Phoenix Gas

wesd

saigon wrote:

"my bill for a full year is £320"

are you sure, mine is £80 per month, cooking ,water and heating with a combi vokera bolier, £960 per year, 5 rooms upstairs, and 3 downstairs, with two landings, so i ahve really 3 upstairs on in the morning for a hour and in the evening i have 5 rads on for about 4hours, think its a bit steep?, should i query it?
thanks
saigon

Different houses are very difficult to compare but I would use 1 large and 1 small radiator upstairs and 3 large radiators downstairs with the heating timer set for 30-45 minutes each morning and 5-7 hours each evening. Thermostats mean, of course, that the boiler never actually runs for that many hours but 3 hours running would be fairly typical. Since you've got a combi boiler, baths/showers may be a larger part of your bill depending on family size but I'm single so cooking wouldn't be a big part of the bill (the hob uses very little gas and the oven is on for 30 minutes twice a week) and I use an electric shower. 30 minutes a day water heating (normal boiler, not combi) is enough.

My bill for sep04 to sep05 was £300 so I agreed with phoenix on a direct debit of £25. Before the first payment was made they reviewed my gas usage ( a neat trick since they didn't read the meter ) and automatically increased the DD to £34. A couple of months later they had another review and increased the DD to £40. Since the price of gas had increased quite a bit I decided not to query the amount but then I got the bill for sep05 - sep06. The bill was £324 (the price of gas increased but I had used less gas) so my DD was covering this plus another 50% yet within a week phoenix sent a letter increasing my DD to £48. They dropped this idea as soon as I phoned them; no arguments from their customer services as it was obvious that I was way overpaying.

My point is that phoenix seem to increase the DD as often as they can without even reading the meter in the hope that people won't notice that they're overpaying until they get their bill. The amount overcharged will be refunded if you ask them but since the bill only comes once a year the overpayment is effectively a years interest free loan from us to them. Very profitable when you consider the number of phoenix customers!

darrenfinlayson

i just got a £30 bill fron them for a house i moved out of, were the total gas used is 0m3 0kWh! apparently theres no mistake, as that is the standing charge for a month!

needawayout_2

We have pheonix too, was just moaning about them this morning We have a meter(they want 100 quid to take it out ) and my gas went onto emergency for the 2nd time in 4 days, I have put 20 quid in already...it's madness!!!
We thought it was great to start with but they just keep putting their prices up and up and it's getting silly now! :mad:

leftieM

Okay, this is very nerdy but I was at a talk tonight where the Phoenix price rises were mentioned in passing. Do you remember the crisis about a year ago when Ukraine was trying to charge loads for Russia to pass natural gas across its territory (I don't remember the exact details - it may have been the other way around). At the time the EU got involved as there was a threat to gas supplies. This resulted in a premium being paid to get the gas to ensure supply so the price shot up. The EC agreed to pay off Russia/ Ukraine basically and you're now paying for that. It's geopolitics guys!

kevbelfast

just got phoenix gas a few months ago, can anyone explain how to work out the cost of the gas used so far from my meter reading ?

wesd

kevbelfast wrote:

just got phoenix gas a few months ago, can anyone explain how to work out the cost of the gas used so far from my meter reading ?

No chance!

It's damn near impossible to work out even when you've got a bill. The amount of gas used in cubic meters needs to be multiplied by an 'energy factor' (which keeps changing) to work out how many Kw hours of gas has been used. Some of this will be charged at one rate and the rest will be charged at a different rate per Kwh (you're not told how the bill is split up among the different rates). All you can do with a phoenix bill (when you eventually get one!) is to check if they've read the meter properly.

SteveyJC

the first 2000kWh per year is charged at 6.115p per kWh (Inc VAT) (more expensive rate), then it drops in price to 4.070p per kWh.

You have to pay for 2000kWh per year, whether you use it or not - so there is a minimum charge of ~ £120. I guess this is the equilavent to BT's "Line Rental".

kevbelfast

thanks Stevey, how do I work out the KWH used from the meter reading ?

Ex-Spendaholic

Interesting thread. I'm sure I gripe about Phoenix gas prices about 20 times per day. People don't even want to know me any more. :rotfl:

We have a large semi. Downstairs -- 2 lounges, enormous kitchen, big hall, toilet. Upstairs 3 good sized bedrooms, big bathroom and a converted roofspace.

We have double glazing, cavity wall insulation, roofspace is insulated etc.

I have the boiler, 2 gas fires (have used a fire twice this year, can't face the cost) and a hob.

As others have said the bills were never clear and you never knew where you were with Phoenix so I decided to get a meter. Currently I am putting £60-£70 a week into it. It's on for 1 hour in the morning and then from 5pm to 9pm. At weekends it's not on much more as we are out a lot.

I'm at my wits end to be honest as we seem to spend all our money on gas and petrol. I'm looking forward to spring when I will continue to top the meter up so that it's not so bad next winter.

blackpongo

Good evening all i to have phoneix gas and will miss it when i move i know the price was expensive for a while there but we recently got a letter to say the monthly debits were being reduced .
But the biggest gripe now with phoneix is they never informed me when i installed the system that i needed a buliding control certificate i am livid as am sure some of you know belfast city council isnt the most efficent agency in the world

Patience is a virture