Average electricity bill

jillyb · 08-01-2012 2:16am #1

hey there

I Know this thread has been done before but thought i'd do an updated one

We moved from a 3 bed duplex apt to a 3 bed house in september.

Since them our electricity bill has gone from around €80 to €135 bi monthly

This seem like a lot to me even with the charges going up , opinions?

However the only common denomintor is our third housemate. he wasn't living with us in our last place .he is also gone home at weekends and I also work elsewhere part time so am away half the week. so cannot work out why its so much dearer

He does leave his alarm clock, tv etc on standby in his room and i think he has a convector heater- not sure how much he uses it though.

Every other room in the house is the same as our last place, stuff plugged etc.

thanks

angel01 · 08-01-2012 1:44pm

Are they actual readings or estimates?

jillyb · 08-01-2012 5:16pm

well airtricity took a reading on the 18th of nov and we received the bill on the 15th of dec so its probably pretty accurate.

Will submit a reading right before the next bill to ensure totally accurate.

Just wondering what are peoples average? to get an idea if ours is normal, but doubt it!

odds_on · 08-01-2012 5:30pm

Did you not see a BER cert for the house to give you an idea?

IMHO, a house will probably be more expensive to heat than an apartment (duplex or not). Unless you are in a mid terrace house, you have 3 sides open to the elements, plus you have nothing below you nor above you.
The house (especially if it is an older one) will probably have poorer insulation than most apartments.

jillyb · 08-01-2012 5:37pm

odds_on wrote: »

Did you not see a BER cert for the house to give you an idea?

IMHO, a house will probably be more expensive to heat than an apartment (duplex or not). Unless you are in a mid terrace house, you have 3 sides open to the elements, plus you have nothing below you nor above you.
The house (especially if it is an older one) will probably have poorer insulation than most apartments.[/QUOTE/]

hey odds_on - yeah the BER Cert is C i think but its the electricity bill thats high strangely enough not the gas heating. I was expecting what you said as its a house with gas fire and larger but
on the same bill the gas was only €30 for a month - billed us only one month for some reason. While the electricity was €136 for two months!!

Blikes · 08-01-2012 5:40pm

3 Bed Terrace House , 2 occupants.

Around 130/140 per bill usually!

Azureus · 08-01-2012 5:43pm

I used to live in a 3bed semi, two of us in it and the bills were c.€130 every two months.
Now I live in a two bed apartment and my billsm are between €60-€90 so that sounds about right-you lose a lot more heat in houses depending how well they're insulated and theres more to heat.

Leeg17 · 08-01-2012 5:45pm

Ours was €120 for around 5 weeks usage (Say Sept-Mid Oct) and then €200e for Mid Oct - 6th Jan. 5 occupants, middle of a 3 house terrace.

odds_on · 08-01-2012 5:55pm

Azureus wrote: »

I used to live in a 3bed semi, two of us in it and the bills were c.€130 every two months.
Now I live in a two bed apartment and my billsm are between €60-€90 so that sounds about right-you lose a lot more heat in houses depending how well they're insulated and theres more to heat.

As I understand the OP, he has gas heating in the house, so the electricty bill should only cover appliances: fridge, freezer, lights, TV, and possibly: cooking, electric shower, emersion if used. OP also mentioned that one house mate possibly had a convector heater in his room.

P. Breathnach · 08-01-2012 6:19pm

I presume that the water is heated by the gas CH system. Unless there is some serious cooking going on, an electric cooker should not cost a fortune to run (granted, it probably costs more than lights and television).

I see "convector heater" and I think "Ah! There's the prime suspect".

ronan45 · 08-01-2012 6:21pm

It depends you can have 1 house mate that pulls everyones bill off the scale. For example a guy i live with DESPITE the gas heating on for half the day which he instigated puts on his fan heater in his room on constant (i know this cos the vibration of it buzzes down stairs) and opens his window to cool down. Then runs the drier from soggin wet clothes. Has to put oven on for 1 hour previous to cooking a pizza . LOL really depends on how waste conscioius ur house mates are. And i guess his mini fridge in his room doesnt help either!

jillyb · 08-01-2012 7:12pm

odds_on wrote: »

As I understand the OP, he has gas heating in the house, so the electricty bill should only cover appliances: fridge, freezer, lights, TV, and possibly: cooking, electric shower, emersion if used. OP also mentioned that one house mate possibly had a convector heater in his room.

yeah its the electricity bill only thats increased. we have gas heating. i would have thought the gas bill would have been the high one not the electricity.

There is 3 of us in the house. same number as last place but the third tenant in this place isn't the same person as the last place.

yeah was tryin figure out what is causing the increase, only common denominator is the new guy!

odds_on · 08-01-2012 7:23pm

As a point of interest, have you all signed the same lease for the house or do you each have leases for your bedrooms? Or do you, OP have the lease of the house and letting the third tenant live with you?

jillyb · 08-01-2012 7:31pm

No its a joint lease, he's my boyfriends friend. We were moving down, he was here working so we all decided to look for a place together!

what i cant understand though is him & i are away half the week- a r diff times though. my boyfriend is the only one there all week after work but his friend jokes thats he's the electricity nazi so its def not him causing the bills!!

Baralis1 · 08-01-2012 8:38pm

I was in a 4 bed semi a few years ago. Our bill used to be around 80 euro during the summer but every winter the bill used to peak at 160, gradually rising during the autumn. We couldn't understand it. None of us used electric heaters much and the house was oil heated.
In the end we figured out that it was actually the oil boiler that was using it. I'm not familar with gas boilers but is there any chance that the gas boiler is causing the extra usage?

tara73 · 08-01-2012 8:54pm

jillyb wrote: »

yeah was tryin figure out what is causing the increase, only common denominator is the new guy!

don't know what's all the guessing about but this is your answer. one more person in the house means more electricity use.
you stated you had 80 € bimonthly for 2 people. now one more person, add 40 €, makes 120 €. you say he uses a convector heater and he might use other electrical devices if he's there (computer/tv).

I think you can be actually quite lucky that the bill is not higher than 135€ with the convector in use. have a look about these issues on other threads...

Diarmuid · 08-01-2012 9:06pm

Three bed semi-d in South Dublin. 2 of us. About €60/month. Heating is oil.

Milk & Honey · 08-01-2012 9:40pm

Baralis1 wrote: »

I was in a 4 bed semi a few years ago. Our bill used to be around 80 euro during the summer but every winter the bill used to peak at 160, gradually rising during the autumn. We couldn't understand it. None of us used electric heaters much and the house was oil heated.
In the end we figured out that it was actually the oil boiler that was using it. I'm not familar with gas boilers but is there any chance that the gas boiler is causing the extra usage?

One thing that will cause a gradual increase is lighting. As the days shorten the lights are turned on earlier and earlier. If there is an electric immersion the water coming in from outside will be cooler so the immersion will have to do more work to heat the water. Ditto with the kettle and the washing machine. Some electric heaters use 2 units an hour. Even occasional short periods can add up in a two month period.

jillyb · 09-01-2012 12:30am

tara73 wrote: »

don't know what's all the guessing about but this is your answer. one more person in the house means more electricity use.
you stated you had 80 € bimonthly for 2 people. now one more person, add 40 €, makes 120 €. you say he uses a convector heater and he might use other electrical devices if he's there (computer/tv).

I think you can be actually quite lucky that the bill is not higher than 135€ with the convector in use. have a look about these issues on other threads...

hey, no there were 3 of us in the duplex aswell just a different third person. what i dont understand is that half the week both myself and the new guy are away even if he uses the heater when he's there.

in the old place me and the old third person were on reduced hours so we were there more and the bill was less!!

Thats why was thinking it was the new guy but he's still only here half the week!

tara73 · 09-01-2012 1:11am

jillyb wrote: »

hey, no there were 3 of us in the duplex aswell just a different third person. what i dont understand is that half the week both myself and the new guy are away even if he uses the heater when he's there.

in the old place me and the old third person were on reduced hours so we were there more and the bill was less!!

Thats why was thinking it was the new guy but he's still only here half the week!

alright, sorry was just writing the last post when the same time you clarified it with yours.:)

did you check if the bill is estimated??

jillyb · 09-01-2012 1:20am

no prob tara73, thanks for the response!

ya airtricity took a reading on the 18th of nov and we received the bill on the 15th of dec so its probably pretty accurate.

Think we will submit a reading right before the next bill to ensure its totally accurate and go from there!

The_Conductor · 09-01-2012 8:11am

As a generalisation- in the absence of electrical heating systems, electricity bills tend to be 15-20% less in apartments than in other property types (combination of factors including more newer energy efficient appliances/lighting and modern thermostats). Even a new television can use 7 to 8 Euro less per month in standby mode than an equivalent sized older one.

If heating is factored into the equation- as per the above comments- you *need* to see the BER cert (and to be honest you should have asked to see one anyhow). We have had the warmest winter on record thus far- you mightn't think so- but some nights last year were 25 degrees colder than current nights- if you have a poorly insulated property, you might not notice your heating bill so much at the moment- but if the temperature swings back into normal territory (between 3 and 5 degrees lower than at present) or worse- back to where we were last winter- then you'd be in for heart failure if/when you get your heating bill.

It really is the case that we've been lucky as hell with our heating bills this winter.

Electricity bills are less weather dependent than heating bills..........

Average electricity bill

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