How am i using so much gas/electricity?? HELP??

Nikki2

Hi,
New to these forum things... but DESPERATE for help!
Ive lived in my 3-bed semi for 9 years, energy prices varying from 115-144 p/month combined gas + elec. (Im currently with NPower)
Last march they put my MONTHLY DD up to 991.00 p/month!!:eek:
After I picked myself up off the floor and asked why - they said i was £3k in arrears. (First Id heard - they put my monthly DD DOWN £20 p/m 6 months prior!!)
I went through ombudsman and with transposed night/day readings the bill is now down to about £1200 in arreears - Im paying £179 p/m now, but they say that im still currently using around £300 p/m combined so im just getting further and further behind again...!
I cannot afford to pay any more - Im a single mother of a 2 year old and have my 72 year old parents living with me. We only dare put heating on for an hour each evening now and are walking around in coats and in the half dark!
Can anyone recommend someone that can come out and tell me HOW and WHERE I am using so much fuel?
Otherwise Im going to have to sell up and buy my parents a small bungalow and rent somewhere for me and my daughter...
just to pay off this bill!
HELLLLLLP?????

Nada666

Call an electrician/heating plumber to look at your set up. Yes, you will have to pay for it but you are not making progress yourself. They will look at how the heating systems and water is hooked up and tell you what your options are.

What is it you have worked out yourself? If you have on demand radiators and electric cooking and water then it is perfectly feasible to spend two or four hundred pounds a month in winter.

What you need to find out is - how much are you spending in summer when the heating is off? How much insulation do you have? Is the atmosphere indoors such that you tend to also have heating on when the weather is warmer?

Hmm, just noticed dual fuel. So:
But before doing that have you checked that you are not being charged for an imperial gas meter when you have a metric one - that would result in being charged three times too much? On your bills how many kWh does each meter unit convert to? With a metric meter when you divide the kWhs by the meter units you should get about 11.2. If the answer is closer to 33 then you are due a refund.

As you mentioned night/day reads then you may have to come off E7 and take standard electricity - if you or your parents are topping up gas central heating with electric heaters then this can be ridiculously expensive. Also check if you have an electric hob - if this hasn't changed since the gas was installed then, again, that will be expensive on E7.

As CashStrapped says in the next post you have to read your meters. Spending £300 per month is not unreasonable when the heating is on (it does not mean over the year you are falling more behind.) but do make sure it is gas and not your electric that is providing the heat.

One other thing: "they say". You have to sit down and work out how to work out so you can say how much you are using week to week and day to day and session by session. Start with monitoring meter reads before worrying about costs.

CashStrapped

To help you, we need to understand what your annual usage is for both your gas and electricity. Furthermore it is also useful to know what you use on a daily basis. So you will also have to start taking meter readings to see how much you are using now.

So, first, you need to go through your bills and look for all the confirmed/customer or actual meter readings. These often have a C or A next to them. Also write down the dates these were taken. Ignore any estimated readings for now.

You need to work out what your annual usage is. So you need to find two confirmed meter readings roughly 1 year apart. This will enable us to work out what you use per year in KWH.

Knowing what you use per year in KWH is very useful.

Getting used to taking meter readings and monitoring your usage will also help you manage your account in the future. It seems that you may have relyed on estimated readings and hence the large debt that has built up.

If you can get all your past confirmed meter readings and post them here with the dates we can help you.

Then take daily meter readings (at the same time each day) and post them here and we can see how high your current usage is.

That is the first step. Good Luck

Nada666

As you are with npower you can have your gas and electricity on separate tariffs. With your high electricity consumption this may be favourable (although E7 limits the number of tariffs.)

And now it is cold do not stop using the gas heating whilst fathoming out the problem - keep that on. It is very unlikely that it is its boiler that is costing you the money (but do keep an eye on the meter.)

Nikki2

I have in desperation agreed to go onto prepay meters for both Gas and Electricity now - they are being fitted at the end of this month. Hopefully I will be able to see what is using so much power then.
I just dont understand how I can have accumulated such a huge bill without them telling me - whenever they have asked for a reading - ive given it to them. In October 2012 they put my monthly DD DOWN from 144.00 p/m to £116. So why in the March of 2013 did they THEN decide I owed so much and that my usage has 'Always been high'?? They just nonchalantly take £991 from my account and said it was the new monthly amount!
I have through the ombudsman gotten the total outstanding amount reduced to aprox £1200 in arrears now (something about transposed night/day readings) but they say I am CURRENTLY using £360 p/month for both gas and electric.
Now - since this whole nightmare began last March we have been VERY strict with usage. We use battery operated lights in the evening and put the heating on for a maximum of 2-3 hours a night. We dont use the tumble dryer - wet clothes are piled on the radiators when they come on. Its a horrible way to live.
I just dont understand how this has happened so suddenly after nearly 10 years at this house. Other friends say they have their heating on whenever required and dont creep around in the half dark with coats on! - And their bills are a fraction of ours!
I dont really understand the bills i get from Npower - they say how many meter units ive used but I cant see anything about KWh?
When I go online I can find meter read history, but its a bit sporadic for the last year - more recently every couple of weeks, then every 2-3 months. So I dont know what im looking at really.
Is there anywhere I can take the mountain of paperwork i have and show someone who could explain? They re-did a load of bills for me and i did 1 5-day meter read at one point.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

Nikki2 wrote: »

I have in desperation agreed to go onto prepay meters for both Gas and Electricity now - they are being fitted at the end of this month. Hopefully I will be able to see what is using so much power then.
I just dont understand how I can have accumulated such a huge bill without them telling me - whenever they have asked for a reading - ive given it to them. In October 2012 they put my monthly DD DOWN from 144.00 p/m to £116. So why in the March of 2013 did they THEN decide I owed so much and that my usage has 'Always been high'?? They just nonchalantly take £991 from my account and said it was the new monthly amount!
I have through the ombudsman gotten the total outstanding amount reduced to aprox £1200 in arrears now (something about transposed night/day readings) but they say I am CURRENTLY using £360 p/month for both gas and electric.
Now - since this whole nightmare began last March we have been VERY strict with usage. We use battery operated lights in the evening and put the heating on for a maximum of 2-3 hours a night. We dont use the tumble dryer - wet clothes are piled on the radiators when they come on. Its a horrible way to live.
I just dont understand how this has happened so suddenly after nearly 10 years at this house. Other friends say they have their heating on whenever required and dont creep around in the half dark with coats on! - And their bills are a fraction of ours!
I dont really understand the bills i get from Npower - they say how many meter units ive used but I cant see anything about KWh?
When I go online I can find meter read history, but its a bit sporadic for the last year - more recently every couple of weeks, then every 2-3 months. So I dont know what im looking at really.
Is there anywhere I can take the mountain of paperwork i have and show someone who could explain? They re-did a load of bills for me and i did 1 5-day meter read at one point.

You will be paying 20-25% more on a PPM than the best DD tariff.

There has been a lot of good advice given by Cashstrapped and Nada - follow it and let us know how you get on.

Nikki2

thanks anyway everyone - but i just dont understand what im looking at. :-(
If i understood what a KWh was it would help i guess!
Ill have to call an electrician to come out - i keep getting conflicting advice. Npower said coming OFF E7 would NOT be beneficial. Some people tell me to leave heating on and controlled by thermostat, some say turn on ONLY when needed. Npower recommended pre pay meter - now im being told that will be more expensive.
think i better just move house.

pc1271

If you don't know what the numbers mean, just tell us what they are and the date of the reading.

molerat

Post up:
Dates & electric meter reads - indicate which is the day read and night read.
Dates and gas meter reads. Does your gas meter read in cu m / m3 or cu ft ? - it shows this on the front of the meter.
Does your gas bill show you as being billed for the correct conversion - divide the kWh billed by the units used - around 11 is metric (cu m/m3), 32 imperial (cu ft).
Are the bills using actual reads and not estimated - do the reads on the bill reflect the actual reads on the meters.
Are the meter serial numbers on the bill the same as on the meter ?

Nikki2

2014 readings -
date Usage
12/02/14 933
13/02/14 13
06/04/14 535
15/05/14 21
30/06/14 93
12/08/14 76
30/10/14 192
28/01/15 624

Nikki2

those last readins were gas...