# electricity costs in herp keeping



## trapieter (Jan 29, 2007)

ok.. this may be a wierd topic but I got a whopping electricity bill of late going over £500 av per month. I made them check my meter and then they asked me for everything that runs on electricity in my house and came back with.. yep, its all those reptiles :gasp:

We have two fish tanks, 6 vivs that run uv strips and heat bulbs and three heat mats.. we had this before we moved here and our bill was not this high..

I just wondered if those with lots of vivs could say whether this seems right or wrong to you.I know some of you keep more reps than me so if anything it will give me an idea of whether I should change providers! Coz my reps are my babies and they aren't going anywhere :flrt:


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## MissCat (Mar 9, 2009)

I've got roughly the same as you and mine's not that high...


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## emasmad (May 30, 2009)

We have roughly a hundred reptiles and the main ones that's eat the electric is Uv light n spot lights n all we use is 7 uv lights and 8 spot lights and god knows ow many heatmats and we use £50 a week and that's including 3 kids with computers on and tv on majority of the day aswell! To me that's bad but not compared to some rep keepers!!!


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## trapieter (Jan 29, 2007)

thanks guys.. confirming what I thought already!


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## MissCat (Mar 9, 2009)

To put it into perspective:
1) 3ft bearded dragon viv with 150watt reflector spot bulb on dimmer stat on 24/7 and UV strip on in the day 
2) 3ft corn viv with 100 watt bulb on dimmer stat
3) 5 rubs on separate heat mats with separate stats each
4) large heatmat and stat in with T's
5) 2ft viv with ceramic bulb on pulse stat
6) fish tank with heater and filter on 24/7
7)TV/xbox/ps3 on approx 16-18 hours a day
8)pc on pretty much 24/7
9)lights on pretty much all the time as our house is dark
10)kids charging up ds/psp's
11)4 mobiles and camera batteries being charged up 
12)as well as kettle/toaster/fridge/ 2 freezers/ microwave/ cooker etc etc
our electric bill averages at £60-80 a month.
We have Gas CH which is £60 a month.
hope that helps in some way


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## fishboy (Aug 7, 2007)

we have 30 snakes (all on mats) 2 uromastyx (heat and uv bulbs) tokays (uv bulbs) 11 leos (heat mats) and a fire skink (mat and uv bulb)

Our bill came to 260 for 4-5 months but we watch a lot of telly and are both on our pcs non stop


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## Caz (May 24, 2007)

trapieter said:


> ok.. this may be a wierd topic but I got a whopping electricity bill of late going over £500 av per month. I made them check my meter and then they asked me for everything that runs on electricity in my house and came back with.. yep, its all those reptiles :gasp:
> 
> We have two fish tanks, 6 vivs that run uv strips and heat bulbs and three heat mats.. we had this before we moved here and our bill was not this high..
> 
> I just wondered if those with lots of vivs could say whether this seems right or wrong to you.I know some of you keep more reps than me so if anything it will give me an idea of whether I should change providers! Coz my reps are my babies and they aren't going anywhere :flrt:


Ouch. Thought mine was high.

What are you running in those fish tanks..?


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## trapieter (Jan 29, 2007)

one of the tanks holds 2 axolotls so not set up as a fish tank exactly.. filter and light. second fish tank has two strips a heater and filter (external) All of this we had before.

I think our provider is beating you all on the highest price so far considering its just me and the hubby and we both work so its not like the tv and lights are on all day.

keep it coming though I'm getting a good picture and I might be able to use it to get them to come and investigate a bit more.


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## darren81 (Aug 13, 2009)

9 vivs from 3x15x15 up to 6x2x2 and 4 heat mats with two kids 40" lcd tv pretty much on all day and two laptops on a fair part of the day. At tops £30 a week.


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## joeyboy (Jul 19, 2008)

trapieter said:


> one of the tanks holds 2 axolotls so not set up as a fish tank exactly.. filter and light. second fish tank has two strips a heater and filter (external) All of this we had before.
> 
> I think our provider is beating you all on the highest price so far considering its just me and the hubby and we both work so its not like the tv and lights are on all day.
> 
> keep it coming though I'm getting a good picture and I might be able to use it to get them to come and investigate a bit more.


hmm does sound odd...how many Watts do those filters use?


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## Shellsfeathers&fur (Jan 18, 2009)

Is it worth buying one of those energy monitors so you can see how much is being used. Then you will know for sure.


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## maddragon29 (Oct 16, 2008)

Sounds way too high mate... i've got a rep room with heating on all the time, as well as the specific animals equipment for 30 animals.
TV, comps, GCH (in scotland might i add, in winter!) and we're just using about £90 a month!


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## Caz (May 24, 2007)

To give you an idea I've got 100+ reps, house is heated/cook etc by electric (air to heat pump) - no gas installed. Marine fish tank. Winter 1/4 bill £744. House is always 21c.

Get a monitor and check that your neigbours not stealing your electric! Turn EVERYTHING off and make sure your meter has stopped.


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## trapieter (Jan 29, 2007)

I think your right caz, I'm going have to get something to measure it then switch it all off.. somethings up here:hmm:


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

MissCat said:


> To put it into perspective:
> 1) 3ft bearded dragon viv with 150watt reflector spot bulb on dimmer stat on 24/7 and UV strip on in the day


light bulb on 24/7?



> 2) 3ft corn viv with 100 watt bulb on dimmer stat
> 3) 5 rubs on separate heat mats with separate stats each
> 4) large heatmat and stat in with T's
> 5) 2ft viv with ceramic bulb on pulse stat
> ...


i have no where near what you've got..
i work 9 - 5 and leave the kitchen light on for the dogs (low energy)
2 heat mats
turn the downstairs TV / sky / xbox off (at the plug socket) when i'm not in at night.
laptop is unplugged when i'm not using it
fridge freezer and a fridge
alarm clock
no microwave
oven

just got a quarterly bill for £256 / £85 a month.


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

trapieter said:


> I think your right caz, I'm going have to get something to measure it then switch it all off.. somethings up here:hmm:


 
do a meter reading yourself and make sure it's the same as they get.

get somebody to help you when turning things off; have one person watch the meter to see if something slows it down considerably while things are being turned off.


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

As others have said its way too high.Did the electricity board check that it was you using the electricity? Both my electricity meter and water meter are outside and I have been charged for other peoples water and electricity at some point.It seemed to happen when a neighbour changed supplier and for some reason the suppliers got confused.
In the longer run if you can keep all of your animals in one room and insulate that romm as best as possible.It will cost you in the short term but over the years the running costs will be significantly lower.


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## tommybhoy (Jan 31, 2010)

might be on a higher rate than you were previously. might be worth checking when the off peak tarriff applies. As you may be gettin stung for peak times that are actually what normal people would class as off peak or look at changing supplier. thanks.


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## Stavros88 (Dec 6, 2008)

I dont pay cos I live with parents


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