187% increase in gas usage

macman

DAKOTA45 wrote: »

My E.on bill is around 500 every 3 months… I live alone and have oil heating, etc… I hardly ever use the oven… (microwave meals for one:(), so have no idea why I use so much… perhaps it's the wrong tariff but how would I work out which one I need? It's too confusing….Can this use be for the tv and kettle alone?!

No, it's not the TV or kettle! If you are paying c. £2,000 pa for electricity, yet heating by oil, then something is seriously awry. The typical UK electrcity bill for a dual fuel property is under £400pa. How do you produce hot water-also from your oil boiler?
However unless you tell us your actual usage, no-one can help, so post your annual kWh usage (from your bill or annual statement).
Are your bills estimated or actual? Are you reading and submitting meter reads every 3 months or so? How large is the property? Do you have an immersion heater? What tariff are you on-E7 or single rate?
PS: armed with your annual kWh usage and your postcode, any comp site will find you the cheapest tariff in a few seconds.

macman

No one can help you unless you tell us your kWh usage. The fact that your bill is £500 per quarter tells us nothing about your actual usage, since for all we know £450 of that could be arrears. Your comment about a meter test makes no sense. It would cost around £60. You are currently paying £40 a week for your usage, so wouldn't £60 be a worthwhile investment to save maybe £1600pa? If you have a small pension, you certainly can't afford to pay £2K pa for your electricity.
The tariff you are on is shown on your bill or in your online account.
PS; meter faults are rare, but with oil heating and minimal immersion heater use, and no other form of electric heating, you cannot possibly be using £500 of power per quarter-that's around 500% higher than the UK average for a dual fuel property, maybe 16000kWh pa. So you either have another property hooked up to your meter, a major electrical fault, a transposed meter, or a faulty meter.
PPS: your paranoia about the meter testing is unfounded, the meter will be tested or replaced anyway, and if found to be out of range you will not be charged. If you ask for an 'official' test, then the inspection will be done by an independent company, not by your supplier or meter asset co.
Have you queried this excess usage with the supplier, and if so what was their response?

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi Dakota45

I do understand the concern large bills can cause and there's a number of things that can be done to try to soften the blow. Warm Home Discount, if you're eligible, is one benefit but there are others. Thought I'd give you a bit of information that might help point you in the right direction.

The 2014/15 Warm Home Discount scheme is now closed but customers can register an interest for 2015/16. Not of immediate benefit, I know, but could be useful down the line. You can register an interest online through our website or by phoning us.

There's two ways to receive Warm Home Discount. Customers in the Core Group as identified by the Government automatically receive the payment. They don't need to do anything. The Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) write to each eligible customer to let them know.

It's also possible to qualify through what's known as the Broader Group. Customers need to apply for this each year and applications are dealt with on a first come first served basis. The things needed to qualify also tend to change each year (details not yet decided for 2015/16) so, even if you weren't successful last year, it's worth trying again. Whatever the outcome, we'll write to let you know.

Have you thought about the Energy Company Obligation scheme and Water Trust Funds I mentioned to jojo0703 in post 7 above?

Of more immediate help, there might be some practical things you can do now. You say the readings are accurate but, just to repeat my advice to JoJo, take them on a regular basis so you can build up a picture of your daily, weekly and monthly usage. This will also help identify potential problems. Best to do this before looking at having the meter tested. If you go for a check meter but it turns out all's ok, you'll be stuck with another charge. Currently £93 for electricity.

As macman says, pop your usage in kWh on to the independent comparison sites. These will list all the tariffs available both with us and with the other suppliers. Choose the deal best suited to your needs.

If you decide to stay with us, have a look at paying with a Monthly Direct Debit. This will mean lower standing charges worth about £35 per fuel per year. We can also include the current balance and spread this over a more manageable period. Registering online for paperless billing will knock a bit more off (£5 per fuel per year). Opt in to our Rewards scheme too. With this, you can earn up to 1500 points a year. These can be exchanged for either Tesco Clubcard points or High Street Shopping Vouchers.

See if there are ways you can save money by saving energy. Check out the Saving Energy pages on our website. There's lots of useful tips to help cut back on the amount used.

A lot of this doesn't sound much alone but together it all adds up. Hope it's of interest Dakota45.

Malc

zeupater

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Hi Dakota45

I do understand the concern large bills can cause and there's a number of things that can be done to try to soften the blow. Warm Home Discount .....
.... A lot of this doesn't sound much alone but together it all adds up. Hope it's of interest Dakota45.

Malc

Hi Malc

I wouldn't really think that Warm Home Discount would be the first thing on Dakota45's mind at the moment ... ~£2k/year for a kettle & TV seems to point to something a little more fundamental than a couple of percentage points off each kWh consumed. that level of usage suggests something like a 1.5kW load being on 24x7x365 - in context, that's something like a thermostatic panel heater being left on or 30(ish) halogen downlighters .... Dakota45's best pathway is to follow/respond to macman's post - once that's done it's a pretty simple case of root cause analysis, not currently what tariff or supplier is being used, that comes later.

HTH
Z

Nada666

DAKOTA45 wrote: »

Hi Malc….

I have been on a very low income (less than 600 per month) for more than two years.

First I was receiving Employment Support Allowance, and then I moved onto Pension Credits (guaranteed element).

I registered by filling in a form for the Warm Home Discount Scheme, but have never received any discount from E.on…

What has gone wrong?

I have a huge electric bill of 540 pounds which I am unable to pay & would like to have the discount taken off...

If you are on guaranteed credits then your monthly income should be more than £640, not less than £600. And £600 is not 'very low'. (Again, receiving guaranteed credit your rent and council tax payments should be nominal if not zero.)

You say you are using £166 per month - even if that is true you would still have nearly £480 a month left after saving for your quarterly bill.

But the bill is wrong. Or something is amiss. If you are paying £166 every month then you need to pay (or ask) someone to investigate what is going wrong. Whether a local electrician for a call-out charge (non-refundable) or your supplier. You need to sort out why you have that bill.

Spend £30 or £40 on a local electrician or ask your supplier.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

To be honest zeupater, I agree, but as Dakota asked specifically about Warm Home Discount in their first post (12) on this thread it's not something I thought I should ignore.

I, too, agree with macman about the need to understand the usage (posts 16 & 18). Hence my comments about daily/weekly/monthly readings. Once we've more information, we'll be better placed to offer more specific advice but, in the meantime, thought Dakota might benefit from some fairly standard tips as they seem to be struggling.

Hope this explains zeupater.

Malc

macman

You still haven't told us your annual kWh usage-this is shown on your annual statement, or by phoning your supplier.
If you can't provide this key info, I can't help you, and I doubt if anyone else can. Sorry.

macman

If you can't see why spending £60 once to save maybe £1,600 pa is worthwhile then I doubt that any advice given on here is going to be of help. Getting your billing sorted will give you another c. £90 per month of disposable income.
The tariff you are on is their standard variable tariff-that's always the most expensive, so you should save by switching to a fixed tariff.
But to get to the bottom of your usage issue we need to know your annual kWh usage-this will be on the annual statement.

macman

DAKOTA45 wrote: »

Hi Malc… Is it true that the Age UK tariff only applies for duel fuel customers?

No, as shown on the website, it's dual fuel or electricity only.
But you are missing the point. Your issue is not the wrong tariff, but your apparently huge usage. A tariff switch might save you around 7%. Sorting out your meter or electrical fault issue should save you around 80%.

macman

PS: switching to the Age UK tariff will save you about £42pa, assuming you use paperless billing and monthly DD payment, and if you qualify.This is based on the UK average annual usage of 3,200kwh. Not on your annual usage.