Advice on Gas - (First time buyer)

razorfox

Hello,
Me and my partner bought our first home in august of last year, around the time of the massive hike in utility prices. So in the 6 months living here we have been paying via the monthly direct debit method of £45. We just got our bill with Southern Electric and found out we owe £210. Phoned them up and they said our account was due to be reviewed in a month but they calculated that we now have an estimate usage of £75 a month and to pay the outstanding bill it will be spread over 6 months @ £35 a month.
Is this how all companies go about the direct debit method? My partner seems to think her sisters with British Gas works slightly different. I take it that the bill is this high due to the increase in cost and being the winter period and i suppose being new to the property it'll take time to settle? I suppose its not worth swicthing.
Just wondering if anyone has any words because we're both pretty new to this and i suppose naive.

Oh and i gave them our actual meter reading to base the costs.

Thanks in advance.

Magentasue

The idea is that you pay 1/12 of your annual bill each month, build up credit over the summer and use it up over the winter. That's how it should work for you once you clear your debt.

Worth looking into switching though - you could probably double the kwh you've used in the last six months to calculate your annual use in kwh - use this rather than how much you've paid.

E.ON_Company_Representative

Hi

It’s difficult when moving in to a new property to know how much you will need to pay monthly for your energy.

If the supplier told you what to pay they may have based your original Direct Debit on the previous owner’s usage. The problem with this is everyone uses their energy differently.

It is quite likely that the Direct Debit of £45 was originally too little especially bearing in mind that you didn’t have the opportunity to build up a credit for the higher winter bills. That would explain the current balance. If you have both electricity and gas £45 a month is low even for August 2008 prices.

It’s normal for your supplier to include the repayments in a higher Direct Debit figure for a period of time such as 6 months. In the past I have seen from 3 to 12 months offered. The increase can come as a shock but if it clears the arrears the Direct Debit should then be reduced to the amount you are using (worth noting that this may not be the same as it is today in 6 months time).

I’d definitely shop around for a better deal and see if you can get some energy efficiency advice from you supplier to find ways to save money. When you move into a new home it can take a bit of time to get used to how much energy things actually use.

Hope this helps.