Stressed re fuel costs following bereavement, would welcome any help

MrsCautious

Hi, since my husband died last year I have been working hard to address our finances and have had a lot to sort out. I feel like addressing our energy bills is the last thing on a long list of things to do, but one that is stressing me out.

Because of my state of mind, affected by grief/trauma, I don't know how reasonable my anxiety about this is, I feel as if I am possibly losing sight of something that is possibly very straightforward, so I thought I would post on here to see if anyone can tell me what I need to do.

In about June 2012 we had a boiler fitted, it's a Worcester combi boiler, cost us around £2,500 with other plumbing work needed on our central heating system. At that time our monthly dual fuel bills were around £140 a month. My husband had been determined to sort out a boiler, it was a big thing for him but we had to delay it being fitted as it was booked to be installed the week we lost him.

We were long-standing British Gas customers living in a 1960s 3-bed semi with two young teens. I was anticipating savings on our gas bill because of the boiler and also adopted a new-found MSE way of thinking, turning the heating off, having it lower, reducing electricity use in a way we never had before, in the hope of making more savings.


In my mind I hoped a combined bill of around £110 a month would be more realistic.


Since the boiler was fitted me and my daughters have also spent some weeks (at least 6) away from home, including one week over Christmas and one in October -- where heating was either off/turned right down and left on timed.

Despite the boiler and the effort I was going to to save energy, by January 2013, our dual fuel bill was now £180, despite graphs on the British Gas website showing we were using a significant amount less energy from the previous year, I was submitting regular meter readings and watching a potential refund tot up, so I accessed it but bills remained at around the same level.

In the spring of 2013 I was swayed by Utility Warehouse marketing and swapped to them, our bills went down from £180 with B Gas to £143. I think I had to pay back my refund from British Gas. I realise the saving of £444 a year isn't to be sniffed at but I remain convinced our bills are still too high.

Am I right in thinking that because we swapped when we did the full amount of any savings didn't kick in yet and our bills with the new company remain influenced by old usage before a boiler was fitted?



Is there a time in the year when our usage will be reviewed and a possible reduction implemented?

I have started to submit meter readings but haven't received any notifications of a reduction in our bill. Is there anything I can be doing/saying to UW to get our bill reduced?

Would I be better paying for actual usage through the summer rather than a set amount each month?

Thank you if you have read through my rather involved circumstances and can offer any guidance. My problem is that as soon as I start to think about it, my thoughts become muddled with memories/hurt at what was happening when the boiler was fitted -- it may sound ridiculous but there you go.

Thanks very much.

elsien

If you pay actual usage over the summer, then you risk having a shortfall with increased usage in the winter. Summer is normally when you build up the excess to tide you over the larger winter bills
Unless you're struggling with paying, if it were me I'd leave it for now, monitor your usage and see how it goes.
Edit- I'm not with utilities warehouse, but my direct debit amount is reviewed annually. You do have the option of phoning them to negotiate different monthly payments, but as you've only been with them a few months they won't have a realistic idea of your winter bills so they can average it all out. Plus I think they had an April price increase - have you taken that into account?

Cardew

We are not allowed to discuss UW other than in the appropriate thread.

However they are rarely the cheapest and the initial level of your DD is not an indication of overall price.

You need to find out the annual amount of kWh you use and enter the details in a comparison website to get the cheapest tariff for your area.

MrsCautious

Hi, thank you elsien, that's really helpful, appreciate it, my concern at the moment is that I haven't had the benefit of not using as much energy as expected in the winter months that have gone in winter 2012/2013.

Hi Cardew, thanks, I am happy to research the cheapest but my concern at this point is whether I have overpaid for the last year of energy use, regardless of supplier and when/how/if this will be rectified. hope that makes sense.

elsien

Any under/overpayments with British Gas will have been sorted out in the final bill when you tranferred to UW. So if you had to pay them some back, it sounds like the energy saving from the new boiler over the winter was counteracted by the overall increase in tariff. If you think they've made a mistake, you need to rummage out your final statements and check the details.
So if you tranfer suppliers again, the same will apply. UW will look at your usage and payments in the time you've been with them and calculate if they owe you or you owe them. Ideally the first.
Energy prices have gone up a lot though, and my dd is now back at the level it was before I had my new boiler. Unless BG have made a mistake, which is unlikely, you are not owed anything up to the point at which you switched.

MrsCautious

Thank you so much, this is exactly what I needed to hear -- I had been under the misapprehension that I was bound to save loads (I blame Johnny Ball on those 'efficient boiler' ads!)

I think I just need to continue to keep a very close eye on it.

elsien

You possibly have saved money. Just console yourself with how big your bills might have been with the old boiler!

KTF

You should calculate all 'savings' based on your annual Kw usage rather than how much you pay per month.

You might well be using less energy per month but if the unit cost for that has gone up over time then you will pay more in cash terms as energy prices have been rising steadily for years.

Its like if you pay £50 for a tank of fuel for your car, depending on the unit price you may get more (or less) for your money.

MrsCautious

Thanks again elsien and ktf, I will certainly feel more confident of keeping an eye on things in the future, I never used to pay attention at all!

matelodave

Read your meter every month and record your use on spreadsheet you can then monitor your use and economise where necessary if you find significant anomolies. Give a reading to your supplier monthly as well and you should get bills based on real data and not estimates. This will ensure that you are paying for what you use and hopefully you won't get any big surprises if you underpay.

You cannot make a comparison on price alone, especially when prices fluctuate and you probably used more energy over last winter than the year before because it's been so long and cold

MrsCautious

Thank you Matelodave, I really want to carry on in that vein x