Whats your energy bill like?

rob316

This when deregulation falls flat on its arse for the consumer, there should be no private operators in control of our electrical supply it should be fully nationalised again. They are all churning out record profits on a service you absolutely can not live with.

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120165413#Comment_120165413

Absolutely no way, when it was a monopoly it was expensive too, no such thing as 40% discount for 12 months with those boyos they'd cut you off in the blink of an eye😡 and get pleasure in doing it too...

Hooked

We (wife and I) moved 14 months ago. BIIIG gaff. Too big for two... 😮 but hey, we're happy. And you're only here once! Right?

My dread was the ESB bill... house is 3,100 sq ft. On average - the bill was 120-140 every 2 months (climbed with unit rate increases). Then the "worst bill" was Xmas... 211. But we had NEW CUSTOMER 30% discounts.

I think I worked out that over a 12 month period we had 200x3 and 50 Xmas credit (650) and had to stump up about 300 ourselves (950). IN A YEAR!

I managed to hussle a 10% off offer in December for next 12 months. Anyone I chat to about our ESB bill thinks we live like paupers, which we don't! BUT then again - we rarely use dishwasher, as when we lived in a smaller house we simply never had one (no room). We only watch the one TV and favour an air fryer (or slow cooker) over the oven. And we have 2 'power showers' - so we tend to wash in these (opposed to the elec. ones) when the heating has the tank nice and warm. Especially over winter.

Apart from leccy - we have gas hob, piped in from garage. Took us 9 months to empty a 11.5kg cylinder! I managed to pick up 2 x 34kg empties which I had filled at cost price by a mate in the business so that's the gas sorted till 2024 LOL. We do get through a bit of Kerosene with the heating but still only go through about a 1000L tank a year (winter OCT-FEB), based on the last 12 months receipts.

I got a small amount of coal and eco logs back in late August - which we have only half burned through - because I take small, clean, dry pallets home from work to chop up and burn in the stove *(main living room) or open fire (second living room).

Phew!

All in - I guess it's cost us (not counting 650 credit) circa 2500 across all energy bills (esb, gas, oil, fire/fuel) in our 1st year - so about 7euro a day?

A fiver a day if you take off the esb's 650. And that's between 2 😉

Bobeagleburger

Electric showers are one of the biggest hogs on electricity. They draw 9/10kWh when in use, so if you've two or three people using them every day, it can add to up to a lot of cash at current electricity unit costs.

Pumped showers use about 5% of the electricity costs, so if you've another way of heating your water cheaper, solar, oil, gas, heating at night rate, it can work out cheaper to use pumped.

daheff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120099074#Comment_120099074

so electricity bill came in now too. thats 410. Less my 800 credit means i'm in credit to 400. Energia playing silly buggers wanting a reading to refund me....yet can bill me with an estimate!

On a side note, out of contract on Electricity. looking at changing, but excepting the Flogas Fixed rate (no thanks with prices set to drop) can't see any plans that would mean anything better than I'm on -even with cashbacks.

strange times.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120166011#Comment_120166011

I'd say its not as simple as just what the cost is to heat. Its if you heat the water when you don't need it too often. That could outweigh the cheaper cost of heating it. I think the more you are not using energy, will make more of a difference.

CGI_Livia_Soprano

My energy costs have actually gone down for the most part. It helps that I grew up in a home without electricity or central heating.

We don’t live in a tropical climate: layering up, reading by candlelight, and turning off any electric lights when you leave the room are valuable lessons to learn. I genuinely think some Irish people think that they have some sort of divine right to play 700Watt gaming PCs all night in a t-shirt and shorts in the middle of the winter.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120166691#Comment_120166691

You might need an upgrade.... https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Power-Supply-Units/axi-series-config/p/CP-9020087-NA

893bet

https://www.todayfm.com/news/parents-turn-off-lights-in-empty-rooms-333-times-a-year-1431447

Ye could save 12.50 by turning off lights. **** lol.

Electricity all been too cheap far too long IMO.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120166834#Comment_120166834

Some people have 333 lights in their gaming PC

Bobeagleburger

LED bulbs make a good difference too.

You can get 6W LED bulbs that have the same power as 60W. Ten of those is the same as one old style 60W.

Quick win and not too expensive.

Ubbquittious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120166691#Comment_120166691

Interesting where did you live off the grid and how did it go for you?

No self respecting gamer would bother with a 700W PSU now. 1kW minimum. Plus VR goggles, gaming chair with surround sound, empty dorito packets and dominos boxes everywhere on the floor, beard, 'humorous' t-shirt all down in Mom's basement of course.

NIMAN

Think our level pay with BG is now around €120 per month.

Frank Grimes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120170642#Comment_120170642

Ah yes, "mom's basement", the staple of Irish culture for decades. If you're going to try to rubbish a post at least try to make it relevant to this country.

antodeco

Im unfortunately paying for my own utility bills, and my ex's utility bills. Total of €1665 for 2 months for gas and Electricity, and another €200 for broadband/TV. So I've paid €1865 for utility bills for just the last 2 months, and my own rent is €1950 per month too! So my spend on rent and utility bills for the last 2 months has come to €5565!

Thank goodness for the government credits, but it's still back to the wall territory for me

SCOOP 64

Jesus €5565, can only dream to be paid enought to pay it.

antodeco

I'd rather be paid less and have no bills 🤣

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120171068#Comment_120171068

Sure...

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120171353#Comment_120171353

Fitting pic btw...

RetroEncabulator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120170896#Comment_120170896

It’d be rather challenging to live in an Irish basement, considering 99.999% of houses don’t have one. They’re a feature of older construction in very cold climates as a way of insulating the house from frozen ground. Never have been used here.

Flinty997

Certainly basements or cellars are rare in Ireland.

Though Irish Georgian houses often have basements and cellars. Often used for coal in the day.

https://www.thejournal.ie/georgian-cellars-dublin-908479-May2013/

antodeco

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120171883#Comment_120171883

PM across your email address and I'll send you over all the bills

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120174212#Comment_120174212

Done👍👍👍you want me to get my card reader too?

AvalonEnaid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120137343#Comment_120137343

It's usually better to check your machines consumption values before deciding on which program to use.

Using my machine as an example, The Eco 40-60 (first three rows) has a better overall energy performance than the others despite sometimes taking longer to run.

Also, I've been using cold water washes since forever and nothing bad has ever happened ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

unimaginativeusername

One person in two bed apartment. 100% Electric.

Oct-Nov bill was €175 so in a credit of €25 after the first government €200 applied. In credit of €225 when second €200 applied.

Dec-Jan bill came in at €375 so €150 to pay after the total credit of €225 taken off.

Hand on heart, I don’t believe I increased my usage by that much across Dec-Jan. There were some v cold days so it’s entirely possible of course but I rarely use the heating, I don’t have a tumble dryer, and I leave nothing plugged in when not in use bar the TV/Wifi. I suspect the kettle might be the worst culprit as I opted for hot water bottles over turning the heat on but even then it seems like a mad increase.

On a related note, if anyone has energy monitor recommendations I’d be interested to hear them. They seem to range from simple plugs with readers to home monitoring systems but I don’t think that’s necessary.

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120175995#Comment_120175995

Have you come out of contract with your provider? That could explain the jump in costs as you will be paying full price per unit. I have an owl monitor and find it very good as you can see exactly how much is being used. If you have a well or septic tank check that they aren't faulty and are running constantly. Speaking to people who have modern air to water heating they find it's best to leave it on constantly and turn the temperature up and down as needed. Turning it off and then turning it on as the house gets cold like an oil fired system is very expensive.

unimaginativeusername

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120176166#Comment_120176166

I’m actually a new customer with the provider. It’s very possible I did increase my usage by the 2.5 times but seeing what other people are saying about bigger homes and more people and their usage being similar to mine for the two months does seem odd.

Thanks for the Owl monitor info! That one and the Efergy monitors seem to come up most.

walterking

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120137347#Comment_120137347

We finish off drying in a dryer at night rate - even on a cold day you'll get a lot of drying done.

Have dishwasher, but we've got into the habit of handwashing a lot. It uses up hot water and saves. But dishwasher is used at the weekends and again, the economy setting is used.

Changing t the most economical setting and especially the quick wash on washing machines is a HUGE money saver and with most people only wearing clothes once before sending to wash, there is absolutely no need whatsoever for the standard 2 hour+ programmes.

walterking

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120159086#Comment_120159086

Both SSE & Electric Ireland have said that they will operate on a near zero profit this year.

Its those with the gas fields that are making the big profits

bobcatboo123

Electricity bill with EI almost 500 for 2 months. Before gov credit. Family of 5, we have gas heating. Never use the dryer, have switched off the water heater under sink in kitchen, rarely use immersion.

From looking at the data, the electric Shower seems to be adding a lot to the bill. One category 'heating' has been consistently high even through the summer. The only thing I can think of is the dehumidifier? We have gas heating so not sure what else it could be.