Can someone explain my electricity bill?

hokum_2

Trying to reduce my outgoing costs, so I'm checking my electricity bill and it doesn't make a damn bit of sense.

http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lectricqc2.jpg

Is my electricity usage normal? (1 person, 2 bed flat, out all day 5 days a week so the only thing on is the fridge, freezer and a couple of power points for alarm and so on, shower is electric and gets used a minimum of once a day for 5-10 minutes, computer is usually on each evening, no heating used at the moment, hot water is only switched on very occasionally for short periods)

What's with all the minus amounts?
I know I owe them money, I was in arrears about £500-600 at the beginning of the year, but what I can't tell is if I'm paying it off. At the £58 I'm paying each month am I going to clear this arrears eventually or get myself into even more trouble?

Would I benefit from switching providers, or will it not make much difference?

Premier_2

It's difficult to say whether you are paying off the debt as the previous readings are based on estimated values, and since they made a huge error in the off preak values, perhaps they also made a huge error in the standard rate readings too. Therefore I can't say how much electricity you've actually used.

With regards the negative values, this is because the previous estimated reading for off-peak usage was so vastly over estimated, a correction is now being made. This has been split into two amounts to take account of a price increase. If this is the recent price increase, you've possibly made a few pennies there as the original charge would have been made based on the cheaper (5.91p per unit) rate, but they are reimbursing you some of it at 6.79p per unit. (However this may be the price change that took place about March this year if the previous reading was also estimated, in which case no significant saving)

One thing I don't understand is that you are given a 'discount' for paying monthly but they seem to have charge you £4.03 +Vat @ 5% (note no minus sign there!). Could be worth questioning; it would depend on how the discount is calculated - if it's a proportion of a billed amount and the last bill was overcharged, that could explain why they are trying to claw some back.

With regards switching suppliers, this may save you money but note you probably won't be allowed to switch whilst you currently owe the cuurrent supplier money. Do you have night storage heaters? You don't seem to use much cheap rate electricity (you wouldn't during the summer if you have night storage heating) but if not, you might be better off on a non-E7 tariiff which the current supplier should allow you to switch to if you want.

hokum_2

I used to have night storage heaters, but they were !!!! so I've ripped them out and gas central heating is being installed shortly. I suspect the days of £3 gas bills will soon be coming to an end.

I guess it just doesn't make sense to have that off-peak rate at all.