Electricity Bill, Am I Correct?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Received an estimated bill just before Christmas which was 300 odd units over the actual meter reading and thus showing £45 was owed.

They did ask for meter readings but was a bit busy before Christmas so just after the bill I submitted correct meter readings.

Today they send an email to say there are increasing the direct debit to £84.

The excess 300 units estimated match the amount owed so basically our current payments are on par with usage.

Adviser says they can't change the direct debit back.

Then supervisor takes today's reading and produces a bill showing we owe £15 but based on billing cycle at previous DD amount we will have in theory paid £15 so again are on par and by the time they take the next DD bill will be zero.

Supervisor said he could reduce DD to £78.

Is now being reviewed by a higher level team but based on the above I don't see why we should pay an extra £20 a month.

They review the DD every 6 months so if left at £78 by the time they review again they'll be about £120 in credit. This will be the end of our contract and if a cheaper deal is out there I'll be switching.

If they said they wanted to increase by a few of pounds just in case I wouldn't mind but the £20 seems excessive to me.

Any thoughts?

Robin9

A few basic questions - are you reading your meter at least every month (even if your supplier isn't asking you to do so), are you looking at your bills and do they have Actual or Estimated readings ?

Are you on a fixed tariff or have been and its run out or on a variable one ?

The important figure is your consumption which varies from month to month - the DD is at best a guess.

Electricity prices have be on the rise and increased costs are to be expected.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Robin9 wrote: »

A few basic questions - are you reading your meter at least every month (even if your supplier isn't asking you to do so), are you looking at your bills and do they have Actual or Estimated readings ?

Are you on a fixed tariff or have been and its run out or on a variable one ?

The important figure is your consumption which varies from month to month - the DD is at best a guess.

Electricity prices have be on the rise and increased costs are to be expected.

Fixed tariff for another 6 months, consumption is pretty even really, we heat our house and water with solid fuel so the extra energy used from lights and what have you in the winter is balanced against using the immersion in the summer for the water.

For the first quarterly bill (only been with supplier 6 months) they came out and read the meter so was actual usage, last estimated and over by 300 units compared to actual reading.

Robin9

What have been the readings over the last 12 months and what tariff please ?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hi, readings and dates below. 3rd column is the usage in between.

95527 22-Jun (opening reading)
96155 03-Aug 628
96787 16-Sep 632
98102 8th Jan 1315

Tariff: GNE Spring Saver 12 Month Fix V3 (22 Jun 2018 - 15 Sep 2018)

If I'm hopefully reading the figures correctly it seems fairly consistent to me.

Just to add I don't have the readings from before 22nd June to hand.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Based on my rough calculations we pay 57.45 a month, £689 a year, and with that usage spread across 365 days plus standing charge total is £721 so roughly £2.50 a month less paid than used.

wavelets

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head wrote: »

Received an estimated bill just before Christmas which was 300 odd units over the actual meter reading and thus showing £45 was owed.

They did ask for meter readings but was a bit busy before Christmas so just after the bill I submitted correct meter readings.

Today they send an email to say there are increasing the direct debit to £84.

The excess 300 units estimated match the amount owed so basically our current payments are on par with usage.

Adviser says they can't change the direct debit back.

Then supervisor takes today's reading and produces a bill showing we owe £15 but based on billing cycle at previous DD amount we will have in theory paid £15 so again are on par and by the time they take the next DD bill will be zero.

Supervisor said he could reduce DD to £78.

Is now being reviewed by a higher level team but based on the above I don't see why we should pay an extra £20 a month.

They review the DD every 6 months so if left at £78 by the time they review again they'll be about £120 in credit. This will be the end of our contract and if a cheaper deal is out there I'll be switching.

If they said they wanted to increase by a few of pounds just in case I wouldn't mind but the £20 seems excessive to me.

Any thoughts?

If you have cause for complaint, you should follow the supplier's complaint procedure.

This MSE article may assist you further
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits/

wavelets

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head wrote: »

Based on my rough calculations we pay 57.45 a month, £689 a year, and with that usage spread across 365 days plus standing charge total is £721 so roughly £2.50 a month less paid than used.

Seems a reasonable approach, but remember as you are 6 months into your 12+ month deal, you should expect the supplier to want £5pm extra for the next 6 months to allow for the initial 6 months you underpaid.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Thanks Wave, I'm pretty good at complaining and read through their procedure so should be OK. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something or being unreasonable.

I can partly understanding their first increase of £30 as it would allow them to recover the amount owed based on the estimate.

I say partly because they'd recover in 3 months but review is every 6 plus the guy on the phone did say "well it is the winter months" and I hope we don't get another 6 months of winter! Plus I gave a meter reading on the 25th of Dec but only got the letter about the increase yesterday so they've had plenty of time to calculate the correct amount due rather than just going off the estimate.

Based on being a third of the way into the billing period the current amount owed is basically zero, an extra fiver a month wouldn't see any quibble from me but bumping from £57.45 to £78 is a fair jump in my view that is likely to end up with a credit balance of around £80-£100 based on the rough calculations above.

I know it's not that much and they will refund it but I'm tired of all these companies chipping away at the household money pot with a little extra here and a little extra there, over the course of a year it soon adds up to a tidy sum.