Electric bill shock Direct Debit increase

jscalow

I would recomend that you join the imeasure site to help monitor and compare your consumtion
http://www.i-measure.org/
I have been using it for 8 weeks and I use approx £5pw gas and £8 elec.

Cardew

lilac_lady wrote: »

If you use an immersion heater for hours at a time and tumble dry all your washing maybe the DD of £106 is correct. If you don't then you should request that someone comes to check your meter.

Tumble dryer is a big culprit without doubt.

However the immersion heater is not!

Whilst it uses a lot of electricity initially - they are normally rated at 3kW, so approx 30p an hour - they have a thermostat which switches the power off when the water has reached the set temperature.

Tests have been carried out showing that a well insulated tank of hot water will lose approx 3kWh of heat in 24 hours. e.g. A fully heated tank will use 3kWh a day to keep the water at the set temperature if no water is used.

Bearing in mind that under normal timed use there is also some heat loss as we rarely use all of the hot water in the tank.

So the difference between leaving your Immersion heater on constantly and on a timer is probably around 60 -80kWh a month. £6 to £8 a month @10p/kwh

If you heat the hot water tank using gas the extra cost is much less.

Bear in mind also that the heat is not lost but warms the house - which is why the tank is often in an airing cupboard.

Obviously I am not advocating leaving the water on constantly, but I think some people have a false impression of the huge costs incurred by leaving HW on constantly.

I suspect much of this is caused by them using these owl/eon type monitors. They turn on the immersion heater and see that it is costing 30p an hour or more, and assume that means 24 x 30p a day.

tinacee1

I don't have a tumble drier and I have a baxi boiler which was fitted in March by the council. It may have something to do with that as I no longer have an immersion heater but get hot water on demand when I run the tap.

Does anyone know anything about baxi boilers - i was told by the plumber never to switch it off and I'm not really sure how to regulate it.

Magentasue

You've got a combi boiler then. When you run a bath or a sinkful of hot water, how hot is the water? If it's scalding hot or you need to add a lot of cold water, you should probably adjust it, otherwise not.

Magentasue

tinacee1 wrote: »

I have not increased my fuel consumtion since the meters were changed.

How many kwh of gas and elec are you using?

Joyful

Are you sure the meter reading is correct for when your new meter was installed? Also how soon after it was fitted did the first Direct Debit come out of your bank?

tinky37

just to let you all know Essentials tariff has been withdrawn until further notice.

10past6

knowsleyroader wrote: »

tinacee 1, same thing happened to me so I phoned up to ask why the massive increase as I'd always been in credit on my DD's. The operator couldn't see why the payments had been virtually doubled (on both gas and electric) so put the DD's down again.

Thanks for this, I'm going to call them on Monday as our electric DD have doubled from £65.00 to £112.00 :eek: :eek: following an annual review.

We are all electric, our consumpation has not increased that much over the last 12 months, and we've had actual meter readings.

greenbee

If your change in DD is based on actual meter readings, then it probably reflects what you are using in the light of price changes (remember, these have increased significantly). You may want to submit your readings more regularly so that they change in line with what you're using.

Mine have gone down from £10 gas & £20 elec to £9 gas & £10 elec since the price rise. Because I've been doing weekly readings for iMeasure, I've been submitting them to my supplier as well, so I'm reasonably confident that these charges reflect my usage... and I'm £200 in credit, which should see me comfortably through the winter.

spiro

tinacee1 wrote: »

I asked if someone could come out to check the credit meters which were installed when I got rid of my prepayment meters. The operator I spoke with was reluctant to do this and said it was a 'complicated process'. He advised me to do a daily check of meter readings to keep track of my daily consumtion. I am going to do this.

The issue with doing a meter accuracy check is that it takes 2 visits about 2 to 4 weks apart. In a high number of instances the is found to be accurate that is why if you do insist on such a check they will advise you that if the meter is within tolerance then you will be billed for the job.