First utility fixed dual tariff

Jackiej

Hi all,hope someone can help?
I am on first fixed April 2017v3 with first utility duel fuel my payments were £55 per month and I have just received an e-mail from them saying they are increasing my monthly payments to £61
My electricity usage may have increased slightly due to getting darker earlier but we haven't even put the heating on yet.I thought the point of having a fixed tariff was to avoid this.Should I be concerned or is this normal?Many thanks in advance

matelodave

Do you read your meter and submit readings to FU and more importantly do you check your monthly statements to see whether a) that they are using the readings that you send them and b) that your monthly DD is covering your consumption. As you say winter is coming and by now you should have a credit of around £150 or more to buffer the increase in consumption over the winter.

Most people use around 70% of their energy in the five months November to March and and the the other 30% in the summer months.

You can do a quick calc £55 x 12 = £660 per annum which seems a bit low to me.

Since April you'll have paid around 6 months = £330 and should therefore have only used about £180-200 worth of energy as you've still got the worst months to come which if the guesstimate is right will cost you another £450 or more.

You can put your own numbers in to make it more accurate but it seems that FU are anticipating that your payments will fall short. If you disagree then get them to put it back but make sure that you have enough in the bank should you have a shortfall next April.

Don't forget that a fixed tariff means that the price per unit and the standing charge won't increase during the contract period, you still have to pay for the amount of energy (gas and electricity) that you use. Was your DD based on previous kwh consumption or a random guess (estimate) by either you or FU. If you use more than the estimate then you'll have to pay more.

D_M_E

Agreed that £55/month seems a bit low.

Have you been paying this since you went on your current tariff?

Your electricity usage will see an increase due to the earlier onset of darker evenings and will increase further when you central heating is in use.

A £6 increase is not that much - yes, it's about 11% - but if the £55 has not built up much credit for use over the cooler period then my own approach would be to ask them to increase it to £70 or even £75 for the next 6 months and take regular, weekly, meter readings and work out what the bill should be on a weekly basis. That way, it would be easy to see if the revised DD is enough, together with any existing credit, to cover usage or needs to be increased further.

footyguy

Jackiej wrote: »

Hi all,hope someone can help?
I am on first fixed April 2017v3 with first utility duel fuel my payments were £55 per month and I have just received an e-mail from them saying they are increasing my monthly payments to £61
My electricity usage may have increased slightly due to getting darker earlier but we haven't even put the heating on yet.I thought the point of having a fixed tariff was to avoid this.Should I be concerned or is this normal?Many thanks in advance

If you believe your anticipated annual consumption is on target for as you specified when you joined the FU tariff, then I think you should be concerned (but not too much as all you will be doing is building up a credit on your account)

However, if you don't want to pay the extra, then this MSE guide explains what to do
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits

Jackiej

Thanks for your reply,just wanted to check.

Jackiej

Thanks for your reply very helpful