I live with my partner in a 1-bed flat. No gas, only electric. We have electric heaters, electric hobs/oven. EPC rating E. All in all not the best to save money on bills but it's a rental and we can't control much.

I was wondering how much is a normal amount to pay for electricity in a similar sized flat (and perhaps if you're dealing with a similar setup with heating, EPC rating, etc.).

We are currently with Octopus and we pay £174.24 each month with Direct Debit which is honestly so painfully high. We do a have a smart meter which barely works due to the shit network connectivity where we are but a quick look at the account online says that we use about £119 - £170 of energy per month.

It seems so ridiculous to me that we are paying this much while we are struggling with bills and rent every month. We do have an option of changing our monthly payments which I will be doing soon. Octopus says the current amount is to maintain the account balance and that they forecast it to be reduced in June 2024.

What do yo guys pay? Should I be looking at something that may be faulty or that I am missing? Or is this the right amount of money to be paying for a flat this size? What can we do to reduce our bills? We barely use the heating but we do cook at home. Please help!