Sad......but true????

smidge69

I have just moved into a new rented semi detached house. It has 2 bedrooms whereas my other rented place had three and so there are only 2 people at the new address, not 3. The third person I used to share with was there a lot but obviously used hot water to shower and gas to heat food on the hob.

We were paying around £65 per quarter for our gas at the old house but we received our first gas bill here and for 11 days it was £50.66. I couldn't believe it. I cannot understand how, even with energy price rises, our usage could have increased like that with one less person. The cooking is the same here - gas hob but electric oven. Central heating and hot water on gas with the same timer system as the old house. We have turned the thermostat down and reduced the number of hours the heating and water are on each day to only 4 but even then our bill will be £120 AT LEAST per quarter and we that is if we are using about 2 units or less per day. I cannot understand how their figure of what we owe can be right.

I have spoken to Southern Electric who supply us and they said it has to be due to poor insulation, inefficient heating etc but how can it be when our systems are the same, fairly new, recently serviced etc. I did check the meter readings over several days and they did drop slightly and are still around 2.3 units a day - almost exactly the same as at the old property oing calculations for the two of us who were there most of the time, using the system on a timer. So why SO MUCH difference in price?

One thing I have found out is that the serial number actually on the meter does not match the one on the bill exactly. There are 3 digits that are different. The woman at southern electric said that is normal - they don't use all the number, just part of it. Is that true? All the info online seems to say the numbers should match exactly. I also wondered if the meter is being read as imperial (it does say that on the front as in ft3) but that it may have been altered on the inside at some point to metric and the supplier does not know / has not updated their records. I know the landlord bought the place in 2001 but I don't know when the meter was last changed. The supplier swears it is down to us, that that is the cost of the gas we use and that we must basically wear more clothes. The landlord had a shock when he recieved his final bill too - way way more than he was paying by DD. And he was a single guy who worked all hours, leaving at 8am and not coming home until 7pm or later. As i must now pay the bills here, I need to know what is happening.

PLEASE ADVISE ME OF WHAT TO DO. I HAVE CALLED ENERGY WATCH AND THEY SAID CALL THE SUPPLIER BUT AS I SAID THEY AREN'T INTERESTED IN CHECKING IT OUT.

I have also discovered that on the land registry, when this new place was bought by the landlord, it says detached as property type and it also says that on 2 other house price sites. This is not detached. It is a semi, attached on one side to an identical house. Makes me wonder if I am paying for next doors gas as they have a family with kids etc. especially as the meter numbers differ. Although the units we actually use, according to my readings, are still similar as was used at the three bed place. But how the hell do I find out?
All answers welcome.

N9eav

I would say that £120 a quarter is good. My parents have a 3 bed well insulated semi and the monthly bill is £90. I pay £75 just for electric a month. £40 a month would seem good.
Are you on the same tariff as the old place?

Contains_Mild_Peril

N9eav wrote: »

I would say that £120 a quarter is good. My parents have a 3 bed well insulated semi and the monthly bill is £90.

:eek: Is that for cold months or is that average or what? If average I would say that's rather a high amount.
OP, does your gas bill not say on it what the price per unit is? If it does, you could get a calculator out and if your figures differ significantly from the bill, ask your supplier to explain why. Are you sure your bills for the old place were correct? Did you get a final bill based on the actual meter reading?

Magentasue

smidge69 wrote: »

I did check the meter readings over several days and they did drop slightly and are still around 2.3 units a day - almost exactly the same as at the old property oing calculations for the two of us who were there most of the time, using the system on a timer. So why SO MUCH difference in price?

I think you are saying that your usage is the same as at your old house but that you're now paying twice as much?

- Rather than looking at your quarterly bill, check the price you are paying per kwh and compare that to the price you paid at your previous address.

Or, are you saying that your meter should be recording fewer units? 2.3 imperial units is roughly 72kwh a day. Sounds OK if you have the heating on - you can't expect it to use the same amount of gas as your previous system. There are so many factors such as the construction of the house, height of the ceilings, whether you're north facing or not and so on before you even look at the system.

smidge69

Magentasue wrote: »

- Rather than looking at your quarterly bill, check the price you are paying per kwh and compare that to the price you paid at your previous address.

There are so many factors such as the construction of the house, height of the ceilings, whether you're north facing or not and so on before you even look at the system.

The factors such as height of ceilings and construction etc would matter only if it were controlled by a thermostate wouldn't it? We set the temperature of the heating ourselves using a dial so they are regulated as at the old house and at a lower temp. Oh, and the kwh price - very little diifference.

Magentasue

So ... your kwh cost hasn't increased but your quarterly bill and therefore kwh used has?

What I was trying to say was, that identical systems used identically would use different amounts of gas to maintain the same temperature in different buildings. For example, if one system was run in a house with seven rooms the size of small cupboards, it would use less gas to maintain a 20deg room temp throughout than the same system with seven normal sized rooms.

smidge69

well this place is alot smaller. its a cottage. the walls are thick, room sizes themselves smaller, lower ceilings. Do you think that that would make it harder to heat, or easier, on the same system?

Magentasue

Oooh, I don't know! I just know that some houses are easier to heat than others. In theory, smaller rooms, low ceilings, insulated cavity walls, double glazing, thick carpets and underlay, plenty of loft insulation, heavy curtains, halls and porches, south facing rooms etc. are all things that make a house easier to heat/keep warm.

peggydoodaa

You really need to get them out to read the meter and check the serial number out!
I've just had a VERY long problem with Gritish Bas due to their records not being updated when the meter was changed in 2005, in fact it's still being 'sorted out' to this day...

smidge69

i did call the electric people again - on hold for 13 minutes while it was checked out about the meter. The woman said "No, no thats fine if some of the numbers are different in the serial number. What we go by is the meter point reference number and that is fine so you have nothing to worry about."

Again, I don't know if that really is all they go by or if the serial number also must be used as identical to that on the actual meter.

I put my heating on for 3 hours and that used 2.5 units of gas. Does THAT sound high? If they charge me at the rate they quoted on the phone that would be £2.65 plus any standing charge percentage and plus VAT which would add about £0.46 pence. So for 3 hours it cost me £3.00? Seems alot to me.

Magentasue

We're averaging 2.5 -3 imperial units a day - about 80kwh a day with the heating on all evening and an hour or so in the morning. And that's hot water and cooking (6 of us in 3 bed house) so I suppose 2.5 units for 3 hours heating does sound a lot.