Duel Fuel bills - Scottish Power

MMDFin

Could anyone please help me with this? I'm new to this so please be nice!


Just paid my duel fuel bill online and added up how much I've paid since this time last year. £1,900 odd pounds. Much to my disgust!!
Thing is, I live in a 4 bed detached house which is only 2 years old. I have no children, its just myself and my husband who works away for 1/3 of the year. We're not people for having the heating on all the time, only when it gets really cold. We've the heating on a timer to regulate the temperature of the house and water.


What am I missing here?! Why is this so expensive?! Please let me know as this is far too much money to be paying for heating and electric especially as there are only to two of us!


Any help would be great xx

Nada666

You'll have to start monitoring your electricity and gas meters on a daily (or even evening) and weekly basis until you get an idea of what your are using and what is causing the usage.

£1900, although probably more than necessary, is not crazily high for a four bedroom place.

2013yearofthehouse

How much of this is gas and how much elec? Look at how many kwh you are using rather than cost. Try using a comparison site (imputing your annual kwh for gas and elec) to see if there is a cheaper tariff you could switch too.

For a very rough comparison (as the size of our houses and our personal habits may differ), we are 2 people in a 4 bed detached house (older house than yours and at least 1 of us home most of the time) using 2500kwh elec annually and 13500kwh gas annually, costing about £900-950.

Robwiz

You need to do the basics like check whether your bills show actual or estimated readings. Compare the most recent numbers on your bill with your current actual meter readings. It's not unknown for the utility companies to over-estimate usage and set direct debits higher than they need to be.

If you can, register for an online account with Scottish Power and enter your actual meter readings as frequently as you can – monthly if possible. I keep an eye on my meters every day, it only takes a few seconds, and I try to account for any unusual spikes in consumption so that they don't turn into a frighteningly large bill at the end of the quarter.

Remember that the gas meter measures cubic metres and you will be billed in kilowatt hours. There are approximately 11 kWh per cubic metre of gas – the exact calculation is shown on your gas bill.

2013yearofthehouse

Robwiz wrote: »

Remember that the gas meter measures cubic metres and you will be billed in kilowatt hours. There are approximately 11 kWh per cubic metre of gas – the exact calculation is shown on your gas bill.

Except for the gas meters that measure in cubic feet - there are approx. 31kwh per cubic foot of gas.

Check which your meter measures in and then check the calculation on your bill and make sure you are being charged for whatever type of meter you have.