Gas bill £360 for 12 Jan - 8 April!

mrsmoose

Hi all

I'm new to this forum but having seen one of the previous threads requesting help on understand gas & electric bills and the really helpful replies I thought I would add my own query.

I received my gas bill yesterday and they are charging me £365 for the period 12 Jan - 8 April. When I queried it they said that the bill was probably playing catch up, as I had only had an estimated bill in January which cost £63. Please could someone help me understand if this new bill is unreasonable or if I should just shut up and pay it :rotfl:. The prices went up in March so I have split it out as they have with the old and new rates.

Below is the breakdown:

Supplier: Southern Electric
Payment type: Quarterly Direct Debit (full bill paid)
Previous meter reading: 10766 (E)
New meter reading: 11749
Units: 10918.13 kWh

12 Jan – 28 Mar
Standard energy: 998 kWh @ 4.310p: £43.01
Discounted energy: 8540 kWh@ 3.240p: £276.70
29 Mar – 8 Apr
Standard energy: 144 kWh @ 4.920p: £7.08
Discounted energy: 1236.13 kWh@ 2.880p: £35.60

Less DD Discount: £14.49
VAT: £17.39
TOTAL: £365.29

The estimated bill in Jan was £63.81, with a previous reading of 10634 and the new estimated reading of 10766 (old reading as above). What I wanted to see was what we would have paid in total using the last actual meter reading in Sept 09 and the latest meter reading in April.

Estimated Jan bill plus new bill = £429.10

Last actual meter reading: 10,634
Latest meter reading: 11,749
Units: 12,416 kWh
10:90 split between standard and discounted energy:
Standard energy: 1241 kWh @ 4.920p: £61.09
Discounted energy: 11,174.38 kWh@ 2.880p: £362.05
Less 4% discount and plus 5% VAT = £426.52

So my estimation wasn’t far off in terms of what I should have actually paid, but this really does seem like a lot of money. Can anyone please let me know if this is reasonable or not?

Thanks!

KimYeovil

Over six months you have used £430. And you think that is unreasonable? I am not sure why you are puzzled or think it is a lot. I take it this includes heating? £72 per month over winter, say £20 over summer - total annual bill of £550 or £45 per month.

PS - the prices went down in March, not up.

mrsmoose

Hi Kim

Thanks for your quick reply! The standard rates went up from 4.310p to 4.920p but the discounted energy went down from 3.24p to 2.88p so you're correct in that overall the prices went down - my apologies. I guess I'm just trying to understand if this is a lot of money. I'm from South Africa originally so I'm trying to still get my head around how utility bills work in the UK and what the average cost of gas and electricity bills can amount to. If you think that this is a reasonable amount to pay then that's all I was looking for Thanks for your help.

Gurn_2

Yes that is very reasonable, id be more than happy with that

macman

What you need to do is take your own readings and submit them, this way you will receive bills that reflect your actual usage, rather than SE's estimate of your usage.
And calculate you annual usage, then go to one of the switching sites to see if you can get a more competitive tariff (input your annual usage, not your monthly DD figures).

KimYeovil

Well, the national average for the UK is 20,500 kWhs gas and 3,300 kWhs electricity per year. This costs about £75 per month on the cheapest tariffs and £100 on the more expensive standard tariffs (for both fuels).

You should use a lot less once the central heating is off and are only using gas for cooking/water. Just keep an eye on your meter from week to week until you get an idea of how much your actual house eats up.

Mind you, moving from South Africa you may end up spending more - instead of saving money in summer through not using air conditioning you may want to keep the heating on over summer.

Have a look on the energy comparison sites (uswitch.com, energyhelpline.com etc) to check what other tariffs cost in your postcode.