I give up

Broken_hearted

Thanks Lynz we already have cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, double glazing and engery saving lightbulbs. I dont understand how it gets so high exept for them underestimating in the first place.
The gas is another matter I can't let the house get cold for OH. Oh well debt free date gets pushed back a few months.

Queen.Bess

So sorry BH that you're in this situation. A few weeks ago I spoke to my electricity providers when I thought I was £60 in credit to ask for a refund. I was actually £60 in debit (how embarrassing!), but the chap said that as long as my monthly DD payments of £15 continued, they don't worry about having to collect the arrears. So it might be worth speaking to them to see whether, for the time being at least, you can continue at the lower DD amount. Plus with summer coming up (apparently!) you will probably use less electricity anyway and the arrears might be lower by the time autumn/winter comes round again!

Good Luck - I hope everything works out OK. It will all do in the end!!

lynzpower

Broken_hearted wrote:

Thanks Lynz we already have cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, double glazing and engery saving lightbulbs. I dont understand how it gets so high exept for them underestimating in the first place.
The gas is another matter I can't let the house get cold for OH. Oh well debt free date gets pushed back a few months.

Fair enough, seems like you are doing all you can aside from changing to a cheaper supplier, that has to be the way to go- can you not pay it off by CC, its still debt whichever way you look at it

russjacks

I too have loft,caverty wall insulation and double glazing but i am still picking at the gas all the time. the hot water comes on at 5am for everyone to have a shower but un known to all in the house hold, i have been putting the hot water on for less and less until some one complains that the water is not hot enough. no one has complained yet so i will keep doing it untill some one do's. Set about 30 mins at mo, do remember the tank do's not go totally cold over night.
In the evenings i have looked at what we use the water for. Shower, washing machine and pots, if you think about it 1 hot tank full should easily do that. So set your hot water to come on just long enough to heat one tank full. Depending how good your boiler is, its amazing how quickly it reaches the right temp. no need to have the boiler coming on and off reheating the same water you will not use.
This will help your gas useage a lot.

Hope all go's well :j

Broken_hearted

Update we have phoned them up and given todays meter readings and asked for a new bill. Should knock £20 off the total bill. We then queried the tarrif we were on and they've said its the wrong one for us. They are sending out details so we can look at getting a better/cheaper one from them. We will also look at others to see if they are cheaper. I will be making payments throughout June to reduce the overall bill and hopefully get them to keep the £35 payments. Fingers crossed.

gallygirl

Broken_hearted wrote:

Update we have phoned them up and given todays meter readings and asked for a new bill. Should knock £20 off the total bill. We then queried the tarrif we were on and they've said its the wrong one for us. They are sending out details so we can look at getting a better/cheaper one from them. We will also look at others to see if they are cheaper. I will be making payments throughout June to reduce the overall bill and hopefully get them to keep the £35 payments. Fingers crossed.

You see, things are looking up already!!!!!! Chin up x;)

bookworm1363

BH, I implore you, I beg you, get rid of your Direct Debit and arrange a Standing Order instead! This way, YOU say how much is coming out and when, they can't just help themselves to what they want when they want. Ok, you'll still have to pay it, but at least, YOU're in control.

A few months ago, my electric supplier wanted to increase my payments to from £65 a month to, I kid you not, £250 a month! Due to their own incompetence, we had, unknown to us, fallen severely behind, and they wanted it all caught up with by the time next bill came round. I told them no way, stood my ground, the usual "take me to court then, see if a judge will give you £250 a month", told them I'd pay £125 until caught up, which would cover current use and a small bit towards arrears, and it will pay it off when it does... They refused, I said tough, and changed my s/o accordingly. Eventually, they accepted it.

Now, if I'd been paying by d/d, I think we all know what would have happened, don't we? They would have taken £250 a month, and not given a flying f...ig how that would affect the rest of my budget.

Broken_hearted

Great idea I thanks. Will set one up ASAP.

tesuhoha

The only thing about dds and please someone correct me if im wrong here, I think its slightly cheaper to pay your fuel bills with them.

amosworks

Well yes and no, it's the same price to pay with them but more expensive if you don't (you think they would actually lower the price for the DD payments rather than raise the price for non-DD payments :rolleyes:)

Usually a few % off your unit rate.
HTH