Gas and electricity bill....

tombooth

Hi Guys,

I've recently moved out of my Mum's house and into my first house. I was wondering if anyone can offer any advice with regards to gas and electricity.

I am currently with N-Power who have started me off paying £75 a month for each of my gas and electricity bills - making a total of £150 a month. I don't know much about these things but I'm sure that seems quite high for a 3 bed semi.

I have looked through the site and found a comparison site and found there are cheaper alternatives. What I want to know is, should I just go with the cheapest or am I better off staying where I am as I am on a price cap until 2009 and I understand that I can pay for what I use as long as I supply my meter readings...

Hope someone can offer some good advice.

Thanks all.

Tom

Ken68

The stickies on this forum will help, it shows average costs for gas and electric. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=13
I pay less than £400 a year for gas and electric combined, tho with a fair bit of attention and control.
Npower are known as high chargers, try Martins switching company recommendation...Energy Helpline....EBICO seem popular.

angelatgraceland

Sounds a lot to me. My electric bill has just been increased to £75 per month for a family of 5 in a 4 bed house. We used 2000 units on the last quarter so that will give you an idea. Gas is £60 per month. We cook with gas and have an inefficient old gas boiler which is not timer compatible so constantly boils the water whether or not we want it.I would think that if its just yourself and maybe a partner, then half of the above would seem about right. Keep a weekly record of your readings and wourk out what you will use over 13 weeks. You will then have a good point to put to the suppliers. However, they are probably overestimating in order to cover higher winter bills so that you dont get behind with any payments. It seems too much to me. I would suggest to request £50 for each service per month.

lilac_lady

I would check that they're not charging you for the previous owner's bill - £150 per month seems really high.

mobilegossip

Tom.

You might get more response if you posted in Gas and Electric Forum.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=13

MarkyMarkD

£75 a month is too much, but it isn't a reason to bin off NPower. All you need to do is agree a more sensible regular payment.

If you've been there a month (say) extrapolate your usage to a full year by multiplying by 12. Then increase the gas amount to about twice as much (as you won't use much in the summer). Then divide that total by 12 and offer that to them as a monthly payment.

As soon as you get your first bill, you will be able to see if you are underpaying, but you SHOULD be overpaying (for gas only) as it's summer and bills should be low.

** All this assumes you have gas CH **

alanobrien

That's ridiculous, i am not paying that for an extended 4 bed detached. As already mentioned above look at the stickies in the forum, evaluate your usage and shop around for the best supplier.

scheming_gypsy

if you've only just moved in then i'm presuming they've guesstimated the amount of gas and electric you'll use and charge you accordingly. When you have your meters read you're either paying the right amount, not paying enough or over paying. Once NPower have that information and calculate how much you're actually using they'll probably credit your account and change your payments to a more realistic level.