Pricey Electricity - any suggestions?

Leccie, the points which have alerted you i.e. mobile phone, ipod etc, use only a trickle of electricity. The main concern is that in an apartment the bill is coming in around €300. There must be something else eating the electricity. Have you tried turning off all appliances (everything) and then check if the meter is running. This should give an indication of what is actually happening.
 
mercman said:
Leccie, the points which have alerted you i.e. mobile phone, ipod etc, use only a trickle of electricity. The main concern is that in an apartment the bill is coming in around €300. There must be something else eating the electricity. Have you tried turning off all appliances (everything) and then check if the meter is running. This should give an indication of what is actually happening.
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I haven't tried that no... Might get someone to help me do that.

Thanks.
 
OP this might be a bit obvious, but are you paying bills based on actual or estimated readings?

Look for the telltale "E" after the current reading units on your bill.
 
300euro? This post will be deleted if not edited immediately our last electricity bill was 80 something and we have a 3 bed house, though we have gas heating but thats usually less than 100 too both are bi monthly bills
 
mathepac said:
OP this might be a bit obvious, but are you paying bills based on actual or estimated readings?

Look for the telltale "E" after the current reading units on your bill.
Click to expand...

No, I called and asked about that. Sadly it's not an estimate!
 
sandrat said:
300euro? This post will be deleted if not edited immediately our last electricity bill was 80 something and we have a 3 bed house, though we have gas heating but thats usually less than 100 too both are bi monthly bills
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right?! it's a massive bill! i'm determined to crack it though!
 
The previous bills could have been estimated and the current one might be catching you up.
 
I reckon your storage heaters are the biggest culprit. I've just remembered that I too had storage heaters in an apartment I rented, and my bills were quite high to begin with (nowhere near €300, mind you!) I saved a fortune by switching off the storage heaters. Luckily, the bedrooms had electric heaters, and it didn't cost too much to switch those on for an hour or two before bedtime. There was also a combination storage/electric heater in the living room, which warmed up the place nicely when switched on for a short while. Would you consider investing in an electric heater of some sort that you could use instead of the storage heaters?
 
My wife (then gf) had similar problem a few years ago when she lived in rathmines - her bill for a one room bedsit was over £150 per 2 months. (1998/1999)

The problem was the timer for the nightsaver was out of sinc with the storage heater settings by about 5 hours. This meant the storage heater was heating the room at the wrong time, was charging up at full rate & then because it was cold, additional heating was used.

Finally got ESB to come out and correct the situation and bill reduced to under £70 for 2 months.
 
Hi L,

Here's my bill for the last 12 months. We live in a 4 bed detached house. It's empty all day so I don;t use the stotrage heaters 'cos the heat is gone from them by the time we get home in the evening. I guess you could say we use glorified convector units.

We use the kitchen , living room and only 1 of the bedrooms. The other 3 beds are unlived in.

Feb 2009 376.00
Dec 2008 350.00
Sept 2008 83.00
Jul 2008 107.00
Jun 2008 167.00
Apr 2008 369.00

Grand total of 1452.00

So that's heating , cooking , washing , dryer , lighting. One bill for the complete hiuse hold.

Does'nt seem so bad now that I look at it this way.

I'm open to commenets and suggestions. Gas has always been a consideration for upgrade.

By the way. The house is 10 years old. Timber framed construction.
 
Their domestic supply rates are up to 10% cheaper than ESB. In the process of switching to them myself.
 
Energy Minister Ryan has just said that he expects a double digit reduction in electricity rates this year.
 
Eblanoid said:
Their domestic supply rates are up to 10% cheaper than ESB. In the process of switching to them myself.
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what's to stop them upping their prices to whatever they like though, I don't think their prices are controlled. I can't find their prices on their website
 
sandrat said:
what's to stop them upping their prices to whatever they like though. I don't think their prices are controlled.
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It's called "competition". It's up to the consumer to choose which companies' prices/services they like the best. This is not North Korea.
All electricity suppliers are regulated by the Commission for Energy Regulation:
http://www.cer.ie


sandrat said:
I can't find their prices on their website
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Um:
 
Just wanted to add that I too had big ESB bills when I lived in a 2-bed apartment with storage heating. Never quite figured out what it was but 'night-saver' definitely wasn't saving me any money.
 
Hi,

Is your bill estimated??? got a bill at 300euros before but in fact I only owed the ESB 105euros...!! big difference :D
 
Send Airtricity an e-mail and they will send you back their rates, Eblanoid is right 10% Cheaper than ESB.

It just amazes me that everyone gripes about ESB prices, but would not consider switching their source to a supplier who is 10% cheaper, there is no risk, ESB networks are still obliged to deliver the Electricity to your house, maintain the network, read your meter etc.
 
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