Gas Bill jumped £200? is it faulty?

molerat

OP is clearly being billed, as demonstrated by their bill posted earlier, for a metric meter. They are confused by "paying £100 per month" and being billed for £300 in winter.

[Deleted User]

Cash strapped is correct. Standard/variable tariff is too high. My advice to people looking to switch is always to get an fairly accurate yearly consumption from the suppliers customer service ( to get your monthly/quarterly direct debits more or less correct ). Then use a comp site such as Upower.co.uk or Martins Cheaperenergyclub (£30 cashback available on Eon ) to enter your figures making sure you tick "all available tariffs. Then avoid like the plague..Npower, ScotPower and First Utility and maybe Spark Energy too. Favoured suppliers are Sainsburys/British Gas, Eon or EDF and only do a 1 year fix . Assuming they are not doing the old metric/imperial mess up , then unless theres a leak after the meter somewhere,faulty gas meters are very rare, then the billing is correct. Lowering the boiler temperature down can help a lot, but getting a much better tariff in place can lower it 20%

blackstar

Spoke to the Gas company again and they said that my previous gas company did not send over the information to the national Grid about my meter changing from Pre Payment to Dry metres. So my bill was wrong. However, when they sorted my Bill it was almost exactly the same, working out I am paying £48.75 per week for gas and £8.50 per week for Electric

£479.53 I have used in Gas and Electric from Dec 18th - 11th Feb so 8 weeks in total. So in 8 weeks I have used and spent £479.53 in gas and electric. Most of it gas.

£59.87 per week in total for Gas and Electric combined.

I contacted that impartial energy comparison place and told them what I have spent in the last 8 weeks and they said I can get a deal with another gas company

£944.37 annual savings
This is how much you will spend in the next 12 months on this plan
Click for more information £1,863.63 annual personal projection.
Switching to this plan will save you £944.37 a year!

GAS
Payment method Monthly Direct Debit
Unit rate 2.997p per kWh
Standing charge 20.00p per day
Tariff ends on 31st March 2016
Price guaranteed until 31st March 2016
Tariff comparison rate (TCR) 3.54p per kWh


Electric
Unit rate 11.549p per kWh
Standing charge 20.00p per day
Tariff ends on 31st March 2016
Price guaranteed until 31st March 2016
Tariff comparison rate (TCR) 13.83p per kWh

Monthly Direct Debit (£155.30/mth)

Currently I have

TARIFF - 4.580 GAS
ELECTRIC 11.860
DAILY STANDING CHARGE 26P PER DAY
annual estimate of usage 12 month Personal Projection for your current gas tariff is £1606.12.

What do you all think? Then I would have a £30.00 per fuel cancellation charge if I moved company, which would mean I think £60.00 to leave current company.

But why is this new company saying its so much cheaper but it says £1,863.63 annual personal projection and my current gas/electric supplier says 12 month Personal Projection for your current gas tariff is £1606.12?

CashStrapped

Well....er.....do the maths....

Depending on how they have calculated the savings. You will save minimum £250+ and inccur a penalty of £60.

Or you can stay were you are and it will cost you £250+ more than the cheapest available.....


Conclusion....:TSWITCH!:T

Who is your current supplier and what tariff is it?

There may be another option. However it may over complicate it for you.

Check with your current supplier to see if they have a tariff you can switch to internally that won't incurr a penalty for moving to and does not have a penalty for leaving.

Once you have switched onto said tariff, as it has no penlaty for leaving...you can then switch elsewhere!

blackstar

CashStrapped wrote: »

Well....er.....do the maths....

Depending on how they have calculated the savings. You will save minimum £250+ and inccur a penalty of £60.

Or you can stay were you are and it will cost you £250+ more than the cheapest available.....


Conclusion....:TSWITCH!:T

Who is your current supplier and what tariff is it?

There may be another option. However it may over complicate it for you.

Check with your current supplier to see if they have a tariff you can switch to internally that won't incurr a penalty for moving to and does not have a penalty for leaving.

Once you have switched onto said tariff, as it has no penlaty for leaving...you can then switch elsewhere!

It says £944.37 annual savings, but you say it would be £250 min? I dont understand?

Tariff name Fix & Fall March 2016
TARIFF - 4.580 GAS
ELECTRIC 11.860
Is my current Gas/Electric supplier.

Who is my supplier, not happy with them so will keep their name private. I checked with them and their is no better tariff for me though.

CashStrapped

I was deducting the projection of £1863.63 by the projected cost on the new tariff of £1606.12

But forget that as I have done my own example below....

Ok...

Your Current Tariff: Fix and Fall 2016

Company: As you do not want to give out their name....lets call them.............Centrica.....or..."UK Gas".



Based on UK average use (16,000KWH Gas and 3500KWH Electric) and using those figures in a comparison site (I used energyhelpline.com).....the results show:

You could save around £341 by switching to Sainsburys Energy.....

However, it sounds like you are a high user (especially with gas)

So if you usage is at the high end...say...20,000KWH Gas and 4500KWH electric..

That saving could be as much as £422 if not more....

(This is based on my area, so your results may differ.)

Now, this is the thing...as I thought.....British Gas have a Price Promise February 2016 tariff which has no cancellation fee or tie-in!

So ring British Gas, ask them if you can please switch to the Price Promise Feb 2016
they should not charge you for switching internally.

That tariff only gives you a £186 saving based on the high usage comparison....so you do not want to stay on it. But, as it has no cancellation fee, you can now leave without a penalty being applied!

So, once they have switched you onto that tariff, begin the switch to Sainsburys Energy!

If there is anything you are not clear on...let me know...

blackstar

CashStrapped wrote: »

I was deducting the projection of £1863.63 by the projected cost on the new tariff of £1606.12

But forget that as I have done my own example below....

Ok...

Your Current Tariff: Fix and Fall 2016

Company: As you do not want to give out their name....lets call them.............Centrica.....or..."UK Gas".



Based on UK average use 16000KWH Gas and 3500KWH Electric.

You could save....£341 by switching to Sainsburys Energy.....

However, it sounds like you are a high user (especially with gas)

So if you usage is at the high end...say...20,000KWH Gas and 4500KWH electric..

That saving could be as much as £422 if not more....


Now, this is the thing...as I thought.....

British Gas have a Price Promise February 2016 tariff which has not cancellation fee or tie-in!

So ring British Gas, ask them if you can please switch to the Price Promise Feb 2016 ......that tariff is only gives you a £186 saving based on the high usage comparison....so you do not want to stay on it.

So, once they have switched you onto that tariff, begin the switch to Sainsburys Energy!

If there is anything you are not clear on...let me know...

Thanks for that, so when I called this impartial company and they told me about switching to this other company and said "Well if you switch to this other company you will save £944.37 a year" So I thought that means if I stay with my current company I will be paying an extra £944.37 a year that I dont need to!!"?

Right?

Really? Am I understanding this right?

£155.30/mth with the new company
£240.00/mth with current company

saving around £100 per month = Saving £1,200 per year right?

So if I call current company and say I want to switch to Price Promise Feb 2016, and I leave current company, I will not have to pay a cancellation fee? They will probably ask why would I want to pay more??
I wonder how long it will take to switch as if it takes like 2 weeks I might as well have paid the cancellation fee as it would have been about the same as paying the extra energy for 2 weeks that I could have saved by switching in those two weeks?

CashStrapped

It is an option....do what you feel is best.

It takes about one month to switch to another outside company.

With regard to avoiding the penalty:

If British Gas ask why you want to move to their own "more expensive tariff"....even though the comparison sites say it is cheaper by £186...just say.....because it is a longer fix!

As soon as you have done that (and that should be immidiate as it is an internal switch)..begin the switch process via a comparison site....or by the moneysavingexpert Big Switch site (as you could get £30 cashback) to Sainsburys Energy!

You will not lose any time or money doing this and it should save you £60

blackstar

CashStrapped wrote: »

It is an option....do what you feel is best.

It takes about one month to switch to another outside company.

With regard to avoiding the penalty:

If British Gas ask why you want to move to their own "more expensive tariff"....even though the comparison sites say it is cheaper by £186...just say.....because it is a longer fix!

As soon as you have done that (and that should be immidiate as it is an internal switch)..begin the switch process via a comparison site....or by the moneysavingexpert Big Switch site (as you could get £30 cashback) to Sainsburys Energy!

You will not lose any time or money doing this and it should save you £60

Thanks thats really helpful!

So let me ask? Am I right in my understanding that if I stay with my current Gas supplier I will be paying an extra £944.37 a year on top of what I will already be paying, but if I switch I will be saving £944.37 a year even though I am still paying for my Gas /Electric each month?

robin58

I have been reading this thread and feel the need to step in.

In your last post you said about the savings.

There is no way you know that you will save £944.37 per year by going to new supplier. You are basing your next 12 months on a prediction as you do not really have a full year real set of readings to be able to make the judgement clearly.

But it does not also mean you will be paying an extra £944.37 by staying at your present supplier because of the same reasons as above.

And do not forget the comparison site wants you to move as they get a big fat commission from the energy supplier for signing you on.

But as other posters have said you need to so something about it.

Just get of the fence and do it !!!!!!!!

I got off my fence and cut my gas bill by a third by moving to a gas company which fitted my circumstances.