Looking to save on gas and electricity - please help!

msph321

Ahhhh, okay. I just re-read the comment & caught the subtlety in it.

Just forced myself to call, just finished on the phone with SP. I'm still quite confused & feel like I was talking to the same people who run credit card companies, but what I got out of it was this:

1. I was charged too little; my usage was underestimated
2. The 1 payment that I forgot to make (I was on annual leave) set me back
3. The boiler provides central heating on a regular basis, including for water & even when it's not being used
4. Scottish Power will send someone over again (last reading was in mid-May) next weekend for a new reading and show me how to decipher all of this s***

Again, I've never had to do this before, since gas & electricity was included in my rent back home. Hopefully once I learn next weekend, I'll know what (if anything) I should cut down on (which would surprise me because again, it's just me). I can't blame my landlord completely; I'm sure that he assumed that I knew this stuff.

Thanks for your help.

jalexa wrote: »

Chiming in as invited. First of all the last poster didn't say what you quote at all, but something subtly different. Will leave for that poster to explain.


OK, what you need to do for starters is to get a handle on your consumption, not your spend. Take daily readings for a week, then weekly readings for a month, then take regular monthly readings.

Post the daily readings in a couple of days.

HalloweenJack

mpsh - what you need to do is start taking your own monthly readings, same day or so each month , so you can get an accurate picture of your useage - as your a `new` customer , SP will be basing your consumption aroud the average of whats expected.

SallyMC

Another thing you could do is borrow an energy meter for free from your local library - you can check on-line whether your council does this.
Or/also, if you are a member of any freecycle group - put a wanted post on for one as the big utility providers provided them free with certain packages so someone may have one they don't use...... that's how I got mine.

msph321

Good day everyone.

Scottish Power came to my home this past Saturday and showed me how to take meter readings. I can't remember the reading for the electricity (and the meter is located in a hard-to-reach-except-with-a-ladder place), but I think the person said that it's a 5-digit number. The gas reading that he gave me was 9145. I don't know if that's good or bad. I checked it yesterday and it was 9125 I think. I also realized what I think I did wrong with the gas (I could be incorrect about this too): I forgot to modify the settings from the winter, so I did so on the day that I wrote my original comment. I don't know how else to explain it, but hopefully someone understands.

Am I correct - 5-digit = electricity & 4-digit = gas? Either way, I need to buy a step (or taller) ladder to get that meter's reading.

Gonna pay off Scottish Power in a couple of days and explore my options further. Thank you for your help.