Thats what I'm doing actually, taking daily reads since two days ago. So far that pattern of 6-7 units a day is been maintained and all I'm doing is cooking my tea, boiling a kettle, flicking a couple light switches and using my PC for the whole evening. In morning it's just the use of the kettle.

I'm hoping that a couple of weekdays and the weekend will give me an indication of when more electricity is getting used. Particuarly with the tumbledryer as it's getting hot enough for me to hang stuff outside, I just hate the extra time it takes to do it.

I just compared suppliers on MS.com and it suggests I go with British Gas for electricity as well, using the dual fuel tariff they have. I thought British Gas were supposed to be expensive these days or did I miss something?

LHector:

Any ideas why the bill seems high? I know it's for 5 months technically but £40+ a month for a flat thats mostly powered by gas? No way.

Unfortunately yes. 7 units/day is perfectly reasonable consumption for a gas heated house. Whether its right or not is another matter which I can't clarify.

Start by getting a handle on your electricity consumption by doing a daily read for a week, then a weekly read for a month and then monthly reads.

The meter reads your consumption but the cost is influenced by any account past debit and the particular tariff you are on. Off the top of my head £40/month does seem excessive for 7 units/day but any price comparison website will clarify what is a good price to pay.

I live in a basement flat which is mainly heated and catered for by a gas boiler. The cooking hob is gas, the radiators are gas, the water is heated by gas. So naturally I expect a huge gas bill which did happen but I seem to be getting a huge electric bill as well and I don't understand why.

The last reading I took for an official bill was 84100 back on 28 Dec 2008 when I moved in. As of yesterday (28 May 2009) the meter showed 85249 and the bill is looking around £200+ based on Southern Electric's prices.

This seems dodgy as I don't use anywhere near as much electricity as gas and I live on my own and work full time so I'm not even in the flat that much. The only things I can think of that use any electricity to a substantial degree are:

Washing Machine - twice a week
Tumbledryer - once a week
PC Computer - this is what I use most often, various evenings and daytimes on weekends.
Oven - assuming this is electric but this is not required every day.
TV - I have one but it's used so rarely (DVD/Video players as well) that it can't be contributing much.
Kettle - I make a few cups of tea now and again, but whoopie a poxy kettle? It ain't a cheap one either!

The only other things on top of that are light bulbs as normal but usually only one or two are on at any given time and one of those electromagnetic spider repeller things plugged into the mains, but I refuse to accept that it requires nuclear fusion to run. Phone chargers/toothbrush chargers are used every now and again, but then they don't use much either and don't use excess when the item is fully charged.

Any ideas why the bill seems high? I know it's for 5 months technically but £40+ a month for a flat thats mostly powered by gas? No way.