How much is your energy bill?

[Southern Toon]

If you want cheap energy its time to up sticks & move to Romania. http://www.energy.eu/

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Ovo Energy anyone ?

 

[Thunder Bolt]

We are all hostages to the power companies. I don't have a definitive answer but common sense suggests that the priority has to be making your home as well insulated as possible so the fuel consumption is a) minimised and b) used as efficiently as possible.

We are dependent on 'leccy and heating oil, there is no mains gas around here. Water is already metered, which makes sense.

Regarding electricity - a couple of years ago I resented paying excessive amounts to Eon only to find that after a few months they were sitting on £00's of our precious money. Mrs SoC is very proactive in negotiating across to the cheapest tariff, although they are getting wise to that tactic by standardising the tariffs. We have just agreed to have a smart meter fitted to avoid any more estimated bills and will be interested to see how this pans out.

Why on earth would you have a smart meter fitted to avoid estimated bills? Eon have a great website where you can read the meter yourself and submit it, getting correct bills within 2 days. I know that smart meter tariffs are no longer charged at a higher rate, but you still have the inconvenience of having to buy tokens/keys depending on the type.

 

[Bry Nylon]

Late sixteenth century 3 bed cottage with high ceilings and large windows, plus 2 kids who know plenty about switching lights on but **** all about how to switch them off

Heating oil circa £1200 pa. Electricity £600 pa or there about. A few quid here or there each week for coal and logs for the fire, October - March.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

How did we end up gifting a German company a profit of £500m to cater for our essentials? Something went wrong somewhere.

 

[Chicken Runner61]

Late sixteenth century 3 bed cottage with high ceilings and large windows, plus 2 kids who know plenty about switching lights on but **** all about how to switch them off

Heating oil circa £1200 pa. Electricity £600 pa or there about. A few quid here or there each week for coal and logs for the fire, October - March.

I bet you remember the days before North Sea Gas when houses echoed to the sound of "Have you left that light on - go back and turn it off" and "Shut the door you will let the heat out" In winter I used to go out because it was warmer than my room which had ice on the inside of the windows

 

[CheeseRolls]

WHat's it called and how much?

Black & Decker Thermal Leak detector - Available from Amazon via the NSC buy link

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0044R87BE/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[CheeseRolls]

Why on earth would you have a smart meter fitted to avoid estimated bills? Eon have a great website where you can read the meter yourself and submit it, getting correct bills within 2 days. I know that smart meter tariffs are no longer charged at a higher rate, but you still have the inconvenience of having to buy tokens/keys depending on the type.

Don't get me started. I am on the Eonenergyonline dual fuel plan. I submit my readings diligently and get back the calculated bills as you described. So why do I have a meter reader turn up every quarter, about two weeks after I have submitted my readings? Obviously I don't pay directly for this "service", but I reckon this could be the equivalent of £200 per annum on my bill. One guy does the rounds in a Mercedes. A criminal waste of money, and despite all the political hand wringing and industry regulation, no one is prepared to stand up and insist that the roll out of smart meters needs to be accelerated dramatically.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

How did we end up gifting a German company a profit of £500m to cater for our essentials? Something went wrong somewhere.

Intersting, my electric bill has dropped! Keep up the payments UK!

 

[narly101]

I'm enjoying £47/month Gas, and £60/month electric.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Why on earth would you have a smart meter fitted to avoid estimated bills? Eon have a great website where you can read the meter yourself and submit it, getting correct bills within 2 days. I know that smart meter tariffs are no longer charged at a higher rate, but you still have the inconvenience of having to buy tokens/keys depending on the type.

I think you'll find he means one of the new meters that sends it's readings back to the supplier without any need for you or a meter reader to read and send the stats rather than a key meter.

 

[raba]

I think you'll find he means one of the new meters that sends it's readings back to the supplier without any need for you or a meter reader to read and send the stats rather than a key meter.

Spot on.

Smart meters were rolled out about four years ago and the readings are automatically retrieved by the energy supplier, this ends estimated bills and the aggro of having to queue on the telephone to supply the reading yourself after having a card left by the meter reading agency.

 

[drew]

Why on earth would you have a smart meter fitted to avoid estimated bills? Eon have a great website where you can read the meter yourself and submit it, getting correct bills within 2 days. I know that smart meter tariffs are no longer charged at a higher rate, but you still have the inconvenience of having to buy tokens/keys depending on the type.

Not sure but are you confusing smart meters with pre pay meters? Smart meters transmit readings to the supplier so that would mean no more meter readers knocking on the door. They also display how much you are using at any point so, for example, you can presumably see how much power you save by turning stuff off at the plug rather than leaving it on standby.


With regard to the OP, I have 3 bed detached 20 year old house and I pay £100 dd with Eon for both Gas and Electricity, I use the online meter readings and keep a record of useage and equivalent daily costs! We do have solar panels so they reduce our electricity consumption during the day. We turn most things off at the plug so the only things on over night are two landline base units, an alarm clock, boiler, two fridge freezers, nothing with a remote is left on standby. The Eon website is good because as soon as you submit the readings you get an online balance and can then request a bill (which I get in pdf on line aswell so that is normally within a day).

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I think you'll find he means one of the new meters that sends it's readings back to the supplier without any need for you or a meter reader to read and send the stats rather than a key meter.

We called those radio meters when I still worked for the supply industry.

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

Why on earth would you have a smart meter fitted to avoid estimated bills? Eon have a great website where you can read the meter yourself and submit it, getting correct bills within 2 days. I know that smart meter tariffs are no longer charged at a higher rate, but you still have the inconvenience of having to buy tokens/keys depending on the type.

Just to clarify I confirm we are having a 'smart meter' fitted that remotely sends our meter readings to Eon, and removes the needs for estimates. It is not a pre pay meter as you suggest.

You also get a monitoring device that shows how much electricity you are using at any time and the cost. I guess this should help us to be a bit more efficient.

 

[cardboard]

£92 a month for both. Had a new Worcester boiler fitted in Jan plus has loft double insulated and the walls been done too.

 

[Craven Wine]

12 for electric & 56 for gas per month - solar makes a difference, 4 bed building! ;-)

 

[tinx]

We moved into a new build 4 bed detached two months ago from a three bed terrace and our bill has dropped from £160 to £100 a month and in fact they recommend we drop that to £80 but I'm leaving it where it is for now. The insulation, new boiler and efficiency of the new house is fantastic.

 

[casbom]

How much is it to get cavity insulation? Anyone here had it done? I'm thinking about it! We need new double glazing but can't afford it at the mo'

 

[Westdene Seagull]

How much is it to get cavity insulation? Anyone here had it done? I'm thinking about it! We need new double glazing but can't afford it at the mo'

Ring your energy supplier - most will do it for free ( you might have to fib a little - saying you get child benefit tends to work ).