Bills and budgeting

[cybershot]

Who's your electricity and gas supplier? That seems really reasonable.

surprisingly e.on. I based it on my previous homes annual usage though so I’m yet to figure out my average annual kWh usage in this one. Lockdowns and being home more will have skewed those figures too!

I’m actually hoping it will come down as this house is considerably warmer than than previous house, combination of better insulation, radiators and lounge is south facing which even in the cold snap seems to make a huge difference than a north facing no direct sunlight ever lounge. I’ve gone from having the boiler firing up 8 hours a day to 4 tops (when I’m in all day, I’m at work mon-fri and spend a lot of the weekend at my OHs) . On the downside I think the boiler is on its last legs and will be recommended to be changed when I get it serviced!

I generally just go on Martin Lewis energy saving club enter my usage/current supplier and tariff and let it tell me whose the cheapest. In the past I’ve used all sorts of never heard of suppliers and never had an issue. It’s that easy to switch gas and electric supplier these days it’s pretty much drama free. That’s not to say billing nightmares and the risk of going out of business and being transferred automatically to one of the big six won’t happen. I’ve just been lucky I guess. No doubt at some point I’ll have a poor experience. But yes even I was surprised that e.on came out the cheapest this time round.

 

[gentlegreen]

I pay:

£25.00 electricity
£45.00 gas
NB: I set up standing orders, rather than direct debits, because I don't trust the shady fuckers not to randomly and suddenly increase the DD and grabbing more of my money out of my account, because I've heard of so many instances where that happens. Some suppliers will offer a slight discount, of maybe £5 a year if you pay by direct debit, but I figure that's not very much, in the scheme of things, for me to relinquish control to them.

even though I read my own meter and have a spreadsheet, I missed that Bulb were sitting on £500 of my money and that it was up to me to reduce my payments - why is that even a thing ?

 

[cybershot]

If I lived about two miles from here mine would be about that figure as the rates are higher in the next authority due to the housing stock mix.

mad isn’t it

I looked at a house in Solihull council authority, and the exact same build houses on the other side of the dual carriageway under Birmingham city council authority were literally £100k cheaper asking price. Not sure what the council tax bands would have been no doubt totally different, really is just a postcode lottery.

in the end I completely moved county and knew my cost of living would sky rocket. I haven’t included transport to work in the above but that’s also significant increase as even my local train station is now a good 15 minute drive away, and the local bus service may as well not exist. I’m reliant on having a working car.

My council tax is almost 50% more than last year from moving out of a considered poor poverty area of Birmingham. If it wasn’t down to a small minority of dickheads I’d have stayed, but after majority of my life being annoyed by noisy neighbours it was time for some deserved peace and quiet while I could afford it and my well-being was worth more to me than spending money on nights out and pointless consumable shit. Lockdowns have actually helped me save money so I don’t really have a true understanding of my ‘socialising’ outgoings once things open back up, I’ll just have to say no to as many meals out etc. Taxi rides home from Birmingham are now certainly out the question so no more boozy nights out.