Help! excessive electricity and gas consumption

Robin9

Gerry1 wrote: »

Not being funny, but are you sure that you're really in debit?

My bill shows a balance of -£150. It means I'd have to pay minus £150 to clear it, i.e. I'm really in credit. It sort of makes sense, but it's easy to be misled by a negative balance.

I agree that this is a possibility - some of the bills can be confusing.

Oscar - 1) could you post a copy of the bill please - delete the personal info of your name address account number.

2) You sat costing £300 a month but is that what you are paying as a DD an d if so how long have you been paying that.

victor2

oscarpaterson wrote: »

A combination of both, i have been pretty poor at doing readings I admit but I am going to go through everything with the above advice so I can work out what might have gone wrong.

I have been back paying for the past but got to zero and two months later gave another reading and I'm in debit of £700

Apologies I am a bit of a novice at this one!

As others have said, you may be getting confused by the information your online account is giving.
Many suppliers track your monthly DD payments and show the balance reflecting those as they hit your account. However, they do not update the cost of your usage until they generate a statement or bill, which can be a number of days after they receive (or estimate) a reading. So, the "balance" shown on screen does not take into account your usage since the last statement was generated and a credit balance is shown, possibly as a negative figure.
You must make sure the supplier has readings as required (often monthly, but can be less frequent).
You said you have ordered a smart meter - that will eliminate the need to provide readings, but still your account balance will only be accurate when a statement is generated.

Even though you have an online account, download and keep local copies of all statements. If/when you leave for another supplier, your online account will cease to be accessible by you.

Talldave

oscarpaterson wrote: »

The bills from Octopus include the calculation I see so I will also look at that.

Husband was suggesting were get a gas engineer in to check everything is ok. I did laugh.

Having previously owned a 1970s detached 4 bed house, I'd say your gas consumption is ok if you're keeping the place warm. Certainly no indication that there's anything wrong. How many cu m of gas are you using weekly at the moment (whilst the heating is probably not coming on)?

Electricity is a bit high but not too scary.

Read your meters weekly. That will help you understand what you actually use and work out what you're actually spending (simple maths required).

It's hard to see how you can suddenly be £700 in debt, since that must be about 5 or 6 months usage??

Gerry1

Talldave wrote: »

It's hard to see how you can suddenly be £700 in debt, since that must be about 5 or 6 months usage??

If there was confusion about the minus sign, the OP might actually have been in credit by something over £100, and two months of £300 DDs at a time of low usage has now resulted in a credit balance of £700.

The problem could well be that the DD has been set inappropriately high rather than consumption being excessive.