is £151 a month too much for electric only????

gouldy44

for electricity alone (via prepay key) our average each month is £151 (based on £1661 we have paid on our prepay key from jan 2010 until nov 2010),
now i have spoken to friends and family that have similar persons in house hold etc.. and they say there bills for electric average £80 per month!!!! and think thats high.....

we are mum and dad to 5 children under 12 (7 in house)
we have scottish power standard rate prepay key
we have central heating but its only been used for the last 5 wks or so( timer set 7am-10am & 7pm - 11pm)
we are at work during the day and kids at school so no major electrical use in the day
we use electric cooker washer dryer tv kettle games consoles and mobile chargers etc...
we have energy saving light bulbs in each room

we use quite alot of electric but friends and family do similar but there bills are half mine

i rang scottish power to explain my statement in 28mths (since we have been with them including the last 11mths at £1600+) we have paid £3400 - which averages per month since 2008 £121.42p...
the VERY HELPFULL WOMAN at scottish power said " just rip the bill up what you have paid is right!!!!) why rip it up this is my proof??
She then RANG ME BACK to say yes £3400 for the 28 months is right AGAIN SAID "RIP THAT BILL UP AND THROW IT AWAY"??????

Only after did it sink in she wanted me to throw my proof away and accept this statement was right. why also did she phone me back? she had already said bill was right and rip letter up!! very strange
my statement reads:
total payments -£3400 account balance -£2792.50p (in credit) for the period 28 july 08 - 02 nov 2010

is this right? the woman said we owe them nothing and they owe me nothing!! why does my balance state IN CREDIT?

received the statement as we moved to british gas a few wks ago

what do you think???? many thanks

Pincher

"for electricity alone (via prepay key) our average each month is £151 (based on £1661 we have paid on our prepay key from jan 2010 until nov 2010),"

Assuming you have NO gas central heating, £1,661 for Jan-Nov by Pre-Payment meter is reasonable a year for a family of seven, considering last winter was so cold.

If you HAVE GCH, very suspicious.

KimYeovil

With electric cooking for a family of seven, water and showers, and your heating on for the last five weeks (instead of just the last five days), 3D chip games consoles (plural!!!), a clothes dryer (even more inefficient - a washer-dryer)... £151 is fair enough.

You may be able to find a cheaper tariff from another supplier - look on the comparison sites. If you are in the Scottish Power region you could save 20% switching to a different prepayment supplier or, if you change to a standard meter and pay by direct debit, you could save more than £50 per month.

You should also monitor your meter - find out where the actual meter reading is - and find out how much you are using on a session by session and daily basis. Concentrate on monitoring kWh readings - don't complicate things by counting pounds and pence.

macman

Quoting your monthly DD amounts is irrelevant-that may include catch up payments from earlier estimated bills. What matters is your consumption. Work out your annual consumption in kWh from your last year' bills, or phone SP and they will tell you. And start monitoring your daily usage from the meter.
If you have gas CH and DHW then your leccy bill is about 2.5 times higher than the average, so something is definitely wrong. Do you have a back-up immersion heater that has been left on 24/7? Large tropical acquarium? Cannabis farm in the loft?
If you have all electric heating, then it's probably not far out. Electric heating is 2 to 3 times more expensive than gas.

glider3560

macman wrote: »

Quoting your monthly DD amounts is irrelevant-that may include catch up payments from earlier estimated bills. What matters is your consumption. Work out your annual consumption in kWh from your last year' bills, or phone SP and they will tell you.

OP is on a prepayment meter - not DD.

macman

Thanks, I missed that. However same principle applies-OP needs to work out their annual consumption, not billing.

myalphabetgirls

We are with scottish power (have tried them all except eon) and so far our fuel costs are the cheapest to date. We pay £81 (which includes spreading a missed month payment) per month for both gas and electricity. Was paying £98 to NPower (our last supplier) and it barely covered. Have just had a review with Scottish Power and they droped out monthly from £88 to £81. Mine is d.d. 2 adult, 2 children household, 3 bed mid terrace property. Knackered old boiler (66% efficient :eek: but we rent and landlord is not in any rush to deal with it, it is serviced every year and has to be fair never let us down but it was the original boiler when house built, the 70s and it wouldn't be just a case of boiler replacement, we've been told it would be a right palava with pipework etc so we just nod & wink and keep quiet!) I say all this because it would probably bring the cost down further if we had a nice shiny all singing all dancing combi boiler but we don't!) Im not a scrooge with it, but I am careful, always moaning at the kids to turn lights off etc. Hot water is probably our biggest consumption and an hour of heating morning and night is adequate when its really cold. Its not a big house, and generally warm. Big downside is that being an old system when we have the central heating on we have to have the hot water on also, which is not great.

That said, my neighbour is also with scottish power on pre-payment meters and she gets through about £60 a week for both (1 adult, 2 children) end terrace.

Taking it all into account its probably not much off the right price.

Are you in a position to think about changing to d.d? If not, do you have the hardship tariff, I think there is one that applies to prepay meters. Also is there any payment included in that they take off towards any debt to them, if there is you could always try and ask if they would reduce your payment to the barest minimum.

A while ago we got in a pickle when we missed a month's payment, they were very approachable.

sharnad

myalphabetgirls wrote: »

We are with scottish power (have tried them all except eon) and so far our fuel costs are the cheapest to date. We pay £81 (which includes spreading a missed month payment) per month for both gas and electricity. Was paying £98 to NPower (our last supplier) and it barely covered. Have just had a review with Scottish Power and they droped out monthly from £88 to £81. Mine is d.d. 2 adult, 2 children household, 3 bed mid terrace property. Knackered old boiler (66% efficient :eek: but we rent and landlord is not in any rush to deal with it, it is serviced every year and has to be fair never let us down but it was the original boiler when house built, the 70s and it wouldn't be just a case of boiler replacement, we've been told it would be a right palava with pipework etc so we just nod & wink and keep quiet!) I say all this because it would probably bring the cost down further if we had a nice shiny all singing all dancing combi boiler but we don't!) Im not a scrooge with it, but I am careful, always moaning at the kids to turn lights off etc. Hot water is probably our biggest consumption and an hour of heating morning and night is adequate when its really cold. Its not a big house, and generally warm. Big downside is that being an old system when we have the central heating on we have to have the hot water on also, which is not great.

That said, my neighbour is also with scottish power on pre-payment meters and she gets through about £60 a week for both (1 adult, 2 children) end terrace.

Taking it all into account its probably not much off the right price.

Are you in a position to think about changing to d.d? If not, do you have the hardship tariff, I think there is one that applies to prepay meters. Also is there any payment included in that they take off towards any debt to them, if there is you could always try and ask if they would reduce your payment to the barest minimum.

A while ago we got in a pickle when we missed a month's payment, they were very approachable.

im with scottish power and they are quite expensive are you on the online dd plan I keep meaning to change to that

calistared

That does sound a lot. My circumstances are similar and I have been wondering about my £129 a month. Blimey!

Scottish_Power

Hi gouldy44

Like some of the forum users have said, if you do not have gas central heating then it will be easy for you to consume this level of electricity, especially as you have 7 in the house. Why not purchase an energy monitor and see how your electricity is being used in real time. This way you can actually switch off electrical applicances and see what effect this has on your current cost. Click on the link below and then go to "Web Shop" for more information on the benefits of using an energy monitor:

http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/your-home/existing-customer/home.aspx#

This may also help you identify what is being used within the property to consume this level of electricity.

Let me know if you have any further questions and I will be happy to help.

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

KimYeovil

Don't forget: if the OP is in the Scottish Power region then they are only receiving a hundred pounds worth of electricity for their hundred and fifty pounds.