v high electricity bill - anyway to get someone to check usage independently?

ukphd

macman wrote: »

I repeat: any supplier's standard tariff is their most expensive, so suggest you search again. You can still switch to another Atlantic tariff, giving you an instant saving. The majority of discounted tariffs do have a 1 year minimum term, but not all.

Thanks.

I did have a long discussion with Atlantic today and they said they had no cheaper tariff for me. The lady went through all the options and they all ended up at about the same amount (I think one was a few pounds different from across the year). Having said that I am not going to take her word as gospel and will definitely be checking myself and will see if there's a better option within Atlantic for us.

I do want to get to the bottom of the high usage too though



ETA: I'm not sure if I want to be locked into another 12 months with Atlantic though... if we can clear the debt in the next 3 - 6 months I think we might want to move to another supplier perhaps? Thanks though - I do appreciate all the suggestions and help

macman

No cheaper tariff over the phone. The cheapest tariffs are always the online ones. Why bother with phoning them, putting your figs into a comp site gives you all the options in a couple of minutes.

ukphd

macman wrote: »

I repeat: any supplier's standard tariff is their most expensive, so suggest you search again. You can still switch to another Atlantic tariff, giving you an instant saving. The majority of discounted tariffs do have a 1 year minimum term, but not all.
Edit: putting your annual consumption fig into energyhelpline for my area, electricity only, standard tariff, shows that you are paying £111pa more vs Atlantic's cheapest tariff (Fixed Price 4). Adding your gas fig to that for a proper dual fuel comparison should show a saving of well over £250pa, if you have gas CH.
And Atlantic is by no means the cheapest supplier.
So, in addition to your extrmely high consumption, you're paying a premium rate for it.

macman wrote: »

No cheaper tariff over the phone. The cheapest tariffs are always the online ones. Why bother with phoning them, putting your figs into a comp site gives you all the options in a couple of minutes.

I phoned them to get my annual consumption as I didn't have all the bills to hand so whilst on the phone when through it with them . I know Atlantic aren't cheap - I have wanted to switch before but we can't with the debt.

macman

But you are still on the most expensive Atlantic tariff. They cannot offer you the online discount tariffs over the phone.
You can still switch tariffs while in debt.

ukphd

macman wrote: »

But you are still on the most expensive Atlantic tariff. They cannot offer you the online discount tariffs over the phone.
You can still switch tariffs while in debt.

I've just tried uswitch but can't get it to give me the other atlantic tariff's, only other companies and the atlantic website seems only to give me price tables rather than bringing up different options in terms of discounts for online/direct debit etc - perhaps I'm looking in the wrong place - will keep looking!


I have turned off the tortoise lamp and it takes 0.016 kw per hr, the UV lamp takes 0.032 per hr.

macman

Try energyhelpline. I suspect that you are selecting the wrong payment option. Almost all the best deals require payment by monthly fixed DD, not quarterly bill or DD. If you select anything but the former, you will eliminate most of the cheapest tariffs.
Your tortoise lamp is costing less than 4p a day if left on 24/7, it's really not the cause of your massive bills. The UV lamp is 8 per day.

ukphd

macman wrote: »

Try energyhelpline. I suspect that you are selecting the wrong payment option. Almost all the best deals require payment by monthly fixed DD, not quarterly bill or DD. If you select anything but the former, you will eliminate most of the cheapest tariffs.
Your tortoise lamp is costing less than 4p a day if left on 24/7, it's really not the cause of your massive bills. The UV lamp is 8 per day.

thanks

I did select fixed DD so probably wasn't that. Uswitch maybe didn't give me the atlantic tariffs cos I'm already with atlantic perhaps? I'll try energyhelpline

victor2

ukphd wrote: »

I have turned off the tortoise lamp and it takes 0.016 kw per hr, the UV lamp takes 0.032 per hr.

They are not taking much then. There's no easy way round it, just get a notepad and go round the house switching things off, noting what the change is on the monitor. Those monitors are not terribly accurate, especially on low power items, but it gives you an idea. If it says you are using 800 watts all the time, then you should find something that reduces that significantly when you switch it off.
Still start taking daily meter readings - they are what your bill is based on and reading it daily helps even out the surges caused by washing machines, microwaves and other appliances.

ukphd

victor2 wrote: »

They are not taking much then. There's no easy way round it, just get a notepad and go round the house switching things off, noting what the change is on the monitor. Those monitors are not terribly accurate, especially on low power items, but it gives you an idea. If it says you are using 800 watts all the time, then you should find something that reduces that significantly when you switch it off.
Still start taking daily meter readings - they are what your bill is based on and reading it daily helps even out the surges caused by washing machines, microwaves and other appliances.

Will do - I just can't imagine what's causing the drain. I think I'll wait until the OH is home too so we can do this together!

macman - thanks energyhelpline did include the atlantic ones and it looks like I can save £111 a year BUT there is an £85 cancellation fee if we move away from atlantic within 12 months so need to work out how soon we can pay off the debt and see if it's better to stick with atlantic for a further 12 months, OR stick where we are til we clear debt then move to another company.

ETA - just realised there's a note saying "unable to switch" next to the atlantic tariff so perhaps I can't switch?

macman

ukphd wrote: »

thanks

I did select fixed DD so probably wasn't that. Uswitch maybe didn't give me the atlantic tariffs cos I'm already with atlantic perhaps? I'll try energyhelpline

It should give you all the tariffs regardless. It doesn't really matter which 'current' tariff you put in , you can just use the default. It will still generate the same data including your existing tariff (which will be near the bottom of the list).