How much do you pay a month for electricity?
By anonymous101
@anonymous101 (487)
May 28, 2008 1:10pm CST
I thought this would be the best place as it's not about saving money or earning it. I just want to see how much other people are paying to compare it to what I consider very high bills.
First of all I live in the UK so it would be great to have as many people from the UK reply although i'm interested in seeing how it is all over the world.
I'll give a little background.
I'm with NPower I have Economy 7
I live in a 1 bedroom flat. Not a fancy apartment but a small 1 bedroom, kitchen, lounge and bathroom flat. We have storage heaters and that's all set up to go on at night when the energy is cheaper. I work 5 days a week from 8.00 till 5.30. Everything is switched off then aoart from a small light which is on in my fish tank during the day. I don't have the heating on much apart from the witner as it can get cold. It's cold here at the moment but all the heating is switched off. I use the washing maching about twice a week and usually hang the washing up on airers to dry. We have a tumbe dryer which is used for about 4 hours a month. We do have a big tv in the living room, we do use it but not as a daily tv, we use it mainly to watch movies so we use it for about 8 hours a week. We have a small 14" telly in the kitchen which is used more average of about 2 hours a day. I have a computer that is only on when used which averages about an hour a day. The heating is usually on for a few hours in the evening to get the night rate. oven is used once a day for around 3/4 of an hour.
So basically we're a small one bedroom flat using what most people would use on average.
They were trying to raise our bills up to £232 a month which is roughly $459 american, 294 euros each month.
Does anyone else think that's unreasonably high? What do you pay?
Last year for some reason our day readings were higher than our night. Could somebody be on the same meter as us?
5 people like this
27 responses
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
28 May 08
ours are roughly $120 a month,though higher in summer.some places the day rate is higher,probably because consumption tends to be higher during the day
and they want the extra $ from it.
i would say $459 is definetly high,unless your heat runs off power too.
2 people like this
@anonymous101 (487)
•
28 May 08
Everything runs off the electricity although ours is set to go on for a couple of hours at night as it's a special rate, it's so much cheaper. There is nothing on in the day yet day reading is higher than night. We only use two heaters in the place as well as it's smaller. We have a storage heater which means it only comes on during the special cheap night time rate.
2 people like this
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
28 May 08
i'd definetly have that checked if nothing's on..that doesn't sound right at all..
1 person likes this
@anonymous101 (487)
•
28 May 08
It's hard to get the point across to them as they're just like robots they can't turn round and say you're right this sounds wrong to me as they work for the company and can't express their own opinions so it's the same thing over and over.
1 person likes this
@p1kef1sh (45681)
•
28 May 08
Yes I do think that is high. There are never fewer than two of us in a three bedroom house where everything is electric except the gas hob and central heating/hot water. Our washing machine is used at least five times a week. We have a dishwasher that gets used daily, sometimes twice daily. Our TV gets used in the evenings and the computer is on at least 14 hours a day. Our quarterly bill according to my wife who pays it, is about £100 give or take twenty pounds! We are with Southern Electricity. We don't have Economy 7.
1 person likes this
@anonymous101 (487)
•
28 May 08
That is so much more less. It's unbelievable. It's more like a fault rather than the calculations though so switching is not a possibility. I heard that NPower had been in alot of trouble recently so i'm really trying to push to get it sorted. It's just trying to get them to think about it and compare it to national averages rather than by just going by the meter reading (the meter isn't even in our flat!)
@emeraldisle (13139)
• United States
29 May 08
We live in the US. Right now our electricity runs between $100 and $130 a month, now this does include a $4 charge for wiring insurance. If we need anything replaced including the whole fuse box they do it for us at no charge 
.
Now that being said we are coming into our expensive months were our monthly costs can triple or even quadruple. We've done some things this year to help cut the costs but we are worried. See we live in Florida and we have to have the a/c on during the summer. It just gets too hot in the house without it. We are now at the point where it's on 24 hours a day. So starting with next months bills we are sure it's going to be around $300 or more 
I'm not sure how you can tell if your day is higher then the night. Our bills just show totals for the month and then average for per day. It also shows how much we used a year ago in comparison. If you do suspect someone is on the same meter what you need to do is unplug everything (not just turn off cause some things still draw minute amounts of power when off) and then check to see if the meter is still moving. That is the best way.
.
Now that being said we are coming into our expensive months were our monthly costs can triple or even quadruple. We've done some things this year to help cut the costs but we are worried. See we live in Florida and we have to have the a/c on during the summer. It just gets too hot in the house without it. We are now at the point where it's on 24 hours a day. So starting with next months bills we are sure it's going to be around $300 or more
I'm not sure how you can tell if your day is higher then the night. Our bills just show totals for the month and then average for per day. It also shows how much we used a year ago in comparison. If you do suspect someone is on the same meter what you need to do is unplug everything (not just turn off cause some things still draw minute amounts of power when off) and then check to see if the meter is still moving. That is the best way.1 person likes this
@emeraldisle (13139)
• United States
30 May 08
Well they just started that insurance for the house wiring. I'm glad they did because it can be very costly if you need to call in an electrician.
Florida in my opinion is a wonderful place to visit, just not that great to live in year round. The heat itself wouldn't be bad but we have very high humidity with it which makes it miserable this time of year.
Not sure what to tell you with having the meter over there like that. It does make me wonder if it's only reading yours and not theirs as well on one meter. Can you have the electric company check? Do a energy check type thing? I know ours does to make sure we aren't wasting any.
@anonymous101 (487)
•
29 May 08
I love Florida! I was reading a load of posts before and I was seeing lots of people saying it's getting to an expensive time of the year which perplexed me for a while until I remembered air conditioning! air conditioning is rare in houses over here but I understand why you need it over in Florida, i've been there 6 times. It costs if anything goes wrong with the electricity over here, insurance is a nightmare. I already have a full time job but i'm contemplating training as an electrician just so I can fix anything that goes wrong at home.
My meter is located in my neighbours flat (I know, that sounds dodgy right) I want to test it by turning everything off for a few hours but it's a bit hard. If I could do that I could also see which number is going up the daytime reading or the night!
1 person likes this
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
29 May 08
My husband and I paid $150 on the last electric bill, though it usually varies during the seasons. The high for this year so far was just over $200. I live in a 3 bedroom house, though we only heat/cool part of the house with electricity and use a wood stove to heat the rest of the house during the winter. During the summer we hide away in one of the cooled off bedrooms. As I am a stay at home mom I'm usually home all day so almost always something that runs on electricity is on whether it is the TV, computer, washer, dryer, etc.
1 person likes this
@anonymous101 (487)
•
31 May 08
I think there must be something fishy going on as nobody I spoke to in the world, country, my town or even my road pays anything near to what I do. Plus we're out 5 days a week so there is 9 and a half hours a day when nothing is turned on plus our sleeping time so with that it leaves only about 6 hours of electricity use. I'm having to keep the heating off but it's pretty chilly, hopefully i'll get this sorted soon.
@kun2349 (23381)
• Singapore
28 May 08
Wow.. That's incredibly high!! For me, my electricity usage is much higher than yours.. Just using of computer, tv, air con, water heater, it will be 7 days a week.. WIth a max of more than 10 hours.. Washing machine will be used 3-4 times a week, depending on the load, but we dun use dryer.. PLus mine is a normal house.. ANd our monthly bill wil only add up till about $150++.. I guess, there must be something wrong with your electrical bills..
1 person likes this
@anonymous101 (487)
•
28 May 08
That's so much more but so much less :/ I think there must be something really wrong with it. It is a dodgy meter as it's located in my neighbours flat although there is no way he'd tap into our electricity on purpose but maybe when his meter was changed or maybe the other flat is hooked up to it. We don't even have air con, and I always let my hair dry naturally.
@newtondak (3946)
• United States
29 May 08
You're all gonna hate me - but we don't pay anything for electricity. We are in an employment situation where our home and all our utilities are provided!
1 person likes this
@cutepenguin (6431)
• Canada
29 May 08
We have a one bedroom apartment, it's fairly small. We run our computer all day and the light in our fish tank is on all day. We don't turn on the heat.
We pay $30 Canadian a month. I think that's about 15 pounds, and it's about $30 american.
@anonymous101 (487)
•
31 May 08
ah that's a good price. I wish my bills were cheap, it would be good if they realised they were at fault and had to recalculate everything and end up owing me money.
@coffeeshot (3783)
• Australia
30 May 08
In AUstralia for two people it cost us about 270 for 3 months I think. I like to save power by turning stand by off and lights off.
@anonymous101 (487)
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31 May 08
yeah, I do the same. I turn everything off before I go to work. It's as if somebody else is hooked on to our meter too.
@Modestah (11179)
• United States
28 May 08
we have a four bedroom ranch roughly 2000 sq ft. we have electric everything -
our bill ranges from 100 a month to 150 a month but that might be going up as everything else has.
we do not have a microwave - reserve oven use for the cold months - air condition is only in one bedroom. do not use a dryer.
---
our electric is produced by coal - what about yours?
1 person likes this
@anonymous101 (487)
•
29 May 08
our electric is a mixture, I only noticed the other day when I looked on the bill. i think there must be something wrong with my meter!
@inday312saylon (747)
• Philippines
29 May 08
Here in the Philippines, electricity bills have skyrocketed, much of the dismay of the general public. There exists a monopoly here of electricity supplier, and it is now being investigated by the government due to its horrendous charges for collections. I usually pay around 65USD for our monthly electricity. It's the airconditioner that's consuming the most.
@anonymous101 (487)
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31 May 08
They've just done that over here. Well last year they said it would go up 17% this is when I firest noticed I was paying more than most as it mentioned that a 3 bedroom family house would now be looking at going up to £200 a year, I think that's what they said. I was already paying more than that for a 1 bedroom flat. Now they say it will go up 25%!
@aidenofthetower (1814)
• United States
29 May 08
That is a lot more then we pay. We are in the US and paid less for electricity in Michigan and Wisconsin then we do in Texas. Here we have a two bedroom and two bathroom apartment (kitchen, dinning, and living room). With four of us living here we use a lot of electricity. Last summer when we ran the air conditioner (it gets over 100 degrees here) it was about $250 a month. Winter when the heat was on it was about $175. Now with nothing on (we are refusing to run the air conditioner this summer) we are paying about $65 a month. We run a computer all the time (it never gets turned off). We have several fans and rotate the ones we use, but there are usually four to six on at any given time. My mom lives with us and has the TV in her room on for at least eight hours a day and probably more like fifteen. Then there is our TV which is on for a movie a day.
This is rather fascinating. I would never have thought...Plus it is interesting to see the different lifestyles and how much expense that leads to each of us.
I must say, in Wisconsin we were on a program that let us save money on electricity at night. It was hard to use and my husband worked second shift so we were up late a lot. I would suggesting doing your laundry after your night hours shift over. That will safe a lot of electricity on your bill. It might also be worth cooking some meals together so they only need to be heated up later. The oven tends to run quite a bit of electricity.
@anonymous101 (487)
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31 May 08
I think there must be a fault somewhere because it's higher than most peoples bills (just comparing it to other UK people) We're due to have another rise in the cost of electricity though, 25% apparently. It's ridiculously expensive. I need to work out what is classed as night rates and which are day because if hte night starts at about 9 in the evening I could wait and do the washing then but if it was only like 12-7 i'm a bit screwed, I don't like leaving the machine going plus it's kinda noisy.
I do want to get the meter checked out though as well, I haven't had the heating on for weeks now even though it's pretty cold.
@mikeysmom (2088)
• United States
29 May 08
our electric bill varies. it is way more in the summer of course because of the air conditioning. we are very careful with the air conditioning though because we cannot afford a huge monthly bill and for purposes of conserving energy for the environment. it galls me when i walk into a store and it is only warm out and they have the air blasting and it is freezing in the store. it is so wasteful and we all pay for it indirectly as reflected in the prices on their merchandise. i hate when they estimate my bill based on last year's useage because i do not put the air on until it gets really intolerably hot out. i have called them and told them i want my bill adjusted because i did not even put my air on yet. it is not easy to negotiate with utility companies though as they really kind of have you in their grip so to speak. my electric bill in winter is not bad but i still find it hard to believe that they charge what they do and get away with it. it can be frustrating.
@anonymous101 (487)
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31 May 08
we don't realyl have air conditioning over here, i'm sure maybe some large workplaces or stores do but it's not as common as it is in America. I know what you mean about the air conditioning blasting. I've been to Florida a few times and you really notice it when you walk into malls. I can understand how it's needed when it's hot though. I rarely gets uncomfortably hot here but we usually get a few days, weeks of it and if the house is stuffy it makes it hard to sleep. I have a little fan but that's still at my parents and I moved here in January 2007.
@Bentley16 (86)
• Brunei Darussalam
29 May 08
Well,im not living in UK..but i guess our electricity bill is cheaper than UK's..just imagine living in a house with 7 bedrooms,not to forget that 13 members of the family living under the same roof,and then just paying an average of $120 per month,which is about €40..i guess i am lucky to live and born here..
@anonymous101 (487)
•
31 May 08
That is cheap. My parents have a huge house and run 2 computers a day, one 24 hours and they pay nowhere near as me. There must be a fault as we're paying way above the average for a 3 bedroom house!
@sudiptacallingu (10879)
• India
29 May 08
Well your apartment and lifestyle is quite akin to mine and since you wanted to have a global perspective, I thought of pitching in. here I am in India (Calcutta) and my place is two small bedrooms, one living space, one kitchen and one bathroom. Hubby, me and our son are out of home say from 10am till about 7pm. We of course have no heater in this heat, but we don’t have an AC either and no geyser too. The have the regular fans and tubelights in the rooms. There’s a TV in the living space (that’s mainly for my son’s cartoons) and the one small in the bedroom is watched may just once in the weekends. The washing machine runs about twice a week and we leave the clothes to dry in open air. Oh yes, I do use the food blender a lot. Now we pay about Rs. 500 a month i.e around 6 pounds or 12 dollars. So its cheap by your standards but by our standards its just about OK.
@anonymous101 (487)
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31 May 08
yeah I suppose it depends what your used to. From all the people i've spoken to in the UK nobody pays this much. I haven't even had someone who has a massive house say oh I pay that much. I think it must be faulty as I think the average over here must be around £100 a month.
@belhaven14 (454)
• United States
29 May 08
My roommate and I split a US $23-25 per month for electric. We have a modest sized 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment. I am thrilled about how cheap it is. Of course, I live in Mississippi which is the poorest state in the US. So everything is cheaper here. That blows my mind that you would have to spend that much for electric. That is about a third of our rent.
@anonymous101 (487)
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30 May 08
I think there must be a fault because it's ridiculously high for a 1 bedroom flat that is empty monday to friday from 8-5:30, I never leave stuff on either. I need to get them to come and check it out.
@anonymous101 (487)
•
31 May 08
oh thats so much less than what I pay, I think that works out at just a few £'s a month once converted.
@phoenix25 (1541)
• United States
29 May 08
We pay a little less than 400 a month (american), but that includes gas, electric, sewer, water, and garbage removal.
@yiranmengyi (133)
• China
29 May 08
I am so astonished when seeing your bill,that's too much when compared with us in China.The price for electricity in our city is 1RMB per kilowatt-hour.
@anonymous101 (487)
•
31 May 08
I know alot of people pay alot less than me so I think it might be down to a fault somewhere along the line.
@arson900 (6)
• Philippines
29 May 08
we pay about 4,000 pesos we live here in the Philippines which is the best cause despite of high rates on electricity we dont learn how to conserve ^_^
@anonymous101 (487)
•
31 May 08
ah that's still lower than me. I would consider myself pretty good with electricity, I switch things off when done, like my computer, the tv, rather than just leaving them on doing something else for a bit and then coming back to it. I don't leave all the lights on either, unfortunately the person I live with does so i'm forever turnings things off after him.
