help! newbie

Trune

Hi All,

I'm very confused. just started renting, not had to pay electric / gas before.

We are with scottish power, for gas and electric. Im trying to sign up for the online account, but its asking me what package i want to go on. I dont know what will be best. It tells me to check prices by quoting the number on my bill, but i havent had a bill yet to know.

im offered the following

Fixed Price Energy online Look forward to the security of fixed prices until 31st August 2009 with our Fixed Price Energy 2009 offer. You'll have no more paper bills and a discount for managing your account online.

Fixed Price Energy online NSC Look forward to the security of fixed prices until 31st August 2009 with our Fixed Price Energy 2009 offer. You'll have no more paper bills, a discount for managing your account online and our No Standing Charge option means that no daily service charge is applied to your fuel charges.

Discounted Energy online NSC Our Discounted Energy Offer is guaranteed to remain 3% below our standard monthly Direct Debit prices until July 2009. You'll have no more paper bills, a discount for managing your account online and our No Standing Charge option means that no daily service charge is applied to your fuel charges.

Online Energy Saver 4 Switch to Online Energy Saver 4 to receive our cheapest available prices. You will also have no more paper bills and a discount for managing your account online.

Online Saver 4 Green Fund Help the environment by donating to the ScottishPower Green Energy Trust. You will have no more paper bills and a discount for managing your account online.

Online Energy - Standard Manage your energy exclusively online and put yourself in control. You'll also have no more paper bills and a discount for managing your account online.

Online Energy - Green Fund Help the environment by donating your combined Gas & Electricity Offer discount to the ScottishPower Green Energy Trust. You will have no more paper bills and a discount for managing your account online.

Online Energy - Standard (No Standing Charge) Manage your energy exclusively online and put yourself in control. You'll have no more paper bills, a discount for managing your account online and no daily service charge applied to your fuel charges.

I have no idea what the chose, or what the price differences will be?

i dont really have an idea of what we will use either. i looked at the meters after our first week, and the electric meter had gone up 20 units, and the gas 4. will this be kw's or what? but this aint really going to be a great example.

whats all this standing charges stuff?

im just generally confused about it all, so any help would be appreciated.

Premier_2

The electricity meter will record kWh - so that one is easy.

The gas meter will not. If its an old meter it may record 100s of cubic feet which needs to be multiplied by 2.83 to get into a cubic metre
then
multiply by 1.02264 (volume conversion factor)
multiply by 39.5 (calorific value - note this can vary but is usually between 37 & 44)
divide by 3.6 (kWh conversion factor)

That will give you the gas consumption in kWh


The standing charge is the amount the supplier charges to pay for fixed expenses such as maintaining the supply to your property (e.g. pipes, cable etc), for meter reading, etc. Not all tariffs include a standing charge nowadays - some have this cost built into the unit prices.

Note that using what you have consumed in 1 week in the middle of July when the weather is warm and the daylight hours long, will not be an accurate representation of what you will use every week over the year.

jd87

Why stay with Scottish Power? Perhaps a different company altogether will be cheaper.

Trune

i cant change companies until i get my first bill though can i? i dont have my first bill yet, so want to make sure i go on the right one to start with. does anyone know which one is best to chose?

it will be a newish meter as it was only built in 2006.

so do i only have to do the later of the calculations?