NickyC

There has been heaps of discussion on the cost of living in each of the countries. One thing I've not seen mentioned that I found was an advantage here is that power bills were a minute proportion of what they were in the UK. In Sydney we have no need for central heating (mostly) so power bills are more or less static all year round, only slightly higher in winter. Whereas I can remember in England for most of the year my electricity bill (central heating) was phenomenal and almost equalled my rent. Gas used to be slightly cheaper than electricity but you still had to pay a big chunk of your income on heating.

Is this not still the case? Is power cheaper in the UK than it used to be? Surely the cost of airconditioning for a couple months doesn't cancel out the savings made on not having to heat your house for the most of the year?

jayr

Well I don't know about anyone else but I still haven't got over my last power bill of $500/quarter. I live in normal house on normal block and run a pool filter and one (rarely used) a/c unit. I think $2000 for a year of power is extremely high - don't know watt (sic) I'm doing wrong.

DianeOZ

Goodness Gracious Me Jayr!! Our leccy is about $700 a year with a pool in a 4 bed with lights left on in every god damned pesky room, every electrical appliance on at once - but no aircon!!!

Maybe your meter is wonky?

dotty

Snap. ours without the airconditioning is 400/450. Airconditioning on 18 hours a day is not going to bring that down is it!!!!

Big houses + big pools = big bills.

ABCDiamond

Hope these figures help:

My Electric Bills when in Sydney:
A 3 bed house, one person at home all day working on the computer.

07/11/01 - 27/12/01 $ 183.00 Summer use, Cooling on most of the time
27/12/01 - 26/02/02 $ 175.00
26/02/02 - 02/05/02 $ 151.56 Didnt use it as much in this period
02/05/02 - 02/07/02 $ 318.09
07/07/02 - 04/09/02 $ 339.76 Winter Use, heating on most of the time
04/09/02 - 05/11/02 $ 173.38

So thats about $1340 for a 12 month period

That is with not scrimping on the use of Cooling or Heating, and we had 2 air cons in the house.

My last 12 months in QLD has been
Feb-03 $238.20
May-03 $277.00
Aug-03 $267.35
Nov-03 $264.05 Total of $ 1046.00, and this is for a much larger house, about twice the floor area.

Thats the first time I have noticed how even the bills are

PS: No pool in either house.

MrsDagboy

Our electricity bill is about $400/quarter as well, dishwasher & spa pump are big killers, as are computers left on 24/7 & light fittings with 5 bulbs in each .

Winter doesnt seem to be much different to summer for us.

dotty

This is interesting, we got a big shock when the pool went in, our power went up by at least $100 a quarter.

We have a lot of people in and out tho, usually 4 sometimes 5. Everyone showers at least twice a day, fresh towels every day! Perhaps we are a bit extravagant. Dishwasher on once or twice a day. Husband has a 5 foot wide TV, dozen lights on at night at least.

dotty

I'm glad its not just me then. :scared:

renth

Just paid $202.60 for last month. Up from $170.00 the month before.

dotty

God, whats going on , why is leccy so expensive here?? Anybody know?

renth

Two reasons.

Firstly I filter my pool for 4 hours a day. Secondly my wife and kids see nothing wrong with turning every single light in the house on.

Also with 3 little kids the washing machine is on a lot too.

MrsDagboy

Ditto, I quite often ask Dagboy if he has shares in Energex that I dont know about. Its beyond me why every light in the house has to be on at the same time, theres only 4 of us, so we can actually only be in 4 rooms .

2 kids, same washing dramas, plus I sometimes use the drier cos I hate pegging out 20 pairs of boys underwear & 40 socks :scared: .

Megalania

London Energy: 6.38 p/kWh.

London Energy Standard Prices


Ergon Energy 11.4 c/kWh.

Ergon Energy

Now GBP 0.43 ~= $A 1.00

6.38 p = 6.38 / (100 x 0.43) = $A 0.148

So 1 kWh costs:
London: $A 0.1484
Queensland: $A 0.114

So Electricity is 30% more expensive in London than in Queensland.

Just arithmatic really.

dotty

It sounds like these big houses really do cost more to run then.

NickyC

Our bills in Sydney are similar - they total about $1200 for a 4 b/r house with no pool and minimal air conditioning. I'm also at home all day working on the computer, have two kids, countless computers and NEVER hang out the washing.

We've just installed a solar hot water system and await our next electricity bill with great interest - even if it's only to work out whether it will take 5 or 10 years before we're in front!