really worried about my gas/electric bill

susieanne

I am with Npower i get a combined gas/electric bill ,about 6 months ago i got a shock from them they sent me a bill combined gas/electric for £1400 :eek: it turned out i had been estimated for my bills .I agreed to pay them £250 per month .I now owe them £600 so im pleased that i have paid quite alot off but £600 is still alot of money for me and i have a new bill due in December .
I cant afford to pay them £250 every month and theres christmas coming up i wont be able to buy my children any presents i feel so worried .I know i owe the money and im desprete to get straight then i can put my central heating back on but i cant afford to keep paying £250 .Help

pinkarsenalprincess

Did you send them the real meter readings to get the bill adjusted? How long was that bill for?!

susieanne

Hi a meter reader knocked on my door and took the reading .My meter for my gas is outside you need a key to open it ,its my fault i should have been checking to see if the figures where correct .
The bill for £1400 was for 6 months gas/electric useage .

pinkarsenalprincess

I still would have checked myself! When we had our first meter reading from EDF the donut they sent round to read the meter read it completely wrong and we were sent a £1900 gas bill for 3 months. After the correct reading it was actually £87.

£1400 for 6 months seems really really high!

victor2

Don't freeze without your heating on in this weather. You know where you stand now with your bill. Worth checking your meters regularly if you don't want any further surprises with your bills. If NPower won't supply you with a key to the cabinet for free, you can get them for about a £. Just google "meter box key."
It can be a bit tricky to convert your gas meter readings into actual cost, but you can quite easily get a pretty close estimate of the bill so you know where you stand.
I assume you've done the usual stuff for cutting your gas and electricity consumption. Heating is by far the most expensive user - some economies can be made there without going to extremes.

macman

Ask them for a reduction in the DD for 3 months or so, but remember that your bills will start to soar again once the heating goes on.
Given that you've paid off £800 debt relatively quickly, I can't see that they wouldn't agree a compromise.
But you do need to get a meter key (costs peanuts), read your own meter regularly, submit regular readings and work out what your DD should be in future to avoid debt piling up again.

Terrylw1

Definately scrutinise those readings, the readers get them wrong all the time. Also, check your opening reading is what it should be.

dogshome

Hi susieanne - You dont say how big your house or family is, but £1400 for Gas & Elec over 6 months is pretty high - In fact if that were the billing for a year, it would still be high

I'm afraid that you have to do your homework and take control of your own bills - To do this you need to know you annual consumption of Elect & Gas in Kwh, (Kilowatt hours). The problem is that with so many Estimated Bills, neither you or N'power have accurate records on which to judge your annual use, so:
Note the readings on both of your meters once a month
NEVER, NEVER accept an estimated Bill, as soon as one arrives phone in your meter readings so they can re-issue the bill with true figues.

Your costs are so high that there is a possibility that whilst your meter is a 'Metric' model with M3 written on the front, you are being charged for an 'Imperial' meter with Ft3 on the Front - Have a look at the meter to see which it is, and if it's Metric have a look at your Bill:
On the line which says how many meter units you consumed, which are then converted to Kwh for chargeing - Divide the Kwh by the Units consumed, if the answer is appx. 11 you are being charged for a Metric Meter, but if it is appx. 31 you are being charged for an Imperial meter and are getting bills that are roughly 180% higher than they should be - So get onto Npower immediately

Airmike23

Hi susieanne, other way to help reduce cost is if you have the internet go on their cheapest deal which is Sign Online 20, total cost against their standard rate will be a big drop, thus reducing the debt further as actual cost of consumption now, on the lower rates will be offest against a higher payment rto clear the balance, but do as the above posters have recommended and do monthly reads yourself to keep a hhandle on actual consumption, and argue the est reads by finding out how long for, unfortunately if no reads are given a customer should give their power provider a reading at least once a year, a small ruling many people are unaware of.