really cross!

sammyjammy

The whole point of paying by DD is that it balances out through the year, this means regardless of how much you pay a month everyone should be in credit going into winter as we use more energy lighting our homes and heating them. Then when spring comes if you're paying the right amount of money you should be at breakeven stage in time to build up some excess over the summer for the next winter and so on...... If your readings are estimated correctly or up to date and the amount you pay is about right then how muc hyou pay per month will only depend on what you use, if you keep an eye on things its only the price you cannot control and thats what switching was made for :beer:

Sam

tinkerbell1978

i worte a complaint via email and after a long wait recieve this no mention of being cut off twice when i rang and also the info she gives is different to that of the info i was told over the phone!!!
she says i am in debit with my gas?? so why was i told i was in credit?? arghhhhh british blasted gas!

Thank you for your enquiry regarding your direct debits.
Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your enquiry.
I have checked both your account and the reason for your payments being set a the rate they have is due to a large debit balance on you electric and that you have a debit balance on your gas account which we would expect to be in credit at this time in order to cover your winter bills once the debit balance have been paid back at the following reassessment time your payments will reflect this.



**If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact our customer service team on 0845 600 5001* where one of our advisors will be happy to help.** had to laugh at this bit!

Cardew

mleonard79 wrote:

Sorry if my post seemed misleading in any way - I was only recounting my personal experience which I felt could be helpful. What I should have said is the tariffs we are on now are substantially lower than the ones we were paying before. I was simply trying to get across the point that if you have never switched from British Gas before there are large savings to be made (something Martin himself advocates in the article I suggested the OP reads.)

British Gas Electricity Single Rate for Monthly DD:

First 225kwh inc VAT - 20.010p
Subsequent kwh - 11.311p

Edf Online Tariff I am currently on:

First 225 kwh - 9.73p
Subsequent Kwh - 7.40p

This includes a very recent price increase so I was paying even less for the last 6 months since the switch. I feel that the difference here contradicts your statement that there simply isn't that big a difference between electricity providers - especially for those who have never switched.

Admittedly these tariffs vary from area to area so there's no way to know which company is offering the best prices in your area other than researching it for yourself. Also I'm not 100% sure EDF are still offering their online tariff as some people have said it ins't coming up when they do a search on the comparison websites but even so I feel those British Gas prices are ridiculous and there must be better alternatives.

As far as my previous dd goes I was not clearing a debt at any point. I was perhaps, instead, slightly in credit with the electricity every month when I was paying £75 p/m by dd but no more than £5-10 so the bill was at least £65 p/m at that time. Since we have switched we are no longer in credit at all but the bill is just about spot on at £36. Since then I have also been monitoring the meter and being more fastidious about turning things off etc so that will have saved a little also but even so there is still a very large saving there that can only really be explained by the much lower prices we are now paying. Thus I feel it is fair to say you can make good savings doing this as my personal experience supports that idea. Perhaps I have been very lucky with the tariff I managed to get but I feel it's worth investigating for the OP.


Regards

Michelle

Michelle,
Clearly the OP should investigate and get the cheapest for his area.

However your quotes for electricity prices are not comparing 'Lemons with Lemons'!

You quote the standard BG price for single rate electricity in the Scottish Power region of 20.01/11.311p. You could have quoted BG's Click Energy price for your region which is currently 13.70/8.99p and one of the cheapest(if not the cheapest) of all tariffs currently available.

Your EDF on-line tariff was undoubtedly one of the best when it was taken out(late 2005?). It is of course no longer available and for some reason EDF have not brought that particular tariff in line with their latest tariffs - which are higher than BG's Click Energy; of course they might at any time.

However at the time you went on the EDF tariff, even BG's standard tariff was much lower than the prices you quote for comparison.

My electricty price with BG is lower than yours with EDF and there are also other BG tariffs lower than yours.

However there is no point using our tariffs, which are no longer available, as an example of savings to the OP and others.

My point is that lots of people think they will halve the price they pay, and they won't. A 20% saving is possible, but for how long? BG Click Energy, currently the cheapest, goes up later this year and the differentials will reduce again.

So by all means swop suppliers; but be realistic about the savings you expect to make.

anniecave

Tinkerbell - I don't know anything about your property, but have you looked into why you are using so much on each? Like if you only have old-style windows, you can put transparent plastic over them which helps keep the heat in. Cavity wall insulation. Any loft insulation? Turning the heating down a little? Or only having the heating on at certain times?
Obviously I don't know what your situation is, but some people who receive benefits can get grants for insulation etc.
I thought our property was expensive to run, that's all, and yours is a lot more expensive.
Also I presume the meter readings they are using on your bills are OK, they are not just estimating to whatever the computer guesses?
Just a few suggestions.
And I'd agree with the suggestion about putting your details into uswitch or similar and looking for who the cheapest suppliers are in your area.

mleonard79

Hi Cardew,

I quoted these prices as they are the prices for the tariff I would be on if I was still with BGas. I appreciate that the click prices are a good deal cheaper than the standard prices but it is the standard prices I was paying and would still be paying which is why I quoted them in order to highlight the savings I have made. As far as the EDF prices go they have been put up in the last month and the prices I quoted are the new prices so I felt it would be wrong to quote the old BGas or old Edf prices. Also I feel that the majority of people will not be on the very low tariffs that you are talking about from British Gas - I would guess most people that are still with them are paying high rates.

I am only trying to point out what has happened in my own particular case - I fully agree that a good deal of people will not be able to make the kind of savings that I have simply because many will have switched previously but I still feel that for those that have been paying the extortionate standard prices for years and never switched at all a quite large saving can be made and I'm only using my personal circumstances to support that.

Actually I only switched in May/June of this year and as far as I'm aware the online tariff was still available up until a few months ago. It's a real shame they've stopped offering this online tariff now as I think it's a great deal and the price increase (which to be honest I was expecting to happen before now) wasn't too bad either.

I'm determined, however, to carry on monitoring it and if Edf's prices go higher than I can get elsewhere I will switch again - I feel this is the only way to make sure you're on the best tariffs.

I have pointed out several times, however, that the best way to find out the cheapest tariff for you is to find out your yearly consumption and use a comparison site as it changes quite a lot from area to area.

Outside of the tariffs and dd's I feel that the OP should investigate their consumption as to be paying all that amount and not be in credit seems strange - especially where the electricity is concerned. I can see someone with an old boiler paying a lot for gas but over £90 p/lm for electricity seems excessive.

Regards

Michelle

tinkerbell1978

anniecave wrote:

Tinkerbell - I don't know anything about your property, but have you looked into why you are using so much on each? Like if you only have old-style windows, you can put transparent plastic over them which helps keep the heat in. Cavity wall insulation. Any loft insulation? Turning the heating down a little? Or only having the heating on at certain times?
Obviously I don't know what your situation is, but some people who receive benefits can get grants for insulation etc.
I thought our property was expensive to run, that's all, and yours is a lot more expensive.
Also I presume the meter readings they are using on your bills are OK, they are not just estimating to whatever the computer guesses?
Just a few suggestions.
And I'd agree with the suggestion about putting your details into uswitch or similar and looking for who the cheapest suppliers are in your area.

thanks hun
here is some info on my property!
semi detatched three bedroom house.
i make sure the switches are all off when something is not in use i make sure we have the heating on only when needed the only things that are on stand by all day not at night! is the tv and computer energy saving lightbulbs too maybe the readings on my letters are computer guesses will have to look into it some more with everyones help i am going to jot some notes down and tackle one thing at a time and then when i find that that isnt the problem cross it off the list eventually i will prob learn that in fact its time to change suppliers we shall see give me a few days and let you know what happens!

Cardew

tinkerbell1978 wrote:

thanks hun
here is some info on my property!
semi detatched three bedroom house.
i make sure the switches are all off when something is not in use i make sure we have the heating on only when needed the only things that are on stand by all day not at night! is the tv and computer energy saving lightbulbs too maybe the readings on my letters are computer guesses will have to look into it some more with everyones help i am going to jot some notes down and tackle one thing at a time and then when i find that that isnt the problem cross it off the list eventually i will prob learn that in fact its time to change suppliers we shall see give me a few days and let you know what happens!

Tinkerbell,
On the face of it you are paying far too much for gas and electricity.

However unless you know how much of your DD payment was to pay off an earlier Debit balances, and to what extent your bills have been affected by incorrectly estimated meter readings, it is difficult to determine if your consumption is excessive.

Therefore it is pretty meaningless just referring to what your DD was/is.

The other thing to appreciate is that the way BG's accounting works(and all other companies?) you will be in credit for part of the quarter and then go into debit.
To give an example:
You start off a quarter being, say, £100 in debt. A couple of weeks later your £93 DD is credited and you are now £7 in debit. One month later another £93 and you are £86 in credit. Another month(and £93) and you are £179 in credit. Then comes a, say, £220 quarterly bill and you are £41 in debit. This is why when you ring up at different times you can be in credit and then in debit.

You need to get hold of your consumption figures in kWh for the last year(ask BG if you haven't got them) and start from there. Make sure that you don't use estimated readings.

tinkerbell1978

will get hold of bg and ask them for the figures many thanks!

mleonard79

hi again tinkerbell,

Although we have disagreed on a few things I wholeheartedly agree with Cardew when he says get your consumption figures for the year and make sure they're not using estimated readings as estimated readings can often be wrong.

I think the two most important things for you to do are get the consumption figures for the last year for both electricity and gas (British Gas will give you them no problem) and find out what the exact tariff you are on is so you have something to compare anything else you find on offer with. As Cardew says checking on the consumption is the only accurate way to find out if you are really using way more than you should be.

Also I would suggest having a look at your meters and starting a log - some people monitor them daily, other weekly, others monthly. It just depends on what suits you. I started a daily log to begin with just to see if I could work out why our consumption was so high and if there was maybe something wrong. Good luck with it and keep us posted!

Regards

Michelle

tinkerbell1978

just seen watchdog even angrier now lol!