My story - determined

StuartGMC

gallygirl wrote: »

Well done :T.

V impressed with your organisation. Would like to do a spreadsheet for fuel but meters are at front of house so neighbours would see me taking readings regularly . Unless I do it at night :think:. Now, what would be more embarrassing - being seen in broad daylight every month taking meter readings or being caught occasionally taking readings by torchlight

....I've been seen reading them by torchlight on the side of the house but it's within our fence so I keep my head down :rotfl:

Dt1
Whilst BG will only bill on a quarterly basis you can submit readings online in the meantime. As it took some time to resolve which register was day and night readings on the electricity meter just a short while after switching to them, the gas meter needed changing too. So I've been reading them regularly since then.

I read the meters every two weeks and submit online (and of course keep a spreadsheet of estimate then also enter the data from BG to confirm average consumption in kWh for comparison checks and graphically too - you said we all like 'em!) but the serious point here is this data means that BG will set the direct debits to closely match your consumption so you shouldn't have much of your cash in their coffers.

Give it a try it may help to avoid that £200 credit line ever appearing again :j

determined1_2

Hi StuartGMC

I've been submitting my own readings on the 1st of each month for the last 12 months (since I moved here actually).

I'm currently only paying £27 pcm for leccy and £30 pcm for gas. I think I was told this is the minimum level of DD you can have

can't wait for the 16th May so I can calculate my annual consumption and calculate it as a percentage of the national average

I love my little spreadsheet as it gives my a "true" reflection of what I'm owed "today" instead of my actual account balance.


Anyone had any experience with getting credit balances back from BG or know of the minimum DD levels

twinklie

Not a clue but would love to know how your gas bill is so small. Clearly I've been doing something wrong.

determined1_2

There is only two of us living in the house and the heating is powered by a combi boiler.

The leccy we use about £25 a month so that is pretty accurate. Gas is only used for cooking, heating water and CH.

All I do for leccy is:
a) turn things off at the plug that isn't needed
b) turn off lights when I leave the room

Simply as that. We do use a little electric fan heater to heat the bathroom before we have a bath in the winter as there is an electric oil rad in there that is rubbish.

For gas I
a) am very tight (frugal) with the heating. (turned on mid Nov and off by begining of Mar)
b) other than that, just use as normal for baths, showers and hot water

The combi boiler is quite old and prob inefficient. However, being we have minor usage, it doesn't really warrant th upgrage (prob breakdown now i've said that)

We are a mid terrace, so are getting 'hugged' from either side :rotfl:

I find monitoring and having a graph (I bet stuart can vouch for this) motivational as you continually now how much you're using and it kind of becomes a little competition to bring it down lol

uzubairu

determined1 wrote: »

There is only two of us living in the house and the heating is powered by a combi boiler.

The leccy we use about £25 a month so that is pretty accurate. Gas is only used for cooking, heating water and CH.

All I do for leccy is:
a) turn things off at the plug that isn't needed
b) turn off lights when I leave the room

Last October we were paying Npower £73 a month just for electricity and we didn't even have a credit balance! :eek:

After changing to Scottish Power and doing a) and b) above we have just had our payments reduced from £56 per month to £40.

We (just the 2 of us) live in a 4 bedroomed semi 3 storey house.

Looking to switch Gas supplier and get an online account so that I can enter accurate readings every month, like we do with the electricity.

I also got £32 cashback via Quidco when I switched to Scottish Power.

I have had to nag my husband (even now) constantly to get to this level of saving, but every penny saved goes towards paying off the mortgage, so it is definitely worth it.

StuartGMC

determined1 wrote: »

We are a mid terrace, so are getting 'hugged' from either side :rotfl:

I find monitoring and having a graph (I bet stuart can vouch for this) motivational as you continually now how much you're using and it kind of becomes a little competition to bring it down lol

Yes, the graphs are very motivational :rotfl::rotfl:
Our bills are £50 each per month gas and electricity (3 of us in a detached house) but the kWh is the best comparison. We fixed in Sept 08 to Sept 11 - presently I'm sticking with this (£100 fee to get out) pending review in summer plus checking gas futures etc which I see are up 6% today in US. Will need to decide in December whether to get out of contract.

determined1_2

Off on hols tomorrow :dance:

Had quite a productive last 7 days.
a) got the lounge finished - surround sound system as well (paid for by match betting though)
b) lots of my accountancy study completed (two exams coming up in June and project also to be finished)
c) found a new B+C insurance quote and saved £180 - feel a bit silly for using who I did last year
d) have been playing around with numbers and accessing our financial position as a whole
i) have decided to take my initial investment of £990 out of match betting
ii) my monthly saver matures in June and will release the interest of ~ £200
iii) regigging our saving pots into an ISA and leaving some money for match betting will leave us with £4,950 safety
iv) after the regig, I will have an extra £175 spare at the end of June
v) still on target for getting £200 utility refund at the end of june

So, how does this affect the OP situation? Well,

An extra OP of £990 can be made on 1 June
An extra OP of £375 (£200 + £175) can be made on 1 July
An extra OP of £200 can be made on 1 Aug


The cheaper B+C insurance will mean a much lower OP next month (along with still clearing a big CC bill and the MOT + service next month)

I've taken a good strcit look at all areas of our budget to see where we can trim things back and have found the following:
a) the B+C won't have to be paid out each month
b) hope to lower phone and internet bill when I come out of the tie in peried - another 6 months IIRC
c) regular saver £25 SO won't be needed as this will be closed after it has matures as interest rate is negligible
d) hope to get water DD lowered slightly as we're still accumulating a credit balance
e) also hope to get gas and leccy DD lowered as this is what caused the £200 credit balance to arise
f) monitoring our food bills more strictly has resulted in this being about £40 lower a month (meal plans drawn up)
g) car shareing to work when possible has reduced travel costs by around £40 a month
h) decorating cost will plumbet (bet the OH has better ideas:rotfl:)
g) have had a look round for life cover quotes and have found I can get this ~£9 cheaper pcm - will address after hols

All in all, on a "standard" month, this should free up an extra £175 - £200 ish for OPs.

In light of this, I feel I'm in good stead for my target of £130k by 17.11.2009

Very nearly decided to reduce by term form 34 years left to 25yrs. This will up my standard payment by only £60 but is going to be necessary as we will be getting close to our OP limit (don't want to have to stop )


Have fun guys and keep up the good work :T I'll look forward to catching up on your diaries friday evening

Lister_2

Blimey! You have been busy!:eek:

Very jealous about surround sound system, I've promised myself new TV + surround once I've finished the kitchen so it's not good having other people showing off theirs.

Enjoy your hols mate. :beer:

setmefree2

Have a good holiday and good luck with those OPs:D

determined1_2

Hi guys :hello:I'm back from hols. Really really good time. Only went £5 over budget so I think I can live with that!

Annual consumption figures are in for gas and leccy

Gas

6439 @ 16.05.08
6563 @ 15.05.09

124 units x 2.83 x 39.3166 x 1.02264 / 3.6 = 3,919 Kwh

national average: 20,500 Kwh

Therefore, only 19.12% of the national average

Leccy

1466 @ 16.05.08
3484 @ 15.05.09

2,018 units = 2,018 Kwh

natioanl average: 3,300 Kwh

Therefore, only 61.15% of the national average


I'm pretty pleased with this. Someone shoot me down if I've got my calculations wrong (they do tie into the consumption figures on my BG account though).

Putting these figures into my spreadsheet, this gives a rough annual cost (for projecting forward) as follows (fixed until 2011):

Gas: £250.81

Leccy: £307.15

Therefore, my monthly DD should be (not taking into account dual fuel discounts)

Gas: £250.81 / 12 = £20.90 so....... £21

Leccy: £307.15 / 12 = £25.60 so.....£26

Currently my DD are £30 (gas) and £27 (leccy)

Think when I ring up to get my £200 credit balance back, I will try and push for a DD of £20 and £25.

This should then free up an extra £12 a month for OPs :T

As a quick check:

12 x £12 = ..........................£144
1 lot of gas DD* .....................£30
1 lot of leccy DD*...................£27

..........................................£201

* this is because the DD are on the first so by the time I ring up (start of July) I will have had 13 payments

Does seem to suggest how the credit balance has arisen :rolleyes:

Using hxxp://www.bradford-bingley.co.uk/mortgages/calculate/flexible.asp (very useful for very quick rough figures) it will save £9,419.19 in interest (this is if I don't make any other overpayments, so in theory it will be much much less). But good from a motivational point of view. Just got to make it happen now :rotfl:

Well done everyone on your progress!