MERGED: Huge / crazy Utility Bills - Help & Advice

chalky_bertie

colinw wrote:

Could your rabbit be secretly putting the heating on full every day when you go out?
You should switch to Powergen, they are cheaper than British Gas.

Berties clever but not that clever.

loopy_lass wrote:

i just had a big bill for me @ £85... small house u see... normally around £55.. i am considering switchin to powergen for gas and electric, i have looked on energywatch site and they have less complaints than my suppliers i have now.. which is BG and n power

summat is up with BG bills

loops

That is very interesting to know - I have also looked at Powergen which are cheaper but as I am old fashioned I still pay my bill quarterly by cheque, I just haven't had the guts to change to monthly DD - (reasoning) some months i pay nowt at the moment but on monthly DD i would be paying out £50pm for 12 months, but then this would be cancelled out when I get a massive bill like this one.

Thanks for the info, I will be keeping an eye on this.

Fran

Boardguide comment:

I have merged similar threads which I hope will be useful

isasmurf

RandyRos wrote:

I've been a bit lax with my money saving of late.......I was with Virgin Home Energy and they were cheap for me. But then they got bought out by EDF Energy, who I'd got away from! Typical!! Anyhoo, I didnt bother checking for a better deal, I thought I'd wait until I got my first EDF bill thru.....

I want to get away from EDF Energy but my landlord won't let me... grrr....

I got my electric bill through yesterday from EDF, and it was a lot more than I was expecting - £180+VAT! I looked at this and thought this can't be right, so I went to check the meter... hang on someone's moved it!... put it down to when the landlord's meter was changed a few months ago... but the meter was correct. Then went back and looked through my previous bills. According to EDF I have used 3722 night units in the last quarter, this compares with 2437 night units for the same quarter last year.

Considering that both this quarter and the same quarter last year I had both my water and heating on every night without any changes I cannot see how a 52% increase in my night usage is possible.

My day usage is just a little higher, but nothing that I wasn't expecting.

So I'll be spending Easter arguing this out with them, particularly as it has nearly doubled my monthly payments. Anybody got any strategies I can use against them to query this. Or any reasons why there could be such a strange difference in amount used when I haven't?

Fran

Well Ofgem would be a place to start. Something doesn't sound right there! Is it possible that numbers were entered differently when the new meter was put in - do you trust the landlord ?

stanzelsa

I was on my own but with 2 kids living with me until 3 years ago, my gas bill was quite high(I have gas central heating and had a back boiler) but my electricity was low(well under £100 a quarter). Since that time my children have moved in with their dad and only stay at weekends, I have a new partner who has moved in, I have had a combination boiler installed by British gas, I've changed supplier via energy comparison sites twice and someone came to fit a new electricity meter(digital). My gas has stayed cost similar to my old usage, perhaps a bit less. But my electicity has gone sky high. I've just swapped from Scottish Power online dual fuel to London Energy. I was paying £70 per month for both fuels. I have now had final bills for both and my gas is £61 and my electicity is £323! I've checked the meter and the reading they have is about 400 units less than the actual reading. I find this overwhelming, could it be possible that the meter was installed incorrectly and how can I find out if it's running ok?

Cardew

You don't say how long ago the new meter was fitted; or how long you have been with Scottish Power.

When you say your Electricity has gone 'sky high' do you mean in terms of payments or in units consumed?

If you look at many posts on this forum you will see that this not an unusual occurance and the most likely explanation is that your Direct Debit was too low and you have built up a big debit balance over a period. Many companies 'entice' new customers by fixing their DD at an unrealistically low level. The operators who do the switching get their bonus and it doesn't matter to them that you are bound to build up a deficit.

The first thing you need to do is check your consumption in kWh, work out the total cost on your tariff and see if your monthly payments cover that bill.

Also can you compare consumption in kWh for a period before the meter was fitted with a similar period afterwards?

You can get the meter checked but it will cost you if it is found to be OK; and very few are found faulty.

makings

Hi all,

I've also received an outrageous bill from BG = £282 for two months of consumption. Like Bertie, there's two of us (plus nipper) and we only have the heating on twice a day, and maybe all day at weekends.

I also spoke to BG last night and they said our bill for the previous three months may have been a bit low (£82) as it was based on an estimate.

I am pretty hacked off... What other information could I provide that would be of use?

Grrrr. :mad:

Kind regards,

Mike K.

irnbru_2

makings wrote:

I've also received an outrageous bill from BG = £282 for two months of consumption. Like Bertie, there's two of us (plus nipper) and we only have the heating on twice a day, and maybe all day at weekends.

I also spoke to BG last night and they said our bill for the previous three months may have been a bit low (£82) as it was based on an estimate.

Is the new bill an estimate too?

And was the start reading on the previous £82 bill an estimate?

Hopefully, the start reading on the £82 bill and the end reading on the £282 biil are not estimates. Work out the units used.

Do you have previous bills to compare it to?

Does your latest bill include a price rise?

If so, you might find that because the £82 is estimated your paying more because the average units used after the rise are higher than normal due to an estimated start reading.

It's straight forward, a low estimate means more units get shifted into the next bill just when a price rise occurs. The final bill is the average of the units used pre- and post- price rise. Hence, you can get whackered because of a poor estimate

Start taking your meter readings and never accept an estimate!

makings

Hi IrnBru,

New bill is based on given reading. The start reading on the original bill was an estimate. Part-way through the billing period there was the (shocking) price rise, and the units on that were also estimated.

We may have one previous bill to compare to as we moved in in June, I will have a root around tomorrow.

Thanks for the info...

Kind regards,

Mike K.

simon23

Hi
i'm a student living in a large house with 7 other people, our latest bill for electricity and gas scared us quite a lot! :eek: its for the last five months and came originally to just over £800 which we thought was rather a lot leading us to call powergen to question it, they then took another reading and put the amount up to £1500! i know we probably use quite a bit power being students using computers and things but i was wondering if the amount seemed accurate or whether we're being screwed, and also if we are is there anything we can do to challenge the company.....thanks people :beer: