Electric Bill For Student Flat

soundb0y

soundb0y

soundb0y

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Joined
19 Mar 2009
Posts
3,517
Location
Hereford
Okay, so basically im living in a 6 bedroom student flat. Its quite small, and theres only 5 of us really living there. The thing is we have just had an electric bill for £950 for the last 3 months!. This was double the last bill at £450 which even then we thought as excessive.

Is this a lot more than we should be paying? Have asked a few people but most seem to be idiots who have no idea what they are paying.

Since the first bill in an attempt to cut down, we NEVER have any lights on unless its necessary i.e. cooking, have fitted timers to the boiler so the hot water is not on constantly, and generally been a lot more careful in an attempt to keep the bills down.

So,,,basically we are pretty confused as to why it has doubled. The company were less than helpful on the phone and apparently are going to be monitoring the meter for a while to see if they can spot any problems.

We do have a few tvs and 2 360s, but never more than one in use at any time. Do laptops suck that much juice? We just cant think of what is using so much??

cheers for any help in advance
 
That does sound really high for just three months use. The three of us in a big house only pay £90 a month for electric and gas, and we aren't being energy efficient!
 
I take it you have checked the meter to check it is accurate?

Youd be surprised how much things like boiling the kettle or leaving the freeview box on will make it go up.

Laptops generally dont draw a huge amount. About 50 watts i think. But someone might be leaving it on all night to download stuff or something like that.

We only have an electric emersion heater for our water which are quite expensive to run. Between 5 of us for 3 months we paid just under 85 each.
 
Im in a shared house with 4 people.
Our pc's are often on, but always have lights off.
Came to £240 for 6 months (as the 3 month bill was £6 (estimated)). Quite good imho.

So, £10 a month each.
 
it'll be an estimated bill. phone them up with the correct reading.
it's also been rather cold this winter, so you would have used more electricity if you don't have gas
 
1. Look for multiple pots containing the following specimen :

plantsfp.jpg


2. Look above them to locate the light source.

3. Switch off lights.

4. Inform landlord and have the culprit evicted.

5. Live happily ever after. ( You did save some product for yourself, right? )
 
Get one of those energy monitors that fit on the wire going into your meter, that way you can tell exactly how much you're using at any given time.

We have one, and I now check it before going to work, if its chugging along at 200W then I left a couple of lights on, or my PC - Its easier to check than going though every room making sure everything is turned off.
 
eXor said:
1. Look for multiple pots containing the following specimen :

plantsfp.jpg


2. Look above them to locate the light source.

3. Switch off lights.

4. Inform landlord and have the culprit evicted.

5. Live happily ever after. ( You did save some product for yourself, right? )
Click to expand...


Haha I think we would have sniffed that out long ago :D:D

How can they charge for an estimated bill? Im not so sure how it all works, but do they just take it from the first bill or what? And if the estimated is way more than the exact figure are you just expected to pay it??
 
They just take a guess in regards what the estimate is.

Your bill should actually indicate if it is an estimate or not. Also like said before in this thread, ensure that you check the meter readings against the bill.

After that, if your meter readings are way off compared to the bill, give the supplier a call and inform them that their estimate was incorrect and give them the new figure.
Your new bill should arrive within a couple of weeks :)
 
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