Viewers slammed Sue and Noel Radford last night after the couple complained about the impact the cost of living crisis had on their energy bills on 22 Kids and Counting.
The parents of Britain’s biggest family revealed they spend up to £600 every month on energy bills at their Morecambe home, and said they struggle with energy blackouts because of their pay-as-you-go meter.
The couple also claimed on the Channel 5 show that their biggest energy expenses are their electric showers, which come to £18.20 a week, and their two tumble dryers, which they always have on, at a cost of £68.25 a week.
Looking into the family’s energy usage was a ‘big eye opener’ for Noel, who immediately began looking for ways to cut cost, including timing his children in the shower.
But their complaints fell on deaf ears, as viewers pointed to them splashing out on holidays to France and the US, and buying a hot tub and campervan in other episodes of the show.
The parents of Britain’s biggest family revealed they spent up to £600 every months on energy bills at their Morecambe home. But viewers were not impressed that Sue and Noel Radford were complaining about energy prices after taking their brood on a trip to Florida and Disneyworld in a previous episode of the Channel 5 series 22 Kids and Counting
In the show, we learned the family relies on a pay-as-you-go meter, with Noel noting: ‘It’s handy cause you keep on top of your bills.’
However, the family’s energy consumption and the mounting electricity prices mean that Noel and Sue constantly keep topping up the meter by £50 at a time.
‘This is getting beyond a joke now, it’s ridiculous,’ Sue said on the show.
‘It’s just getting crazy stupid, we feel we’re down the shop everyday almost, topping up,’ Noel added.
Their son Max, 14, decided to take matters into his own hands by investigating how much energy his family uses.
‘I know there are 18 of us in the house, but the amount that we spend every month is ridiculous and someone needs to stop it and that someone is me,’ he said.
He looked up how much the house’s appliances cost per use, and worked out how many times a day his family used it.
For instance, he averaged that the Radfords’ washing machine was on for five hours a day, while the two tumble dryers were constantly running all day.
Some people felt the family were not best placed to discuss the energy crisis on their show after indulging in some serious luxuries like oversea trips, a hot tub and a campervan
Sue with the family’s campervan, which she and Noel bought in a previous episode of the hit series
The family’s tumble dryers cost £1.95 per cycle, adding up to £68.25 a week, or coming to roughly £273 a month.
Meanwhile, Noel realised that the electric shower in the family cost 26p for 5 minutes of use, meaning that if only ten of the children living in the house took a shower per day, it already averaged to £18.20 a week and £72.8 a month.
Additionally, the family’s dishwasher cost them an average of £12.81 a week, and the washing machine cost 71p per hour, coming to £24.85 per week.
Max also found that there were about 20 lightbulbs in the house costing £1 an hour.
They estimated this is costing them £24 a day or £168 per week, although it’s not clear if this is correct because the lights would need to be on 24 hours a day.
This was a big point of worry for Sue and Noel, with the dad-of-22 saying: ‘This is quite scary when it’s written down in front of you, and there are 18 of us.
‘It was a big eye opener for us and now we understand why we’re pretty much topping up the electric meter every other day,’ he added.
Noel and Sue with their 18 children still living at home last December. The parents said they worry about how much energy they use to raise their brood
The couple began to take action in order to reduce their energy bill, with Noel timing the children’s showers, enforcing a two-minute per person rule in the household.
Meanwhile, Sue tried to reduce how much she used the tumble dryer by drying the family’s towels on the house’s heaters, but her plans failed when the family’s dog began to drag them to the floor and around the house.
Sue drew the line when cheeky Max tried to make her a cup of tea out of the iron’s unused water, with the mother-of-22 saying she’d rather ‘pay for the electricity’ than drink that.
Max also tried to gather his siblings in just one room of their parents’ 10 bedroom home in order to cut the light bill.
The teen and his parents remarked how ‘everything has gone ridiculously expensive’ due to the cost of living crisis.
The parents-of-22 also noted on the show that they were very fortunate, compared to people who had to choose between heating and eating due to the rising electricity prices.
‘We’ve got the shop, we’ve got the business, we seem to be doing okay, roof over our head and food on the table,’ Noel said.
Max motivated his parents to donate some items from the Radford cupboards to a local food bank.
Sue and Noel praised their son’s initiative. with Sue saying ‘realising that there are a lot of people who do need and use food banks is really good.’
In spite of the Radfords’ charitable efforts, viewers were not impressed with them complaining that their energy bill ran high.
‘Poor Max’s energy saving efforts aren’t going to do much when there’s a hot tub the size of Morecambe being heated in the garden,’ one said.
One person actually noted that the family were complaining about their energy bills while giving a lot of food away to the food bank.
‘So they moan about cost of living then give loads of cupboard food away which will keep for ages!’ one said. ‘Makes absolutely no sense. They either have enough money or they don’t!’
Viewers were not impressed with Noel and Sue discussing the cost of living crisis a few episodes after taking their family on a trip to Florida and Disneyworld
Some viewers also noted that the family were complaining about the energy crisis, but had no problem paying for trip to Florida and Disneyworld in a previous episode on the series.
‘Love that the Radfords are complaining about the cost of living a few episodes after their £20k+ trip for 26 of them to Florida and a new motorhome… pull the other one,’ one said.
‘Next Episode- another luxury holiday & the cost of living and food banks are forgotten,’ another wrote in agreement.
‘It’s hard to believe a family that bought a £40,000 hot tub, camper van, holiday in Florida is so skint,’ one sceptical viewer noted.
‘Being stingy with the shower time when they’re spending 16 quid a week on a dishwasher makes no sense,’ one said.
‘Just sell the motor home and hot tub!!!Moaning about bills, yet they’re able to fork out for a hot tub and jetting off to Florida,’ another wrote.
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