Gas & Electricity Help

wizardlizard

I'm new to the forum so any help would be appreciated.

We moved into our new house in September 2015 and were set up on a direct debit of 87 pounds per month for dual fuel through Co Op Energy. Payments continued at this amount for a year or so but when an actual meter reading was taken, Co Op told us the monthly amount needed to change to 120 pounds per month. I've recently had another letter through telling me it now needs to go to 150 pounds per month.

We are a family of four, kids are both toddlers so I'm at a loss on how we are using so much energy. I called Co Op and was told we use double the national average of electricity which equates to 25,000 units (UK average is apparently 12,000) and also double the national average in gas.

All our lights are LED and I can categorically say we aren't heavy energy users. We do use a clothes dryer on a regular basis but that is A+ rated.

Any thoughts / advice? I'm trying to take daily readings to see what happens and asked Co Op to check my meters but they told me if they did and they weren't faulty, it would cost me 140 pounds for the callout!!

macman

The supplier only has to read the meter every 2 years, intermediate reads are down to you. What you've received as a result of not checking your estimated bills against actual readings is a huge catch up bill. Of that £150, a proportion is almost certainly to pay off the arrears you've built-so you are not actually using £150 of energy every month.
So start by taking reads now and submitting them to get an up to date actual bill, not an estimated one.
Forget LED lights, what matters is heating and hot water, these account for up to 85% of your usage.
What is your actual annual kWh usage on each fuel (not what the supplier told you on the phone, but the actual figures from your bills or annual statement)? How is the property heated and hot watered?
The stats you have been quoted are nonsensical: the UK average for electricity is around 3,500kWh pa, not 12,000. You would only be using 12,000kWh or more if you had electric only CH and DHW, which, with a gas supply, you presumably do not.
Typical UK gas usage is about 13,500kWh, I find it hard to believe you use twice that.
So, first establish you actual kWh usage, use any comp site to work out what that will cost annually on your current tariff, and that will tell you the amount of debt on the account-cross check that against the actual bill. Your DD (before debt is added) should be 1/12 of the annual cost. If you really are using that amount of energy then something is seriously wrong, and a meter test would be well worth your while. But I don't think for a moment that this is a meter fault (and the chances of two faulty meters is just not feasible).
Finally, are you on the cheapest Co-Op tariff (not Standard Variable, the most expensive)?