Does this gas and electric sound right?

FireWyrm

macman wrote: »

If you've been in the house 3 months and still not read the meter, how did you manage to open an account with the deemed supplier (presumably EDF)? When you rang up to register for the account they would have wanted an opening reading-this is normally done on day one.
How are you now going to prove what that reading was if the outgoing occupant did not take a closing reading?

Valid question. Both gas and electricity were read by an engineer in the day of the move. We just agreed to continue with the same supplier, just different names. Basically, the account was closed by the previous owner in the morning and opened again by us in the evening. During the day, the meter was read. Simultaneously, I closed the account with BG at the old house with final readings there.

To others, the halogen lights are expensive, we know so they are off more often than on. The dishwater runs at night because it's always cheaper at 2am, I've always done this since I started paying bills. I have timers on the appliances which turn them on at the right time and off again. It's choice, but just general good sense. I don't know what the tariff is, I tried to understand what the different types were, but they seemed to be all the same and EDF have hundreds to chose from. It's so bloody confusing, it's hard to see which if any would be better for us. I suspect we're on a crap tariff but I wanted to run the account for a few quarters to get a feel for how the house runs and how much energy we are using. It's been 6 years since I paid for gas having lived in purely electricity enabled houses so I wasn't sure what is even normal anymore. When I did live in a gas/electric house, our bills were about £500 a year all in.

I had read in the papers that normal was somewhere around a thousand a year for a typical house, but on the basis of this bill, it's far worse than that in this house. I have plans to replace the boiler late next year for a newer more energy efficient one, but it's beyond my resources at this time. I have been trying to keep our consumption down instead and I thought I was doing well, but obviously not.

I'm not sure what to do next for the best. I've read that you can have energy monitors fitted but EDF say we don't qualify since this is an Internet tarrif, something I don't quite understand. I can't afford £100 this close to Christmas so it's on my to-do list for the new year.

macman

A few facts:
You have no option but to start with the existing supplier. Until you have an account with them, you can't switch away. From day one you are in deemed account.
Unless you are on an Economy 7 tariff then the electricity costs exactly the same 24/7-it's not cheaper at 2am!
And if you have gas CH and DHW, then it's very unlikely that you will be using the 33% of your electricity on cheap rate that makes E7worthwhile. Remember that all your other consumption will be on a premium rate with E7. If the house still has E7, it probably predates the installation of gas CH, and should have been swapped over. Do you Have a dual rate meter?
If you are on Standard tariffs, they are always the most expensive.
So make a start by getting hold of the basic info you need to work out your best tariff.

FireWyrm

How do I find out if the meters are dual rate?

Thanks for the information on the E7 rate. To be honest, the whole washing at night thing was something my mother did and I never changed the practice, I've always done it.

macman

Look at the meter-does it have two displays or one (or a multi-mode display that you can cycle through). But having a dual rate meter does not mean that you are on E7-the readings can be combined for a single rate tariff.
The documentation that you received from EDF on sign up will show what tariff you are on, or call them. You need to know this before you do anything else-it's fundamental.

FireWyrm

Thank you macman. Obviously this is a saturday job when I have all the information to hand including meter readings. Thanks for the advice. Ill start figuring out what to do at the weekend.

dogshome

The EDF tariff you are on is listed on the bills you have had - It's shown immediately below the heading that details the Meter Readings & Charges.
Your meter number is also shown on the same line, and it's as well to check that the meter number on the bill is the same as that on the meter.

ECO7 meter or not?
Does your bill list seperate charges for DAY rate and NIGHT rate - please post

FireWyrm

Right, first appologies, it's EON not EDF.

Plan is : EOn energy plan

There are no separate listings for day and night as far as I can see.

Electricity is billed at 21.32p for first 35Kwh and 11.35p for next 183Kwh
Gas at 8.16p for 521Kwh and 3.552p for 3688kwh.

All meters were read on 22nd August but are estimated thereafter. I took the house on 23rd so I'll concede the difference between estimated on 24th and actual on 22nd august.

Does that help?

redmalc

Firewrym that tarrif is expensive,look at online version 11,i have been going through this for my son recently and had similar issues,Eon stick you on that tarrif if you do not enquire if there are any cheaper ones,Bloody Ridiculous in my mind but they are in it for profit ,I Think !!

victor2

Sounds like you've got a few jobs to do over the weekend...
Get the key so that you can read your meters.
Find out how far out from actual readings the estimates are - might be something in your favour!
Change to a cheaper tariff. Start by phoning E.On with your actual readings, sort out your DD and see what they can put you on.
As macman says, if you're not on economy 7 (which it sounds like you're not), it makes no difference what time of the day or night you use electricity.
You can then start considering alternative suppliers and looking at ways to reduce your usage of both gas and electricity, for which there will be lots of help on here.

Good luck. You'll be a bit of an anorak by the time it's done, but a financially better off anorak!

FireWyrm

Thanks Victor...anorak I can do. I've signed up for Internet billing with EOn and looking at the available tariffs I can sign up to one that tracks BG prices. All of the others are only 1 or 2 pence per kwh different in price, so I think EOn might be a lost cause. I'm unsure whether to go with the one that is significantly cheaper and tracks BG prices or whether to go with the suggestion by Redmalc which is only a penny cheaper than the one I'm on. I could shop around I guess, but would I really be any better off than I am? Before anyone says BG is cheaper, I refuse to use them, it's a long story but I swore 15 years ago that it would be a cold day in hell before I had British gas in my house.

Anyway, I'm not up to much at the moment...the universe has decided to !!!! on me by giving me chickenpox so I'm laid up at home and too fuzzy to make decisions at the moment.