Cragus Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 This site has proved of great help in the past as I know there are people from all different careers and backgrounds, so I hoping someone can offer me some useful advice on this issue. At my parent's house which is a large 4 bedroom detached property, their electricity bills work out at approximately £60 per month and they ended up in credit at the years end. My mother never gives the washing machine or tumble drier a break and my dad falls asleep with the TV on more often than not. They are guilty for leaving things on standby most days. All in all, what i am trying to say is they use electricity fairly liberally but their bills are pretty reasonable. My girlfriends parents payments have gone to £117 per month as their previous payments of a little over £100 were not covering their usage. The house is a terraced house which is smaller in area than my parents. They are very strict with their usage - turning things off at the wall every day, full loads of washing, not falling asleep with the tv on but their bills still up more expensive. THis has been the case for years and her dad isn't sure how to go about finding out why his electricity bills are so high. They have the same number of occupants, gas central heating, gas one, gas hobs. Our oven is electric which again you would think puts our prices higher. What steps should we take to ascertain why the bills are working out over £50 more expensive. Any advice appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neilp Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 check the wattage of lighting craig. If there is spotlights then those will be 50w each. give me a call, i do energy consulatancy who are they with and what tarriff also Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cragus Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 check the wattage of lighting craig. If there is spotlights then those will be 50w each. give me a call, i do energy consulatancy who are they with and what tarriff also Mate, you have seen my parent's house. Look at our open kitchen and dining room - think how often they have those 12 spots on. Ashley's house doesn't have any spots whatsoever. Scottish Hydro - Fixed tariff (I will find this out for you) to August 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoogyRev Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Are they using different suppliers? that can make a difference. They may have different boilers or showers for example, they may be using different amounts of gas/electric to do the same thing Also I have herd the stories of neighbours tapping in to your electric through the loft......... don't know how common that is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neilp Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 if you can check the bills for what is estimated for monthly usage for both houses. Also check what theyre rates are. I owe you a favour anyways. Im free to check with you if you want as im not busy. Could be your mums extension is wired off of next doors house I know your area too well hahaha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cragus Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 Are they using different suppliers? that can make a difference. They may have different boilers or showers for example, they may be using different amounts of gas/electric to do the same thing Also I have herd the stories of neighbours tapping in to your electric through the loft......... don't know how common that is. They are the same suppliers mate - that's what confuses me! I said that his son might have an illegal cannabis den in his loft - it's the only feasible reason I could think of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbiscuit Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 we have a big 4 bed semi and our electric bill is about £100 a quarter its only 2 of us but we have the tumble drier TV and computers on a lot. We're with southern electric, but we got our bills sorted through EBICO we also only pay quarterly, we don't have a direct debit setup, and we Read the meter and put that value in every quarter to get our bill done all online. we were originally with Scottish power and our bills were nearly double. but when we bought the place that was the supplier that was set up with the property. have they tried using one of the online comparison websites for energy suppliers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK350Z Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Your GF parents have left the immersion heater on. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Just because they're with the same supplier, doesn't mean it's the same tariff. Definitely check that out first, and what their bills say they're paying per unit. I never pre-pay my bills as I'd rather have the money sitting in my bank than theirs. It's a chore, but reading my own meter and paying it monthly for exactly what I've used makes things a lot more straightforward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebized Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Might be worth turning everything electric off in the house and seeing if the meter fully stops - easy way to verify if a neighbour has tapped into your supply - a not uncommon practice (as hinted above) when dwellings are not detached. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neilp Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Might be worth turning everthing electric off in the house and seeing if the meter fully stops - easy way to verify if a neighbour has tapped into your supply - a not uncommon practice (as hinted above) when dwellings are not detached. I don't think that will have happened. More than likely different rates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisS Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 If all else fails and Neil can't find a problem get the supplier to install a 'check meter'. How old is the meter they have ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maccaman Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Also worth getting the meter checked to make sure it's not over reading. Also they could check out the following:- www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zollburgers Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Buy your own 'smart' meter (or apply for one, some electricity suppliers supply them) and see what is using the electricity. You will need to do a bit of investigating to find a baseline for both houses and to break the total down into each user (fridges, washing machine, TVs etc.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cragus Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 Hi there - been looking at the bills to try and work out what is going. The usage in each house surprised me! My parents house Electricity usage - 7275 Gas - 14138 Her folks house Electricity usage - 9589 Gas - 27 355 It's the electricity that is the one we are puzzled over. I cannot possibly see how they use more electricity at theirs. They are very frugal with electricity because they have been paying such high prices. They are on the Fixed Rate January 2014 and my folks house are using a standard rate. Thanks for the comments guys - I think a smart meter could be an idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neilp Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 Has Ashley's house got an electric shower? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cragus Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 No she doesn't but my parents do! Something is seriously wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neilp Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 I think I may have to come inspect the houses lol. Some wierd sh*t going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cragus Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 I think I may have to come inspect the houses lol. Some wierd sh*t going on. I think that might be an idea one day soon mate as I am baffled by it. I am going to order a monitor to record how much the house is using. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neilp Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 I think I may have to come inspect the houses lol. Some wierd sh*t going on. I think that might be an idea one day soon mate as I am baffled by it. I am going to order a monitor to record how much the house is using. Just tell Ashley to take note of the meter reading tonight and then take not of it daily around the same time. Don't bother ordering stuff. I can check it to see what's juicing it and try and trace what the issue is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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