DD payments for gas and electric seem too LOW

ironman1

Hello all,

This may sound silly but has anyone ever wondered if there is a problem regarding the readings for their gas and electric?

We are with British Gas and moved in just over a year ago. Our payments started at Gas- £40 Elec- £30.

We started giving readings and now do so every month. A BG man comes out to check the metres every month or so aswell.

As we were always in credit they put our DD payments down to £20 and £20. We were still in over £170 credit and recently moved to their 'Web saver 5' online tariff.

We since spoke to BG about the credit we had built up and they have now changed our payments to -
Gas £14 and Elec £7 per month.

I actually argued as to why our bills are so low and how is it so cheap.

I'm worried that we will get a letter saying there has been some kind of error and we owe hundreds! Each customer advisor has assured us our meter readings are accurate and we have nothing to worry about.

Can anyone tell me why it's so low and how we are in so much credit? We both work all day but when we get in the heating goes on, oven on, lights on etc, for a few hours a night.

We live in a new build middle floor 'apartment' so get heat in through up and downstairs but it seems crazy- £ 21 odd for gas and electric??

babyontheway

We live in a 3-bed terrace with an old and not very efficient boiler and our bills are £30 for gas per month so that doesn't sound so crazy.

Premier_2

At £40 per month, that's almost £500 per year which if you don't spend much on heating seems quite high.

The reason your DD is currently so low is probably to allow you to recover the credit built up rather than send you a cheque. If so, it'll only be temporary.

jillyjacks

babyontheway wrote: »

We live in a 3-bed terrace with an old and not very efficient boiler and our bills are £30 for gas per month so that doesn't sound so crazy.

I live in a 3 bedroom terrace with heating turned off in 2 of the bedrooms and my gas is £120 per month...I have a card meter but this seems very high compared to yours...my combi boiler is less than 3 years old

Premier_2

jillyjacks wrote: »

I live in a 3 bedroom terrace with heating turned off in 2 of the bedrooms and my gas is £120 per month...I have a card meter but this seems very high compared to yours...my combi boiler is less than 3 years old

Be careful how you compare things here.

You have a PPM so pay as you go. During the recent cold spell, even with heating turned off in 2 bedrooms (it just means the rest of the house has to work harder to compensate, unless you keep the doors firmsly shut at all times), you'll be paying alot more in winter than in summer.

In contrast, babyontheway pays the same amount every month by DD, whatever they actually consume at that time, which in the middle of summer is probably not a lot.

Edit: a recent post by babyontheway also indicates that they have only recently moved, so the exact level of DD may not have settled down yet in comparison to what is actually being consumed/charged.

flashnazia

I'm in the same boat. Not in credit by a huge amount and BG have drastically reduced my DDs.

ironman1

Well we are in alot of credit, currently over £200 if you include gas and electric. I suppose going lower was all they could do.

We do always turn switches off etc but to have it this low seems mad. Oh well we can't complain.

Barneysmom

I think the bills are due February so you might find your credit drops off then.
Mine is £53 for gas and £25 for elec at the moment.
We always end up in debt in the spring but catch up in the summer months.

ironman1

So it is reasonable that our DD's could be so low? I hope so as I can imagine getting a bill through for about a grand in error of past bills!

Premier_2

ironman1 wrote: »

So it is reasonable that our DD's could be so low? I hope so as I can imagine getting a bill through for about a grand in error of past bills!

Get hold of your latest statement.

Have a look to see if the account is in credit.

Also check the meter readings on the statement, and whether they concur roughly with what the meter now says (you can work out the cost of any difference and add that to the amount you will owe)

xmaslolly76

If they insist everything is correct then leave the dd's as they are but if you are overly worried and can afford the original DD amounts why not pop it into a savings account that way if your bill is for more than what has been paid you have the money ready and wont have to panic and if its not you have a nice little sum saved for a break somewhere :-)