Dual Fuel Costs High?

Spuddy_2

Hi,

Me and my girlfriend have recently moved into our first house together, we've been paying a gas/elec bill at the premises for 5 months. nPower supply our Gas/Elec.

Anyway, they are taking via DD £102 every month. We are a young couple, neither are in from work before 7pm, leave for work at 7am and feel we are being severely overcharged. We are mid-terrace, well insulated, rarely use heating, no children, electric oven and 1 television. I did a uSwitch comparison and it seems we should be paying something like £46 per month.

I would apprieciate some input from similar cases before I call nPower to stake my claim for halfing our dual fuel bills.

Thanks!

whatatwit

Hi spuddy.

Have you had a bill from N-Power and was it using actual readings?
If you've only had estimated ones, then ring them and give actual readings.

I think you should start to take regular meter readings and as long as you know what tarrif you are on, then you should be able to calculate how much you are spending each week.
There is an energy use spreadsheet on the board which will calculate the amount for you as long as you know the basics.

Premier_2

About £100 per month is the average cost of gas and electricity for a household.

Why do you think you are being overcharged? Just because it's more than you would like to pay?

Check your bills/statements. They should indicate how much you've actually consumed (assuming the readings are not estimated). Note that your account should be in credit at this time of year since you overpay during the summer period to even out the otherwise high bills you will receive in the winter.

Better still, monitor for yourself how much you are actually consuming by taking regular meter readings, and then calculate what you are actually consuming based on the suppliers unit price rather than what you would like to pay per month.

If you don't like the system, then opt to pay on receipt of bills - that way you'll never overpay (as long as the meter readings are not estimated) but you will lose out on any discounts nPower pay for paying monthly by DD and you will have larger bills in the winter than in the summer.

1carminestocky

Check what tariff you are on with nPower (it will be mentioned on the bills) and pound to a penny there will be savings to be made by switching (often to a cheaper tariff with the same company, bizarrely).

Magentasue

How many kwh of gas and elec have you used in the five months you've lived at your address? You should have an opening reading and you could take a reading today. That will out enable you to work a monthly average for the summer.

Now think about the winter - will you be using heating (gas?) or are you one of those households who only use heating occasionally? Will you be staying in more? Anything else different?

In other words, make an educated guess from what you've used so far, what your annual use will be. Find the unit costs and calculate your annual bill. Divide by 12. Present this information to Npower.

If you do reduce your DD, read your meters every month and be ready to increase/put some money by if you have underestimated.

Spuddy_2

spoke to nPower, gave reading and reduced monthly direct debits to £60. Thanks all!:beer:

Magentasue

Well done! So long as you use as little as you say and keep a check on the meters (especially if you get estimated bills), better you have the money than them.