Utility bills

[peachy]

Hi, I was just wondering which electricity/gas supplier is the best to use for East Dulwich. I've just received a bill for ?521 for the last quarter. This seems to be ?200 more than this time last year and I'm doing nothing different. I live in a flat and it's gas central heating with only 6 radiators. I'm sure I'm paying more than I would if I lived in a house. Would be grateful for any advice. Thanks.

[KidKruger]

I'd get that checked. Do you have the heating on all day every day on full ?

I have double that many radiators and not half the bill. So at your rate pro rata I'd be paying ?2,084 whic sounds scary.

[LadyDeliah]

I'm with ecotricity for elec & gas and they are pretty reasonable, but I decided a couple of years ago to take my central heating and hot water off the automatic timer and just press the one hour button to heat them up when I needed to.

I am in a 3 bed house with 3 adults and 1 teenager but my last gas bill, which was for a month and a half and in winter, came to ?54.

We do tend to put jumpers on though and only bother with the heating when it gets pretty cold.

[peachy]

Thanks for your responses. My heating is on a time switch and comes on for one hour in the morning and then comes on in the evening from 5pm until 10pm. I don't have thermostats as it's quite an old system but I think there's definitely something wrong. I'll look into ecotricity, thanks for that tip!

[dbboy]

Have pm'd you

[david_carnell]

Is your bill an estimate or from an actual reading?

[Sue]

If you know your consumption, or your bills, there are loads of online sites where you can compare different energy providers and find the best one for your usage and location.

If you then lose the will to live, you can do it on the phone (though the help I've had in the past has varied from excellent to crap).

Some places used to actually pay you to switch to a cheaper provider. Maybe they still do.

[hibbs]

Have pm'd you too.

[peachy]

It's an actual reading and I regularly update them too!

[Annasfield]

My gas bill was huge too.

It's working out at about ?75 a month. I live in a one bed flat (with 4 radiators, no bath and and an electric shower) and its hardly ever on.

Can't be right surely?

[Sue]

Annasfield Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> My gas bill was huge too.

>

> It's working out at about ?75 a month. I live in a

> one bed flat (with 4 radiators, no bath and and an

> electric shower) and its hardly ever on.

>

> Can't be right surely?

Xxxxxx

Bloody hell, I pay less than that for both gas and electricity for a three bed house

Though I do mostly wash my clothes in cold water unless they're really dirty.

Have you got a combi Boiler? Have you tried to get a cheaper energy deal?

Would it be cheaper to pay by direct debit?

[Annasfield]

It's combi boiler, but in terms of hot water it's only used for washing up and washing hands, that sort of thing. The shower is electric. I have the heating on for an hour in the morning and then it comes on for a few hours at night.

No idea why it's so much. :(

[Sue]

Have you asked your energy provider?

There have been cases where people have been charged for other people's usage etc

[Jeremy]

Check the bill... look at the units (kWh) used, and the price per kWh. Presumably one of these figures will be unusually high.

[JohnL]

has gone up recently - my bill doubled from ?25 to ?50 per month in 5 years (that's gas and electric)