What is a normal electricity bill for a one bed apartment?

Dr Bolouswki

Hi folks

I've seen average bills for electricity quoted as being approx €750 a year for a average family home.

My electricity bill, in a one bed apartment, has varied between €1000 and €1200 the last 3 years.

I have electric heating, but only use it (and I mean only) during the cold winter months, so maybe Dec to February. Consequently my March bill is €250 to €350, but the rest of the time each 2 month period varies from €120 to €180.

Does averaging €80-€100 a month sound right for a 1 bed apartment? It seems kind of high to me as all I have on in the house is a fridge, tv, about 1 hour of immersion water heater (on a timer at 6am)... use computer in the evening... that's about it?

Thanks for any opinions.

the_syco

Check if your provider has a minimum usage limit. Some do, and charge you a bit extra.

For Electric Ireland, see here.

The electric heaters generally take a decent chunk of money to run.

Have you ever plugged everything out, and checked to see if the disk is still spinning? Try doing it some day, and if it's still spinning when everything is plugged out, you may have found what's drinking your juice.

Moonbeam

750 a year for a family home does not sound accurate. Ours would be 4 times that.
In my 2 bed house it averaged about 45 a month for electricity but we had gas heating,non electric shower and gas hob.
We were also out all day.

PanBrian

It depends on what you use literally...but electricity prices keep increasing and will keep increasing unfortunately...

Nino Brown

Dr Bolouswki wrote: »

Hi folks

I've seen average bills for electricity quoted as being approx €750 a year for a average family home.

My electricity bill, in a one bed apartment, has varied between €1000 and €1200 the last 3 years.

I have electric heating, but only use it (and I mean only) during the cold winter months, so maybe Dec to February. Consequently my March bill is €250 to €350, but the rest of the time each 2 month period varies from €120 to €180.

Does averaging €80-€100 a month sound right for a 1 bed apartment? It seems kind of high to me as all I have on in the house is a fridge, tv, about 1 hour of immersion water heater (on a timer at 6am)... use computer in the evening... that's about it?

Thanks for any opinions.

I have a 2 bed apt. Ours is usually 110-120. I'm not careful about electricity at all, I leave lights on all day, I have several computers running constantly, so could probably get that down to E80 I reckon.
People always forget about lights when considering the costs. Unless you have energy saving bulbs, lights can cost a fortune if left on.

a 100W bulb at 8hrs a day is over E50 a year

KERSPLAT!

Average here for a small 2 bed bungalow is approx €130 bimonthly. That's with an electric shower, dryer, electric cooker and other normal things. OFCH.

Supplier is Airtricity

thehomeofDob

Moonbeam wrote: »

750 a year for a family home does not sound accurate. Ours would be 4 times that.
In my 2 bed house it averaged about 45 a month for electricity but we had gas heating,non electric shower and gas hob.
We were also out all day.

I would be similar.
I live alone in a two bedroom terraced house. Gas heating, no electric shower, with an electric stove and oven. No dryer. Night and day rates.
I spend an average of 45 per month.
Everything is off and unplugged when not in use.

Borderfox

March bill in for 2 bed apt and it's €400 all electric heating lighting cooking so not too bad

The_Conductor

Moonbeam wrote: »

750 a year for a family home does not sound accurate. Ours would be 4 times that.
In my 2 bed house it averaged about 45 a month for electricity but we had gas heating,non electric shower and gas hob.
We were also out all day.

I'd be inclined to echo Moonbeam on this- whoever is suggesting a family home with all-electrics can be run on 750 a year, is on something. At very least- they'd be using no heating.

There always are a few high cost type household items that are very expensive to run. Immersion heaters for one. Heating (of almost any type) is another- then you have silly little things like kettles which can be 2KW units- but they're only on for a few minutes at a time.

My last 2 month electric bill is 180- but I have a 400 Euro bill for gas heating ontop of that. From April onwards my gas bill goes down to nothing- but my electricity bill remains fairly constant. I do have CFL bulbs throughout- and most of the electrics are fairly modern efficient ones (Class B or C devices- nothing lower).

You could be anal- unplugging your fridge when you don't really need it, never using your freezer, limiting your TV to absolute minimum, cold showers etc- and bring it down- but is that living?

Frankly I don't believe that someone can light and heat their home of 750 a year (without taking extraordinary measures)

Vision of Disorder

I don't know how some of you are using so much electricity. :eek:

I, to be fair, do live alone in a two bedroom apartment. My average two month bill probably comes in around €60-65, my last one (complete with winter bounce) was €75. I've no other gas or heating bills on top of that. I'm not anal about unplugging stuff. I do use a dryer.

Eldarion

Vision of Disorder wrote: »

I don't know how some of you are using so much electricity. :eek:

I, to be fair, do live alone in a two bedroom apartment. My average two month bill probably comes in around €60-65, my last one (complete with winter bounce) was €75. I've no other gas or heating bills on top of that. I'm not anal about unplugging stuff. I do use a dryer.

€60-€65 per month or €60-€65 for the TWO months? That's insanely low if your electricity bill is ~€30 per month.

2 Bed apartment it was coming in anywhere between €110-140 bimonthly depending on the time of year. Funnily enough I'm seeing pretty much the same €110-140 bimonthly in a 3 bed house these days.

Greenmachine

I live in a small one bedroom place. In my place now 10 months. Biggest bill so far was for march. November bill was about €10 under actual usage. January bill was about €30 under our usage. I did not make adjustment to either bill. Most recent bill was €165 odd euro. Received last bill 6 day after it was issued. It was within 50 units of my actual usage so bang up to date. So far €485. Expect May bill to be max €120. Out of the house most of day.

Just to add that we have led lighting through out the flat. This does not include washing machine. Washing machine is located in a share hallway and operated by a coin meter. Takes at least €7 a week from me. 2 loads of clothes and 1 load of bedding and towels. Times that by 52. It add about €400 to the annual bill. Landlord is making money hand over fist on that one. Three l flat sharing the one washing machine.

On the other hand parents house summer bills are over €100 each and winter bills in the 100's plus home heating oil bill in a year over a grand.

jester77

Dr Bolouswki wrote: »

Hi folks

I've seen average bills for electricity quoted as being approx €750 a year for a average family home.

My electricity bill, in a one bed apartment, has varied between €1000 and €1200 the last 3 years.

I have electric heating, but only use it (and I mean only) during the cold winter months, so maybe Dec to February. Consequently my March bill is €250 to €350, but the rest of the time each 2 month period varies from €120 to €180.

Does averaging €80-€100 a month sound right for a 1 bed apartment? It seems kind of high to me as all I have on in the house is a fridge, tv, about 1 hour of immersion water heater (on a timer at 6am)... use computer in the evening... that's about it?

Thanks for any opinions.

80-100 sounds very high. In my last apartment (1 bedroom + office) I was paying 65 a month. Dishwasher and washing machine would run a few times a week, a server running 24/7 and then the usual appliances after that. And electricity is cheap in Ireland compared to here in Germany. You should look more into what is causing the bill to be so high, halogen bulbs are a major culprit.

sebcity

Seems high.
I live in a one bed apartment. A lot of 50w downlighters, 2 fish tanks running constantly and the usual rest of the appliances. We are paying 45 - 55 a month max, less in the summer.

naughtysmurf

No such thing as a normal electricity bill, depends totally on your usage and your supplier.

You need to change your supplier every 12 months to avail of any discounts available

Some of the posters bills do seem high though, I've looked at my last 12 months bills & the average per month is €90 , that's for a 4 bed semi, family of 4

Vision of Disorder

Eldarion wrote: »

€60-€65 per month or €60-€65 for the TWO months? That's insanely low if your electricity bill is ~€30 per month.

For the two months. It seems low to me too but, as I said, it's just me, out working during the day, often away at the weekends, it doesn't seem unbelievably, crazy low to me either. I don't turn the heating on, there was storage heaters in my last place and the person I lived with was constantly turning them on... those bills were frightening! :eek:

djimi

Vision of Disorder wrote: »

I don't know how some of you are using so much electricity. :eek:

I, to be fair, do live alone in a two bedroom apartment. My average two month bill probably comes in around €60-65, my last one (complete with winter bounce) was €75. I've no other gas or heating bills on top of that. I'm not anal about unplugging stuff. I do use a dryer.

Seeing as how the standing charge would account for a good half (if not more) of those bills, you must quite literally never turn on anything while at home. If you had said €65 per month for a single person in a two bed apartment then I could believe it, but €65 is abnormally low for a two month electric bill.

When I lived alone in a two bed apartment I was very conscious of the electricity that I used (I was stretching my budget as it was on the rent), and the three bills that I had in that time were all in or around €120. This was over the summer months so no heating to speak of (I think I might have had the bedroom heater set to come on for an hour in the morning for a few weeks when I moved in first). Immersion on for (I think) about 90 minutes a day, washer and dryer once a week, cooker, PC (switched off and plugged out when I was not there), TV and the light on in whichever room I happened to be in. There wasnt a whole lot that I could have done to bring that down much more, short of not be in the place!

Slunk

I have a one bed apartment and electricity bill is only approximately 60 every two months. Christmas bill was 80 euro. Electric cooker and heaters although I never use heaters as there is gas central heating included in our rent.

Vision of Disorder

djimi wrote: »

Seeing as how the standing charge would account for a good half (if not more) of those bills, you must quite literally never turn on anything while at home. If you had said €65 per month for a single person in a two bed apartment then I could believe it, but €65 is abnormally low for a two month electric bill.

I'll take a picture for your scepticism when the opportunity presents itself (could be a few days).

The_Conductor

Slunk wrote: »

I never use heaters as there is gas central heating included in our rent.

My gas heating (alone) comes to 3-4 times my electricity bill at this time of the year (and is supplemented at night by electric heating at a low enough temperature, in the children's rooms). You're actually really really lucky to have the heating included in your rent- for Ireland its most unusual- and at this time of the year, possibly worth hundreds in its own right.

djimi

Vision of Disorder wrote: »

I'll take a picture for your scepticism when the opportunity presents itself (could be a few days).

Im not doubting you; Im just saying that considering your bill will be somewhere in the region of €30-€40 before you use a single unit of power (I cant remember exactly what the standing charge is), it is very unusual for you to use about a tenners worth of electricity a month, and would in no way reflect the average usage.

Slunk

I think the standing charge is around 15/16 euro and I think its per billing period and not per month. A few little things may help. When we moved in there were five bulbs in each light in the rooms. Removed all but one and changed it to energy saver. All your elwctonics like TV DVD laptop PlayStation etc plug into an extension lead and unplug at night. The only thing I leave plugged in is the UPC beside the extension lead

Dr Bolouswki

Thanks for all the replies - its great to get such a response.

I got the €750 figure here - an online calculator to give you averages for energy bills.

It certainly seems, from the specific references by a number of 1 bed and 2 bed apartment owners, that I am perhaps a bit high, although further examination of exactly how seems required. From colloquial evidence, most of my friends seem to be around the lower end of what I pay (i.e. €60 or €70 a month). I don't have open access to the meter so I can't turn everything off and then check the rate it increases, although I like the idea so will try and get access. Thanks for that.

I was considering getting some work done in my house that would give me a single switch (like a big red light switch) beside my alarm, that would essentially turn off all sockets except nominated points like fridge, washing machine etc. Perhaps I can lower things that way.

Anyways, thanks for all the feedback - you folks are great!

desertcircus

In a one-bed; our bill comes in at about 90-100 every two months, and gas is 26 a month over that.

JohnK

For reference, my Jan & Feb bill came in this week and for one person living in a two bed apartment its come to €711.14

zl1whqvjs75cdy

I get the gas and electricity from airtricity. Monthly bill is about 110 quid total for two people in a two bed apartment. Seems pretty good judging on the other figures here.

djimi

JohnK wrote: »

For reference, my Jan & Feb bill came in this week and for one person living in a two bed apartment its come to €711.14

Thats the opposite extreme to the poster who is paying €60 per bill :eek:

How do you manage to build up a bill that high?

Mrs W

That seems very high, I live in 3 bed semi and our gas and elec is about 40 per week. We have a baby and I'm here most days so the heating is on a good bit.
During the summer we normally don't use the heating at all so I'd expect them to be less then

Greenmachine

JohnK wrote: »

For reference, my Jan & Feb bill came in this week and for one person living in a two bed apartment its come to €711.14

€700++ euro my eye are bleeding.

goat2

four of us and ours is between 180euro and 220euro each two months, we heat with solid fuel and oil, and i do not use clothes drier much, we never use immersion, we cook with gas hob and electric oven,
we have electric shower find it hand in summer,
but it is used all yr round,

JohnK

djimi wrote: »

Thats the opposite extreme to the poster who is paying €60 per bill :eek:

How do you manage to build up a bill that high?

Storage heaters; oh how I loathe them!

Of course it doesn't help that the front/main room has two big windows that are each about 20ftx8ft so its not exactly the most energy efficient of apartments. Plenty of light though :pac:

goat2

the most important thing needed where there are huge windows like that are a good heavy blind, and a set of heavy lined curtains, they would keep the place snug in the cold months,
glass is very cold and heat is drawn to cold,
you need the best heavy material curtains and blinds for windows that big,
they really do insulate,
floor to ceiling and covering past the window each side,
pelmets were used in the old days to keep heat in room also,
we have to go back to basics to stay warm and keep bills down,
i have the same heavy curtains and blinds along with pelmets covering my windows with the past fifteen yrs,
they are a good investment

Slunk

€700 for electricity, I thiink id cry. We have three large windows in our front room that lose so much heat. A thick set of curtains is what's needed. Id rather buy an extra jumper in penny's than pay a 700 euro bill. The windows are great in the summer though.

djimi

JohnK wrote: »

Storage heaters; oh how I loathe them!

Of course it doesn't help that the front/main room has two big windows that are each about 20ftx8ft so its not exactly the most energy efficient of apartments. Plenty of light though :pac:

We stopped using the storage heaters after one winter of high bills. Invested in some good thick curtains, some net curtains (from Penneys; voile I think they are called?) and a decent plug in oil filled radiator and our electric bills dropped by about 30%. Never again will I use a storage heater at home; complete waste of money, especially for a house that is empty during the day.

goat2

i bet the booster of these storage heaters eat into pocket,
a friend of mine had to get out of a flat with storage heaters,
they had lost heat in evening and he had to switch on booster, they were way too much expense for him,
he moved into a place with a fireplace and now at least he goes to bed warm,
he told me that he had to wear his coat in the flat evenings and was going to bed freezing,
he paid about 575 pm for this fridge, my guess is insulation was an issue also

zl1whqvjs75cdy

My first apartment had storage heating. Jesus its so ****e. So many apartments seem to have it now, presume its much cheaper to install than oil'gas boiler. You could see your breath in the mornings when you woke up. We used to stay in the pub all day after work just for the warmth. We were only on a 6 month contract so didn't have the chance to move really. But never again will I have storage heaters.

goat2

yes they are far cheaper to install, if one were to put in oil central heating it would cost four times more, and as is the law, you have to have central heating or heating in each room in house,
best type of heating is a solid fuel stove, it heats radiators, provides hot water, and also heats the room the stove is in, also one can buy many different forms of fuel, turf, wood, briquettes, slack, coal, which ever suits the pocket at a given time,
also one does not have to have a wad of money to fill tanks with oil, if you are on your last few euro at least you can afford to heat the place,

also with storage heaters, my personal experience was that when i need the heat in evenings, they had nearly expired of the heat,
one then has a huge bill when using booster,
also with the stove you have the hot water for washing, where that would normally be heated by element where storage heaters are concerned,
all in all storage heaters are a nuisance,

DoozerT6

I live in a one-bed apartment with storage heating. During the coldest months, my bill can be around €300/two months. During the summer it can get below €100/two months. However, this winter I only turned on one of the two storage heaters in my living room/kitchen. I only turned on the second one for a couple of weeks during that cold snap in Feb. Hopefully that will knock the bill down a bit.

Storage heating is the tool of the devil.

JohnK

DoozerT6 wrote: »

...Storage heating is the tool of the devil.

Seriously, I could not agree more; for a typical household its completely useless as any storage heater will be heating an empty house/apartment during the day while you’re away and be cold, or nearly cold, by the time you get home from work. At least for myself, I work from home, so generally I get a benefit from the heat during the day but if I was going out to an office or visit a client etc. it would be a complete waste as the money spent heating the apartment for the day is lost.

If or when I move from where I'm currently living, the presence of storage heaters will be a deciding factor in that it'll be a cold day in hell before I again rent where they are present as frankly they just aren't worth it.

ceroc81

The last 2 years I've been using 3600 kWh / year which is translate to roughly 65€/month.