Does this seem normal?

Neonine

Hey all,

Thought I'd try to seek some advice here, I will probably miss some key information but if I do just ask

The wife and I live in a 4 bed house (Central heating turned off in the 3 bedrooms we dont use) and have just had our first bill through from NPower.

For info we have Gas central Heating, everything else is electric. Have two tv's but never on at the same time, one computer which is on for a few hours most evenings. Have an electric power shower which is used twice daily. Hot water is on a timer to come on for 4 hours in the morning and about the same at night, for the past week or so central heating has been off but was on the same timer through the winter except at weekends when it was on most of the time.

Electric usage from 19/10/09 to 27/4/10 - 1750kWh - £195 inc vat
Gas - 22/10/09 - 26/2/10 - 846 Cubic metres = 9397 kWh
26/2/10 - 27/04/10 - 292 cubic metres = 3243 kWh
Total Gas = £477.35


Estimated usage to work out my new payment amount

Estimated electricity units 5455 = 490.95 (That must surely be wrong??)
Estimated gas = 4605 = £149

Previously I was paying £45 a month for Gas & same for Electric and I now owe them £222 over my normal payments, which means I should have been paying about £127 a month.... However they have now decided that they want £176 a month??

From what I've read this seems higher than average, especially when considering there are only two of us in the house (Soon to be 3! but thats another story)

I will call them in the next day or so to query the increase from 90 to 176 and am considering moving supplier...

anniecave

What are the estimates for?

You need to get your bills for an entire year and work out how many kilowat hours you've used for each (gas and electric) over the year. Then work it out on the correct tariff to translate it into an annual cost.
The budget plan should then take this annual cost amount, then add on what you currently owe, and divide it by 12 to get equal payments. Sometimes they work it out over a lower number of payments though.

You need to know how much you are using in order to investigate whether other suppliers are cheaper or not. Bear in mind you will need to pay off the outstanding balance immediately if you move suppliers.

If you can work out your annual kilowatt hour figures (easy for electric, you'll need to do conversions for gas) then you can enter the details into a comparison site (like u switch) with your current tariff and it will give you an estimate of how much your actual annual cost should be

savemoney

well £45 for both utilities for 4 bedroom house in normal usage is well under what you should be paying unless you are a very light user

You need to tell your supplier you meter readings we get this time and time again on these forums, I wish people would learn that always give them you meter readings as this will reflect on accurate billing and wont come and bite you on bum later when they find out you been paying well below in DD payments

I always put mine meter readings in spreadsheet and can even work out my bill using formulae I set up, mind you I get billed monthly so dont get a huge shock

Neonine

anniecave wrote: »

What are the estimates for?

You need to get your bills for an entire year and work out how many kilowat hours you've used for each (gas and electric) over the year.

Unfortuanly this is our first bill through therefore would have to stay with them for another 6 months before we got our first yearly average.

The estimates are just in a 'Your Personal account review' no real details as to how they have worked them out

peachyprice

Neonine wrote: »

Previously I was paying £45 a month for Gas & same for Electric and I now owe them £222 over my normal payments, which means I should have been paying about £127 a month.... However they have now decided that they want £176 a month??

It looks as if they want to charge you £176pm to make their £222 deficit back before next winter hits, which is actually undersrandable otherwise you'll be in deeper debt by this time next year. Once the £222 is paid back you should be able to drop down to nearer the £127.

Neonine

savemoney wrote: »

well £45 for both utilities for 4 bedroom house in normal usage is well under what you should be paying unless you are a very light user

£45 is low I know, but this was based on their suggestions. As I mentioned this is our first bill so took their advice. The fact I owe a couple of hundred is no problem as I have the money available to pay in one lump sum if needed.

savemoney wrote: »

You need to tell your supplier you meter readings we get this time and time again on these forums, I wish people would learn that always give them you meter readings as this will reflect on accurate billing and wont come and bite you on bum later when they find out you been paying well below in DD payments

Thats a bit of an assumption isnt it? They have come round twice to get actual readings & I have phoned them up with one as well (Including an actual reading when I moved in). As far as I'm concerned they have had plenty of opportunity to let me know that I'm underpaying. However thats not in discussion, I'm happy to pay as I have used the Gas & Electric. My questions were more to do with average usage & whether the amounts on my bill seem normal.

sharpee

To me that looks about right.

You need to make sure you provide meter readings for accurate bills, never rely on estimates as (esp. with npower) they are always way over your usage.

And don't forget the billing period is for the winter months and remember how bad the weather has been so most peoples bills have been higher than normal.

If your with npower request on of their Smart meters so you can monitor your usage

Neonine

peachyprice wrote: »

It looks as if they want to charge you £176pm to make their £222 deficit back before next winter hits, which is actually undersrandable otherwise you'll be in deeper debt by this time next year. Once the £222 is paid back you should be able to drop down to nearer the £127.

Aha, that makes sense!. I was working it on the basis that I would pay the deficit over 6 months which would be around 154 a month. Thank you for clearing up that one :-)

savemoney

Yes it was an assumption but based on what you didnt say

Neonine wrote: »

£45 is low I know, but this was based on their suggestions. As I mentioned this is our first bill so took their advice. The fact I owe a couple of hundred is no problem as I have the money available to pay in one lump sum if needed.



Thats a bit of an assumption isnt it? They have come round twice to get actual readings & I have phoned them up with one as well (Including an actual reading when I moved in). As far as I'm concerned they have had plenty of opportunity to let me know that I'm underpaying. However thats not in discussion, I'm happy to pay as I have used the Gas & Electric. My questions were more to do with average usage & whether the amounts on my bill seem normal.

Neonine

savemoney wrote: »

Yes it was an assumption but based on what you didnt say

My apologies, I should have confirmed it before