Have I been over charged?

MonkeyGirl

We have recently changed supplier as I wasn't happy about paying £200 more than I had over the previous year although we were with a different supllier then. But this company told us they were the cheaper hence why we went with them. When I was with this company I was paying £33 Gas and £30 Elec per month. Which in my calculations makes £99 and £90 per quarter.

Now our last bills were this:

Elec : Total £82.50 but left to pay £87.30 Bill date 26 Nov - 4 March
Gas : Total £158.74 but left to pay £56.01 Bill date 24 Nov - 4 March

So I discussed with them the DD and they put it up.

I then switched companies at the end of March as I had compared pervious bills and that is when I found I'd paid £200 more than I had a year ago. I cancelled the DD after they had taken April's money.

Our new company started suppling us from End of April.

I knew I would have outstanding bills from the old company but how comes my outstanding bills for just over a month ( 5 March - 29 April) are Elec £69.27 and Gas £76.90 ? I know at the end of each bill I didnt clear the balance just kept paying the monthly amount with it going up every so often. I just cant figure out though how it isn't less than this as like I said I was still paying the DD and I cancelled it after they took there money in April.

Is this just me being silly and not understanding? Or does it not make sense.

Thank you for any explanations and advice you can give me.

MonkeyGirl

Fran

How many rooms has your house got? It might be an idea to take all your paperwork to your local Citizens Advice Bureau where they can have a look and negotiate on you behalf if necessary. (It sounds complicated!)

roger56

Start buy taking meter readings to get a real picture of your useage.
Check bills and find what readings they are based on. Typically an E by a meter reading indicates estimated so the bill may no be representative of your true useage, nothing means its a true reading and C means customer provided reading.

For help to read your meter look here:
http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/homeenergy/aboutyourbill/readyourmeter.asp?section=smallbusiness

roger56

Start buy taking meter readings to get a real picture of your useage.
Check bills and find what readings they are based on. Typically an E by a meter reading indicates estimated so the bill may no be representative of your true useage, nothing means its a true reading and C means customer provided reading.

For help to read your meter look here:
http://www.scottishpower.co.uk/homeenergy/aboutyourbill/readyourmeter.asp?section=smallbusiness

If you haven't paid enough for the electric and gas you have already used
then you will pay for the bit not yet paid up at the latest rate, so it's in your interest to keep payments up to date. (The only time this isn't true is if prices go down but I can't see that happening). On average over a year the sum of your true useage costs and payments should be around zero.

To calculate your monthly payments for yourself you need to get two meter true readings 1 year apart, then work out the cost for a year and divide by 12.
I know utility bills can be overly complicated but working out the cost inc VAT gives you a number to insist on with your supplier.

Hope that helps.

MonkeyGirl

The bills are true readings from the meters as I phoned them in.

MonkeyGirl

We have six rooms & one bathroom and one wash room so eight in total if you include the bathroom and wash room.

roger56

Check that when you changed suppliers the final meter reading with the old supplier and the start meter reading the new supplier are the same. Don't assume they are. Maybe the readings overlap and you are paying twice for some gas/elec.