Whats your energy bill like?

Username here

https://amzn.eu/d/amWKS0Y

4 smart plugs with energy monitoring for under €42, so about a tenner each. Normally €57 - who knows how long the current discount is for....

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120131085#Comment_120131085

Ha ha, pun busters😏

almostover

Came out of contract at end of Nov 2022 and went to with Electric Ireland and their night boost plan. Was the best deal I could find.

2 of us living in a 4 bed semi-d, 125 sqm. House is a slightly strange setup, structure was built in 2009 but became a ghost estate, houses were finished in 2021 and assigned an A3 rating based on the retro fitting that was done. We have cavity wall with 50mm insulation which was drylined with 62.5mm insulated plasterboard. A2W heat pump running the rads in the house. 2009 spec double glazing. Living room fireplace was fitted with a small stove so as not to have a gaping hole though which heat would escape. I'd say we've lit it 5 times in the 14 months we've been living here. Doors are similar, 2009 era double glazed PVC. Upstairs thermostat set to 18C and downstairs 19C. Showers run off the heat pump hot water supply. We have an induction hob and electric oven so all appliances are electric. We use our tumble dryer sparingly. We have an American style fridge freezer which is great but reviewing the breakdown on the Electric Ireland account it is a bit of a beast on electricity, about €20 per month!.

Electricity bill for 11-Dec to 11-Jan was €261 for 705 kWh. This time last year €610 kWh cost us €146. That's an increase from to 24c to 37c / kWh which is a 54% cost increase per unit! I had remarked at the end of November that our yearly electricity bill was approx. €1,300 which included heating and how efficient that was, but new new price regime is nuts. Used approx. 4700 kWh of electricity from Nov 2021 to Nov 2022. Annual review time is coming up at work soon, going to take a massive pay rise for me to keep up with rising costs!

fits

Just got my bill for two months November and December 700 day units 1300 night units.

car is taking about 500 night units a month.

fun loving criminal

Charged €65 after the €200 electricity credit was applied. For a one bed apartment.

Not bad at all. But I will be out of contract with my current energy supplier in a few weeks and I'm thinking is it worth changing electricity providers then?

walterking

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120127505#Comment_120127505

Nothing. A basic calculator and knowing power consumption of each appliance and unit rate will do.

Eg. My Tumble dryer is rated 2,000 watts. 1000 watts in unit of electricity, per hour.

So 2 units an hour @, 12.5c rate for 1 hour 15 min = 30c (2.25 units)

Daytime, this would cost me €1.10

If you have a smart meter you get in-depth insights free online. So I can see the exact cost of electricity used between 3am & 4am or whatever time (in 30 min segments)

walterking

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128139#Comment_120128139

Biggest consumption is probably washing machine and dryer.

Use the quick wash for most things.

Allow the clothes air dry for a day and finish the drying in the dryer.

Similarly if you have a dishwasher - express wash unless plates are particularly dirty. And hand wash items that don't need much cleaning.

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

No dryer or dishwasher

An energy saver dehumidifier is a brilliant alternative to a tumble dryer. Some are rated at less than 200W.

Graces7

Shocked at the price of coal now... I intend to use more ESB now. LOVE the solid fuel stove though and it heats the water..

zell12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120127329#Comment_120127329

You can batch cook at night, caller. Save €€€s

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120139552#Comment_120139552

Do you not need to sleep at night?

zell12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120139571#Comment_120139571

You go to bed early, up at 5am, then three hours of half price electricity to go mad

irishRovers

Don't know watt everybody is on about, my account is hundreds of euros in credit (and still 2 more 200 euro checks and electric Ireland 50 euro check to go!)

Gas and Oil prices are at an all time low! Certainly cheaper than this time last year or say Celtic Tiger times.

Am I missing something?

newmember2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120139609#Comment_120139609

Me too, leccy bill in last week €-99.93.

irishRovers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120139609#Comment_120139609

Graphs of relative cheap gas and oil prices...

Natural Gas Commodity Prices

Crude Oil Commodity Prices

kippy

Some of the bills here are eye watering.

The common denominator seems to be heat pumps but not exclusively.

Spend for oil from September till hopefully end of Feb is 700. Last elec bill was 290 think that was from October and November. Most of that bill took into account the new standard unit rate.

Expecting a bump for December and Jan.

Also have solid fuel stove that we put on every second night. Wood from our own source.

1600 square foot, 2000 year of construction, 2 storey detached. 2 adults and 3 kids.

Planning to replace the front door this summer and pump the walls and hopefully that will improve things a good bit more in relation to oil use.

LaoisWeather

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120088441#Comment_120088441

Sorry for going slightly off topic - but the "gold foil under laminate insulation" you mention - is it good?

Is this the stuff, or is there better on the market? https://www.irishflooring.ie/product/super-gold-5mm-wood-flooring-underlay-15-sq-mtr/

Last ESB Bill here before Christmas was €390 before the Govt Grant. My next bill should see the EI €50 discount.

irishRovers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120139650#Comment_120139650

Are you sure Unions aren't artificially inflating Prices ahead of wage negotiations...

then the following credit crunch decreases prices back down?

For example, working with their socialist comrades in Russia to squeeze gas prices

irishRovers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120139668#Comment_120139668

Seriously, what has Irish wood flooring got to do with electricity prices?

fits

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120139666#Comment_120139666

I’m pretty happy with our 350 euro bill for November and December. That’s all our heating(Heat pump) , cooking and 80% of transport by car ( ev). 2a2c in a 2017 built 1800 sq ft house detached.

Im on the very good fixed energia ev rate though. And we run our washing appliances and charge the ev on the night rate.

kippy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120140857#Comment_120140857

Tbf that is very good.

Liam2021

Nov Dec bill came in at €281. We do 75% of all use is at night. Running 2 ev's washing, dishwasher, immersion. On energia ev plan day/night meter.

namloc1980

Electricity bill for Nov/Dec was €241 before the energy credit, so €41 afterwards. 2 adults and 2 kids, terraced house. Electricity usage this Nov/Dec down on the same period last year by about 15%. Not sure why as didn't change much in our usage.

Gas bill for the same period around €280.

LeeroyJ.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058278503/whats-your-energy-bill-like

Same as, 2 Adults working full time from home. Small Dublin city Terrace.

345 EUR for 68 days. 470 Night units and 421 day units. Electric Car charged about once every 2 weeks.

zell12

At least, we may have partial answer why our bills are higher than other countries

“the permanent rebalancing from 1st October 2010 of network tariffs towards LEUs to be paid for by higher prices to domestic consumers”.

“Network tariffs were rebalanced in favour of large energy users as a means by which to help safeguard employment in some of Ireland’s most-critical and export-orientated industries at a crucial time for the State.”

https://www.independent.ie/news/environment/citizens-unknowingly-subsidised-big-businesses-electricity-bills-42313337.html

Dtp1979

Mine was over 600 for the last 2 months. I’m glad the energy provider fat cats are making huge profits with their ridiculous price increases over the last year

SCOOP 64

Bill e350 electricity, 25th Nov to 25th Jan, 2 adults, 2 teenagers, 4 bed bungalow, was expecting more being the Christmas bill. ( Oil heating).

CoBo55

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120164107#Comment_120164107

Was that 550 before the government money?

SCOOP 64

Itis e350 ,had e250 credit, e200 government, e50 electric Ireland credit, so e100 to pay.

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 😉

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

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...

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.