British Gas tell me I'm not paying enough ... but using a fraction of their forecast

DragonQ

StuC75 wrote: »

Winter usage will be a lot higher than what you are running at now... the Utilities want you to build up credit now so that it balances back to zero after higher usage in winter.

Except that's unfair. Having a zero balance mid-summer or mid-winter would be fair since then you'd be in credit half the time and debit half the time. I suppose energy companies think we should be paying for energy in advance so they can make more money on interest.

StuC75

Its really a case of 6 & 2x3...Direct debit tends to get a discount anyway and tariff vary on monthly to quarterly ..

If you feel that strongly then change so you only pay on receipt of quarterly bills, but accrue a higher amount in your bank each month to gain the (interest?)..

Then after a year or so see if that works out cheaper than the discounts that they offer for monthly budget (with credit rather than in deficit)..

they just look for back to zero in march say, health credit for winter.. its only really a few months different to what you are 'expecting'..

So again suggest a financially better method..

In the case of the OP they have only been in the property a couple of months, so would be better to be cautious and avoid big bill in spring - Look at other threads where people have been caught out by this way thinking fixed payment = all you can consume...

DragonQ wrote: »

Except that's unfair. Having a zero balance mid-summer or mid-winter would be fair since then you'd be in credit half the time and debit half the time. I suppose energy companies think we should be paying for energy in advance so they can make more money on interest.

DragonQ

StuC75 wrote: »

If you feel that strongly then change so you only pay on receipt of quarterly bills, but accrue a higher amount in your bank each month to gain the (interest?)..

I don't have to; I don't pay for gas by direct debit because my supplier offers no discount for doing so.

My electricity direct debit is not affected by weather or seasons so paying each month in advance or arrears is fine with me.

LuSiVe

closed wrote: »

250kwh of electricity is incredibly low for 3 months, that's about 115w which a fridge freezer could use on it's own. Is that based on actual readings before and after?

gas use will go through the roof in winter.

I've just re-checked and it's not even that much

12 Aug 2013 28103 Customer read 38.0
06 Jun 2013 28065 Estimated 125.0
18 May 2013 27940 Customer read 0.0

Their estimate really was *way* out ... I really am not home very much and the fridge-freezer is the only thing on a lot.

closed

assuming you're reading the meter properly, 1.9kwh/day or 79w/h or 693kwh/year electricity is miniscule