electricity bills are very high, need advice

[dmax]

hi all,
we have a card metre, electricity board says the card metre is same as paying mthly but i dont believe so and have heard that the tariff on card metres are higher, anyway here goes ,i live with my wife and baby, we use washing machine once per week and it takes 1hr 20 mins for wash, we do not use boiler to heat water (the gas does that) we use minimal amount of lights , we have a blow heater in our living room which we would put on for 15 mins every single morning say ( 3 kw blow heater), we use electric cooker for meals, thats about it , our bills are £15 every week , isnt this expensive just for electric ? its not as if we are using electric heaters all the time, we live in a 3 bedroom house. would £15 per week be normal for a family of 3 who dont use electric heaters all day long and cook 2 - 3 meals per day and dont leave lights on all day or night. we have radiators on but these are heated by gas.

[ummmm]

What about your fridge, freezer, kettle, microwave, TV, computers, alarms, phone chargers, Videos, DVD's, sky box....I could go on if I had a wonder round the house to see what's plugged in.

[S_C]

the tarrif on any prepayment meter is higher than paying by quaterly bill. simply because it costs more to maintain as cards are not free to make and the technology needs maintenace. on average you will pay higher for meter payment than by direct debit for any service be it electrical or gas.
with all this said once a meter has been installed in a property it can be very difficult to get supply companies to change the installed meter " i have heard of some even charging for this service " though never faced this myself.

[buildersmate]

I thought that the dim-witted do-gooders had stopped all this business about extra charges made by utilty companies for those with credit meters? - even though it clearly costs the companies more effort (and hence money) to service such accounts.

[lil75]

Mine is about the same, I live in a 3 bed house and there are 3 of us that live here...rip off britain springs to mind!

[Nosha123]

I think it probably could be about right.... Our bill is nearer £200 per month but we are electric heating and water.
You could try switching everything off (via the switch on circuit board) overnight and see if the meter changes?

Surprisingly a kettle will use a lot of energy! How much tea do you all drink?
There is a dedicated area on the money supermarket forum you may found useful for gas and leccy
http://www.moneysuper...s-electricity-70.aspx

[Garmard]

Alas, we live in greedy times......Try switching to EDF, the tariff on their prepayment meters are the same as if you were paying normally. No hidden charges so i am led to believe.