Help with getting on top of Gas & Electric

Bibbitybob

Morning all!

Please be gentle, this is my first post in here.

Just a bit of background...I live on my own in a 2 bed, ground floor flat. I'm fully double glazed and very careful (or so I thought!!) with my gas and electric. Nothing gets left on standby (except the usual...fridge etc), lights are off when I leave the room and I've only had my heating on a few days so far this month, and even that's only ever around an hour.

When I moved in there was a pre-payment meter installed. I had that removed and paid the debt off. I set up a DD with npower then got a bill that said I was about £200 in debt. To cut a long story short, they've now got me paying just under £100 a month DD for both gas and electric.

I have asked them if this can be reduced and their response was no, because I'm only paying about £2 a month of the debt off at this price. I paid half of it off in a lump sum payment.

To be honest, I've kind of buried my head in the sand and just accepted it because every call to them is ridiculously stressful and I get no-where. But I've decided I need to get on top of it, but I don't really know where to start.

I've just signed up for online services & billing, and have submitted a new meter reading so that they will have accurate records when I call in the week.

When my electricity meter was installed (4/11/08) the reading was 01268. Todays reading is 02231 which I workout to equal £141.21 / approximately 2.5kWh per day in electric since the installation of my meter.

My gas meter reading is currently 00514 (457 in red). I can't find a record of the numbers when the meter was installed, but assuming it was at 0 does that mean I've used 514 kWh or 514457kWh? When I give the meter reading it says not to give any of the red numbers, which is where I'm confused.

So really, there are two parts to my question...

1) Does the £100 DD sound high to you? I am planning to sort all my paperwork today so will hopefully be able to dig out my last few bills to give a bit more detail on the debt.
2) Assuming it is high, what's the best way forwards now? Or assuming it is correct, can anyone suggest any way to lower it?

Please don't slate me for not addressing this sooner...I can't do anything about that now, but I'm prepared to try my best now.

Thanks in advance.

aelitaman

When you moved in why did you pay the debt of on the pre payment meter, surely this was the debt that the previous occupant owed not you?

2.5 kwh is very low usage compared to average I use 10Kwh per day of elecy.

If you gas meter was intalled in 08 it should be metric so the quick way to calulate the KWh (not exact but close enough) is to multiply the figures used by 11.1 to get Kwh.

So 514 x 11.1 = 5705 Kwh. Again if this is 1 years use very low consumption.

There should be paper tags tied to the meters with the date they were installed the reading of the previous meter and the reading of the meter when it was installed.

Also check your bills for the prices that you are paying so we can let you know if they are competitive.

Also check the meter number on your bills coresponds to the meter number that you are reading, just to make sure.

Bibbitybob

Hi aelitaman, thanks for your reply.

I had the meter changed over to my name whilst I was waiting for them to come and remove it, so I didn't pay any of the previous owner's debt. I think I'd let it run into the emergency money as I knew they were removing it, so it was only a small amount I paid off.

Thanks for working out the kWh for my gas meter.

I'll check for paper tags once I've posted this, and that the meter numbers correspond.

I'm on the standard gas & electric tariffs which are...
Electric - first 728Kwh 14.910p additional kWh 13.902p
Gas - first 4572 kWh 7.871p additional kWh 2.612p

So by my workings that's £141.21 in electric (963kWh used since 04/11/08) and £389.45 in gas since a similar date, which averages out at £44.22 per month.

I'm planning to call them tomorrow to see where they have my account at, now I've given them up to date meter readings and I need to make sure I dig my bills out and check they correspond. It's just all so confusing!!

Fire_Fox

Part of the problem might be that suppliers rarely reduce DDs unless the meter has been read, so it's great you have now done this. If you are getting stressed dealing with your supplier by telephone, then perhaps start dealing with them in writing or at least via e-mail? Why are you on the standard (expensive) tariff? Have you ever looked at switching suppliers?

Bibbitybob

Thanks Fire Fox. I think if I've got everything worked out and in front of me when I call them, I should be ok to give it another go. Last time I spoke to them (August, when I had my last bill amended with actual readings) I asked if there was a better tariff they could put me on and the answer was along the lines of 'the prices are so up and down at the moment, you're best staying on this one'. To be honest, I've not sat down and looked at my usage up until now so using the information below I should be able to look at switching suppliers.

Ok, so I've got my last bill here now (18th August 09). I think I'm getting confused between cubic metres and kWh for a start.

So on 18/08/09 based on actual readings my account was £149.66 debit. The final meter readings on those bills were 1912 for electric and 458 for gas.

So between 18/08-22/11 I've used 312kWh electric and 56 cubic metres of gas so approx 621kWh (based on the x11.1 conversion from aelitaman). So that would work out roughly £46.80 on electric and £43.37 on gas over 3 months, or approx £15.60/m electric and £14.46/m gas.

So assuming I'd made no payments my account should stand at £129.80 debit for electric and £110.03 for gas (debit on previous bill + usage from bill until today) equalling £239.83. However I've made the following payments...

1st Sept - £96
1st Oct - £100
2nd Nov - £100

Equalling £296.00 so if my calculations are right I should be approx £56.17 in credit now.

Does that sound right to everyone else??

aelitaman

Your elecy cal is about right you need to add 5% for vat though.

Your gas is wrong you are on what is know as a sculpting tariff (npower I think) you would assume that the first 4572 kilowatt would be allocated at 1/12 per month but they do not do this they load it in the winter months and decrease it in the summer.

see here

http://www.npower.com/web/at_home/customer_service/Yourquestionsanswered/faq_understanding_my_prices

So august sept are 46 units oct 271 and nov will be 882 total 1199

You have only used 621Kwh so these will all be at the primary rate

621 at priamry rate = 48.87.

Get on a switching site the name of the traiffs you are on will be on your bills as your useage is so low this high primary rate that you are pying is almost certainly the wrong traiff for you it suits very high users not low users.

Also when you speak to npower ask them when your duel fuel discount will be applied to your account should be 105 GBP and if it is close then the time to switch is the day after it is paid.

Fire_Fox

Why are you asking the supplier for the best tariff? Run your actual figures through a price comparison website and switch whilst you are in credit.

Bibbitybob

Bibbitybob wrote: »

To be honest, I've not sat down and looked at my usage up until now so using the information below I should be able to look at switching suppliers.

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Why are you asking the supplier for the best tariff? Run your actual figures through a price comparison website and switch whilst you are in credit.

That's the plan!!

Thanks for your reply again aelitaman. I haven't managed to get my head around the sculpting thing on first glance, but I'll sit and have a proper look. The price for electric includes vat.

I didn't think about finding out when my dual fuel discount will be applied, but after a quick look at the comparison sites I should be paying about half what I'm on now. If I'm in credit now would be a good time to swap, so I don't have to pay off a big bill.

Thanks for all the help - I'll call them tomorrow and see where they say my account is and ask about the dual fuel discount.