Power Bills - What are yours like?

Ours was around $250 (on a bad month), but we've just started buying our electricity from Powershop and that looks as though it'll be a big saving eg. we bought units for $22 each instead of $29 through Contact.

We have central heating going at 19 degrees year round (we live in Wellington), and we don't get a lot of sun at this time of year. If we don't run central heating the place gets really damp (we live in a bit of a valley) and I'd rather pay a large power bill than risk our health!

Our hot water is very efficient - we got a new Infinity gas hot water unit last year. But I do at least one load of washing a day (cloth nappies) and at this time of year - note the aforementioned lack of sun - it is impossible to dry clothes completely, outside.

Wow I'm conscious of power bills and running costs of things. Our bill during the summer is normally $80-$90 during winter I think it got up to $160 and I almost cried. Our bill was really high for awhile not sure why, but I did all the calculations online and found that they were all almost the same amount in the end run.

We have heaps of technology here too and I try to turn things off at the wall as much as possible, have even started making sure that the washing machine is turned off at the wall recently. It will probably go up quite abit when bubs is here but we will deal with that.

I don't use hot water washes, we only have a shower no dishwasher try not to use the dryer as its expensive if used at all its only for about 10mins to get the last dampness out of the clothes. We do have a cheaper model lcd screen tv which apparently if left on at the wall can use about $20 more electricity then good reputable brands etc but since the plug is behind the wall it doesn't get turned off and dp is annoying and won't follow the rules of unplugging the stereo etc

Is it easy to switch power companies? I jsut had a look on consumer.org and it looks like we are on the highest paying plan with Empower and if we swapped to Mercury we could save nearly $200 a year Do you have to pay a set up fee or...?

Our bills are usaully around $160-$170 with the prompt payement discount during winter. We have a fire which we use every night but we also use the dryer a fair bit as well as the dehumidifer which runs constantly in winter

edited cos im a retard and we would only save $200 not $2000!

Edited by Hannahbil

Hannahbil its easy as to swap power companies and there usually isn't a bond fee though it does depend on who you go with I guess. You just ring the company you want to change too and they sort it out. Have one of your bills handy for the uhm icp? number and they'll organise it for you. Takes about 6 weeks I think for you to get your first bill so I recommend putting abit of money aside for it.

I don't know how much my power bill is, I hardly ever read it and it says 'No action required'

I'm with Genesis energy, I pay using evenpay and have an automatic payment of $35 a week come out every week, which saves me from getting a huge bill and evens itself out over the year.   At the end of the year if you are in credit, they send you a cheque for the amount you've overpaid.

I couldn't go back to having a bill.   I think last time I looked mine was about $120ish for the month, just myself and Sam.   

Last year living with my mum in a rental house, it had this really old central heating unit. Only after a few months did we find out that A) it was faulty, leaking gas and could have exploded at any minute, B) Our gas bill was over $800 for one month!   The landlord refused to take responsibility though, he said if the bill was so high, we shouldn't use it so much.   

Geez those are some big bills! My mum and dad paid less than $250 a month and that was 8 people in the house. My dad is VERY strict about power lol so I have that drilled into my head!

We havent got our first power bill yet, but if its over $120 I'll keel over!! We are hoping to keep them to about $80 a month if we can.
We dont use a dryer, or electric heating(except in cadens room and it gets turned on for 5 mins and only if its really cold, it never gets left on longer than 5 mins), I always use the cold wash on the washing machine, and try and only use the dishwasher once a day, unless there are a lot of dishes. We dont use the heated towel rail, if i want a warm towel Il chuck one over the hot water cylinder.

We are with Mercury, so what Im going to do is pay a certain amount each week, so we are always "hopefully" in credit.

Got our latest bill, 191, about what I was expecting. We have 3 adults, one baby, no dryer, no dishwasher, no heat pump. Cold wash all laundry, gas heat the lounge but I do run an oil fin heater on low in E's room. We close curtains and doors, and have decided to put new thermal curtains upstairs in the next few weeks. The price increase has hit us hard!

With our lowish bill we still dont switch stuff at the wall. Grant has his pc running 24/7 as it is a server as well. TV is on most of the time we are here, even if it is just playing music. Grant has very long showers and I dont skimp on hot water when I have a bath. (I have quick showers though) And our washing is done in cold water.