Could Martin help?

givememoney

Me and I know lots of others, hate the way gas and electric bills are made up.

That is, you need to be a near genius to discover what you have actually used and what you are being charged for.

Why are they not worded in such a way as it is easy to read. For instance we use units and are charged for units.

In all other purchases including things like phone calls you pay for the duration of each call, you go shopping and pay the price of the item.

How can you properly compare like with like when you can't understand it in the first place.

I think it would be great if Martin started a petition we interested folk could sign then be presented to Gas and Electric industries and even the PM to make them change their ways.

In my book this is long overdue.

HappyMJ

If you would like very easy to understand bills then switch to Ebico. It has one of the simplest charging tariffs available. You pay one price for everything no extras such as standing charges and no discounts. However, if you use anywhere near average figures or above then it's not worth it. It's only cheap for low users.

I personally don't like how BT calculates the charges. I find that bill very confusing.

spiro

OFGEM regularly conducts surveys on what people think fo their bills and feeds this back to suppliers. Currently BG are supposed to be in the lead in terms of bills people understand.

libra10

In total agreement.

You are charged so many primary units, followed by secondary units; to know how many kwh you've used, you need the conversion factor which depends whether your gas meter is metric or imperial.

Value Added Tax is only added before the total of bill, therefore the price is slightly higher than price shown for individual kwhs.

It's a minefield, and legislation should force energy companies to realise that most of us don't have a maths degree and make their bills easier to understand.

When Eon send their regular surveys I make my point regarding this, but nothing has been done yet.

macman

Electricity is metered and billed in kWh. 1 meter unit is one billing unit-not that complex, apart from the 2 tier factor.
Gas is metered by volume and billed in kWh, there's no avoiding the conversion from volume to energy. Nor is it the energy co's fault that many meters still read in cu ft, not cu m, thus giving more potential confusion.

libra10

"Nor is it the energy co's fault that many meters still read in cu ft, not cu m, thus giving more potential confusion." macman

The energy companies could make things slightly easier for customers if they replaced the meters of us who still have imperial meters with upgraded metric models. That might reduce some confusion.

Surely some of the vast profits they make could be used for this!

chanz4

Npower already has http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=111986

TIMMY85

libra10 wrote: »

The energy companies could make things slightly easier for customers if they replaced the meters of us who still have imperial meters with upgraded metric models. That might reduce some confusion.

Surely some of the vast profits they make could be used for this!

since the market was opened up it is not the supplier who owns/replaces the meter but the meter operator. As meters are due to be replaced a letter will be sent to ask the customer to contact the Mop to arrange an appointment. This will normally have branding of the supplier on as most people will not recognise the name of the Mop.
Suppliers can usually arrange for the mop to replace the meter and are involved with rolling out smart meters.
As with most aspects of the energy industry - more layers and companies causing more confusion for the consumer who often still think in gas/ele board terms.

macman

libra10 wrote: »

"Nor is it the energy co's fault that many meters still read in cu ft, not cu m, thus giving more potential confusion." macman

The energy companies could make things slightly easier for customers if they replaced the meters of us who still have imperial meters with upgraded metric models. That might reduce some confusion.

Surely some of the vast profits they make could be used for this!

They already do-when your meter is switched at the end of it's life, it will be replaced by a metric one.

rogerblack

I note that npower have 'simplified' some of their tarrifs.
I'm currently on 'sign-online 21' - and pay 8p extra or so for the first 728 units/year.
This is around 60 pounds 'standing charge'.
The current 'sign online 25' tariff has a 'simpler' 143 pound/year standing charge, and no first unit/second unit rates.

Caveat emptor.

pothole50

No we dont want anything else to make life simply, just look at how BG got rid of all their tariffs and used it as a way to make the tariffs higher increasing the price.