British Gas Direct Debit Payments

ossichick

I am currently with British Gas for electricity supply and have switched to the Click Energy 5 tariff several weeks ago. However, I am very confused and shocked about the direct debit payments we are currently making every month which I really don't think is correct. We are a young professional couple living in a attic style 2 bedroomed apartment using minimal electricity (no gas) and our direct debit payment is £140 per month! This has recently come down from £158 per month, which we paid for 3-4 months. When we first switched to British Gas last year, our DD payment was £35 per month which was based on an estimate from the company themselves, based on our lifestyle (only showers, minimal heating through winter, no appliances ever left on standby etc). In hindsight, this was probably slightly too low given we don't have a gas bill too. We then received a bill in March/April saying we owed over £500 and that our DD was increased to £158 accordingly. They stated that it would only be for 4 months until the shortfall was made up but now our payment remains at £140! I agree we used extra electricity over the winter but no more than a couple of hours a day on a low setting. This is absolutely rediculous, and according to the comparison sites, we should only be paying around £35 (realistically more like £50-60 given we don't have a gas supply). Has anyone else had problems like this or any advice on what we should do? I am panicking now that our meter reading is linked up incorrectly or we are paying for the main building supply! Is there any way we could check our meter reading is the correct one? Any help would be much appreciated!

Joyful

Do you have electric storage radiators? If so £35 was way too low. My Daughter was paying £75 per month 2 years ago so I expect it to be a lot more now. How many KWH are you using each day? I would also check and see if you are on a 1 rate or 2 rate meter.

SwanJon

Was your most recent statement based on an actual reading or an estimate?
What was the balance on that statement?
Put readings in to their webiste regularly so that any estimates (reads or future DDs) are as accurate as possible.
It might be worth you making a consumption diary - recording the readings (Day + Night if you have them) and what you use each day. This would let you see what your consumption is like now (in the middle of summer).


What information are you giving the comparison sites for them to give you £35?

ossichick

Hello, no we don't have electric storage heaters, just normal radiators that run from an electric boiler (I think). What do you mean by Rate 1 and Rate 2 please? Will check re KW use but doubt it is very much.

espresso

ossichick wrote: »

Hello, no we don't have electric storage heaters, just normal radiators that run from an electric boiler (I think). What do you mean by Rate 1 and Rate 2 please? Will check re KW use but doubt it is very much.

I doubt if you have normal radiators fed from an electric boiler. Rate 1 and Rate 2 are if you are on an Economy 7 type tariff, are you?

All of your first post is about monetary figures which are irrelevant if you don't know your actual usage in kWh, which is how the energy that you use is charged. Check you actual usage figures and post those. Electricity is very expensive for heating if you are not on an economy tariff with a cheap rate!

ossichick

Bill details:
32903 (actual) to 33972 (33 days): 1069 kwh (approx £95)
33972 to 34670 (27 days): 678 kwh (approx £56)
34670 to 35548 (actual) (38 days): 878 kwh (£71)

SwanJon

So over 98 days you have used 2,625 kWh.
You will have your heating on more in the winter so your consumption would be higher - at a rough guess about 13,125 kWh/year (multiplied by 5 to take into account winter). This is why yor bills are large - try using this kWH in a comparison site and see what it recommends.

Your prices are set at around 8p/kWh - this is about right.

espresso

SwanJon wrote: »

So over 98 days you have used 2,625 kWh.

Yes and this is standard rate electricity, which will work out the most expensive to run.

:eek:

Now that you know what your kWh consumption is, you can calculate what your monthly DD needs to be to cover your actual usage over the year, taking any built up debt into account.