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Utilita gas meter readings.

Hi everyone. Basically, this is my first experience in a household with my partner where I have to sort out the bills myself after 7 year accomodation sharing with strangers. I moved to a 1bedroom 3rd floor flat on Wednesday. During whole Thursday I kept my boiler setting on low (mark 2) and water mark on low as well (mark 2). At the end of the Thursday the gas meter showed a bit over £3 for the whole day with 80kwh(??) of usage. On the Friday morning I was shocked: I already spend £5 after waking up, although I did not change anything at all on the boiler. I switched off the heating completely during the Friday( although its freezing at Glasgow). At the end of Friday the meter showed around £8.5 to pay with 50kwh usage. What have actually happened that the cost was this massive? Do I have to to smth with a boiler? Change settings? Fix anyting else? Why would this happen? I would really appreciate your help. Thank you very much.

Comments

  • Robin9
    Robin9 Posts: 12,538 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    When you say gas meter are you talking about the In House Display in your kitchen or the actual meter in a meter cupboard in the hallway ? You should be reading the latter - perhaps weekly, daily is too short a period in time.

    Is your meter PAYG or credit ? If PAYG there may be outstanding credit from a previous tenant. You did get a new key from your supplier.

    You dis contact the supplier when you move in and gave them meter readings didn't you.

    If you did are you still on their standard tariff or a new fixed one ?
    Never pay on an estimated bill. Always read and understand your bill
  • PennineAcute
    PennineAcute Posts: 1,184 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Utilita are expensive. Because they have no standing charge, the first two daily kW use of gas and electric are charged at a higher price.

    There are plenty of people on their facebook page who are saying the same as yourselves. My advice is to do a comparison and move to the cheapest one.
  • Thank you for your responses. I was talking about the actual meter in the meter cupboard in the hallway. It is PAYG. The gas was pre topped up by £40 and electricity by £17. Today, 4 days after moving in the balances are £20.50 for gas and £9.5 for electricity. £20 in 4 days for gas??? It was on low for the first three days and we switched the central heating on boiler completely off because of such price. I moved in and the previous company registered here was Utilita. So my landlord notified me that they should be in contact soon. I reached them out first, in order to register the account on my name. They did it and now I am waiting for the engineer to get the smart meter installed on Monday. Maybe it has to do with the smart meter not installed yet?

    PennineAcute, thank you very much. I checked their FB, and the first post is CROWDED with complaints. I am currently in Scotstoun, Glasgow. What best options would it be for me supplier wise?

    Thank you once again guys !
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 2 February 2019 at 8:12PM
    Sometimes PAYG meters are installed to collect debts from the previous occupier s. They also will take a chunk of money once a week for a build up of standing charges that prepay meters can slowly build up with gaps between tenants .
    Utilita have been using the smart meters made by Secure Liberty for many years but you may have the other variety of gas meter ( Siemens /Landis and Gyr ) which use a card.. The electric meters use a key. You can check for debts on screens 26/27 and standing charges owed will show on the first screen after pressing red button.
    If you are on a no standing charge tariff your gas meter tariff will be amongst the highest in the UK..These tariffs are only suitable for very low or zero usage occupiers. You can easily switch tariffs to a much lower rates by simply arranging with Utilita to go on the lowest gas tarrif.
  • wavelets
    wavelets Posts: 1,164 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker

    Better to use this

    https://www.energylinx.co.uk/energy/cashback/

    Exactly the same data, but with the possibility of earning £17 cashback per fuel switched :money:

    Other comparison sites, some of which may also pay cashback, are available
    https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/switch-prepaid-gas-electricity/
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