£17 monthly increase in my gas DD 18 March 2006 at 1:53PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Energy 16 replies 897 views

leni

Finally got round to filing my bills and stuff, and noticed that my gas DD is increasing this month from £18 to £34 reflecting the amount of gas I use! I'm £18 in debt to British Gas, but have always been in credit, my £18 a month means I over pay in spring and summer but the over payment covers my extra usage in the Winter! But this time I went £18, but to me, that doesn't warrent a hike of £17 per month! :eek:

what can I do about it?

magentadreamer

Have you actualy worked out how much you will pay with the new increases for the next year? If you've got last years bills to hand work out how much gas you did use then mutiply it with the cost per unit now and if it really is going to be a lot less then your present payments I'd ring then with your calulations.

leni

I suppose, this time last year I was in credit, so it might work out even, but still! Think it was just a shock, I don't know how to work it out - I'm not sure I've worked this out right but I think we've used 15934 kWh of Gas and 3963 kWh of Elelctric, I looking through USWITCH and allot of others are coming out cheaper so I think I'll look at switching!

magentadreamer

My DD went up in Jan with Scottish power but when I worked out how much Gas/Elec I'd used over the last year with the new prices it did actually work out to the new DD level. If switching is going to be cheaper then I'd say go for it. Use a cash back site like quidco.com and you might make some on switching as well if your new supplier is listed on there or any other cashback site.

Van1971

Ring them up and tell them that £17 more a month is too much and negotiate something in between. It shouldn't be a problem.

Cardew

leni wrote:

I suppose, this time last year I was in credit, so it might work out even, but still! Think it was just a shock, I don't know how to work it out - I'm not sure I've worked this out right but I think we've used 15934 kWh of Gas and 3963 kWh of Elelctric, I looking through USWITCH and allot of others are coming out cheaper so I think I'll look at switching!

£18 to £34 is a hike of £16 a month.

15,934 kWh at BG's post March prices will cost £447. So if that is the tariff you are on, £34 a month will not be sufficient to cover this - especially as BG usually take 11 months DD payments in a year.

Also £18 was not enough to have paid for last year's gas at their old tariff.

Who do you pay your electricity to? How much you pay depends on the area in which you live but an average cost from BG for 3963 kWh would be approx £420pa. (and BG are reasonable for electricity)

So allowing for discounts for the consumption you quote your dual fuel payments should be in the order of £65 a month.

Your dual fuel consumption is below the national average.

Louisepp

Van1971 wrote:

Ring them up and tell them that £17 more a month is too much and negotiate something in between. It shouldn't be a problem.

Similar problem here. My Scottish power DD has just gone up from £53 per month to £165 pm :eek:

Someone else suggested I phoned them and negotiated, but I assume that I will have to pay it all in the end? So reducing the payment is just going to delay and put me in debt for longer?

Or do they actually write off some of the bill? Okay...possibly stupid question, but these boards are really getting me thinking

BTW, we have only been with Scottish power for 10 months. I assume they gave us such a low gas/elec monthly DD price to entice us?:(

We should have been more on the ball checking the estimated meter readings. Used to always check them, but been a bit lazy recently

Henry-Root

About 18 months ago now I gleefully switched to Powergen from British Gas having used Uswitch. Unfortunately, I did not keep an eye on my energy bills and after 12 months noticed that I was over £250 in debt as the DD was not recovering my actual energy usage. In the time stated, my energy usage had not increased so far as I was aware but I was forced to repay the overdue balance or remain in debt. I chose the former but have always wondered why I finished up paying far more than I did with my original supplier.

I am now considering another change but am a little sceptical as to the accuracy of energy comparison services and also the rates "new" suppliers say they will charge.

Cardew

Louisepp wrote:

BTW, we have only been with Scottish power for 10 months. I assume they gave us such a low gas/elec monthly DD price to entice us?:(

That is exactly what hapens all the time. There is only commission to be made if a customer switches.

I am pretty certain that if you were paying £50 a month with Company A and quoted this figure to Company B they would say £40. Quote £40 to Company C and they would say £30 etc etc.

smartie1976

Before you switch, take time to consider a few things.

Cardew is of course correct - I think you are currently Underpaying and when you get your next bill you will be more than £18 owing on gas.

Looking at this simply (using round figures cos it's easier!):

Example: If gas has gone up by 30% then so should your DD.
£18 x 1.3 = £23.40

However, if you are owing money (and it will depend on how much) you will need to pay that back over the year. So if you owe say £50 it is reasonable you will pay an additional £4 odd per month. (£50/ 12 months)

Your total would then be £28 per month.

So, in conclusion £34 seems high compared to your £18, but even I pay more than £18 pcm on gas and I'm at home only half the week in a 2-bed terrace, and I'm not so sure the £18 wasn't too low in the first place.

You need to make sure your current reads are inline with those on your bills/ account.

melbury

BG recently tried to put my DD up from £49.50 pm to £79.50 pm - I was so angry I phoned and said that if they didn't bring it back to a reasonable level there and then I was switching without delay. The guy was very helpful and apologetic and basically added up my last four gas bills and divided by 12 and asked if I was happy to pay that amount each month, which I was - worked out to be about £57 pm. He says the computer works out what the new payments should be, so I told him to sack the computer!