A nosey question

Legacy_user

Ive just phoned up Powergen and increased my duel fuel monthly direct debit to £90. I really wanted to start using less gas/electricity a month and had started making changes which i was hoping would cut down my fuel consumption but ive just recieved an online bill which, for all my hard work, has only put me £20 in credit. During the winter months i use nearly twice as much as i use in the summer so i thought it best i do something now to save me getting a huge bill during the winter months. I feel that £90 a month is a lot of money but i am wondering, am i just being a scrooge, or is it typical?

I live in a three bedroomed semi by the way.

losgiganteskid

Not a nosey question at all !! - i'm in a similar situation. Received my leccy bill and discovered i'm not even in credit and it's mid summer, I should be rolling over a large credit to balance out what will be a big winter leccy account. You mentioned you put your standing order up to £80 pm, but from what amount ??

I realise my set monthly amount is nowhere near sufficient but will wait till the provider suggests an increase, might as well keep the dosh in my account rather than theirs.

Lets all hope for a mild/warm winter, although looking out the window today Sun 13 Aug, it's like the middle of winter now , its perishing

penrhyn

I live in a modern mid terrace 3 bedroom house and have been paying £30/month for both Gas and Electric.
This doen't tell you much as it was on a recently terminated capped price tarrif with Scottish power.( I'm switching to Ebico)

I recommend taking weekly or monthly meter readings and put them into a spreadsheet to show exactly how many Kilowatt hours of gas and electric you use, any economies you make will then be apparant.
The trouble with looking at it in money is that bills can be estimated, only come around every quarter and prices can and do change.

By the way last year I used 10,110 kwh of gas, and 2012kwh of electricity.
Assuming Ebicos prices don't change:rotfl:
I estimate next year will cost me:
Gas £196 and Electric £ 153 which still works out at about £30/month
But when it goes up its easy to rebudget if you know exactly how much you are using.

oldandhappy

Recently noticed I have about a £134 balance with Scottish Power which I thought meant I had £134....but no no I owe them that I now realise, so new bills due this week on top, done my meter readings which put me in debt for the 1st time in my life, previously always paid on receipt of bills so with there estimate for direct debit..plus when I questioned with them about my capping costs...they said they would review the dd in October including the capping charges that have not been added on as yet.. but now I just wonder what huge amount they will request in Oct.....not a good way to pay bills...too much guesswork it seems to me....

masonic

oldandhappy wrote:

but now I just wonder what huge amount they will request in Oct.....

They will probably put your monthly payment up by enough to cancel out the debt over the course of the next 6-12 months. Still, you could regard that debit balance as an interest-free loan from them, which you will now have to start paying off.

System

I was paying £75 before. Every so often i would have to pay a little more to keep my account free from getting into debt, but it wouldnt be by much. I supposed i hoped the decrease in my usage would somehow help with the increase in costs....... but i think i was deluding myself, hence my increasing my direct debit. The last thing i want is to be landed with a huge bill in the winter time.

oldandhappy

Well at least I know more now... By Wintertime the Gas/Electric Bill will not be covered anywhere near the DD so I will now put some extra aside to catch up in a few months rather than change the DD myself now..except of course the Oct DD will not reflect my actions of self savings here and likely end up paying too much DD for a period...mmmmm...obvioulsy the longer we are with SP they will realise just what our consumption is over the whole year. Also I am unsure how long the capping is that we took out a few months ago...

oldagetraveller

At the start of the "summer" months Scottish Power reduced monthly Direct Debit from £40/month to £38/month, gas and electricity. The account balance was at zero. Three bedroom VERY well insulated semi with low energy, A rated everything and conventional 1 year old condensing boiler with Part L compliant system.
However, I don't think there will be sufficient credit on the account to cover the whole winter when it comes and there will be a debit next year.

skylight

I have worked out that I used approx £75 per month over the last year - so now pay £85 a month.

I am in credit at the moment by £70, but I do mine online with Powergen and input my meter readings every single month (actually - time to do that today!) as I can't afford to be owing them any money!

MORPH3US

OP, you hopefully get the discount for paying by DD, but did you know that your discount increases to 11% if you manage your account online (i.e. don't get paper bills).

Worth considering for the extra saving!!

We just got in our house at the end of June so not sure what to expect with bills. Hopefully living in a terrace as opposed to semi / detatched, will be better, also always switching things off at the set rather than on standby.

M

"When customer chooses to have the standard prices, without an online account, they receive 9 percent discount from there quarterly bills for paying by direct debit.

If you choose to have the Energy Online product, you receive an additional 2 percent = 11 percent in total on this product."

[Deleted User]

I have made a point of putting my readings for electricity and gas onto my internet account with scottish power and I get an instant bill. Two months ago I realised that I was only £26 in credit and I like to be a lot more in credit by the start of the winter. I rang sp and told them to increase my monthly dd to £65 from £55. This is going to catch a lot of people out and there is going to be some real anguish by spring so it is worth putting the dd up now

two adults in 3 bed new townhouse. Study, lounge and large kitchen/diner

I must admit that I have been very energy-use conscious for quite a while now, even down to experimenting with a dark camping kettle in the sun (see the green thread). My GU10 lights (the bright ceiling lights) are being replaced so that the watts used will be 57 compared to 950 (see green thread again)

This should be bumped up so folks can get organised for winter costs