Crazy bills from British Gas!

peakoil_2

charlotte289 wrote: »

It's still not unusual - I'm guessing you paid a much smaller amount by DD beforehand? Even if you did wear thick jumpers etc. in the winter, you still would have needed to use high-consumption devices like the kettle, oven, and shower - the latter of which uses about 100 times more electricity per hour than a laptop! It may well be annoying but unless you get gas installed or enjoy cold showers, it's just something you have to get used to

we were given electricity monitoring device when we switched providers and I was shocked at the way it jumped up when I turned on the shower. over 10Kwh!!

macman

Do you seriously think you can heat/power/light/hot water any all-electric property for £240pa? The minimum is going to be 4 times that.
Since you have accumulated a £700 debt, a large part of the monthly DD of £160 is to recover that debt. So, if they've set your DD to recover say £80pm for the next 8 months (could be more, could be less, ask BG and they will confirm), your ongoing consumption is accounting for the other £80.
You cannot be a 'savvy user', otherwise you would have checked your meter readings against your (presumably estimated) bills over the last 18 months.

Nicklt

It just seems absolutely ridiculous. I cannot afford £160 a month! How can anyone. I can afford the current £45 a month but that just mean the arrears are going to go up and up and up.

I find it incredibly frustrating considering we do our very best to conserve energy but still get these ridiculous bills. We dont even put the lights on, we use lamps with 10W bulbs.

Nicklt

@macman,

You don't think you can run a property for £240 per annum, so how do you account for the fact that we only paid £20 a month in our previous property.

If i submit a meter reading for this month, will that take effect on the Estimated bills or am i stuck with those estimates now and have to pay them.

charlotte289

Nicklt wrote: »

@macman,

You don't think you can run a property for £240 per annum, so how do you account for the fact that we only paid £20 a month in our previous property.

If i submit a meter reading for this month, will that take effect on the Estimated bills or am i stuck with those estimates now and have to pay them.

I may not be Macman, but there are two possibilities... either a vast amount of heat leaked into your old property from other people's houses, or there's a bill for several hundred pounds in arrears waiting for the next occupant of your old property...

edit: Or the meter in your old property may have been faulty, underestimating your usage by about two thirds.

macman

As explained, most of that £160 is to clear the arrears that you have allowed to build up, not actual usage. If your DD is only £45pm then it appears that they are recovering the debt at £115pm, or roughly over 6 months. What you need to establish is what your actual consumption is, and how much that represents on your DD. However economic you are, I doubt that £45 a month even covers ongoing consumption in such a property.
Your conservation efforts are misguided. Sitting in the dark won't save you anything significant. What cost money is heating and hot water, plus big consumption items like tumble driers.

Nicklt

I don't think there a bill waiting for someone in our old property because when we moved out npower sent us a credit cheque for £5ish.

I just cant get my head around that we are using £160, especially i really beleive we dont use that much electricity.

How can people who find themselves unemployed with 2+ kids possibly afford these kind of rates.

macman

Nicklt wrote: »

@macman,

You don't think you can run a property for £240 per annum, so how do you account for the fact that we only paid £20 a month in our previous property.

If i submit a meter reading for this month, will that take effect on the Estimated bills or am i stuck with those estimates now and have to pay them.

Did your previous flat maybe have E7? If your current place has standard tariff then it will be much more expensive to use electric heaters.
The 'average' household energy bill is now well above £1,250pa, you may well consider yourself a relatively low user, but £20 a month is not remotely realistic.

Cardew

Nicklt wrote: »

It just seems absolutely ridiculous. I cannot afford £160 a month! How can anyone. I can afford the current £45 a month but that just mean the arrears are going to go up and up and up.

I find it incredibly frustrating considering we do our very best to conserve energy but still get these ridiculous bills. We dont even put the lights on, we use lamps with 10W bulbs.

It is heating and hot water that use the large amounts of electricity.

As said above, the £160 is to cover consumption and pay off your arrears.

The average gas and electricty bill in UK is about £1,300 a year and gas is much cheaper than electricity.

So 10,226kWh in 18 months will cost around £1,000 to £1200 depending on your tariff. say £700 to £800 a year - well below average!

Nicklt

We have economy 7.

@Macman

£20 is realistic seeing as this is what we paid in our last property. If you look in the low users thread that has just started there is one person there that is paying £25 a month for Gas & Electric so it is possible.

Im going to see what my bill comes out at the month and if it is again £160 im going to dispute it. I begruge paying £160 when we use such little electric.