Expensive Prepayment Gas Meter?

MrSmallWallet

I recently has a gas meter installed on Tuesday 21st Oct and am with EDF. It had £12 credited to it when it was installed, which covered me for the first week, but since Tuesday 28th Oct I have topped it up by £33 and, as I type, it only has 50p left.

£13 of that has been taken for debt, but I'm not to worried about that, as I phoned EDF and the debt should be reduced to £3 per week after a couple more top ups. Of the rest, £14 has gone on gas and £6 repaying the emergency used the first week it was installed, although it still says "EmCr Used". I have used as little gas as possible in the last week, only running shallow baths, cooking mainly with the electricity at the moment (which is also metered) as it seems a lot cheaper, and only running two radiators for about 30-45mins a day. Little hot water apart from that is used apart from washing up once a day.

I just can't see how it can be this expensive with this minimal usage. Looking at a bill from last winter (not estimated) I used £82 from 22nd Oct 07 to 1st May 08, and that was using the gas liberally. I am on Incapacity Benefit and simply cannot afford £17 per week (including £3 debt), especially when I am sacrificing my warmth etc, trying not to use the gas too often.

I'm don't know much about gas meter reading, but after running a shallow bath this morning and having my two radiators on for 30mins, the meter reading increased from 34.400m3 to 39.293m3. Does that seems normal?

Comparing these costs to my non-prepayment meter bills, it seems that you only way forward it to borrow the money, pay off the debt and get the prepayment meter removed. But how likely are EDF to remove the meter, even with the debt paid off?

Premier_2

Of course it depends on what size boiler you have and how long it was alight.

But 5 m3 seems a lot to me. That equtes to about 55kWh or 187770 btu

A typical household boiler is about 80 000 btu so one that size would need to be on for just over 2 hours to use that amount of gas.

I think you should be being charged 6.784p per kWh for initial 7.34kW per day and 3.490p for any extra kWh (all VAT inclusive)

A Dual Fuel Customer paying quarterly or through a gas prepayment meter will receive a Dual Fuel discount of £8.40 per annum. This is calculated daily and is credited to your gas bill quarterly.

MrSmallWallet

Thanks for your reply. It's a Biasi Combi boiler, I'll dig up the paperwork in the morning so I know exactly which one it is. I wasn't sure I was working out m3 to Kwh correctly, but my sums came to 56kwh, so I'm glad I'm doing that right.

That is exactly the charges it has on the meter, I worked it out as about £2.15 for that much gas, but the meter took off about 70p. All in all, I'm very confused.

Pssst

Are you aware that the £12 credited to it when it was installed is actually an emergency credit? i.e if you have used it all,you are expected to pay back ALL that £12 before you are offered emergency credit again?

MrSmallWallet

I have been on the phone to EDF today, they couldn't help me with much else because apparently they won't have any details about the new meter until next Monday, but they did indeed say that all of the £12 has to be paid back before I can get hold of my £6 emergency credit.

It still doesn't quite explain all the money I've been putting on it, however, as it has only taken back about £6 so far in emergency credit payments. I have been keeping an eye on the meter reading, and I can't make any sense of it so far, it went up by 5m3 the other day for 30mins heating, but only went up 1.5m3 yesterday for an hours heating, and the money taken off doesn't really seem to correspond to the units used.

Could somebody please advise me whether it might be a good idea to borrow money to pay off the debt and try to get a quartly meter put back in, and how likely are EDF to allow this? Paying quarterly, it only averaged about £12 per month during the winter months, so even paying back a debt at the same time it should work out cheaper.

spiro

I would check with them first but expect them to charge you to change the meter back to a credit one. They may also ask why you didn't do that in the 1st place. Other option is to pay off the debt leave it a couple of weeks then change suppliers having askied them if they will exchange the meter for you.

MrSmallWallet

I have come across something called the EDF Energy Fund, which will help people who have difficulty paying their utilities bills, amongst other things, so I think I'll make an appointment with the CAB to discuss that and other options. At the moment, my main concern is getting rid of the meter in the long term and getting the cost down in the short term. Thankyou for your advice, Spiro, I will try to figure out a way of getting the gas paid off, and try to change supplier.

Although EDF said that the debt should have dropped to £3 I still seem to be paying £5.50 per week. Other than that, the gas does still seem pricey, although I can now see where some of the money is going (paying back emergency credit, etc.). I have got a fan heater, so at the moment I'm just using the gas to bathe, wash up and occasional cooking (most days it's in the microwave or slow cooker) and it's still chewing up about £2 - £2.50 including fees.

sandraroffey

i am on state pension so all utilities are always a struggle for me. i have a roomy 3 bed flat and when the heating was put on, it seems to be using at least £10 every three days but i suppose that given i use also use gas for cooking and hot water, and also given that the charges have gone skywards, that is probably a normal amount.

Ken68

sandraroffey wrote: »

i am on state pension so all utilities are always a struggle for me. i have a roomy 3 bed flat and when the heating was put on, it seems to be using at least £10 every three days but i suppose that given i use also use gas for cooking and hot water, and also given that the charges have gone skywards, that is probably a normal amount.

You probably also get the Winter Fuel Allowance. Due now.
Got mine yesterday £250.

sandraroffey

me too!!! there is a god!!!! yee haa!!! thanks mr brown. i will be warm now.xxxx

Ken68

sandraroffey wrote: »

me too!!! there is a god!!!! yee haa!!! thanks mr brown. i will be warm now.xxxx

I shall spend some of my WFA on wine wimmin and song, and waste the rest.:rotfl: