Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

mooomin

I need some help!!

I moved to NPower for cashback a little while ago and was horrified when they gave me a monthly direct debit cost of £116 for my two-bed flat. I was paying around £90 per month with Scottish Power though just didn't read the small print well with the NPower transfer. Fair enough.

I'm still ahead because of the cashback offered, but put my meter readings in last week and got my bill today - they're reducing the payment to £41! This is despite me still being £85 in debt to them.

I have a big jargon-filled bill (I'm not too good with energy bills) and am worried that if I say "Ooh, a saving of £80 per month, you say? Yes please!" then I'll be in for a shock later in the year.

Can anyone help with this? I can take a picture of my bill/estimated breakdown and scrub out the identifying info if that would help.

*confuzzled*

Other than that, I'm fairly frugal

cw18

flying_fresian wrote: »

Can anyone help with this? I can take a picture of my bill/estimated breakdown and scrub out the identifying info if that would help.

More than happy to help out if I can

The main figures of interest are how much energy you've used in the last 12 months (if you have that info, as that will show how accurate the next piece of info is likely to be), what they estimate you'll use in the next 12 months, what you're currently paying (in terms of standing charges and unit prices), and what your current balance is.

mooomin

cw18 wrote: »

More than happy to help out if I can

The main figures of interest are how much energy you've used in the last 12 months (if you have that info, as that will show how accurate the next piece of info is likely to be),

My reading on 07/10/10 when I moved was 82211 for electricity. My last reading on 15/03/11 was 83888. My gas reading on 11/10/10 was 6780 and on 04/03/11 was 6956.

What they estimate you'll use in the next 12 months

Electricity - 1479 units
Gas - 3049 units

This is estimated over the next six months.

What you're currently paying (in terms of standing charges and unit prices), and what your current balance is.

My current balance is minus £85. They're going to take my usual £116 at the end of this month then reduce to £41 in April.

I'll pay my first 365 units (2 per day apparently) at 16.6p per unit then it's 13.32p.

Gas is 6.54p for the first 696 units in the six month period then 2.75p per unit after that. There is also a direct debit discount of £90 included in their calculations.

I'm sure all this is right, but it seems like a huge drop in the bill and I don't want to be caught out next winter. It will do wonders for the SoW and my savings balance though!

Thanks for the help Cheryl

cw18

flying_fresian wrote: »

Thanks for the help Cheryl

If I were you - based on very, very quick calculations - I'd be asking to set payments closer to £50/month for now, and then reviewing again in 6 months.

Electricity - used 1677 units in 160 days. That equates to 1912 units over 6 months. The first 365 units will cost you £60.59, and the remaining units will cost you £206.17 - making for a total of £266.76

Gas - used 176 meter units in 145 days. I'm assuming your meter reads in the same units as mine, so have converted the readings into the billable units based on my last few bills (for calorific values and adjustment figures) - ending up with 2530 units to be charged for over 6 months. The first 696 units will cost you £45.52, and the remaining units will cost you £50.42 - making for a total of £95.94

This gives a total for gas and electric of £256.60, and then the £85 you already owe them takes it up to £342.60 to be paid in 6 months. That averages at £56.93 per month.

NB. These figures are all calculated using your usage from the highest months of the year, so I wouldn't actually expect you to use this much between now and September. That's why I'm suggesting closer to £50 instead of £57. The £50 figure is also what I'd recommend using the estimated usage they've given you......


So for electricity I have 1912 units - they're saying 1479 (lower than I come up with, so probably not far off)
And for gas I have 2530 units - they're saying 3049 (a lot higher than my calculation, so I'd be watching this one like a hawk unless my assumption on meter type is wrong!)

Using their figures, your electricity charge should be £208.97 and gas charge should be £110.23 - making for a total of £213.09. Add in the debit balance, and you should be looking to pay £298.09 over the 6 months - which comes in at £49.68/month.


** yes I know not all the figures add up quite right - I've not used roundings in my s/sheet, so am doing them by eye as I type this post **

ETA: Just seen they're taking the first of the 6 payments at your current rate. So with an estimated spend of £298.09 and a single payment of £116, this leaves £182.09 to be paid over the following 5 months - and that equates to £36.42/month. So I guess their suggested figure of £41 should actually be fine
(using estimated figures based on your useage over the winter, this would suggest £45.12/month for the remaining 5 months)

mooomin

Thank you so much! I'll ring them tomorrow and ask them to set it at around £55 or £60, which means I'll be in credit when it gets colder again, and I'll still be around £55 per month better off

cw18

See my ETA - I missed something in your post, which makes me think their suggested payments isn't as far out as I first thought

mooomin

cw18 wrote: »

See my ETA - I missed something in your post, which makes me think their suggested payments isn't as far out as I first thought

Ooh that's good news - I automatically thought something was wrong when it was that low :rotfl:

cw18

Just another thought - I didn't add on VAT, so you need to factor in another couple of £ a month for that.....


My bills currently average £45/month for just me in a 4 bed detached (I'm paying £43, but am slightly in credit)

tumptyteapot

cw18 wrote: »

Tonight netted a real bargain - a full corn fed free range chicken (oh, how I love that stuff - a good couple of years since I could afford it too ), almost 2kg and with an original ticket price of £9.54 Whoopsied price of just 99p

I am so jealous :-) I haven't had chicken for ages 'cos I won't buy the battery ones and I never ever see bargains like that! Well done you! What time of day was it?

cw18

tumptyteapot wrote: »

I am so jealous :-) I haven't had chicken for ages 'cos I won't buy the battery ones and I never ever see bargains like that! Well done you! What time of day was it?

I officially clock out at 5pm, but was a few minutes late yesterday (final shift being done by someone who's just transferred over from another dept, so I had to make sure she knew what she had to check and when for the bakery reductions).

The final reductions for the pre-packed chilled normally gets done 5-5:15 (dependant on there being a member of staff being free to do it, as they're all relief check-out staff as well) so I generally check them out on my way out of the store, but the final reductions for the deli and bakery aren't done until about half an hour before the store closes (so if I think there could be anything worth having, I'll often wander back down for that )

But I've not seen one of these get that low before now - they usually go at half price (where it was when I reached the area) if not sooner.....