cooker, having a combination microwave which cooks, grills, steams, etc I hardly ever use the electric fire which is built it, the shower obviously 1 or 2 times per day, TV, music player, hardly ever the radio ........I then asked again for a reading ....which reduced it to £400 and I chose to leave a credit of £500 on it (had been paid by DD) the reader showed me how to read the different meters (night time, day time etc) and send photos of the readings online to them. This I did .....and next bill was £99 ......NOW Npower has changed to Eon and I received another bill for £1,112 !!!! I e mailed them photos of the readings and am waiting to see what happens ......but I asked for an Smart meter that can be read remotely but was told it is not possible to come and fit one just yet .................this gets ridiculous !! I have to stand on a stool to photo the readings ....there are about 5 of them ...day use, night use, date, time, a series of 8's and a series of 0;s and one other with a reading which I have no idea what it is for .....................this is out of hand and needs to be addressed by someone like WATCHDOG on TV......grr

Our son has a one bed flat with electric heaters. He is at work all day and only has the heating on when he is at home, he pays around £80 a month so I think your Mum's bill is probably correct. Electricity is very expensive.

Is there any chance someone else could be feeding off your mother's meter? Or it could be set wrong. There was a Martin Lewis money program on this subject, but I forgot what his advice was. You definitely need to make some kind of stand on this, sadly it's not uncommon. Energy firms can be less than honest with the elderly, and most others come to that .

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hamster58
I was given to understand, from an electrician friend, that fridges and freezers can be one of the highest 'guzzlers' of electricity.
It is always worth looking in that direction as 'heating may not be the only culprit' 'eating' up your mothers supply.

Is your mum using electric to heat the water as well, is there an emersion heater I do know that they are very expensive to run.

I am in agreement with others, 23c does sound very high for a constant temperature. Electric heating is notoriously expensive. Who is taking the meter readings? Might be an idea to check they tally with the readings on the bill.

I am with Scottish Power. I tried changing to another supplier when I heard S P were putting their rates up. Apparently the switch did not go through. Yesterday I got another bill for £260 which is for dual fuel . This is the highest ever. I have a 3 bed flat and I am careful with my use of power. I watch TV a lot but have the lights off as much as possible. My flat is ground floor in a 215 year old building. Some windows are double glazed but not all. I use the central heating at this time of year from about 10 pm until 1 am and it is set to 21 degrees. I am going to try to switch again.

Hi yes unfortunately that’s about right I would say because I’ve also got them and they are expensive to have on. I’m live in a flat and I also have a electric throw which is only thing I turn on. If I run my radiator my electric meter goes in over drive like it’s going to take off lol. When mine had serving the man said only run the one in the room your in. Your waste money heating up rooms your not in. It’s my first time with all electric. I also feel cold but I dared run all day in fear of what your mum is paying.

I don’t think electric rads are great economically but yes 23 is quite a high temp and when you are sitting around all day/elderly it’s easy to feel cold. Make sure she has a big warm card to help maybe? We’ve just had our monthly payment increased by Bulb who have been great but prices have risen and we’ve used more gas and electric during lockdown. I think it’s something you need to review regularly.

Forgot to mention, we have at least two loads of washing a day, no tumble dryer as my baby uses washable nappies so there's an extra two washes a week- minimum. Our washer is A++ rated and only 6 months old so that helps. Older appliances tend to be less energy efficient.
I do cook a lot too. Which helps with the heating- or lack thereof.

Does your mother have a pull down blind aginst the window behind the curtains, this can help prevent very cold draughts of air from chilled windows.

Also your mum's clothes. Has she got real wool socks & leg warmers? Does she have thermal vests - long sleeved, short sleeved and opera top according to the season. Does she have a real wool jersey that opens down the front and she can put over all her clothes, does she have thermal longjohns to wear under her trousers or as leggings under a skirt. Does she have a fleecy dressing down that will go over all of this? (perhaps not over the jersey). In bed does she have a wool poncho to put on when she sits up ( far better than bed jacket) she can use her dressing gown over it. Does she sleep in bedsocks? Are her slippers cosy and safe.

I live in a similar small 2nd floor flat, with only electric radiators for heat. The whole building is electric only. I was paying between £5 - £7 per day for most of the winter, and so-called spring, but suddenly I went on a very restricted diet with packaged/microwave foods and my electric usage dropped like a rock! It was apparently the electric cooker/oven that was using up so much electricity in my case!

This is why I don't put the heating on. It's just unaffordable. My bill for a 2-bed mid-terrace, 8 years old is £60- for gas and electricity. Gas used for hot water as we don't have an electric shower but a combi boiler so no excess hot water.
I use money supermarket instant switch so once a cheaper tariff is found I instantly switch. No phone calls no faff, direct debit just switches to whoever is the cheapest. Our bill was cheaper when my partner wasn't using his gaming laptop for 6/7 hours a day, but that's a whole other issue.

I pay 133 pounds direct debit each month for gas and electric. My electricity bill is usually about 124 pounds a quarter. I live in a two bedroom house, we have a lot of things on during the day such as teles, computers, I'm always charging my kindle and tablets. I have an electric oven, I do a few loads of washing a week and I also have a tumble dryer which gets used a lot so I would think your mum's is quite high. Why don't you look round for a cheaper tariff

When we moved to our uninsulated 60s built flat we took out the storage heaters and replaced them with energy efficient radiators. They're filled with antifreeze and have timers on them. Double glazing and fleece lined curtains help. We're never cold.
I queried a recent increase in my DD and found that we'd used much more electricity over the last year. Probably due to being at home more in lockdown and cold winter and spring. Our flat has three public, three bedrooms, two bathrooms and lots of storage. Bill went up to £140 pcm which seemed OK under the circs. It'll come down over the summer. We're with EDF.

PaperMonster if you are spending £8 a day in the colder months If this lady spent £8 all year it would be £240 or there abouts each month. You are mid terrace (so generally warmer) and only use 6 hours when it’s cold. I think you are obviously mindful of the costs and how best to work your method of heating.

I think this amount is a simple equation. Desired temperature is very high, it’s on for hours on end and it’s probably on an economy 7 type tariff.
Electricity can be an expensive way to heat a home.

I'd recommend getting a smart meter, so you can see what's using all the energy (although I agree with everyone else that it's likely to be the electric radiators). The energy supplier will fit one free of charge (I'd also recommend switching to Octopus). You can turn everything off and check the meter's reading zero, then turn things on one at a time. Worth checking she's not overpaying, but I know from my own Mum how important it is to be warm when you're old, so as long as your Mum can afford it, and you've checked everything is as insulated and energy-saving as possible, I let her be!

This seems really high. However, I know electric heaters can be very energy ‘hungry’ so that may be the problem

I think your mother needs to seek expert advice.

Electric radiators just guzzle the juice in my experience.

Try them turning them down a couple of degrees. Its unlikely she will notice the difference and it might make a difference to the bills. What she is paying seems a bit high to me. Maybe try changing supplier too. That helped mine.

Given the length of time the heating is on, the kind of heating used and the temperature to be maintained any bill will be high. Perhaps looking at energy providers could give a better deal. Noticed no washing machine mentioned.

Very comprehensive answer MOnica. Hope that helps hamster58. I’m with Octopus and they seem quite reasonable. There’s no point in quoting my monthly figures as I have solar panels and have been known, in the summer, to only pay around £10-12.