Tech guys- What is your electricity bill?

jonneymendoza · 21 Feb 2021 at 11:08

I need to double check mine and change.

jonneymendoza · 21 Feb 2021 at 11:11

b0rn2sk8 said:
‘Tech’ really doesn’t cost very much to run, it’s all the other household stuff that does like tumble dryers, ovens, hobs, washing machines, dish washers etc.

Not really.

A decent home cinema setup zaps through energy for fun and a gaming desktop too.

Graphics cards alone take 200w these days.

And monitors also take some power too.

You also need to consider gaming consoles the latest ones taking up more power than the old ones.

Add all them up and it makes a huge difference

builder22 · 21 Feb 2021 at 11:11

If I ever replace my old plasma TV my electricity bill will probably half, and I’ll need to put the heating on more!

Freakbro · 21 Feb 2021 at 11:15

jonneymendoza said:
Not really.

A decent home cinema setup zaps through energy for fun and a gaming desktop too.

Yea, I get the feeling my 10 speaker Atmos system is the bulk of my leccy usage

jonneymendoza · 21 Feb 2021 at 11:16

builder22 said:
If I ever replace my old plasma TV my electricity bill will probably half, and I’ll need to put the heating on more!

My gaming pc heats up my office nicely over the last few weeks when it's been proper cold!

jaybee · 21 Feb 2021 at 13:50

Freakbro said:
Yea, I get the feeling my 10 speaker Atmos system is the bulk of my leccy usage

I measured my old yamaha av receiver (I say old, basically 1080p only) idle consumption and it's about 50w just turned on with nothing passing any sound through. A lot of the time people leave that on in my kitchen as it runs a couple of stereo speakers for alexa for decent stereo. I make that a fiver a month if left on constantly. Multiply these kind of habbits accross an entire household and you suddenly do have high bills.
Maybe I need to buy a decent efficient/intelligent amp that only springs into life when I actually need sound for alexa music.

the shadow · 21 Feb 2021 at 14:50

https://energycompare.citizensadvice.org.uk/

dlockers · 21 Feb 2021 at 14:58

jaybee said:
I measured my old yamaha av receiver (I say old, basically 1080p only) idle consumption and it's about 50w just turned on with nothing passing any sound through. A lot of the time people leave that on in my kitchen as it runs a couple of stereo speakers for alexa for decent stereo. I make that a fiver a month if left on constantly. Multiply these kind of habbits accross an entire household and you suddenly do have high bills.
Maybe I need to buy a decent efficient/intelligent amp that only springs into life when I actually need sound for alexa music.

Can't you plug it into a WiFi plug and then setup a scene in Alexa where it turns the app on first?

Lord-Jaffa · 21 Feb 2021 at 15:01

200sols said:
Ours is £149 a month with Bulb, 4 bed detached house.

Edit: Duel fuel that is!

Similar to mine, I keep thinking my meters must be faulty

andy_mk3 · 21 Feb 2021 at 15:16

My DD to Bulb for Gas & Elec is usually £150 a month. That's a 4 bed with 3 of us, plus running a couple of rackmount servers 24/7. It's going to be around £190/month currently while I'm doing some GPU mining.

jaybee · 21 Feb 2021 at 18:16

dLockers said:
Can't you plug it into a WiFi plug and then setup a scene in Alexa where it turns the app on first?

Hmm good point. So whenever Alexa plays any music get her to turn the amp on... could be done yeah.

Surveyor · 22 Feb 2021 at 00:30

It could be worse...

His Lights Stayed on During Texas’ Storm. Now He Owes $16,752.

“My savings is gone,” said Scott Willoughby, a 63-year-old Army veteran who lives on Social Security payments in a Dallas suburb. He said he had nearly emptied his savings account so that he would be able to pay the $16,752 electric bill charged to his credit card — 70 times what he usually pays for all of his utilities combined. “There’s nothing I can do about it, but it’s broken me.”

Under some of the plans, when demand increases, prices rise. The goal, architects of the system say, is to balance the market by encouraging consumers to reduce their usage and power suppliers to create more electricity.

But when last week’s crisis hit and power systems faltered, the state’s Public Utilities Commission ordered that the price cap be raised to its maximum limit of $9 per kilowatt-hour, easily pushing many customers’ daily electric costs above $100. And in some cases, like Mr. Willoughby’s, bills rose by more than 50 times the normal cost.

Nick1881 · 22 Feb 2021 at 11:27

We are with bulb, for some reason the cost has been creeping up over the last year, the payment was around £100 a month, but we ended up well behind, they recommended that we go up to £120 a month to help clear it, but the latest bill came through at £160! Not sure what is going on.

It's a fairly large 3 bed semi with detached annexe, the main house is on gas heating and cooker, annexe has no gas, using storage heaters plus air con with heat pump for top ups.

I think my personal usage is

Electric shower every morning.
Espresso machine running most of the day, average 1.5kwh per day
Dell T30 server
SFF gaming PC
TV and surround system at most 1 hour per day
2 x storage heaters

All lighting is LED.

dlockers · 22 Feb 2021 at 11:48

Nick1881 said:
We are with bulb, for some reason the cost has been creeping up over the last year, the payment was around £100 a month, but we ended up well behind, they recommended that we go up to £120 a month to help clear it, but the latest bill came through at £160! Not sure what is going on.

It's a fairly large 3 bed semi with detached annexe, the main house is on gas heating and cooker, annexe has no gas, using storage heaters plus air con with heat pump for top ups.

I think my personal usage is

Electric shower every morning.
Espresso machine running most of the day, average 1.5kwh per day
Dell T30 server
SFF gaming PC
TV and surround system at most 1 hour per day
2 x storage heaters

All lighting is LED.

Don't compare your monthly payment as it is somewhat irrelevant. Compare unit costs. Bulb is still cheaper than the majority of other providers, it is just they are a bit optimistic on the level you pay which then needs correcting. If interests rates weren't so crap I'd recommend you paying what you owe and sticking the top up into a savings account for the winter periods.

b0rn2sk8 · 22 Feb 2021 at 11:53

Even unit costs are irrelevant, they vary by postcode.

The only relevant number is useage in kWh.

chroniclard · 22 Feb 2021 at 11:59

Dual fuel, DD just gone up to £190.

LoadsaMoney · 22 Feb 2021 at 12:29

My leccys only about £45/£50 a month.

200sols · 22 Feb 2021 at 12:39

b0rn2sk8 said:
Even unit costs are irrelevant, they vary by postcode.

The only relevant number is useage in kWh.

No, the unit cost is the only number that matters. Cheapest unit cost = cheapest bill regardless of your usage.

Lord-Jaffa said:
Similar to mine, I keep thinking my meters must be faulty

Maybe it is! As if by magic Bulb email last night saying my DD wasn't enough, they had been too optimistic. They reckon I need to pay £173 a month now.

b0rn2sk8 · 22 Feb 2021 at 12:47

200sols said:
No, the unit cost is the only number that matters. Cheapest unit cost = cheapest bill regardless of your usage.

While that is true, the point I was making is that posting the unit costs in this thread is pointless because they vary by postcode. It probably will not be the same provider offering the cheapest rates either. The cheapest unit cost where I live will not be they same where you live making it irrelevant for comparison.

glenimp617 · 22 Feb 2021 at 12:55

We pay £90 a month for both gas and electric on octopus go. Currently £230 in credit.

5 bedroom house, 2 x elec cars, and more tech than a currys store

Something aint right with the OP if he's paying £70