Gas/Elec Bill query...

kev2009

Hi All,

I just got my gas/elec bill (first one) been waiting and waiting and decided to phone them up as I received nothing from them at all...... so phoned them up, they said they been waiting for my first reading - i advised no one told me i had to phone you and someone did come found a couple of months ago to take readings.. which they didn't seem to have.... anyway i arranged to pay by DD but wanted DD to start 1st month and advised bill says payment was due end of this month.

Guy said that was fine so he setup direct debit to pay a fixed amount each month, not the total bill at that time as i'm billed quarterly.

So at the end i said so what about the amount outstanding now, he said no need to worry it will be taken via the monthly payments...

Is this correct? I was expecting to have to pay existing bill in full and then start the monthly payments as it will take them a few months to get the money i owe them to date via the DD...

Concerned i'm going to start getting those final payment demands..

Many Thanks for any advise.

Kev

footyguy

kev2009 wrote: »

Hi All,

I just got my gas/elec bill (first one) been waiting and waiting and decided to phone them up as I received nothing from them at all...... so phoned them up, they said they been waiting for my first reading - i advised no one told me i had to phone you and someone did come found a couple of months ago to take readings.. which they didn't seem to have.... anyway i arranged to pay by DD but wanted DD to start 1st month and advised bill says payment was due end of this month.

Guy said that was fine so he setup direct debit to pay a fixed amount each month, not the total bill at that time as i'm billed quarterly.

So at the end i said so what about the amount outstanding now, he said no need to worry it will be taken via the monthly payments...

Is this correct? I was expecting to have to pay existing bill in full and then start the monthly payments as it will take them a few months to get the money i owe them to date via the DD...

Concerned i'm going to start getting those final payment demands..

Many Thanks for any advise.

Kev

Yes, that's correct. If you elect to pay via monthly DD, then that is how you will pay for your consumption.

(You will get a final bill from the old supplier, which may indicate you have a final amount to pay, or may indicate you are owed some money back.)

If you are not giving regular meter readings, then the supplier will estimate your usage ... and that may mean changes to your DD or under/overpayment.

System

footyguy wrote: »

If you are not giving regular meter readings, then the supplier will estimate your usage ... and that may mean changes to your DD or under/overpayment.

It also has the potential to leave the customer with a big and unexpected bill. If a consumer does not supply a reading on opening an account, then the supplier will normally use the reading given to it when the last account was closed as a starting reading: this also has the potential for problems.

The moral is : read your meter and pass regular actual meter readings to your supplier. Also, if you want to monitor your future bills, spend 99p on an app called Meters; enter your tariff details and a weekly meter reading, and it will show you how much you owe since your last bill.

kev2009

HI, thanks for your replies.

The property is a new build. The developers provided BG meter readings when I took ownership. The developers told me i'd get a bill after first month and then can go from there i.e switch tarrif, provider etc etc... I been waiting and waiting and nothing hence i phoned them up.

Whats confusing me is the guy said the DD i set is from May untill Apr 2017 so that means next 12 months, im confused how that covers the last 5 and a bit months money i ower...

I mean if they factored the amount owed into the DD then I presume come May 2017, my DD could well drop a fair bit unless I have a high usage/prices go up etc, which i can't forsee.

Im on the standard tarrif atm, they did suggest i could maybe save a bit by looking at different tarrifs but i decided not to and would sooner look online, my main concern was getting the pill paid and DD setup for now so i know where i am in terms of bills.

Thanks

D_M_E

You need to get on the comparison sites and SWITCH NOW.

You are on the most expensive standard tariff, switching could save you 40% or more of the cost you are paying on the standard tariff.

New build - I suggest you make sure any immersion heater - if there is one - is turned off and use annual figures of 1800Kwh for electric and 8000Kwh for gas and, if you choose a single dual fuel supply, set your DD with the supplier to £80 and you should get change out of that.

kev2009

Hi,

Thanks!

I'm on duel fuel with BG, I not checked the tarrif's yet but when I got my first bills, they basically advised i could switch to another tariff but it only showed a saving of approx £22 in total so i figured they were not worth it when considered they lock me in for x period of time whereas at the moment i can switch any time, no tie in hence left as is for the moment but yes I plan to look around, I was originally considering first utility but i hear they made some changes which wasn't so good in terms of exit fees or similar i recall so decided to not go with them but i've not looked recently.

So far I've used, for round figures, 1000kwh of Elec since moving in almost 6 months ago and I've used, for round figures, 6800kwh of Gas so not sure if the 1800/8000 will be sufficient.... plus as its a new build I've had to keep the heating on at effectively normal temp or a bit higher to help dry the place out and I've had to have a humidifier running in some areas also so figures could well be distorted. More recently i've turned the temp down a degree or 2 when i'm not in. My DD is currently set higher than £80, my next billis due July so i been advised to submit a reading 5 days beofre the bill date so they can use that and generate my bill in time so plan to do that.

I will take a look around for sure at other plans but i'm also thinking maybe i should get a year in the property to gauge the usage? With it being my first property, i simply have no idea what they will be and obviously don't want to under estimate and owe a large amount and don't want to over estimate and pay out more than i need.

Think i might call BG next week and just confirm i don't need to pay outstanding balance now, that DD will take care of it as just doesn't seem right, effectively they waiting few months to get money i owe now not to mention current spend...

Thanks

footyguy

kev2009 wrote: »

Hi,

Thanks!

I'm on duel fuel with BG, I not checked the tarrif's yet but when I got my first bills, they basically advised i could switch to another tariff but it only showed a saving of approx £22 in total so i figured they were not worth it when considered they lock me in for x period of time whereas at the moment i can switch any time, no tie in hence left as is for the moment but yes I plan to look around, I was originally considering first utility but i hear they made some changes which wasn't so good in terms of exit fees or similar i recall so decided to not go with them but i've not looked recently.

So far I've used, for round figures, 1000kwh of Elec since moving in almost 6 months ago and I've used, for round figures, 6800kwh of Gas so not sure if the 1800/8000 will be sufficient.... plus as its a new build I've had to keep the heating on at effectively normal temp or a bit higher to help dry the place out and I've had to have a humidifier running in some areas also so figures could well be distorted. More recently i've turned the temp down a degree or 2 when i'm not in. My DD is currently set higher than £80, my next billis due July so i been advised to submit a reading 5 days beofre the bill date so they can use that and generate my bill in time so plan to do that.

I will take a look around for sure at other plans but i'm also thinking maybe i should get a year in the property to gauge the usage? With it being my first property, i simply have no idea what they will be and obviously don't want to under estimate and owe a large amount and don't want to over estimate and pay out more than i need.

Think i might call BG next week and just confirm i don't need to pay outstanding balance now, that DD will take care of it as just doesn't seem right, effectively they waiting few months to get money i owe now not to mention current spend...

Thanks

The annual saving by simply transferring to another dual fuel BG tariff may well only by £22 for you, but BG is mightily expensive (unless on a collective tariff), especially for gas.

A quick check suggests savings of about £200+ would be available for you if you switch supplier ... and probably even more if you considered seperate suppliers :money:

Downside is that if you do switch supplier(s), you will get a final bill from BG that they would expect you to pay in full, promptly.

kev2009

Thanks, I saw that by looking at uswitch breifly last night, but then comes the next issue. In my area it recommends scotish power and says many people in the same area have switched to them but I read on here to avoid them. The best saving for me is Avro but I never heard of them, appears they only entered market last year so maybe good to avoid? as they are unable to rate them yet.

other options are octopus, GB, all claiming to save me £230 - £255 then the price i save drops mostly to nearer £200 with ovo whcih i heard some good things but i seem to recall reading they had kinda gone down hill a bit.

These are all filtered with no exit fee.

Not a isue for me to pay the existing balance in full as I was prepared for this when i phoned them up as i've been putting money aside each month in the hopes that it would cover it as I had no idea what i was being charged.... after several months of no bill I decided to phone as didn't want a £1k+ bill and also didn't want to be cut off, incase they had been sending bills and I just wasn't getting them! Most bizarre they never wrote to me and said we need your first meter reading in order to create your bill and just sat there waiting for me to call at some point in time... The did estimate a reading in March but never sent a bill, still waiting for me to call them and give a reading... oh well, alreast it sorted in terms of payments, now just need to find a suitable provider that wont give me lots of hassle.

If i switch provider, do they need to come into the property or is the switch of supplier all done at some central point? Sorry never done this before, its all new to me.

Thanks!

[Deleted User]

Switching is a computer thing, your new supplier's computer tells the old supplier you are leaving and the meter reading you will have to give to the new supplier is used as the closing reading for the old supplier ( but it is verified by a 3rd party computer system which has the legal right to change it)

So no, nobody comes out, it is all automated although you may need to talk to the new supplier at some point.

Heedtheadvice

Yep the good advice is switch. You can make big savings for just a few click and two readings! Don't forget the MSE Cheap Energy Club too which will inform you if there are future savings to be made.

Just a few things to take note of; switching will take a few weeks from initiation by you; do consider fixed price contracts as well as flexible (that may rise or fall ); switching out costs can sometimes be offset by the switching cash back for some suppliers/switch sites -if you really do wish to terminate early; consider dual fuel and separate gas and electrical (for me dual has always been cheapest).

Nothing to do with switching but be aware that electricity is often 3 to 4 times more expensive than gas per kWh you use so usually better to keep on the gas rather than use the leccy (note previous comment regarding the immersion heater!!).

Is your property huge? If not for a new well insulated house you seem to use a reasonable level of leccy and gas for 6 months including the winter period. I work on about 3000+ kWh leccy and 1500kWh gas per annum. Yours will depend on weather, appliances used, property size, heating room temp etc, and I plus how efficiently you use power. Biggest potential heat save is from largest use (usually space heating) but biggest financial save can be lower left use owing to high charge per unit!

Hope all that helps to support your decision making resulting from your basic question

kev2009

Thanks all.

@Heedtheadvice - no place isn't big, it a 2 bed place so not huge, the rooms are a reasonable size and has a bigish kitchen/diner(it's what mainly attracted me to that property in first place was fact could eat in kitchen.

At present being new to property etc, working out my usage is some what difficult, especially as it fluctuates, about only consistent thing is the boiler coming on at certain times but when not there i lower temp by 2 or 3 degrees, as well as some generic things like fridge, clocks etc being on 24/7. Other things completely vary at the moment, been having some work done by way of workmen back to fix some issues and some work men working outside so this has increased usage possibly.

I'm currently considering staying with BG for 12 months as means I get to keep the £500 i owe them at present int he bank whilst they take money each month, get a annual figure of usage and then look next year and changing suppliers. Currently for my area, the max saving is estimated at £255 by a recent start up, Scottish power is £250 and then a few other unknown/recent start ups and then Ovo at just over £200 saving but what I don't want to do is give them a figure of usage and then find out I've over used and get hit for a large bill to pay in one go so thinking sticking put maybe best option for me at present until i get my bearings so to speak. Admittedly my usage could always change next year etc but i can always take my readings and then add a bit to them as a safety measure.