abeautiful day, hard to believe we are in the middle of winter - it is almost like spring, with the primulas coming out. We have been very lucky with the weather, a gorgeous Indian summer and a mild winter, apart from one very nasty week of sleety stuff. If this is global warming, bring it on!

When I say I work for a power company, peopele immediately start moaning about how high their electricity bills are. Of course they are all convinced they don't use much power. If they were to go around their house and make a list of all the items they have that run on electricity, they would be surprised. Since beginning this job I have learned the importance of reading the meter daily. Once you know what your usage is, if you find you get a higher use (mine is at weekends) then you can think about what you are doing differenctly.

And if you're still convinced that it's not you - there's something wrong with the meter, here's a test you can do. Go round and switch off all your appliances, incl your hot water. Then switch off at the mains. Wait for 10-15 mins and the little disk should stop moving. If it's still going there may be a fault with the meter, but usually faulty meters slow down or stop. Switch back on, then plug in your applicances one at a time, checking the dial between each new one. If you find the dial really speeds up when you plug something in, you need to look at getting a more efficient model. Hope this advice helps.