If things get tougher?

meanmarie

Skint_Catt...have a feeling you may be right about consumption...OH lit a log fire this pm which was nice and cost nothing, bits of timber and branches from around the place.

Wine making is not rocket science...we make it now and again and it turns out well...some better than others. Its a bit expensive to set up but very cheap when that is done and if you have freecycle you may be able to get some equipment that someone else will be glad to get rid of

Night all
Marie

katieowl_2

OH Dear! I did post on here a while ago when the thread first appeared, but guess what.....Things HAVE got tougher!

I opened a letter this morning which came Christmas week (I didn't open any post that week as I was having a bit of a meltdown) from my gas and energy supplier - Powergen who are now E-On...they want to put up my monthly direct debit by (Drum roll please.......)
a whopping 76.5% to £194 a MONTH!!!!:eek: :eek: :eek:

No can do....I phoned up E-on and told them to F-off basically!

I am sitting here in a house with NO central heating, I have a low energy light bulb in every light fitting, I've given up using the Dishwasher to save cash on electric (and dishwash powder) three months ago, we bought two new low energy rating appliances (Fridge and freezer) in Jan of last year to save money on a bank of ancient guzzlers, and we've gotten rid of a fish tank which I suspect was a big user about five months ago, and also I've been manic about turning anything on standby off. STILL they think I owe them more???? Am I accidentally supplying the whole street, do hoards of spot-lit mousy gremlins sneak in at night and turn everything on full???

The less than helpful girl asked me what extra I could afford, so I told her nothing! (We were already paying £110 a month) I was under the impression that your higher winter consumption was covered by the lower use summer months, and over the year evened out, but apparently this is no longer the case, They want you to clear your 'excess consumption' in three months. I did ask when this became the case, but of course they couldn't tell me! Basically I told them I'd continue paying what I am now by standing order, and cancel the direct debit, as we are intending to sell up and move in the next six months and the whole balance - if any remains outstanding! - will be cleared then!

Is anyone else having this sort of demand for cash??? Demanding money with menaces I call it! Grrrrrr :mad:
Regards

ceridwen

That is one heck of a lot for fuel - wonder if your meter is working correctly? Would imagine your fuel company would have to check it for free if you ask?

I can recall once before when I was there at the time when someone opened their electric bill and they thought it was perfectly okay - I looked at it and said there was something wrong with it, it was MUCH too high. They didnt believe me. Some time later - a tenant in the same building moved out! Yep you guessed it - I was right! Turned out this tenant had only found a way to tap into their electric meter - so they had been paying for the tenants electricity, as well as their own.

Bet they were wishing they had listened to me then!

kethry

katieowl wrote: »

I opened a letter this morning which came Christmas week (I didn't open any post that week as I was having a bit of a meltdown) from my gas and energy supplier - Powergen who are now E-On...they want to put up my monthly direct debit by (Drum roll please.......)
a whopping 76.5% to £194 a MONTH!!!!:eek: :eek: :eek:

I would strongly strongly suggest you start watching your meters. Turn everything off, the cooker, the heating, the fridge and freezer, everything that uses any electricity, just for 5 minutes, and go and look at your meters. they should not be turning round. Do this a couple of times at different times of day/week. If it ever does continue to go around then you must query the meter. Its a bit of a risk because some companies say "we'll check the meter but if its ok we'll charge you for checking it", but if you've done the first part several times and the meter keeps going then i think its worth the risk.

We're with powergen, in rented accommodation (social landlord) and since our gas supply was switched from a communal gas supply (paid by landlord, we paid flat amount as part of our rent) to individual gas supply 3 years ago we have had nothing but trouble with it - they put us on business tariff, refused to switch us to domestic, refused us the dual fuel discount, refused to check the meter.. every trick in the book they could pull, they would. We finally got a financial adviser in (the kind that are paid by the local development companies/council to help people who are having financial problems) who acts as an intermediary between us and powergen and she's been fantastic, but its still dragging on even now. We think that when they put in the new meters they really screwed up on the installation and all the other flats meters run through our meter, so we get charged for whatever the other flats use as well. We even had a british gas rep come to try to persuade us to buy their gas and when we regaled him with the whole sorry tale, he said, I'm sorry, but to use that amount of gas and electricity you would have to be burning every single applicance you currently have, 24/7, and even then it probably wouldn't do it!!

anyway. don't just take their word for it. do investigate, do do some basic checking. Keep records: take a meter reading every day/week at the same time, so if there's a variation, you can see straight away. Try turning things off (even the freezer would be ok switched off for half an hour as long as you didn't open the door) in a controlled way to see the effect on the meter. do the test i outlined at the top. It really is worth it.

good luck!

keth
xx

meanmarie

Katieowl,

There is no way that seems right to me, we use oil for heating and electricity for cooking etc...we have a large old, badly insulated house and spend about £ 1200 max on oil which is notoriously expensive anyway and our electricity bill might be another £1000 in a bad year....we have no choice of electricity supplier in Ireland. We seem to pay more for most services than you do so without knowing exactly what your bill should be I would urge you to follow the advice already given and check your consumption for at least a couple of weeks, keeping careful note of date and time...turning everything off is also a good idea.

Nolle illegitimi carborundum!! latin spelling probably way wrong, basically means don't let the barstewards grind you down

Marie

ceridwen

good suggestions from Kethry there - I'd have a go at that if I were you.

code-a-holic

Juni wrote: »

Sell up and move to France. There's nothing more I am willing to do to cut back in this country.

My in laws did this last year....they have to fork out a lot more on heating oil and electric than we do. Oops should have checked before they moved shouldnt they!

code-a-holic

This past year has seen me manage to slice off huge chunks of our bills..... but i have undone most of that with a new car we got in November. I used to have a peole carrier that did 45mpg. The new one does about 25mpg and im doing more miles. Its driving me mad. We had to change the car as my husband can only drive a automatic car and mine was a manual and due to a ongoing injury i struggle on long distances and the inlaws pay us twice a year to go to France to see them. So now we have this auto car that costs me big time! My eldest catches the school bus from outside the door. But im driving all day for my other 2 children. Playschool is 5 miles away. 2.5 hrs 4 days a week. My 3 yr old will start school (also 5 miles away) for every afternoon a week in about 5 months. So i have to take and collect. But in the mornings i have to go to the village to take my daughter to playschool. So thats 40 miles a day just for doing school runs! Unforunatly for me there are no other children there at the moment that live in this direction to share lifts. We are thinking of a lpg conversion......but dont have £1800 lying around!

Olliebeak

I'm with E-on/Powergen. When I moved here (3 bed house) a year ago (newbuild property) I was quoted £65 per month for combined gas and electric - which I thought sounded a little high but having come from a 1 bedroom flat, thought oh well - see what happens. When my first year was up I was actually in credit with supply company and they have reduced my payments to £55 for the next 12 months.

Have you checked the meter readings - making sure that they are not estimated ones? Do what others have suggested and turn everything off and then check the meter to make sure that it's not still turning. It certainly sounds as though 'something is not quite right' - has to be worth investigating.

JAMIEDODGER

code-a-holic

i am sure that if your nearest school is over x miles away then the council pay to trasport the children. this happened to me a few years ago, the kids nearest school way a long way and the council sent them to school in a taxi.