Mine is about £450 for a combined quarter. It wasn't so long ago that it would have been less than £100.
Mainly it is the electricity part that has shot up to dramatic figures.
I did a quickie calc a bit back and actually came to the conclusion that we were using a lot more around the home without even thinking.
Things that are left on without realising that they do consume a lot of power.
Computers now regularly use a 1000 watt power supply rather than the meagre 250 watts they used to be. All required because as they get more powerful and faster, they use a lot more power. People buy computers nowadays for speed and power, and don't realise they could be using up to four times the electricity their old system used, multiplied by the fact that they now use them for much longer or even leave them permanently turned on. I am one of the biggest culprits on that score.
The other main culprits are the kids.
My grandson lives with us, and over the years, the electricity requirements of his bedroom has grown, and now needs it's own power station to keep it running.
Computer, playstation, big tele, dvd player, sound systems and music players all add up to massive usage, and all running at the same time. As he says, he can't live without them for schooling, communications, culture and art and even exercise, plus any other excuse they can come up with to save them having to turn the on button off.
I would hate to live in a household where there where even more kids, you would need to work 24 hours a day to keep up with their electricity consumption costs.
So instead of buying them the latest exercise game for their interaction Wii console, get them a skipping rope instead, it will save you a fortune in the long run, but you would get real funny looks from the kids, while they try to work out where to plug it into.
John
