Does this seem right?

Terrylw1

If you have got Lidl near you, they seme pretty cheap in there. I'll bet you can get them on Ebay if not.

Ok, if you have E7 there is potentially a different problem here with the cost of your bill.

You need to find out the times your meter clicks to off peak and back again. I say that because looking at your times, I think you are using the heating at the higher rate for most of you morning slot.

For example, some E7 meters are peak rate 7am-12pm. So, based on this virtually all of your morning heating is based on peak rate. Just over half of your night time heating is also at peak.

If you check you bill you will see that peak rate on E7 is a lot more expensive than your off peak rate. So, this will over inflate your bill big style. The PP meter will also be adding extra cost. I know it's easier to control but you are a high user based on that chart so you will be losing a lot of money each year.

If your central heating is gas based, ignore what I have said as I'm discussing E7 electricity (don't know on the gas meter side what the times & options are so I don't want to mislead you)

Ok, as for the comparison. Whilst chart maybe useful it has some VERY big flaws. Suppliers bill on lots of estimates and often disgard readings you give or the engineers give. This means that your consumption could be different to the chart. The chart is consistent but you use a massive amount of units a day which seems very high even if you had the central heatng attached to the electricity meter.

You have also stated that you don't have that many devices to use electricity.

Could you advise on the central heating please before I say anymore?

Also, from experience I know how bad estimates can be. I would be worthwhile if you took a meter reading off your electricity meter each day for a few days (take it at the same time though). You will then be able to see whether the Suppliers comparison chart is likely to be correct. If you find that your usage is much lower, then you need to ignore that chart. This is how your Supplier is doing it but if they don't have readings from the meter, they could be wrong.

Kai

Thanks for your response. My central heating is gas powered. I have an immersion boiler I think and I don't have an electric shower either. There is a switch on the airing cupboard that seems to heat up the water. Although the hot water can also seem to heat up via the programmer. If I leave the switch on, the rate of electriicty usage goes through the roof.

There is a programmer downstairs next to the big white box where there is a hole to see if the gas pilot is on or not. Some years ago it failed and man that was cold for a little while!

Are you saying that if I fire up the central heating/hot water at 5am-9am, the whole lot would count as offpeak? (since I began before 7am?) Or is it smart enough to figure out 2 hours of offpeak, 2 hours on peak?

Thank you once again for your input.

espresso

Kai wrote: »

Thanks for your response. My central heating is gas powered.

As you have gas central heating, use the gas boiler to heat up your hot water as it will be much cheaper!

I have an immersion boiler

Switch it OFF, leave it permanently OFF and instruct others in the property never to switch it on.

I think and I don't have an electric shower either. There is a switch on the airing cupboard that seems to heat up the water. Although the hot water can also seem to heat up via the programmer.

Program your gas boiler to heat up your water the whole year round and never use your immersion heater.

If I leave the switch on, the rate of electriicty usage goes through the roof.

Gas is much cheaper than electricity, so simply don't use electricity to heat your water ever.

Terrylw1

Hi Kai,

If you ever use your electricity to heat in any way you need to be aware of your E7 times. If you heat in your "peak" times, you will pay a lot. E7 customers try to heat as much when they are on the "off peak" rate.

From the times you have statd, if you were heating via electricity, you would be paying for the majority of it at peak rate. If you heat exclusively via gas, then my times don't count as they are electric only. I don't know about gas meter times to be honest.

Expresso is right. Immersion heaters use quite a bit.

I would suggest you need some energy efficiency advice, so have a look at this link:

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/

I am still not convinced that the chart is right. You seem to have an average electricity usage of aroung 40-45 units per days including in summer which is very high.

The chart is consistent but is it even based on correct data? Linking customers estimated bills to these comparison tools is not a very good way to display your true usage. Many customers have bill disputes and a chart like that could through their consumption way off it they have an issue with their readings.

I think you should take your readings on both meters over the next couple of days (at the same time in the day) and see if it's even right first. If it is, you should definately look at the energy efficiency sites on the net and get some help in saving money.

Kai

OK. Beginning from today, I'll try take the meter readings from both electric and gas for a week (at the same times of the day). Hopefully then I can go on from there.

Kai

Ok, the results you have all been waiting for






Yes, I am that bored, but more importantly, I'm trying to find out the cause of such high bills.

I can see from teh charts that I use way more units during the day than at night (which is to be expected since I'm not always up at nights when the cheap rate is on). Also, the costs are slightly higher since there is a standing charge of 17p per day since I'm on prepayment I assume.

According to my calculations for the week, I've used an average of 15.19 units (combined) per day and the average cost per day is £1.58p.

Looking at the figures, this isn't too bad. However, I still get hit with bills from Powergen and my latest bill (which I can view online) shows that I'm £135 in debit?

Is it that they've overestimated my bill all the time?

And in anycase, is an average daily use of 15.19 units too high? This is for 5 people, 1 person in all the time.

Thank you.

Rikki

I want to play.

Where do you get the program from to make your graph? (Consumption tracker)

Kai

The consumption tracker comes from the Powergen website - but you have to login to get it to show for your account. It seems a bit inaccurate though.

Rikki

Kai wrote: »

The consumption tracker comes from the Powergen website - but you have to login to get it to show for your account. It seems a bit inaccurate though.

Its says "Once registered you will no longer receive paper bills". :mad:

I still want a paper bill so I won't be registering.

Terrylw1

Hi Kai,

Thats much better now you've done that! Firstly though, is this the typical usage through the month - you don't have any big events monthly that cause spikes for any reason?

Ok, the PP is one reason for higher bills as the unit costs are always higher than on credit meters plus you have the standing charge as well which most credit tariff don't anymore.

Now, 15 units a day isn't that bad. Ofgem's standard daily used to be 7-8 units a days in previous years and thats a typical household, not 5 people in a larger house.

If you compare your 15 units a day to your Suppliers units, yours is far lower. Even comparing Sept on your Supplier to yours you have around 35 units less recorded per day.

So, looking at this your bills are too high. You can't get in debt on a credit meter as you pay as you go unless they are adding a debt that you had from a previous credit meter for example.

So, the next thing to check is - does the last reading you took match the current bill? If not, I think you will find that your Suppliers bill reading is far higher than your meter. This means, you need to give them a reading from the meter to amend your bill to which will sort the issue. If your meter reading matches your bill, could some of your payments been lost or paid on the wrong card for instance?

The fact that your Supplier has got your average so high makes me think that their online tool is based on a lot of estimates which are too high or there is a problem reading on your accoutn somewhere which caused a spike temporarily and was amended later. Remember, averaging over 12 months an go horribly wrong if there is an incorrect high reading in there.