Electricity Rates in UK

I'm trying to understand electricity rates here...We had an estimated prepayment which ended up being far short, and ended up with monthly payments of 350 pounds.  Now our 'overage' is paid, and our monthly payments are 225.  I looked at a comparison website to see if another supplier would be cheaper, and it mentioned fixed or capped plans.  Does anyone know what these are?  Does this simply mean the cost of each kw is fixed or guaranteed for a term?  We're not crazy with appliances here...laundry, dishwasher and that's about it.  Any info appreciated!

£225 per month?? ?? ?? ??

Our electric payments - family of four, with lights on more than they should (teenagers!) - fluctuate between £45 - £70 per month.

agree with peedal- this amt seems crazy high.

how many people are in your house?  how many bedrooms?  who is your supplier?  is it just electricity or is gas included?

for comparison sake: 3 bed house.  2 people.  average useage.  Gas & Green Electricity with Npower = £42/month.

try uswitch.com, moneysavingexpert.com

£225 per month is absolutely crazy!!

When I was a student a couple of years ago, my bills budget for an entire year was about £400 (for one person) - about £35 per month for electricity, gas, water and phone line rental!

£225/mo is silly crazy.

We have electricity only and pay £87/mo.
Perhaps you need to give a meter reading, Benelux? Failing that, your meter must be broken.
If you have just moved into your place, that high reading may be from the last occupant.
Or is that £225/quarter?

I had a very high electric bill the first month I moved here...discovered that the previous occupants had left the electric immersion heater on in our hot water heater.  Do you know where your meter is?  It's gotta be spinning like crazy if your bill is £225/month.  Try switching things off at the fuse box one by one and and watching to see when the meter slows down...you should be able to tell what it is that is creating such a drain...

Everyone is right that's too high!    We are a family of four and live in a three bedroom house and our electricity every three months is around £125. Definitely look elsewhere.

This is one of the schemes which attempts to average out payments over the year rather than charging for what's actually been used during the billing period.  To be frank, I would have nothing to do with these arrangements since they almost never work out right and are constantly being amended.  In my opinion, it's far easier to just pay for what's been used each quarter.

Have a look at your most recent bill and see how much juice you have actually used in the period rather than the payment figure being suggested (i.e. look at the "current" and "previous" meter readings -- two sets of figures if you are on Economy 7).   Then see how much you are being charged per kW/h at each rate and the total.

I don't think anyone mentioned the rate.  Strange how nobody seems to know this question, especially my inlaws.  I know I pay around 12 cents per kilowatt depending on my usage.

In our last place our electrictiy was £140 a month.  That was just for DH and me.  Our place was all electric. We are curious what our new rates are going to be especially since it's with British Gas, who we have not had good experiences with in the past.  But since we just moved we want to check out our monthly bills first.

I don't think anyone mentioned the rate.  Strange how nobody seems to know this question, especially my inlaws.  I know I pay around 12 cents per kilowatt depending on my usage.

There was a time in the not-too-distant past when you had no choice about your supplier.  You just had a contract with "the electricity board" for your region (Eastern Electricity, Southwestern Electricity Board, etc.) and as far as domestic customers were concerned there were only two or three distinct tariffs available.

Today though, you have the choice of dozens of suppliers no matter where you live, and each company can have dozens of different tariffs available, so it's difficult to give precise figures. 

I am currently with Powergen/e-on with an Economy 7 tariff which has the following rates:

Day rate, first 239 units @ 17.2p per kW/h, remaining units in billing period 10.31p per kW/h
Night rate 4.65p per kW/h.

All plus 5% VAT, no standing charge.

You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but just curious what your bills run per month or quarter??  I'm bugeting for when we move there and am trying to get a range!

You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but just curious what your bills run per month or quarter??  I'm bugeting for when we move there and am trying to get a range!

I think there's a thread somewhere where people listed how much they pay for each bills.  I can't seem to find it through searching though, so here's what my husband and I pay:

Water: £200 every 6 months
Electric: £30 per month
Phone (landline): £11 per month
Gas: I don't even know.  British Gas has been so screwed up for us that it's been different every quarter...so I couldn't really give you an estimate on that one.
Council Tax: £108 per month
Internet: £20 per month

I think that's all of it, not counting the mortgage.

(I am still going  over the idea of paying £225 a month for electricity!)

Thanks for the list!  That is really good information!  I can't imagine paying over 200GBP!!  Our electric/gas bill here is over $200 every month, but we are also in the dead of winter and it is expensive no matter what!
  Thanks again for the figures!

I think there's a thread somewhere where people listed how much they pay for each bills. 

There's this thread, although even the later entries are almost two years old now:
http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=557.0;all

Electricity costs have rocketed recently.  My last bill covering the quarter from late August through late November was £176, and the summer quarter before that was around £140.   I'm on electric for cooking, space heating, and water heating.   The next one over the winter is likely to be £200 or more at the current rates. 

A couple of other things I quoted in that thread (reply #8) have increased a fair amount since then as well.  My combined water/sewer bill for this year is £340, but that's unmetered (i.e. unlimited use of water).     Council tax is up to £677 with the single-person discount (£903 full rate, and that's only band A).

Basic BT line rental and service package is now around £50 per quarter.  My vehicle license is now £185 per year, insurance is still reasonable at £166 for the last renewal, but that one will vary drastically depending upon your circumstances.

DSL service (which I finally managed to get here just a few weeks ago) is £18 per month, although I'm on an introductory rate of £8.95 per mo. for the first 6 months.