Cost of gas on a pre-payment meter

borris78

Hello

I've lived in a rented one bedroom flat for the past two years and have always been slightly concerned with the cost of our gas, which is on a pre-payment card meter. Typically, we pay about £20 a week during the 'winter' months (Oct-Apr) and then £20 every two or three weeks in the summer months when the central heating is always off.

This winter the cost has shot up where we are literally putting in £20 every 5 days rather than 7. To me, this seems excessive for a one bedroom property and I wondered whether anyone can off me some advice on how I can check if I'm being charged correctly (I know this is a key meter but it seems so high).

I've took a meter reading covering Dec Jan.
4/12/2010 - 6703
3/1/2011 - 6946
Units used during this one month period - 237

Rate 1 / Rate 2 costs (read from meter) - 6.94 / 3.19

The meter has m3 written on it. Is there a possibility I'm being charged imperial or is this not possible on a key meter?

Having been a recent new father I'm now watching my monthly bill much more closely and I'd appreicate if anyone can offer any advice / comments as to whether this is normal useage for a one bedroom property and if the costs seem right? £100-£120 a month in winter just seems too much!

Thanks in advance.

lisakins

That's actually quite excessive considering you're in a small home. I know the charges went up, and I know how you feel. I put £5 on my gas meter for it to disappear in about 12 hours and I'm in a studio flat and it's just me and I haven't even moved in yet!

Key meters automatically update the tariff when it's been raised or lowered, or so I've read. I remember reading about it on Southern Electric's site when I was checking them out (they're my supplier, who I may just switch from).

I think it might be worth checking out a comparison site, it might be worth changing supplier.

spiro

You do need to bear in mind that we are having the coldest winter in 40+ years and if the long term forecast is right it could be the coldest in several hundred years.

borris78

Completely understand it's a cold winter and bills will be higher. My only thought though is that this is a one bedroom flat (ground floor house converted to a flat) and paying £20 a week for half of the year seems to be very high. Over the past 12 months I have paid ~£700 on gas. If I'm paying this then can we assume the upstairs flat (two bedrooms) is paying at least the same? So overall £1,400 for the whole property?

My concern is that I'm being charged incorrectly. How do I verify this?

Cheers!

r.a.i.n.b.o.w

Does seem very high. I'm on a pre-payment meter, 2 bedroom flat, currently paying about £4 a week in gas.

spiro

borris78 wrote: »

If I'm paying this then can we assume the upstairs flat (two bedrooms) is paying at least the same? So overall £1,400 for the whole property?

My concern is that I'm being charged incorrectly. How do I verify this?

Cheers!

The upstairs flat will benefit from heat rising from your flat to theirs, how much they loose will depend on the loft insulation.

If the rate on the meter matches your suppliers tariff and there is no old debt on the meter then you are highly likely to be paying the correct rate. It is very rare for these meters to mis-measure the gas.

Typically the high useage normally only covers 1 quarter but if we have an extended winter (it started early this year) then it may impact 2 quarters.

Tupperware_Queen

I'm sorry to tell you that it sounds about right to me... I have been putting about £6 per day into my prepayment gas meter.....but today took possession of my brand new credit meter....thanks Eon!!!

borris78

Sounds about right? Jeeez! I can only judge it by the fact that people with three or four bedroom houses seems to paying much less than me during this period for electric and gas combined. I live in a one bedroom flat with just four radiators and the boiler, judging by it looks, doesn't appear to be that old (less than 10 years). 8 units a day (£4) seems very high just for central heating and water.

That said, I've contacted BG and asked them to send me a statement in the first instance. They said I can change to a normal credit meter but i want to check my yearly useage first so that i can do a price comparison.

Tupperware_Queen

if they are happy to give you a credit meter, I'd go for it. If you only go on the standard tarif but pay by DD you will definately save, plus if you do an online tarif you will save more.

My quote with Uswitch was £360 a year saving!!!

(2 bed flat btw)

t0rt0ise

I agree, it is bound to be cheaper to get rid of the prepayment meters so I would let them do it as soon as possible and then think about whether staying with them on a cheaper tariff or changing suppliers. YOu may as well book the change over now as it will take them a couple of weeks at least to do it.

Kilty_2

Ebico do prepayment for ~3.5p/kWh. (I'm switching to them from EDF who are more than twice that)