problem with gas bill. Is this right?

memorye

i have recently switched from bg to npower for my gas supply. Last month i had gas installed and changed to npower the same day. For a months gas use i received a bill for £85. Problem is i havent used the gas for heating and i only use a modest amount for hot water. I live alone but i have a prepayment meter. I have only used £20 in the past month on the meter but i have a bill for a further £65. Any ideas on how this can be. £85 for a month seems a bit high for a single person.

Ken68

Seems a lot, Mem., do you heat water by gas or cook by gas. Could you use an electric shower instead of a bath.
I live solo too, and just put on a kettle when I want hot water (or get it from the solar cooker), and cooking is by microwave.
Prepayment meters are notoriously expensive, and with EBICO the price is the same whether you pay by direct debit, cheque or prepayment meter.
You need to give more details.

espresso

According to the npower website, the standard prepayment rate is as follows:

Your bill is based on:

A standing charge
A unit charge for the units of gas you have used

..........................ex VAT.............................inc VAT
..........................2.354p per kWh.................2.47p per kWh
standing charge....£19.070 per quarter............£20.02 per quarter

so it would depend on what period this bill covers.

HTH

memorye

this bill is for one month from bg. It looks like ived used 100 units under npower so its about £28 as far as i can tell. Which is far better than the 85 that bg wants. I haven't used the gas for anything other than hot water. The heating has been on 5 times in the past 2 months to keep it in wokring order. However i telephoned npower today and they are going to change the meter at the beginning of september because im an electricity customer. The problem is that the meter is not working because ive only bought £20 worth of gas in 2 months.