I switched to Airtricity at start of July (before then in NI the only provider was NIE). They offered electric 14% cheaper than NIE per unit so I didnt take much persuading. Bills were to be issued every 2mths. All good...

Got my first bill start of Aug, for one month. From 4th july-1st Aug my bill was £50 which I paid by DD.
Next bill, 2 mths later on 1st Oct was £256 . I only realised today when my bank statement came in that it had been so high as they use E-billing. Went online to check and couldnt understand why my 2nd bill was dated 4th july- 1st October (I thought id been billed twice for July). Rang to complain and they told me it had been recalcualted due to an error and that my actual bill from 4th July-1st Oct had been £300ish but as Id already paid £50 in August they only charged me the £256. They were using estimates so I gave them todays reading and she worked out that from 4th July-5th Nov (today) I had used £315 worth of electric so they sending me out another bill of £15 to get the account even again. (They had been over estimating as I only owe them £15 for the last 5 weeks electric)

I am due another bill 1st Dec which im assured should be low as it will only be for one month. Still going by averages Im looking at at least £75 a month based on Summer usage - i'l be using tumble dryer/lights etc more in winter.

Does £300 for electric for the 4 months July, August, September, October seem steep to you? (Doesnt include heating, we have oil) We live in a 3 bed bungalow. How much do things like tumble dryers, electric heaters, tv's etc cost to run? Me and staurt have been rowing all afternoon as to who wastes the most electric. I blame him for buying a massive plasma TV that is on 12 hrs a day!!! He blames me for leaving the electric shower on/kitchen lights...

I remember pepper had a thingy that counted electric units appliances used. Are they expensive? Do only certain providers use them?

wow !
when i moved into my house my first 3 month bill was 56 and 30 for gas ,,, then a week before chrimbo i got another bill 150 gas 150 electricity

i couldnt afford to pay them at that time so opted for a paymant meter ,, my average weekly use is between 10 and 20 ,,, weather dependant as my 2 boys have every electrical thing going on a rainy day and my house is always lit up like blackpool illuminations x

This is why I'm on a meter, I know it works out more expensive in the long run but I can see what I'm using as and when and I have no nasty surpris bills x

seems like a lot for it not to include heating - we are about 80 a month but that includes (rubbish) storage heating and water heater...mine used to be 20 a month but that was when i had gch and no husband/baby! i know some companies here have them available (eon had them i think) but couldnt tell you how much for

We use LOADS of electric with Dan at home all day with computers and lights on, plus I use tumbler loads, washing machine....

Our last bill dated 11/10/10 was £194 for electric - so thats £64 a month over the summer.

The TV doesnt use that much

Too blame is: kettles, washer, drier, hob, over, iron, heaters - anything making heat!!

Jesus! That does sound alot
I pay £30 a month direct debit and was in credit over the summer though i'm guessing it won't be the same over winter. I pay £45 for gas too and have gas central heating and i'm in credit for that too x

I pay £130 a month for gas, electric, phone and internet. They also do a cash back debit card. I put on £500 a month for shopping etc and when i spend in sainsburys, boots etc i get 5% of what i spend off my bill at the end of the month.

ours is about £90 a month, probably due to combi boiler and the amount of washing I do.

Amandaplus2 wrote:

I pay £130 a month for gas, electric, phone and internet. They also do a cash back debit card. I put on £500 a month for shopping etc and when i spend in sainsburys, boots etc i get 5% of what i spend off my bill at the end of the month.

Thats really good, I've never heard of that before x

Blimey thats expensive
Our last bill for 3rd July-3rd October was £96 and that was with our meter being read not estimated.

we're never more than £150 a quarter, we've been slighty more than normal cos i'm at home more now. we only have electric, no gas, and don't have the heating on that much, i blame the tv! though it does warm the room up

i just had an electric meter put in the other day, ive been spending 50 p per day so over amonth its about £14-£15 ish.
Thats using washing machine, laptop, lights, microwave, charging mobiles, tv, etc etc.
I must admit i do make sure the house isnt like blackpool illuminations but thats pretty much it.

Gas on the other hand is a different story, my hob and heating are used alot, i'd say monthly its about £50-£60

When I was with NIE last year my bills were about £140 a quarter. Granted I think we had 1-2 that were £200 ish but that was after the bad winter & id my blow heater/tumble dryer on all the time.

I think this bill would have worked out at £225 a quarter/£75 a month for the summer . Whats that £17-18 a wk? I dont see how they are 14% cheaper than NIE. Unless iv became lax and assumed it would be cheap so have been leaving stuff on. Im crap at turning off lights- most of house is spot lights everywhere, my laptop would be on most of day and I rarely take it off charger, TV on about 12hrs a day, maybe use tumbler 4-5hrs a week, washing machine ave 10 loads a week (40 degree 30min cycle) dishwasher once a day, oven 1hr a day... I dont think im excessive . Dont drink tea so kettle boiled maybe once a day for water for Caitlins btls... I do leave the pull cord for electric shower on constantly though -its not the water heater, but I did put that on for hlf hr a day during summer when no heating was on for Caitlins bathwater.

I need to seriously cut down as iv already started using blow heater for 1-2 hrs during the day the last cpl weeks which I know is crazy expensive!

Do I sound like I use alot of electric? Im home all day with Caitlin.
How do some of you ladies spend so little? Nutty £96 a quarter is fantastic! Dont think I could ever get it that low!

Well it doesnt sound like more than us, and ours is less!

I use the tumbler at least 10 hours a week, washing about 10 loads a week, dishwasher once a day, oven/hob, 90 mins a day, kettle loads, blow heater every time she has a bath even in the summer!

Plus in the office we have lights all; day and usually 2 double screen PCs running all day..TV on 6 hours a day maybe

We got a thingy that clips on the cables and tells you how much you are using...by turning lights off you will save loads!

We pay £46 a month by DD and we are more often than not in credit - especially in the summer. We have the tv on from 8am til 10pm pretty much everyday - sometimes 2 tvs are going, we've both got netbooks which are charging pretty much all day, mobiles, lights, washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwasher, and the usual things really. So I think we do quite well really.

It does pee me off when the estimate the readings, we had a gas bill come through just after the summer and they had estimated that we had used 148 units, I checked our meter and we had literally used only 2!!!!

xx

we pay £80 for gas and electric, but we just moved in so not sure how much we going to use, hopefully not too much, but it looks like the prices may all go up anyway

Not even gonna say..but let me put it to you this way...for what we pay, you'd think we were powering a small country!

i use ten pounds elec and ten punds gas aweek thast a 3 bed house and 3 kids and me and hubby .. i have tumble but i dry mine when i heatin on or use clothes airers

Jen- is electricity pricey in Canada compared to here or does your Halloween displays etc use loads? I always imagined USA/Canada had cheap petrol/oil/electric ect... duno why.

You'd think that living in the heart of natural gas and oil paradise, and a huge huge hydro dam being not too far from us we'd pay a lot less, but its sickening what we have to pay monthly. We average monthly for hydro(power) close to 300 a month, gas is close to 150-200 a month and in winter's cold cold months its obviously higher. We bought a wood stove that is capable of heating the home, so it does cut down the costs a bit. Fuel..diesel is cheaper, but not by much, but we pay 1.22/litre on average for gasoline.

No that's about what we pay. £67 a month dd & we're not in credit we owe about £200. I always think ours is expensive. Mind we're just elec no gas & on economy 7 grrr sooo expensive.

Works out we pay about £200 plus a quater easily. We turn everything off, I don't do washing during day only night when cheap. But still manage bills like that! It cripples us, iv had to turn heating on cos of Hollie now. But we normally just put extra jumpers on as we just can't afford it. & of you saw our house (if you can call it that) it's a 2ned but really 1 as 2nd bedroom fits lillies bed & that's it box room. It's basically someones converted garage lol so it's tiny! But we pay so much

Our total for gas and electric is £2k per year. We live in quite a big old house with two central heating systems, two boilers. Our washer and dryer are on constantly, I have two dishwashers (long story) and my two older kids do not know that lights actually switch off. So yes I'd say that does seem a bit steep to me.

Mine's around £75 a month x

Our quarter bills are about £100 for electricity. We've just switched companies and we're going to pay about £50 a month for gas &electricity.
It doesn't sound right what you're paying. I use my tumble dryer a lot and tv/radio/computer/laptop are always on and Matt is awful with leaving lights on and things but our bills are never that much.x

we pay £21 a month, it used to be 27 a month but was always in credit

we have on...

tv all day..
fridge freezer,
kettle alot in the day
mirco wave
dish washer 1-2 times a day (its only a small one)
washer twice a day every few days
laptop
temp thingin in paiges room at night
baby moniters
hoover when we need to lol (we only have the stairs n the rug in th front room)
cooker
lights
i think thats it lol