Help! Am I paying too much?

Gini_2

Okay, so here is my situation.

My husband and I live in a one year old new build bungalow. Two bedrooms, radiator in the second bedroom is left off. Electricity only. Currently using Scottish Power. The heating system is suppose to be state of the art efficient and all that jazz. I'm starting to wonder though.

We have jobs that keep us out of the house for nearly twelve hours per day. The heating is set to come on for when we get home at 7pm and heats the house until bed time. (Usually 11pm or so.)

We use the oven once a day for our meal at night, we watch some tv/play video games and have made sure that we bought all A rated appliances. We do a couple of washes a week (Ie, coloured and whites) and the rest of the time everything is off.

I received a bill today (after I gave them my actual meter reading) that we owe £907.32 on top of the £600 we've paid throughout the year by monthly direct debit and the over payment from our last flat of £500.

SURELY this cannot be right. Unfortunately, this is our first times leaving home and we are unsure what a "normal" electricity bill is like.


We are getting very flustered as we don't have the money to pay for it and last year (at the old flat) we received a £1600 bill from E.on which we are still paying off. (Even though at that flat we were out 14 hours a day at work and the heating was oil so we effectively had nothing running off the electricity during the day. And only had the tv and lights running for about 4 hours a day after 8pm.


So, could you reply with what your "normal" monthly payment is, what you usually keep your heating temperature at and how I should go about disputing this if it is clearly wrong.

Please help =(

crazyguy

Sounds quite excessive I would raise a dispute with them over this amount and see what occurs.

Premier_2

Gini wrote: »

Okay, so here is my situation.

My husband and I live in a one year old new build bungalow. Two bedrooms, radiator in the second bedroom is left off. Electricity only. Currently using Scottish Power. The heating system is suppose to be state of the art efficient and all that jazz. I'm starting to wonder though.

We have jobs that keep us out of the house for nearly twelve hours per day. The heating is set to come on for when we get home at 7pm and heats the house until bed time. (Usually 11pm or so.)

We use the oven once a day for our meal at night, we watch some tv/play video games and have made sure that we bought all A rated appliances. We do a couple of washes a week (Ie, coloured and whites) and the rest of the time everything is off.

I received a bill today (after I gave them my actual meter reading) that we owe £907.32 on top of the £600 we've paid throughout the year by monthly direct debit and the over payment from our last flat of £500.

SURELY this cannot be right. Unfortunately, this is our first times leaving home and we are unsure what a "normal" electricity bill is like.


We are getting very flustered as we don't have the money to pay for it and last year (at the old flat) we received a £1600 bill from E.on which we are still paying off. (Even though at that flat we were out 14 hours a day at work and the heating was oil so we effectively had nothing running off the electricity during the day. And only had the tv and lights running for about 4 hours a day after 8pm.


So, could you reply with what your "normal" monthly payment is, what you usually keep your heating temperature at and how I should go about disputing this if it is clearly wrong.

Please help =(

Sorry, I'm a little confused by the contents of your post.

However, If I'm correct you say you used £1600 worth of electricity last year in a flat.

This year in the bungalow (which would normally not be as well insulated as a flat since you have nothing above, below or possibly to either side of it ... but the bungalow is new so is presumably built with high levels of insulation) you have spent £1500 on electricity.

On the face of it, seems pretty consistent.

What I didn't understand was the £500 overpayment from the previous supplier at the flat, yet you suggest you are still repaying the £1600 bill with them. :huh:


You may find the temporary use of energy monitors help you to identify where the money is being spent. There are two types, and usually you would require both tto get a good understanding of is being used where.
The first type is often described as an Owl type (based on the name of one of the main manufacturers) and this measures the total usage ... just like the main meter but having it with you merans you can keep an eye on it easier. Some also keep a history log and will show the consumption on £ & p so you see excactly what it's costing you.

The other is a plug in device that monitors the usage of any plug in appliance. It's good in that it shows exactly what a single appliance is using at any given time (as opposed to the total household usage) but of course not all electrical items have a plug on them (e.g. lights, cooker, electric shower, etc ... and these are some of the big consumers)

You may be able to borrow such monitors from a local library.

chris1973

My husband and I live in a one year old new build bungalow. Two bedrooms, radiator in the second bedroom is left off. Electricity only. Currently using Scottish Power

So you have one 'radiator' running in one bedroom but off in the other bedroom. What about heating in the living room / kitchen/ bathroom and any hallway / cloakroom?. Do you have heating here and what is it?.

What is the loading (marked in 'W', 'Watts' or 'KW') on the rating plate of each heater / radiator

Or is it (worse still) a property heated with 'wet' radiators centrally heated by an Electric Boiler?. To find out, does each radiator have a flex outlet on the wall, or does it have pipes like a conventional central heating system, and a boiler fitted somewhere?

What energy tariff are you on?. I'm guessing either standard or E10 if you have a 'wet' heating system. If you are on E10, are you maximising the potential saving by running the boiler during the 'off peak hours which give you cheaper rate Electricity?

The heating system is suppose to be state of the art efficient and all that jazz

All electricity heating is 100% efficient in converting energy into heat, regardless of whether its a 1960's Belling 3 bar electric fire with purple flex or a 'state of the art' radiator made 3 months ago. What the purveyors of these 'modern miracles' dont tell you is that no matter how efficient heating by Electricity is, the cost of buying the Electricity at least peak rate electricity, to heat makes it one of the most expensive ways of heating a property.

As a comparison, last Winter I was topping up my meter with upto £90 a month in a 1 bedroom annexe heated with E7 storage heaters during the bitterly cold months. Most of this usage was using Electric Heaters outside the E7 period. I've significantly reduced this by using a modern indoor paraffin heater, but it does show the potential for the cost of Electric Heating, if you are using Electric Radiators / Electric Boiler during peak rate electricity periods it can cost a small fortune.

macman

As above. Precisely what sort of radiator and boiler system is this and are you on a standard tariff or an E7 tariff?
What is your actual kWH usage for the billed period (from your bill) That's what matters, not the amount billed.

t0rt0ise

I don't understand either. You say something about the £500 overpayment from the last place. You aren't expecting them to use that for this place are you? You should have been refunded that and the account with the new place starts afresh. They won't hold the money over for a different account. You did open a new account didn't you? YOu're not paying off the previous occupant's debt or anything are you?