Just got my latest bill.. $631.62 and last quarters was $770.35. No gas in the house so that's running everything.

Now that seems a bloody lot to me, its about double what I paid for gas and elec in the UK, which admittedly has shot up in price since I left three years ago. Am I just an excessive consumer or do other people face similar bills?

Oh, and before those still in the UK think that's all gone on running aircon to keep cool in the Oz heat, most of it went on HEATING.

Yes, it was an extremely cool winter here in the hunter valley nsw too.
What I find a bit silly is home insulation doesnt appear to enter an ozzies mind.
I would suggest you sort that part out but in the interim, how big is your house in sq m ? Your bill is quite high I would say.

I'm in the Illawarra, so not a million miles from you. Its a biggish house. Main problem is the open plan nature of the house and the double height entrance hall.... and, as you said, zero in terms of insulation.

Ours have been a bit of a shocker too - very similar amounts to yours, and only for a very small 2 bed, 1 storey cottage.

Mostly heating, too - having moved from Asia I really struggled with the cold. Doesn't help that one wall is totally glass.

Our last electricity bill was $1200 and the latest one $1300 for a quarter. That was for a 4 bed house. Only thing the gas was used for was to heat the water and that was $120. I think its because the houses are so shit you lose all the heat out of them and I can't stand being cold!

How much!!

I am never gonna complain about my $450 summer electric bills again!

Some of yous might want to consider relocating to Brisbane for the warmer winters

Wow, that is a lot

Our biggest one was about $400..... that was for the winter period and we'd had oil fired radiators on, sometimes constantly during the day, for weeks.... plus pool pump 4 hours a day and everything else (only got gas for hot water at the mo)

Bloody Hell

I don't feel to bad now.

Our bills have never been over $270 and I thought that was a lot. Though that might only be for 2 months, rather than 3. I only keep the heating at 17oC in the day and 20oC in the evening and never have it on overnight. That's for a 4x3 (older style).

Yes it was a bit of a shock. We have moved house now cause it was still cold with the oil filled radiators on all the time. Our new house has heating through floor vents so hopefully will be cheaper next winter. If not, a move north sounds quite appealing.

My guess is that houses in Melbourne are probably a little better insulated then, because my house would be like a fridge on those settings. Mine has all the insulation properties of an aircraft hanger.

Ducted aircon just doesn't seem to have the same impact as central heating.

Good old crappy Sydney houses eh May as well be in a caravan

Ours was $2k for 15months; = $400pq.

We're in a 4-bed house, open plan downstairs with high ceilings.

Um - we're you wearing a woolly jumper and fleecy slippers through the winter?

You call that heating? In Singapore, if I had the aircon on at all and then it was only part of the night in the bedroom, I had it set at 26C

I would love to move to QLD, but we have to go where the work is. This said, so far I have followed the same path Rudi has, so Brisbane must be our next move.