Gas and electric bill ridiculous!

Lilith1980

Hi all

I rent a flat with my husband and the landlady has the gas and electric through Utility Warehouse.

When we first moved in, in August, the bill was roughly £89 for each of the first two of months. Obviously once the heating went on this increased and in December it shot up to £164 for the month! The electricity seems to have stayed at around £43 per month so it's the gas that is the problem.

Then in January the total bill was £224 and I know we were in all over Christmas and had the heating on but I was shocked. Money is tight enough as it is

I sat down with husband and said we need to be more careful with the heating and so figured out how to put the boiler on a timer so it comes on for a few hours in the morning and then a few hours in the evening. We only have radiators on in the rooms we are using, I thought this would help.

For February our total bill is £256. I am so down about it, I feel sick. Me and DH split the bills and gas/electric is one of mine so I can't afford to pay it all so will ask him to help but is there something I'm not doing as to why the bills are so high and getting higher??

I went on the UW website and it said if you want to get more accurate bills you can submit meter readings at the end of each month so I will start doing this but not sure how much difference it will make.

Any suggestions anyone? Not sure if we can switch seeing as we rent?

Thanks

macman

Bills based on estimated readings or actual?
Yes you can switch if you rent.

Lilith1980

Estimated readings. Will it make much difference to start sending my readings to them do you think?

Problem with switching is I think my landlady is a UW rep. So I wonder if she'd stand to lose out and therefore not allow us to switch?

spiro

If your Feb bill used an estimated reading as the last reading read the meters today and compare the readings to the bill. If the readings on the bill are higher than the meter call them today and ask for revised bills because they will have estimated based on previous years consumption.
Also check that the opening reading on the 1st bill you received matched the readings that you took when you moved in. This will confirm you have not paid for anything used before you moved in.
If your tenancy agreement does not state that you can not change suppliers then you are perfectly entitled to change supplier especially if the bills are in your name.

Lilith1980

I will check the readings when I get home. When we moved in the landlady took all the meter readings so I will ask her for these.

Thanks

macman

Lilith1980 wrote: »

Estimated readings. Will it make much difference to start sending my readings to them do you think?

Problem with switching is I think my landlady is a UW rep. So I wonder if she'd stand to lose out and therefore not allow us to switch?

How can anyone answer that question without seeing your meter? Did your last bill reflect the actual meter reading? If not, send them your readings ASAP and then you will start with an accurate bill. Only then will you know what your actual consumption is. You need to concentrate on consumption, not on what you are being billed for.
Unless your tenancy forbids it, then you can do whatever you want. She may not like it, but she can't stop you switching. UW are expensive.

Lilith1980

Thanks, I will go home and check the reading tonight. I've also left a message for my landlady to provide me with the readings she took when we moved in.

nitr02007

Its important to give actual readings to your supplier regularly, otherwise you may find you are over or under paying each month.

Your way of splitting the bills seems quite strange, in our home ALL household bills are a shared responsibility and are payed out of a shared account. I find it strange that one person in an equal relationship should be forced to shoulder an increase in payments for things you are both using.

We have a romanian couple and a small child living in the flat above us - and their electric consumption is about 10 times ours. I'm pretty sure they will be on estimated bills which will obviously estimate them as "normal" consumption - so they will have a very nasty shock when they get billed for an actual reading.

Lilith1980

I'm not going to shoulder the whole payment - I can't afford to - I will ask DH to help me with it.

Before this increase in gas we were each paying 50/50 towards the various bills associated with the house, it's only since it shot up that I need help paying as I am paying towards a university course as well so it's skinting me out. DH earns more than me so can afford to help with the increase.

I'm new to submitting meter readings tbh. We lived above a hairdressers before and paid her a set amount each month and she sorted the readings. Naive I suppose but that's how it was.

nemoo

It's never too late to learn a good habit ;-)
1. Get in to the habit of updating your meter readings regularly
2. Check your tenancy agreement to see whether it's up to the land lady to decide who the supplier should be.
3. there's never a better time to take control of your outlays than now!

good luck

CharlieBilly

You soon get used to submitting meter readings and compare them with previous readings monthly and yearly. Its also nice if the usage goes down a little and the best thing is no nasty surprises once you compare each quarterly as you got a rough figure what your usage is