Gas/electric bills!

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Matt.

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I've just moved into my rental place (first place i've had on my own where i have to sort all the bills and things!). I'm just trying to work out my monthly budget so i can see if i have any money to spend on fun things :) It's a tiny house, gas heating and gas hob, electric oven, etc... PC on 24/7. What sort of costs do you think my gas/electric bills will be? Would £30 each per month be a sensible estimate?

Thanks (yes i know, it's an exciting thread isn't it?)
 
just about impossible to say Matt but I'd budget initially for about double that.
 
I think you'd be extremely fortunate to get away with 30 quid a month for both bills. I'd double it as Dod says and see how you go. :)
 
dod said:
just about impossible to say Matt but I'd budget initially for about double that.
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I'd agree with that , budget double for the next 6 months (as it's winter) then you can sort it out properly (and any money they owe you can be spent on *toys*)
 
dod said:
just about impossible to say Matt but I'd budget initially for about double that.
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Matt does say £30 EACH per month

In comparison to our Gas and Electic bills (Ok according to Mrs THX) we pay £130 combined. Bear in mind though thats for a 3 bed detached property, with Myself, Mrs THX and three smaller THX's running around.

Things like the Washer, Dishwasher, TV, central heating and every possible light in the house appear to be on constant.!!

I think somewhere around the £60 total you mention will not be far off the mark.

As Dod says though it can be almost impossible to guess, depending on how big your place is, how long you spend at home, how efficient your heating is etc...
 
We pay £50 a month in total for both to powergen, at the end of the year we were in debt for about £60 quid, just payed it off and kept them to £50 again. This is for a large 4 bedroom detached. It is a new build so whether its anything to do with the better insulation etc...don't know. HTH
 
Best thing to do we found was write down all the bills you might incur, that way you get a better idea for a monthly budget.
 
Mr THX said:
Matt does say £30 EACH per month.
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Oops, I missed that. £30 each might just be okay. Best thing to do is not worry about economising for the first week, just live there. Take a reading on both at the start of the week, another at the end and work out how much it's cost. You'll be able to get a reasonably sensible figure out of that.
 
£30 each per month sounds about right if there's only you. At the mo, I only pay £36 per month to Scottish Power for both gas and electric combined. That got us through the summer ok, but I have a feeling we'll need to pay more following the winter due to heating costs etc. There are only the 2 of us, and we're barely at home in the day.
 
Yeah £30 each/month seems about right.

Pay by direct debit... it's usually cheaper and a lot less hassle, providing you've cash in the account, but...

KEEP checking. The bu**ers never do the maths correctly and hardly ever come around to read the meter. Or when they do it's generally about 1 day before the bill arrives....
 
Me and my gf live in a 3-bed end-terrace that's only about 4 years old. I have 3 servers running day/night, and the lounge has an array of red lights that are normally on from the Sky box, surround sound, TV, etc.

We pay Scottish Power £90/month for Gas/Elec. We've got energy-saving bulbs throughout the house, and we're quite careful to not leave stuff on. As much as I do try not to leave things like the TV on standby, it usually gets forgotten. I run the boiler for 1.5 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening for heating/hot water.

You can actually get a handy plug in meter thing from Maplin which is quite interesting to use and guage what devices use what power in your house. I've not yet been brave enough to try and rig something up at the meter to see how much power the whole house pulls!
 
One trick to watch out for with the power companies...

If you're on some kind of fixed monthly payment scheme they have a habit of under estimating the amount you pay so you end up in arrears. This way you owe them money so they can refuse a change in supplier should a better deal come along.
 
It depend how much of a man you are :LOL:

I have a two up two down terraced house with gas cooking and a gas fire in the living room and Electric storage heaters in all room bar the kitchen.
My bill resent bills have been

Electric £37 a month
Gas 18 a quarter :)

But I like it cold in my house :LOL:
 
pxl8 said:
One trick to watch out for with the power companies...

If you're on some kind of fixed monthly payment scheme they have a habit of under estimating the amount you pay so you end up in arrears. This way you owe them money so they can refuse a change in supplier should a better deal come along.
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Hmm, I'm normal in credit and I am sure my dad got a cheque for £100 recently because he was so much in credit.

They normal get it low for the first year but get it right after that, I guess it stops you swapping every year.

Then again I have NEVER swaped company's, still with British Gas, BT and same electric company.
 
We're in a 2 bed flat, and all the while we've been here, we've been on a prepayment meter for both.
I wouldn't have it any other way. This way we can never get in arrears, and we always know exactly where we stand.

We did switch suppliers last year to Ebico (theyre the cheapest prepayment tarriff).

Throughout the year, we've been paying roughly 40 a month electric, and 10 or 20 a month gas. The gas has now gone up to about 30 or 40 (winter), and the electric is going through the roof. We're on capped prices too until January, so I dread to think what it's going to be like then.

We normally put 40 in the electric on my wifes payday. It has already run out, and that was 2 1/2 weeks ago.
 
Good tip this time of year, keep your heating on all the time on low, as this is cheaper than it stop starting at various times of the day. Just crank it up then as a when you need it.
 
Get low enegy light bulbs for EVERY light in the house.
 
I work for one of the larger utility companies... for what you describe £30 each a month should be ample. If you are a new customer some will insist on more than that per fuel (with no consumption history the one I work for recommend £40 a month, but that is an average of all customers).

Also, check the offers & deals the company you are with have for things like direct debit, online account etc. I know I make a good 20% saving for having my account set up on direct debit and managing it all online. Makes a difference that does :)
 
fuel prices shooting through the roof...going to have to live by a waterfall and start using HEP, windfarms apparently not doing too well...
 
shiato storm said:
fuel prices shooting through the roof...going to have to live by a waterfall and start using HEP, windfarms apparently not doing too well...
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Prices have actually dropped back quite a bit. Wholesale is now roughly at june 2005 prices again. It will take a while for that to feed back through to domestic prices although businesses are starting to benefit again.
 
Matt. said:
I've just moved into my rental place (first place i've had on my own where i have to sort all the bills and things!). I'm just trying to work out my monthly budget so i can see if i have any money to spend on fun things :) It's a tiny house, gas heating and gas hob, electric oven, etc... PC on 24/7. What sort of costs do you think my gas/electric bills will be? Would £30 each per month be a sensible estimate?

Thanks (yes i know, it's an exciting thread isn't it?)
Click to expand...


when i moved into my house i phoned british gas about both an d they estimated then for me. mine are £25 electric (not quite enough as im a little in debit on that one) and £30 gas which im £20 in credit on after 9months!
 
The easiest way to make some significant savings, short of switching everything off, is to move away from pre-payment meters. You're being crucified.

Most energy providers will switch meters for free.
 
2blue4u said:
The easiest way to make some significant savings, short of switching everything off, is to move away from pre-payment meters. You're being crucified.

Most energy providers will switch meters for free.
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Not sure I agree with you there - It depends on the supplier. I know the one I work for have not recalibrated all their meters for the price rises, so many are still chargeing at 2004 prices!!!

That said, our prepayment prices are not much different to the standard prices anyway. I believe they are exactly the same but I've not checked for a while.
 
Ugh just had to up my monthly allotment. Now paying £75 a month for electric only (we aren't on the mains so no gas). That is a sight better than last year when we got a £1200 bill!
 
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