Best Tariff for me

hannylou

Hello all,
I know i have probably mentioned all this before on other threads etc , but i am starting to panic about being on the right tariff.

Going forward i have been made redundant and my first born arrives at the end of august - so any savings would be a great help

we moved into our new home on the 18th december 2010 and have used the following:

Gas ( up until 4th June) : 185 KWh
Elec ( until today) 657 KWh

Gas seems to be working out at about £20-25 a month
Elec- £40 ish? ( i've been mis reading the meter reader so this is in the process of being changed)

I dont know i over these 5 1/2 months those amounts deem me as a high or low usage customer but i would love some advice as to who i should be looking at.

I am happy to go to a fixed or capped rate if you think it would benefit me. I am currently with scottish power on the standard tariff

Kind regards to all

eurmalian

You're not paying a huge ammount there. Neither of those are particularly high, and the gas is very low if you have gas heating.

As for tariffs, you definitely want to get off of the standard one, as that's always one of the most expensive rates. Fixed rates are a gamble that you really have to decide if you want to make yourself. They usually cost more than any other tariff, so if prices don't go up (or worse, go down), or even don't go up until towards the end of the fixed time, then you'll be out of pocket. However, if prices do go up soon (like the papers seem to think they're going to) then a fixed rate is the best thing to be on by far.

If you decide against the fixed rate, then your best bet is one of the price comparison sites. Just double your usage given above to get a rough ammount for one year and then put it into one of the sites to find the best rate. Or, if you like the supplier that you're with, either check their website or give them a call and ask what discounted or online tariffs are avaliable. All the staff will know and if you ask they'll be happy to go through them. Make sure to check for things like fixed terms and cancellation fees though.

hannylou

Thank you for your help today and yesterday ( I'm dealing with that issue as we speak)


I have a 2 bedroom house - there are currently 2 adults in the house.

We have gas central heating - which is currently on 0 degrees but obviously it must be being used as we have hot baths ?

We have a gas cooker as well

we are only really in the house from about 6.15pm until 8am the next morning ( except weekends)

I just need to find a way to save on our electicity i think

macman

Your readings are ludicrously low-185kWh of gas in 6m cannot possibly heat and hot water a 2 b/r house from December through June!
On that basis your gas bill would be about £11 pa! The average 3 b/r house would use around 17,500kWh pa.
Your electricity usage is also very low, the average would be around 4,500kWh pa. Yours is about a quarter of that.
So I'd go away and recheck your figs before you do anything else.
I suspect that the gas fig you are quoting is metered usage (either cu m or 100's cu ft)-not actual kWh billing. Do you have a metric or imperial meter (it's marked on it)?
If those figs were correct, you'd be hugely in credit after 6m.

victor2

As macman says, your figures are extremely low, especially the gas.
If it is units rather than kWh you're quoting then 185 units (on an imperial meter, which will say something like ft3 on it) will be around 5,900kWh. On a metric meter (m3 on it) that would be more like 2,100kWh, but even that seems low.
You do say you've been misreading the electricity meter, so maybe 675kWh is not a realistic figure. Perhaps an adjusted bill is coming on that and hopefully you are in credit on your account if that's all you've been billed for.

macman

Agreed, around 6,000kWh for gas over 6m is much more believable.

hannylou

here are my readings when i moved to the propert on the 18th december 2010

Gas - 8185 - now reads ( as of saturday) 8370
Elec - 52285 - now reads as of today - 52942

macman

hannylou wrote: »

here are my readings when i moved to the propert on the 18th december 2010

Gas - 8185 - now reads ( as of saturday) 8370
Elec - 52285 - now reads as of today - 52942

OK, but you need to confirm if your gas meter is metric or imperial (see above posts). Without knowing that we can't calculate your kWh consumption. I'm guessing imperial, but please confirm.
£70 worth of electricity usage in 6m, (assuming 10p per kWh) is not feasible.

hannylou

macman wrote: »

OK, but you need to confirm if your gas meter is metric or imperial (see above posts). Without knowing that we can't calculate your kWh consumption. I'm guessing imperial, but please confirm.
£70 worth of electricity usage in 6m, (assuming 10p per kWh) is not feasible.

It says ft3 and that its a parkinson cowan meter

does that help?

hannylou

From 26th jan - 6th April it cost us £108.08

macman

hannylou wrote: »

It says ft3 and that its a parkinson cowan meter

does that help?

So it's an imperial meter, as we thought (one unit is 100 cubic feet). 185 units is approx 5,949kWh. At 4p per kWh that would have cost you approx £238. Your consumption Jan-June is still extremely low.
You may find this calculator useful in future:
http://www.energylinx.co.uk/gas_meter_conversion.html