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Kevin Milkins
24-Jan-09, 23:59
I think the time has come to make some informed decisions about the way I run my family budget and I have made some good inroads this month.

I have been learning to make better use of my computer and in particular Microsoft Office and have recently been concentrating my efforts on Excel.

Having got the jist of how spreadsheets work I thought it would be a good time to put my new found knowledge to work (use it or loose it)

I have never been much of a one for budgeting so I thought I would set up a spread sheet on how much electricity we use and what could we do to reduce that amount.

Since the 23 December I have been reading the meter on a daily basis and now have my first month to make some informed decisions .

I asked Mrs M to put on the calendar when she did her washing, made a loaf of bread etc so that I could see any variations in usage.

Although I have not studied in great detail yet what would cause great variations in usage it is apparent that day to day usage does vary quit a bit.

It would seem that from the 23-12-08 to the 22-1-09 we have used 556 units of electricity @ 12.79 pence per unit =to £71-11 pence. With a maximum daily use of £5-35 and a minimum daily use of 67 pence and an average daily use of £2-37.Meter readings were not taken at the same time of day.

I am sure that other orgers have done a similar project and I would like to compare if my usage is high or low or average and if anyone would like to check there own usage, but not sure about spread sheets I can email you a meter reading sheet for the next month so that you can have a go.

I have found it both interesting and informative and I am better able to make informed decisions about energy usage..

Tugmistress
25-Jan-09, 01:35
are you an all electric house? if so i would happily send you my readings each day and you can work it out :lol:

Kevin Milkins
25-Jan-09, 02:01
are you an all electric house? if so i would happily send you my readings each day and you can work it out :lol:

No Tugs.

We have coal central heating that use 2 bags of chinese doubles a week = £36-00, no gas in the street so it is electric cooker .

We live in an ex council house that is up to speed with insulation and double glazing, loft insulation etc, but our first indications are that we are spending about £215 a month on fuel.

Does that sound about right or could we do better. I would see the org as a good place for us to share each others experence on what would be reasonable for fuel in these testing times.

If you would like me to do a spread sheet on your daily use Tugs I can do that.

Tugmistress
25-Jan-09, 02:10
it would make an interesting comparison for the main diference of all elec versus combination. I'll send you a pm in a wee while :)
just as a brief answer though, before nov when i got the meter changed i was on a card meter, and when neep was at home i was getting through aound £180 a month elec, after i booted her out it went down to around £50 a month! the main diference i can think of was she was constantly on the cooker, at least 3 times a day straightening her hair and whatever else teenage girls do :roll:

Venture
25-Jan-09, 02:14
I live in a 4-apt ex-council house and have coal fired central heating. I too buy two bags of doubles per week for £36. I pay £80 a month Direct Debit to Scottish Power. This comes to £224 a month. Slightly more than you Kevin.

joxville
25-Jan-09, 02:20
it would make an interesting comparison for the main diference of all elec versus combination. I'll send you a pm in a wee while :)
just as a brief answer though, before nov when i got the meter changed i was on a card meter, and when neep was at home i was getting through aound £180 a month elec, after i booted her out it went down to around £50 a month! the main diference i can think of was she was constantly on the cooker, at least 3 times a day straightening her hair and whatever else teenage girls do :roll:

Eh? She staightened her hair on the cooker! [lol]
No joking, one time I saw my niece switch on the iron and straighten her hair.

Keep us informed please Kevin, I'm interested in the spreadsheet too.

Kevin Milkins
25-Jan-09, 02:21
it would make an interesting comparison for the main diference of all elec versus combination. I'll send you a pm in a wee while
just as a brief answer though, before nov when i got the meter changed i was on a card meter, and when neep was at home i was getting through aound £180 a month elec, after i booted her out it went down to around £50 a month! the main diference i can think of was she was constantly on the cooker, at least 3 times a day straightening her hair and whatever else teenage girls do

LOL,I will reserve judgment on that untill the neep has had her say.:lol:

We all go about our business in a way that we think we are getting the best deal for our phone, electric, broadband, gas, coal, dog food, etc and I think the org has a great cross section of all of the above that we could all benfit from. I am sure that with good lines of comunicaton that most all of us could benifit from one anothers expierence in one way or another:Razz and sureley thats got to be better than falling out with each other.;)

Tugmistress
25-Jan-09, 02:30
ok so i didn't exactly phrase that quite right lol but i'm sure you know what i mean jox lol. it's been a long day and i'm off to ma pit now :)
sent you a pm kevin :)

Kevin Milkins
25-Jan-09, 02:31
I live in a 4-apt ex-council house and have coal fired central heating. I too buy two bags of doubles per week for £36. I pay £80 a month Direct Debit to Scottish Power. This comes to £224 a month. Slightly more than you Kevin.

Does the £80-00 a month cover the amount of electric that you are using?

I am paying £65-00 a month to Scottish Hydro Electric and it now seems that that is not enough,( I suppose as an average over the year it will be) but the point that I am trying to make is that untill I embarked on this little exercise I had no idea how much per unit or how many units I was using.:confused

I now feel as if I can do some possitive things to help me cut down in the future and and some fun looking at the comparisons. ( I just know some people will say I need to get out more )lol

dirdyweeker
25-Jan-09, 02:48
http://www.ethicalsuperstore.com/products/2-save-energy/owl-119-wireless-energy-monitor/

this is a free device we applied for and now use. It is fascinating to use an appliance and know how much energy it uses. Makes you less keen to use some. If you want to keep an eye on electric usage this is a great gadget. Once set it works out costs and energy. Great wee thing.

Kevin Milkins
25-Jan-09, 12:58
http://www.ethicalsuperstore.com/products/2-save-energy/owl-119-wireless-energy-monitor/

this is a free device we applied for and now use. It is fascinating to use an appliance and know how much energy it uses. Makes you less keen to use some. If you want to keep an eye on electric usage this is a great gadget. Once set it works out costs and energy. Great wee thing.

That looks interesting DW. Is it easy to work and understand.?
How do you go about getting one for free?

LMS
25-Jan-09, 13:02
http://www.ethicalsuperstore.com/products/2-save-energy/owl-119-wireless-energy-monitor/

this is a free device we applied for and now use. It is fascinating to use an appliance and know how much energy it uses. Makes you less keen to use some. If you want to keep an eye on electric usage this is a great gadget. Once set it works out costs and energy. Great wee thing.

I collected tokens from the Daily Mail for one of these energy meters and they are fantastic! I watch everything on it and I have made a concious effort to reduce our electricity consumption.

I have a four bedroomed house and pay £140 per month in oil and £80-£100 in electricity. I had been paying less for electricity but with the price going up by 33% over the year, I had to increase my direct debit amount. We also have bottled gas for our cooker and living room fire which is about £10 per month.

Kevin Milkins
25-Jan-09, 13:28
I collected tokens from the Daily Mail for one of these energy meters and they are fantastic! I watch everything on it and I have made a concious effort to reduce our electricity consumption.

I have a four bedroomed house and pay £140 per month in oil and £80-£100 in electricity. I had been paying less for electricity but with the price going up by 33% over the year, I had to increase my direct debit amount. We also have bottled gas for our cooker and living room fire which is about £10 per month.

This is starting to get interesting already.

I am with Scotish Hydro Electric and they put there's up at the end of August by 19.2% on average.

It s now 12.79 pence per unit. your oil works out £4-00 per month cheaper,but the bit more on gas and electric takes it up a bit.

Do you know how many units of electic you use per month and how much per unit it cost?

Liz
25-Jan-09, 14:15
We have solid fuel central heating and use, on average, two bags of Chinese Doubles a week at £18 a bag.

We pay £50 per month by DD to Scottish Hydro and this more than covers our electricity costs. In fact we are in credit of £50.

We found the biggest saving on electric was not using the tumble dryer. Since we stopped using this our electricity bill has really come down.

Venture
25-Jan-09, 15:21
Does the £80-00 a month cover the amount of electric that you are using?

I am paying £65-00 a month to Scottish Hydro Electric and it now seems that that is not enough,( I suppose as an average over the year it will be) but the point that I am trying to make is that untill I embarked on this little exercise I had no idea how much per unit or how many units I was using.:confused

I now feel as if I can do some possitive things to help me cut down in the future and and some fun looking at the comparisons. ( I just know some people will say I need to get out more )lol

The DD was £59 up until the end of December but they increased it to £80 from January as they said it wasn't enough for what I was using.

My electricity useage varies throughout the year. In summer when I have no fire on and not buying coal the water heater is used instead.
I use my tumble dryer a lot in winter and less in summer.

dirdyweeker
25-Jan-09, 15:33
That looks interesting DW. Is it easy to work and understand.?
How do you go about getting one for free?

like LMS I collected tokens from the Daily Mail. You are more than welcome to borrow mine as it is very interesting to see you electricity usage and costs at a glance.

Bad Manners
25-Jan-09, 15:53
hi kevin we carried oyt this excercise some time ago and we are it the same situation as yourself we use two bags of doubles for the fire/heating and we are £45 per month on electricity which covers our needs not bad considering I work from home and power usage is part of that.
we are now up to date with all insulations etc and use energy saving bulbd etc. the old thing of stop leaving things on stand by does make a great saving it may take an extra few seconds to start up but time is free before all the above work we were on £75-80 per month on electric

Kevin Milkins
25-Jan-09, 18:35
like LMS I collected tokens from the Daily Mail. You are more than welcome to borrow mine as it is very interesting to see you electricity usage and costs at a glance.

Thank you DW, thats very kind of you and I will PM you when I am up for a go at that.

Well the common denominator seems to be many of us use 2 bags of Chinese doubles a week at a cost of £36-00.

Although the electricity seems to be a big cost for most it seems powering the central heating is the bigest cost.

I have been having a bit of a play trying to mix dross (slack or small coal) with saw dust,shreded paper and peat with resonable success and I am looking at a way of compressing it into a brick for better handling.

I have done a couple of mixes in a cement mixer and put a shovell of cement in to make it stick. I have been saving old coke bottles or butter containers and filling them up with the mix.

It burns well ,but is messy and time consumming so it's back to the drawing board.:D

Thanks for all the PM,s there have been some very interesting comments.

Thumper
25-Jan-09, 19:04
Hi Kevin, I am all electric and I spend £40 a week :eek: and thats with half the heaters turned off,the others turned right down and energy saving bulbs,the house is so bad that when Ormlie heating advice came round they sat with their coats on and their thermometer said danger of hypothermia!I cant afford to put anymore in heating though so I guess I just have to get on with it,any saving tips would be appreciated though! x

Buttercup
25-Jan-09, 23:55
3 bedroomed, Total Heating Total Control = £100 per month DD :)

Kodiak
26-Jan-09, 00:00
2 Bedrooms Total Heating, Total Control = £180.00 Per Month :(

ShelleyCowie
26-Jan-09, 00:00
In my house we have Gas Central Heating which is £36 a month (yes a month) and then the electricity is usually about £10 a week. Thats with using my tumble dryer twice a week for about an hour. Washing machine on about 5 times a week aswell.

I thought the amount of electric things we have on all the time would cost us far more but surprisingly nope! :Razz

I could probably even cut back on the electricity if i never used the tumble dryer but i kinda have no choice! Weather is not good enough to hang out washing, i do have a clothes horsey thing but it takes up to 48 hours to get washing dry on it because of how cold our house is!!

Ricco
26-Jan-09, 00:01
Very interesting to see so many people have yielded to the suppliers' demands to increase your DDs. We also had such a letter... phoned them up and said we would keep the payments as they were since the bills balanced out over the year. They were quite happy with that.

As a point of interest, since we had our new energy efficient boiler the gas company have actually been paying us back money each quarter.:D

Bobinovich
26-Jan-09, 00:01
3 bedroomed, Total Heating Total Control = £100 per month DD :)

Same setup but £120 per month but that includes running a business from here too so not complaining. Would like it to be less tho :roll:

mums angels
26-Jan-09, 00:12
Very interesting to see so many people have yielded to the suppliers' demands to increase your DDs. We also had such a letter... phoned them up and said we would keep the payments as they were since the bills balanced out over the year. They were quite happy with that.

As a point of interest, since we had our new energy efficient boiler the gas company have actually been paying us back money each quarter.:D


We also told our supplier that we would not be increasing our DD as it spreads out over the year, we end up in credit by mid summer .. £45 a month for gas and £65 electric on a four bedroomed house .

LMS
26-Jan-09, 11:04
What I would suggest is checking your tariff. Our house account went up from 9.??p/kWh last summer. It is now 12.79p plus a 16.24p/day standing charge, which is about 33% rise. I didn't pay much attention to this until I got my energy meter and was horrified. Scottish Hydro Electric do another tariff which has no standing charge but has gone up from 14.56p/kWh to 16.86p/kWh. Depending on your usage, this may make a big difference.

BRIE
26-Jan-09, 11:51
my friend has just been telling me about a website they found that told them how to get their tariff reduced.apparently if you have a low income or have a certain amount of children etc you are eligible for a lower tariff .

Penelope Pitstop
26-Jan-09, 11:55
I pay 12.??p per unit and I'm with Scottish Hydro Electric. Going to look into that tho to see what's what with other providers.

How much you lot paying per unit and who's your provider??

Thanks :)

Kevin Milkins
26-Jan-09, 12:05
my friend has just been telling me about a website they found that told them how to get their tariff reduced.apparently if you have a low income or have a certain amount of children etc you are eligible for a lower tariff .

I have had a lot of PM's regarding the discount, but because my box was full I have unwittingley deleted it.:confused:mad:

Scottish Hydro will give you a 20%:eek: discount if your overall fuel use (coal, oil,gas, whatever.) represents a certain ammount of your total income.

I can't remember what that ammount was now though. I am sure the person that gave me that info will remind us though.lol

BRIE
26-Jan-09, 12:42
think its 20% of your annual income? if anyone has the website can they please send me a link thanks
think scttish hydro are giving away free energy monitors if you sign up to their better plan

ShelleyCowie
26-Jan-09, 13:13
My partner found that our Gas was cheaper with hydro electric...and our electric is cheaper with scottish gas :confused

poppett
26-Jan-09, 14:40
"Fuel poverty" is where your gas, electric, oil, coal etc., come to 10% or more of your weekly income once mortgage or rent is deducted. Other aspects of need then come into the equation, such as severe disability, age and medical need.

The energy folk who visited us organised the discount, then when the direct debit increase demand came in they phoned SHE and had them leave it the same for six months as we are confident by that time we will be in credit again.

Had a free powerdown unit for the pc, energy saving bulbs and also had the opportunity to replace a fridge freezer which had damaged door seals whilst in storage with a new energy efficient one for £50.

The fuel prices we have at the moment are frozen until April if they increase again, but any drop in price will be passed on immediately.

Kodiak
26-Jan-09, 16:31
You may qualify for energyplus Care if you spend over 10% of your total household income on your fuel bills. If you Qualify you will then get a 20% Discount on your Electricity. Here is the Link :-

http://www.hydro.co.uk/help/foryourhome/SpecialPackages/Default.aspx


You can apply by ringing their Careline on 0800 622 838. They are open from 8am - 8pm Monday to Friday and 8am - 2pm on Saturdays.

K

Kevin Milkins
26-Jan-09, 16:42
You may qualify for energyplus Care if you spend over 10% of your total household income on your fuel bills. If you Qualify you will then get a 20% Discount on your Electricity. Here is the Link :-

http://www.hydro.co.uk/help/foryourhome/SpecialPackages/Default.aspx


You can apply by ringing their Careline on 0800 622 838. They are open from 8am - 8pm Monday to Friday and 8am - 2pm on Saturdays.

K

Thanks for that Kodiak.

Regards KM

Fran
26-Jan-09, 19:50
I have a 3 bedroom house, gas central heating, only used 3 hours daily, gas fire, gas cooker, gas hot water. i am always nearly £100 per quarter for gas and the same for electric.

Kevin Milkins
26-Jan-09, 20:24
I have a 3 bedroom house, gas central heating, only used 3 hours daily, gas fire, gas cooker, gas hot water. i am always nearly £100 per quarter for gas and the same for electric.

Do you mean £200 a month Fran?:eek:

reddevil
26-Jan-09, 20:49
Thank you DW, thats very kind of you and I will PM you when I am up for a go at that.

Well the common denominator seems to be many of us use 2 bags of Chinese doubles a week at a cost of £36-00.

Although the electricity seems to be a big cost for most it seems powering the central heating is the bigest cost.

I have been having a bit of a play trying to mix dross (slack or small coal) with saw dust,shreded paper and peat with resonable success and I am looking at a way of compressing it into a brick for better handling.

I have done a couple of mixes in a cement mixer and put a shovell of cement in to make it stick. I have been saving old coke bottles or butter containers and filling them up with the mix.

It burns well ,but is messy and time consumming so it's back to the drawing board.:D

Thanks for all the PM,s there have been some very interesting comments.
hi kev,i dont want to sound like a doom lord,does it really matter what you do,if you need heat,you put the fire on,if you need light you put the elec on,no matter what we have to pay our bills,the big fat cats have got you by the you know what.that will never change,no matter how much we moan about the cost,sorry.

Tilter
26-Jan-09, 22:07
Kevin, I live with the electricity consumption taliban. We have one of those monitoring gadgets (sent out at random ages ago by Scot Hydro, then a year letter they followed up with a letter saying did we use it). It is scrutinised by taliban frequently and spreadsheets are kept.

We pay £48 a month DD for electric - 3 bed, detached, windy place, no gas, oil central heating and woodburner.
Also we're now at home all day instead of working and being out, but that didn't make electricity used go up at all.

LMS
26-Jan-09, 22:20
hi kev,i dont want to sound like a doom lord,does it really matter what you do,if you need heat,you put the fire on,if you need light you put the elec on,no matter what we have to pay our bills,the big fat cats have got you by the you know what.that will never change,no matter how much we moan about the cost,sorry.

I didn't get the impression that Kevin was moaning, I thought that he was just trying to generate (pardon the pun) a debate on electricity and fuel consumption.

I quite agree that if you need heat or light then you have to use it; but the point is do we need as much as we have been used to? My living room has four lights, do I need four or will one suffice? If the central heating is set at 19 deg.C, will I freeze at 18 deg.C? If I am boiling the kettle, do I really need to boil enough for three cups? The list of such questions is endless. I for one, was guilty of using appliances without thinking but after getting my energy monitor and noticing how much the cost of electricity and oil have risen, I am really interested in cutting back.

igglepiggle
26-Jan-09, 23:46
i work from home and often have the heating on during the day to keep the house warm and we are £45 per month for electric and £50 for our gas, i use my tumble dryer about 3 times a week. we get discount for DD and also for duel fuel. we live in a 4 bedroomed house

Kevin Milkins
27-Jan-09, 00:17
hi kev,i dont want to sound like a doom lord,does it really matter what you do,if you need heat,you put the fire on,if you need light you put the elec on,no matter what we have to pay our bills,the big fat cats have got you by the you know what.that will never change,no matter how much we moan about the cost,sorry.

Hi reddevil, thanks for your input and some good points.

You are right, it has always been that way for me, if it's cold chuck some more coal on the fire,etc.

I started this thread because I have been learning how to use spreadsheets but as yet no paticular use for them and thought a budget on fuel use would be a good place to start.

As a forum there is one thing we all have in common and we all have a groan about and thats the ever increasing cost of fuel and the effect we have on the plannet by not being efficient.

For the first time in my adult life I now feel as if I could be in control of my fuel needs and can make some informed decisions based on fact and I am learning all the time.

I would hope that many of the participents in this thread may benifit as well just by making comparisons with other orgers on what is the most efficient and cost effective fuel choice at the moment.

I am sorry if it sounded as if I was having a moan, but that is not as I intended.

Fran
27-Jan-09, 03:51
Do you mean £200 a month Fran?:eek:


Oh no, thats what i pay a quarter with my bills, each is never over £100, usually just over £80

A very interesting post kevin with some good replies.

ShelleyCowie
27-Jan-09, 10:45
Kevin, this thread has kept me interested! ;) Knowing how much or little people pay for their fuel bills! It is so wide spread....

The only thing is...fuel prices are not going to get much cheaper right now are they! The fuel sources are running out at a fast rate.

Maybe solar pannels are going to be the thing of the future for all of us! :confused

Green_not_greed
27-Jan-09, 14:00
Kevin

Is your water heated by electricity or by a back boiler on your fire?

We normally use oil to heat our water but last year when oil prices hit 60p+ per litre I worked out it was cheaper to use the immerser heater. That put our electricity usage up about 20%. We're back on oil now that its 34p per litre

GNG

Kevin Milkins
27-Jan-09, 14:54
Kevin

Is your water heated by electricity or by a back boiler on your fire?

We normally use oil to heat our water but last year when oil prices hit 60p+ per litre I worked out it was cheaper to use the immerser heater. That put our electricity usage up about 20%. We're back on oil now that its 34p per litre

GNG

Hi GNG.

That is part of what this exercise is about for me.

We have a back boiler that runs off the coal fire (It's a clossed Trianco fire) it works very well and it also runs the central heating.

It heats up a cylinder tank of water and that can be used for the domestic hot water and the shower and bath.

I have always been led to believe that it is cheaper to leave the emersion heater on as long as your tank is well lagged and I have done this for 2 years.

Because I have my first months readings I have turned the emersion off and I am also fitting some of these remote shut down fittings to all the appliances that we normally leave on stand by so it will be interesting to see if it makes much difference

LMS
27-Jan-09, 15:10
Hi GNG.

That is part of what this exercise is about for me.

We have a back boiler that runs off the coal fire (It's a clossed Trianco fire) it works very well and it also runs the central heating.

It heats up a cylinder tank of water and that can be used for the domestic hot water and the shower and bath.

I have always been led to believe that it is cheaper to leave the emersion heater on as long as your tank is well lagged and I have done this for 2 years.

Because I have my first months readings I have turned the emersion off and I am also fitting some of these remote shut down fittings to all the appliances that we normally leave on stand by so it will be interesting to see if it makes much difference

I used to have my heating and water on twice a day - for a few hours in the morning and then from 4pm to 10pm. I did this for about three years and always needed three tanks of oil per year. If I got up early it was really cold and if I was in during the day, it was really cold too, so I had to advance the heating.

For the next four years, I had the heating and water on from 6am to 10pm, it was still cold in the mornings and I used exactly the same amount of oil. It was as if the house was losing all the heat during the night.

This is the second winter that I have left the heating and water on permanently. The water controls itself on the tank thermostat and the heating is controlled from a thermostat in the hall. The house is SO much more comfortable. I turn the thermostat down to 15 deg.C at night or when I'm out and then turn it up or down as required whilst in the house. The house is never too cold or too hot, and instead of taking two hours to heat up in the morning, it takes 15 minutes. I am not using anymore oil, I still require three fills per year - March, September and December.

Penelope Pitstop
27-Jan-09, 15:24
The only thing is...fuel prices are not going to get much cheaper right now are they! The fuel sources are running out at a fast rate.

:confused

A little good news....gas prices are coming down on 19th Feb (Scottish Gas)

I've been shopping around for electricity prices, but am holding fire as they are expected to drop shortly too... fingers and toes crossed!!

Penelope Pitstop
27-Jan-09, 15:29
I used to have my heating and water on twice a day - for a few hours in the morning and then from 4pm to 10pm. I did this for about three years and always needed three tanks of oil per year. If I got up early it was really cold and if I was in during the day, it was really cold too, so I had to advance the heating.

For the next four years, I had the heating and water on from 6am to 10pm, it was still cold in the mornings and I used exactly the same amount of oil. It was as if the house was losing all the heat during the night.

This is the second winter that I have left the heating and water on permanently. The water controls itself on the tank thermostat and the heating is controlled from a thermostat in the hall. The house is SO much more comfortable. I turn the thermostat down to 15 deg.C at night or when I'm out and then turn it up or down as required whilst in the house. The house is never too cold or too hot, and instead of taking two hours to heat up in the morning, it takes 15 minutes. I am not using anymore oil, I still require three fills per year - March, September and December.

That's very interesting LMS. I've often wondered about that - having the heating on low all the time. I think that's the concept that the ground heating systems work on - a low constant heat.

Think I might give that a go.:)

Green_not_greed
27-Jan-09, 19:07
I have always been led to believe that it is cheaper to leave the emersion heater on as long as your tank is well lagged and I have done this for 2 years.

Because I have my first months readings I have turned the emersion off and I am also fitting some of these remote shut down fittings to all the appliances that we normally leave on stand by so it will be interesting to see if it makes much difference

Kevin

Provided you have the coal fire on you shouldn't need the immerser on at all - unless you have a couple of teenagers who like 30 minute showers in the morning!

I heard the same story but fitted a timer to my immerser which used less electricity and was a lot less wear on the immerser element (it will last longer)

GNG

Skerries
27-Jan-09, 19:07
Oh no, thats what i pay a quarter with my bills, each is never over £100, usually just over £80.

Same here, and a coal bill of between £68 - £100 per month for anthracite singles. A 1200L tank of oil lasts all year.

I work from home but hardly ever need the oil heating on because of the fire and we have a young child so at least six loads of washing each week. No tumble dryer and no appliances on standby - ever!

ShelleyCowie
27-Jan-09, 20:23
I have been discussing this with my partner and we are so baffled as to how Our bills are so much less than everybody else here?! :eek:

We have LOADS of electricals in our house that are in constant use! And yet we are still £10 per week of electric! I just dont get it at all!!! £36 pcm covers our heating and usually puts us in credit...and we have the heating on for about 4-5 hours of the day.

This is so weird....:confused

Kevin Milkins
28-Jan-09, 12:09
I bought some remote control plugins from Lidl last year because they were cheap and looked like a good idea, but never got around to fitting them,(instructions looked complicated) hehe.

There are four plugins that are recievers and a remote control that are transmits. You can switch them off individualy or all at once and one of them has a dimmer device on as well.

Most of the sockets in our house seem to be where you want to put a piece of furniture IE behnd the settee cupboared or TV, so things tend to be left on stand as it is is much bother to go around switching things on and off.

They were as easy as pie to set up and the remote works from anywhere in the house. I am well chuffed with them and it will be interesting to see how it will look on my spreadsheet.

Next plan is for one of these Owls as I am getting a lot of recomendations for them.

Thanks once again for all your inputs and PM,s

Green_not_greed
28-Jan-09, 13:30
I have been discussing this with my partner and we are so baffled as to how Our bills are so much less than everybody else here?! :eek:

We have LOADS of electricals in our house that are in constant use! And yet we are still £10 per week of electric! I just dont get it at all!!! £36 pcm covers our heating and usually puts us in credit...and we have the heating on for about 4-5 hours of the day.

This is so weird....:confused


Shelley

Whatever you do, don't tell your electricity supplier! You have a bargain.

GNG

ShelleyCowie
28-Jan-09, 13:35
Shelley

Whatever you do, don't tell your electricity supplier! You have a bargain.

GNG

haha i think we do have a bargain right enuf! [lol]

We will just keep it quiet then eh!

Shhh everyone its a secret! [lol]

daviddd
28-Jan-09, 13:35
I live alone in a modern 2-bed detatched, have a couple of small storage heaters on very night and 2KW halogen elec heater on for 3 to 4 hours a night. Over the last 3 months I've averaged £70/month incl VAT and everything. Since my tariff is 14.xxp per full unit I had a look at the Hydro tariffs here http://www.hydro.co.uk/ForYourHome/OurPrices.aspx - they are many and varied, and I need to get around to trying to get on a lower one if possible. I wonder how they decide what tariff we are on?