Advice on best deal for pensioner

Janey51

My Mum is 77. She lives in a one bedroomed warden patrolled bungalow. The house is all electric and she keeps it very warm!
Her electric is supplied by Scottish Power and, according to her last bill (27/10/06-03/02/07) her electric is being charged at 9.810p per unit and standing charge of 11.270p per day.That charging period she used 2306 units on one meter and 770 units on the second meter.
I'm not sure what the 2 meters are that she has..I presume one is economy 7 for the storage radiators.
There is no point in trying to get her to save electric as she can be quite confused at times.
I have tred to use the comparison sites but they don't seem to make allowances for 2 meters. Sorry if I'm being thick here but its been a long day and my brain is dead.
It looks as if Powergen is the cheapest option. (She lives in Scotland) I could do this online for her as I have Power of Attorney.

Cardew

If one is for the storage heating it would be charged at 3-4p per unit(kWh)

On the other hand 770 units is far too low for 14 weeks in winter for a bungalow to be kept warm.

The other way around would be more like it i.e. 2306 units on E7 - but they should still be charged at 3/4p.

More info needed.

Anyway with all the changes in the pipeline, it is better waiting a couple of weeks to see how things pan out.

chas1937

latest scottish power figures are for july 2006 and are as follows
night rate 4.873p per kw
day rate 11.208p per kw
standing charge of £1.5295 per week
these are rates in scottish power area

Janey51

Thanks both .
Of course I missed a very pertinent bit of information
Mum was in hospital for about 7 weeks out of the Oct-Feb billing date so I only left the towel rail in the (tiny)bathroom on and the kitchen radiator turned very low.

The bill I have says:
Domestic
Description Units Price(kwh@p)

Domestic 3076@9.810 £301.76
Meter 76607A 78913C 2306
Meter 75665A 76435C 770
Standing charge 100days@11.27 £11.27
Total electricity £313.03

Total charges and VAT £313.03
VAT @ 5% on 313.03 £15.65

Your total charges are £321.48

I have no idea what she should be using but its a good thing she was in hospital and has a good pension!!
Any advice gratefully accepted.

And I can't get this bill to line up properly on my reply so hope its understandable.

Cardew

Well for some reason she is paying for all of her electricity on a normal tariff; and there 'ain't' a more expensive way to heat a property.

You implied in your first post that your mother had storage heating? That would account for having 2 meters. It would appear that someone has changed to a normal tariff from Economy 7 and they simply add both readings together and charge at the same rate for both(I have exactly the same arrangement, albeit I don't heat with electricity!)

I assume that the reason it was changed from Economy 7 is that Storage heating is not very good if you are in a property 24/7 and it is kept very warm as your mother requires; the storage heaters simply run out of heat during the day.

Assuming that gas/oil heating is not an option, the only thing I can suggest is that you get rid of the storage heaters and have simple electrical heaters that can be switched off in say, the bedroom, for parts of the day.

Also look for the cheapest supplier when the price cut round is settled.

chas1937

I have storage heaters and what I do is shut output down at night and that helps to keep more heat in during daytime when there more heat stored.I also use one of those Halogen heaters if sitting watching tv at night to give bit more local heat.As these only use about 1kw they arent too expensive too burn.My 3 storage heaters are set at maximum input just now otherwise it wouldnt keep house warm enough.I,m all electric and using scottish power prices it works out at approx £25 per week.I,m with Staywarm and pay £17.63 per week and have checked this out on scottish hydro site and their prices would only save me about 80p per week so not changing this year at least.I would save a bit more on Ebico and think thats who i will change to next year as their prices are good and also get good write up on here.I live in glasgow in 3apt mid-terrace house and only myself and dogs in house

Janey51

I spoke to Scottish Power today and the advisor says he needs to speak to his manager tomorrow and see why Mum is on the same rate for both meters.
Is going to phone me tomorrow.
Hopefully Mum will be in for a nice little rebate!

Janey51

Surprise surprise, nobody had phoned back from Scottish Power yesterday so I phoned them to be told whoever I spoke to had not made any notes on the system
I went through the whole thing again and this CSA checked Mum's accounts and then told me what appeared to have happened.
A new meter had been installed in Feb 2006 and, whoever had installed it had not put it on the correct rate.
So, when I phone in the updated readings tomorrow, everything should be sorted. Excuse me if I don't hold my breath!

What is the matter with the supply companies?
Not only has my Mum's account been messed up by SP, but Scottish Gas admitted they had taken our house off the 2010PP and didn't know why!

If I wasn't watching out for my Mum, she would eventually have been in debt over this.
Its only last year that I intercepted a letter from a debt collection agency who were chasing Mum for a debt to British Gas for a house she wasn't even living in at the time she supposedly ran it up! Eventually got a grudging apology from BG after getting Energywatch involved.

Cardew

Janey,
Glad things are getting sorted.

Just a point to note.

From your initial post you said that one meter read 770 units and the other 2,306 units. Assuming the lower one is Economy 7 and the other one is daytime electricity(and not the other way around) then it is doubtful that enough electricity is being used at cheap rate to make Economy 7 a viable proposition. This is because you pay a higher daytime rate when on Economy 7 tariff and you need to ensure that your savings at the nightime rate are not cancelled out by the extra you pay during the day.

You need to look at the various Economy 7 rates available to see which is best for your area - and there are some available without paying a daily standing charge.

The other thing is you need to 'educate' your mother on the effective use of storage heaters - if they release too much heat during the day, they run out and need to be topped up at daily rates, which is expensive.

tripled

would that be an affiliate link getmintedonline ?

:spam:

Edit: One of many I see. Hmmm I wonder what the abuse team will think of it...

Just a tip for the future, I used to moderate on a forum (not here) and also have my own smaller forum, as a result whenever I see a link posted I check it automatically, even if I have no interest in the post/site, so it makes sense to stay out of boards I frequent or the whole lot unravels

Janey51

Hi Cardew.
The person I spoke to at Scottish Power said they would put Mum's electric on a white meter.
Mum is very confused at times and I don't think she will understand about saving anything never mind electric! She is also disabled and can't adjust teh heaters herself. Unfortunately I live too far away to go in every day.
Its taken me ages to get her finances sorted out which is why I now have Power of Attorney.
As soon as I can I will be looking to see which is a cheaper supplier for her if there is one and when Martin recommends:D
I will phone in the up to date meter readings later today and take it from there.