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I remember reading somewhere, that your post code has an affect on the amount you pay
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Electricity suppliers do charge different prices around the country. It all depends on the distribution charges levied by the local distributor, cost to provide the meter and cost to read the meter.
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I also wanted to see just how many kWh certain appliances use etc
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You won't really get that from just looking at the meter because the dials move so slowly. From the rating of the appliance, you can have rough guess in the same way you did for charges in your first post.
As a rough guide, a single 100w light bulb left on for 10 hours will use 1kWh (unit) and will cost ~10p (depending on individual tarif). 10 x 100 = 1kWh
A 2000w (2kW) electric fire left on for half an hour will cost the same. 0.5 x2kW = 1kWh
Basically, the formula is
rating x hours = kWh (units)
Alternatively, there are devices that you can clip around the cables that feed to and from the meter that will estimate how much an appliance uses by measuring the current running through the cable. These are available now but I'm not sure where you can buy them from.
Also, suppliers, Ofgem and the government are currently trying to decide on the roll out of 'smart' metering. One proposition is that each houehold is provided with a remote unit that can communicate with the meter and tell you how much electrivity you're using along with the cost. This is a few years away yet though.