How do I reduce my electricity bill?

[co-op]

Alternatively, they might be estimating too much.

If you are not carefully checking the meter and comparing to the actual bills it's an absolute certainty that they will be over-estimating - every single utility company I've had to deal with in the past 10 years does this - it's really disgraceful. I only found out when I realised that my "hassle-saving" direct debits which allegedly 'evened out my monthly payments over the year' meant that I was actually running up whopping great credits. In the case of British Gas this was over £200! Interest-free borrowing for the utilities.

I've gone back to cheques and letters and check the bill each time. I've just moved back into a flat and got my first gas bill for £65 based on an estimated reading. Checked it; whaddayaknow? it's wrong. Complained over the phone, just got a bill for £12! That's some overestimate.

It's a scam.

 

[Orang Utan]

Well, not really. They give an estimate and send someone around every now and again to read the meter. If you're in credit, they let you know, so it's not as if they're trying to con it out of you

 

[handyman121]

I'm suprised no one has mentioned an electric meter that "goes wrong" now and then, you know the ones with the little hole in the side.

 

[co-op]

Well, not really. They give an estimate and send someone around every now and again to read the meter. If you're in credit, they let you know, so it's not as if they're trying to con it out of you

Over many years and dozens of "estimates", they ("they" = all utilities I have dealt with) have never once under-estimated.

Moreover, on the direct debit payments, they have no excuse for this since they were coming and reading the meter periodically over years and 'adjusting' my direct debit payments accordingly. How it should work is that I pay the same each month, running up a slight credit in the summer which is substituted by a slight debit in the winter - both parties to that transaction come out about equal in terms of lending money, both benefit from smoothed out cash flow.

How it invariably actually worked is that I ended up with credit all year round - even in the middle of winter - my payments were always adjusted up to make sure this happened. Over millions of customers that's a huge amount of free cash which the utilities are helping themselves to, billlions of pounds I'd have thought. If they use that money, it saves them the borrowing cost, if they lend it they make a healthy return.

Bah! I call that a scam. How many people actually bother to check?

 

[Orang Utan]

Anyone who reads their bills

 

[madzone]

Mine underestimated for a year, despite being sent up to date readings by me. It resulted in a massive debit which I'm still paying off

 

[co-op]

Mine underestimated for a year, despite being sent up to date readings by me. It resulted in a massive debit which I'm still paying off

Oh well, looks like I'm talking oot me arse then.


Or maybe those bastards have just got it in for me...

 

[Crispy]

that's assuming OP has E7 though isn't it?

OP should therefore get economy 7 sharpish, and a timer for the immersion.

We don't have gas in our place, but we have the immersion on every other night, which doesn't break the bank.

 

[geminisnake]

I spoke to the energy efficiency advisor for our supplier and they said it costs £2 a day to keep a computer on all the time!! Magic Sam is now banned from downloading.

sparkly, either your supplier is a rip off or the advisor is full of shite. We have 2 PCs in the house, they are both generally on at least 7 hrs a day, so by this reckoning it should be costing us £2-4 a day. It ISN'T.
Our leccy bill is about £30 a month.

On the guesstimates. I have had both under and over ones, they generally balance out. Think it helps if you live somewhere for a while and they aren't basing it on the previous tenant.

 

[Crispy]

Our electricity bills are ridiculous so I spoke to the energy efficiency advisor for our supplier and they said it costs £2 a day to keep a computer on all the time!! Magic Sam is now banned from downloading.

Hmm, that doesn't quite work out. Electricity is approx 12p per kWh. A PC with an LCD screen uses approx 300W, so that's 3:20 hrs for 12p, or 86p for the whole day. If you have economy 7, knock a chunk off.

 

[fen_boy]

We have a hot water tank which is normally heated up by gas but only when the central heating is on, otherwise its done via electricity

That sounds like a fault with your gas boiler, we had the same thing and had to have a flow switch replaced, now the gas heats the hot water without central heating on - before that we'd had the immersion heater on for 11 months solidly

 

[Crispy]

Yeah, gas boilers should heat the water on demand when the water flows.

 

[WouldBe]

Hmm, that doesn't quite work out. Electricity is approx 12p per kWh. A PC with an LCD screen uses approx 300W, so that's 3:20 hrs for 12p, or 86p for the whole day. If you have economy 7, knock a chunk off.

I worked it out based on 450W (300W for PC and 150W) for monitor at the base rate of 16p per KWh and it worked out at £1.72 per day maximum.

 

[aqua]

Our electricity bills are ridiculous so I spoke to the energy efficiency advisor for our supplier and they said it costs £2 a day to keep a computer on all the time!! Magic Sam is now banned from downloading.

really? *shows this to bees *

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

Yes it is! It hasn't been cold yet - it's so mild!

Here my car told me it was 0C outside when i got in it earlier. My heating is on for a couple of hours!

 

[Chester Copperpot]

Energy saving light bulbs
Switch off the lights when you don't need them
Unplug phone chargers etc
Switch off appliences when not in use

The above has cut our electricity bill by about £15 a month.

 

[weepiper]

It's too early for central heating - turn it off

It never got above 4 degrees C here today and it has been snowing on and off tonight, I think central heating is probably justifiable (not that we use it because we have a stove)

 

[Backatcha Bandit]

The single most effective thing anyone can do to reduce their electricity bill (other than disconnecting it completely ) is to install one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Efergy-Wirele...yZ106260QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It's impossible to sit there wasting electricity when there's a little box staring at you from the mantelpiece informing you exactly how much you're pissing away.

 

[Jambooboo]

Two quid a day to run a computer is bullshit. Mine is on 24/7 (for downloading/uploading purposes) and I'm currently in credit paying £20 a month leccy.

 

[pogofish]

I've gone back to cheques and letters and check the bill each time. I've just moved back into a flat and got my first gas bill for £65 based on an estimated reading. Checked it; whaddayaknow? it's wrong. Complained over the phone, just got a bill for £12! That's some overestimate.

It's a scam.

Yup, for our gas/electricity, it was £270-odd reduced to £12 when they got the actual reading!

They then fucked that one up royally by crediting the payment against the wrong year & went after us all over again.