If things get tougher?

lil_me

Jamie you are right, local council websites will have how to apply for school transport, in my area you can apply when the school is over 2 miles away for primary schools, same with secondary schools but the law is 3 miles I think. If you can't find the info you need PM me where you live (which council it comes under) and I will have a look for you.

http://www.saferoutestoschools.org.uk/index.php?f=travel_plans.htm there is that aswell which might helps some.

Uniscots97

Things are definitely getting tougher. But if you have freezer space go along to Tesco's. I was in there last night and they have yellow stickered all their christmas food stuff. Lots of bargains. I got 2 large steak pies for 80p amongst other things.

katieowl_2

Thanks to ALL for your suggestions. I have tried turning everything off before and it did stop...but I haven't done it recently so as soon as I've got everyone out of the house I'll try again. I looked at the gas meter too and it was going quite fast at the end dial - so I turned the Aga down and it stopped. I know that the Aga is burning a lot of gas, and that gas went up a LOT last year, but there is nothing I can do about it, as it heats my water, and provides cooking and background heat to the whole house! When we first got it gas was a cheap fuel!

E-on have read my meters every quarter this year - so no estimates. OH and I were discussing this last night, and I still can't believe they wanted me to repay the whole lot in three months. I was in credit on and off just about every other month last year, and it's down to seasonal variation basically (that and the extortionate prices of fuel - notice how once it went up it never went down???)

We heard on the news last night that one of the other utility companies is about to announce price hikes "in double figures" ! So maybe e-on are trying to extract cash up front!

Regards

Kate

snuffilin

I am with Eon aswell and got a horribly high bill (something like £250.00)in August although we had not been using any heating since we moved in at beginning of June. It was not an estimated bill, they said they had checked our meter on a certain date. Turned out whoever checked the meter was wrong by miles. I rang them with my own reading and ended up £26.00 in credit. I have been doing the same since and I am now £350.00 in credit.

Worth checking!

Snuffi

chrissie55

snuffilin wrote: »

I am with Eon aswell and got a horribly high bill (something like £250.00)in August although we had not been using any heating since we moved in at beginning of June. It was not an estimated bill, they said they had checked our meter on a certain date. Turned out whoever checked the meter was wrong by miles. I rang them with my own reading and ended up £26.00 in credit. I have been doing the same since and I am now £350.00 in credit.

Worth checking!
~ When we moved in here (rented) P'gen didn't send us a bill for a year despite repeated requests; when it came it wasn't too bad, C. £400- (we're v careful, wear jumpers in th house when it's v cold, etc.,). BUT last year they asked for £416- for 11 wks :eek: & I said, Oi!! It turned out we were over £400- in CREDIT due to their mistake, so I've not had to pay for the last 11 months or so.:p

kippers

It sounds to me that you have the main meter for all the flats and the other meters installed were just sub-meter. This is easy to esablish as wait until a time when the other flats are occupied and turn all your gas appliences off. If the dials move at all and all your appliences are off (including your pilot light) then you are paying for someone elses gas.

Have you thought of complaining to the Energy Ombudsman?

www.energy-ombudsman.org.uk

They have more 'clout' than us 'normal customers'.

Austin_Allegro

Hmmm....I'm already fairly frugal but would do the following if necessary:

- drop social club/gym subs (c. £600 pa saved)

- change overseas holiday to a tour of friends and rellies, or camping: (c£400 pa saved)

- stop buying ANY new clothes or shoes, I have enough to last me for years now: (c.£300 a year saved)

- get rid of the tellie and watch DVDs (from library) on laptop or listen to R4 (c£100 a year saved)

- move in with my parents (c.£5000 a year saved but possibly not my sanity)

spookycat_2

When we swithed over to Good Energy (then UnitE) we were paying a reasonable 31 pounds a moth for renewable energy. All of a sudden we were using 58 pounds a month, so dh (being a clever bod) switched everything off and we were VERRRRY careful for a week with usage, he calculated that there was no way we were using the amount we were paying, I rang them and after a couple of days they got back to us. Guess what, for over a year we had been paying someone else's electricity bill as well as our own!! It was remedied immediately in fairness to them but I totally agree, always check the bill closely and routinely do a "switch off and see".

patchwork_cat

I know what you mean every one wants a piece! I often feel that for various reasons at the moment if you have read any of my other posts you'll know that we were rear ended coming off a motorway beginning of december.
Our car is a write off. The assessor has given us a valuation by 'the book', but when I said I can't replace it for that she said - oh windscreen price is only a starting point. That is her attitude on paying me compensation, but not the attitude of the garages selling the cars! Car People - the best they would do was throw in 6 months tax for screen price no discounts and the next garage threw in a whole 12 months tax!
So upshot we are down a good £600 if we went for the same car again. Tried appealing, but all they have done is check her calculations, not go out and have a look like we were told.

Katie that bill is phenomenal!

Actiongirl_2

That sounds like a typo/miscalculation - I would hit the roof with them. We have a four bed house, with two boilers and separate heating systems (its a long thin house) and we also use a gas cooker.

We are with EON and pay £120 a month for electricity/Gas, which is pretty much always in surplus. In November, they sent me a letter saying that they wanted to REDUCE my DD to £80. I called them and told them no - I would rather overpay, I like knowing how much in the budget is for fuel, and I like it even more when they take my readings and send me back a cheque for £300 which they did in Nov.

I know I could be earning interest on the money, but it works for us, and means we either have a nice little bonus every year, or we are insulated against the price rises like todays....