And so it begins.....

foxgloves

Hi, Just wanted to say re your electricity payment doubling.....We also had a letter (from Npower) more than doubling our payment. We were previously paying £66 a month for electricity & gas combined. They wrote to say the payment was insufficient as there were arrears on the account so had recalculated and the new payment was to be £136 a month!!! We are careful with energy use as we are pretty green on the whole, & so I sat down with all their figures & my calulator and when I looked at it more closely, the 'arrears' was only £36. Divided between 12 months, as we pay monthly, that would mean an underpayment of just £3 a month, yet they were asking us to pay £136 a month, a monthly increase of £70!! The last page of the bill contained a breakdown of how much electiricty & gas Npower estimated we would use over the next year based on everything they know about our useage levels, & what this would cost. The two sets of figures didn't match at all. According to their own workings, they were estimating that we'd use £85 of energy a month, yet on the previous page had said we were to start paying £136 a month!! All I can say is I was glad I'd read the small print. I paid the £36 arrears & got them to reduce it to £95 a month (they wouldn't go any lower despite my workings being based on their own figures!) & am changing supplier now, anyway. Obviously if you are using more electricity, then obviously you'll have to pay for what you are using, but if you haven't already, it might be worth getting out your latest bill/statement & seeing if what they are asking you to pay matches any figures they've given you on what they estimate you will use. If they estimate that you will use a lot less than what they are asking you for, then it's worth asking them for an adjustment. Sorry this is a bit long......just posting it in case it helps you.

mrsb83_2

I think you've made an error with the groceries because it's showing as £50 a month not £50 a week which is what I think you're spending.

the_cat

Hmm so you live alone in a 2 bed place? How about considering a lodger for a tax free boost to your income. Some people look out for a Mon-Fri option so if full time seems a step too far, it could be possible to keep the place to yourself for the weekends?

Have a look and see what the income is like for your area and see how it could impact on your DFD. Even if done for a short time it would make a significant difference

rubywhatashmoo

Echoing foxgloves post about npower - it's always worth getting in touch with your supplier and asking them if they need to take such a high payment just in case you use that much power!! The tried to double mine but when I contacted them they knocked it back to £80/month dual fuel rather than £105 which will save me £300 a year!! I don't want them to owe me any money thanks it can quite happily sit in my bank account instead of theirs!

Fed_up_of_being_broke

Thank you everyone!

i'm def going to speak to the electricity company, they haven't given me any figures but i think i might switch anyway i like the fact that OVO is a UK company and green :-)

Fed_up_of_being_broke

AngryDog wrote: »

good luck .

Im going to do something similar soon I hope but with less income and more outgoings might be getting rid of my work shy gf too.. lol

good luck AngryDog! lets hope its a new start for both of us

foxgloves

I think it's right to look at swapping your energy supplier if you feel you are being ripped off with payments doubling. When I complained (see previous post) & said that based on their own figures, I should be paying around £85, nowhere near the £136 a month they had asked me for, they reduced the increase by £41 instantly. If I hadn't complained, that £41 a month would presumeably just have sat in their bank account with everyone else's overpayments earning a nice little bit of interest for them, while we've got to find the extra money for the uneccessarily large increase! I know they would have had to refund it back to me eventually if I hadn't used the electricity/gas, but I wouldn't go into Marks & Spencers & pay for a pair of trousers, but leave them some extra cash in case I needed another pair later on, we should just be charged for what we use. Hope you can get a cheaper supplier. We have just swapped to Co-op Energy. Am fed up with the big companies & the way they set dd's too high to improve their own company cashflow.

savingholmes

Definitely a spending diary would help

When we were with npower they ricocheted between high DDs and low ones - and overcharged us in the summer based on our winter usage and then dropped it back down in the winter based on our summer useage -muppets!

We are now with EON who don't do that but I am considering switching just because everyone has put their prices up... I want the best deal I can get

Fed_up_of_being_broke

Morning!

Well i've earn't £10 today :-) i used the iphone app with moneymagpie to get rid of some of my DVD's and CD's that i don't listen to anymore..

Tried to ring the electricity company but their system was down so I will try again later..

I've had a look at the demotivator as well worked out i'm spending £1200 on lunch at work so i am def going to try and take my own lunch in from now on!

glimmerofhope

Fed_up_of_being_broke wrote: »

Morning!

Well i've earn't £10 today :-) i used the iphone app with moneymagpie to get rid of some of my DVD's and CD's that i don't listen to anymore..

Tried to ring the electricity company but their system was down so I will try again later..

I've had a look at the demotivator as well worked out i'm spending £1200 on lunch at work so i am def going to try and take my own lunch in from now on!

Hi
Just a thought when switching providers -don't forget to check out the comparision sites such as Uswitch & Quidco(see you have used it before), we could £40 for switching and was all very simple also saved £24 a month.

Good luck