SSE Credit

fantasmagorico

Hi! I have been living in this household since September with four other girls. One of them decided to use her account for the bills and, without asking for our permission, she started a fixed tariff contract with SSE. Some of my flatmates thought they could use the heatings as much as they wanted to so the consumption was very high even before the cold came.
Now SSE sent us an email telling us that a bill will come in February so we can pay the money we owe them because we've been using more than we paid. Needless to say, I am terrified. I feel like I'm the only one who cares in the flat.

I kept track of the reading since we started the contract and since September until today we've used 265 units of gas and 1200 kwh of electricity. Considering that we already pay 100£ a month (64£ for electricity and 35£ for gas), how much will the credit be? HELP!

Edit: my gas unit rate is 3.93p per kWh whereas my electricity rate is 17.39p per kWh

kev2009

Whats your standing charge per day as this is added ?

Kev

kev2009

No expert here but a quick calculation...

265 units gas = 2958kwh which could be £116.24 (depending on the exact conversion i.e CV value etc). On top of this is the standing charge per day.

1200 kwh of Elec could be £219.11 plus standing charge per day.

So overall £335.35 + standard daily charges for gas & elec.

If your paying £100 a month from Sept, I presume you mean Oct - Jan in payments = £400 so should be enough to cover the £335.35 to date unless your previous months have been more usage and hence you owe more from previous bills? Can you login and view your bills for the last year? Maybe that will give you some indication of how much is outstanding on top of your usage to date?

I'm sure someone else would be along to confirm if above is right

Kev

[Deleted User]

@fantas...
Have a look at your gas meter and see if the units it is measuring are in m3 or ft3 as this effects the calculation from units used into kWh used
The page shows where to look on the meter https://www.gov.uk/guidance/gas-meter-readings-and-bill-calculation#metric-or-imperial

Then go to https://www.ukpower.co.uk/home_energy/gas_meter_readings and convert the 265 units into kWh.

For example if your meter records in m3, then 265 units equals 2964.4947kWh.
Multiple by the cost of 3.93p gives £116.50. Now add on the standing charges for gas (number of days x daily rate) and then add VAT at 5% to that total. That is the gas bill for m3.

The electricity bill is 1200 x 17.39p giving £208.68. Now add on the standing charges for electricity (number of days x daily rate) and then add VAT at 5% to that total. That is the electricity bill.

Please ensure that you know the meter type of m3 or ft3 as it changes the gas bill a lot (ft3 would be nearly 3 times more kWh than a m3 unit) . Most meters are m3 but still needs to be checked.

kev2009

I wasn't too far out then

Kev

[Deleted User]

@fanta....

Also if you have an iphone/ipad then a good and reasonable priced app called Meter Readings https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/meter-readings/id320551309?mt=8 for 99p will help you to keep track of costs.

fantasmagorico

Hi, thank you all for the replies! My meter is ft3 and my standing charge per day is 19.18p.

So, according to what you wrote 256 units of gas in ft3 are 8.303 kWh. If I then multiply them for the unit rate, it'll be £327.97.

I then multiply the standing charge per the days (120 days if I count the 4 months) and it should be £22.99.

If I am right then we should pay £350.96 without any VAT. Is it right?

[Deleted User]

@fantas...

In the right area just for the gas bill.

You need to calculate the electricity and add that on too.

My workings:-
265 units which in ft3 becomes 8389.5201kWh .
When multiplied by 3.93p per kWh that is £329.71
120 days @19.18p is £23.02
So £329.71 + £23.02 = £352.73
Add VAT @5% gives £370.37 gas bill

Electricity
The electricity used is 1200 x 17.39p giving £208.68.
120 days * unknown standing charge = A
electricity used is £208.68 + A = B
Plus Vat is B *1.05 = amount of electricity bill

macman

£600 for 4 winter months between 5 people (5 b/r student house?) is not really too bad. But do your housemates now understand that a fixed rate tariff is not a fixed rate bill? You pay per unit used.
You are paying a very high unit rate for your leccy: what is the tariff name?

Thomas_Edison

I'd change your electricity tariff at the very least, plenty of tariffs around 14p, would save about £100 over a year

fantasmagorico

No, my flatmate still think they can use as much as they want - I really hope to move in another flat from May onward. I've been sneaking out of my room every night to turn the heatings off for the past two months and I'm getting fed up. I feel like I'm the only one who actually cares.

The tariff name is "SSE year fixed v15".

According to the estimations done both for gas and electricity, we should only be in credit for the gas. I hope it's not too high.