Does this make sense

Justin_GB

Hi,

I know I maybe grasping at straws here but to me something just does not seem right to me.
Two of us live in a small two bed house and our electricity bill has just gone up to £110 a month, a couple of years ago it was £40, but nothing has changed and if anything we try to use less now, all house hold lamps are low wattage.
The units we pay are 10p day
and 5p night
standing charge is £15 a month

This is what we run on the electric,

2 PCs each for about 10 hours a day TFT monitors

28 inch TV on no more than 4 hours a day

about 100 watts of lighting 12 hours a day

one fridge freezer

Electric cooker maximum of 1 hour a day over or hob

Washing machine on during off peak twice a week maximum

Kettle boiled about once an hour during the day to keep us warm as we have no heating

Electric exertion heater on 1 hour during off peak

That is it, no tumble drier, no heating or electric heaters of any type, we even have to use other peoples showers as we can not afford any more to use ours.

I am just interested in hearing if this sound about right,

Thanks,

Justin

Cardew

What you pay by Direct Debit usually has little connection to the Electricity you use.

Obviously £110 a month seems far too high for the use you have stated.
When there are huge increases like yours(£40 to £110) it is normally because you have built up a large debit balance, which is being 'clawed back'. Often this debit balance builds up because of estimated readings.

For instance you might owe, say, £600 which they are getting you to repay over a year(£50 a month) and they have calculated that your average usage is £60 a month.

So you need to look at your bills carefully.

Secondly I cannot think of any tariff that charges a £15 a month standing charge and then 10p/5p kWh for day/night(presumably economy 7?). Are you sure this is correct?

What area of UK do you live in and what company do you use?

Lastly why do you have night rate(off-peak) electricity when you don't use it for heating? (you pay extra for daytime electricity)

More detail please.

daveyjp

Get a statement of what you owe.

Scrap the DD, save money in an account and request quarterly bills. Tarriff is slightly higher, but YOU are in control and every bill is accurate as you provide a reading if they can't be bothered to send anyone to do it.

I've yet to pay more than £80 for a quarter's bill.

Cardew

daveyjp wrote: »

Scrap the DD, save money in an account and request quarterly bills. Tarriff is slightly higher, but YOU are in control and every bill is accurate as you provide a reading if they can't be bothered to send anyone to do it.

You can provide your own readings when paying by Direct Debit equally as well as when you are on quarterly billing; in fact on the internet tariffs(which are normally the cheapest) most get you to provide readings.

I pay by DD as its cheaper and easier with regular payments each month. If they estimate a reading that is way out, I simply let them know the correct reading.

People who can't/won't check their accounts when on DD are equally likely not to check on quarterly billing. Every bill is not accurate on quarterly billing as there is no compulsion for the user to provide meter readings.

So it is just as easy to stay in control when on DD and it is cheaper and less hassle as well; which is why the majority prefer that system.

furndire

It does seem excessively high ~ unless they are clawing back underpayments, in which case they should have told you.

If the DD is not clawing back underpayments, change supplier to one that doesn't charge a standing charge. Try one of the comparison sites such as USwitch (there's plenty of info on the main page of MSE), and make sure you go through Quidco, or Pigsback to get something extra if you end up changing.
I was with Npower, they wanted to put my DD from £50 per month to £90.
When I rung and said that was far too much, they wouldn't alter the amount, so I went to Atlantic for gas and electric ~ no standing charge, cheaper rate. They tried to up my DD a couple of months ago, to an amount which was far too much, rang them up, and a really helpful lady on the other end said "yes, you're right", and immediatley cancelled the change they were trying to put on the DD.

Terrylw1

daveyjp wrote: »

Get a statement of what you owe.

Scrap the DD, save money in an account and request quarterly bills. Tarriff is slightly higher, but YOU are in control and every bill is accurate as you provide a reading if they can't be bothered to send anyone to do it.

I've yet to pay more than £80 for a quarter's bill.

DD is just a payment method. The system is still quarterly. Besides, you often get additional discounts for DD and duel fuel so by cancelling them the OP would be more out of pocket.

Yes, they can't just up your DD. However, they will still send you the same bill and request it to be paid quickly. At least on DD, you will be making payments towards a bill so are less likely to get stung with a big bill to pay in one month.

OP - as Cardew has said, there is really not enough info here. This high amount does suggest either a) backbilling for under paying DD's b) recalibration on PP or c) low estimates that have jumped due to a firm rreading off your meter.

Suggest you check your bill to see where this jump has occurred.

As Cardew also said, check your night usage because E7 really isn't a good tariff for those heating with gas. Unless you use most of your elec after midnight e.g. a shiftworker.

Justin_GB

Hi and thank you for everyone who has replied,

Some people have asked for more detail, this is our last bill

Readings
Day previous 47262
Day current 48656

Day kwh used
Total 1394

Night previous 22387
Night current 22974

Night kwh used
Total 587

Day primary used 715 kwh @ 12.2p each
Secondary units used 679 kwh @ 10.41p each

Night unit used 587 kwh used @5.73p each

Standing charge 87 days at 49.23p per day

Direct debit discount £3.00

Vat at 5%

Sub total before vat £231.38
Vat £11.57
Total charge inc vat £242.95

Account balance from last bill £70.61

Total payments £270 credit

Account balance in debit £43.56


New monthly due £110.00

Cardew

Justin_GB wrote: »

Hi and thank you for everyone who has replied,

Some people have asked for more detail, this is our last bill

Readings
Day previous 47262
Day current 48656

Day kwh used
Total 1394

Night previous 22387
Night current 22974

Night kwh used
Total 587

Day primary used 715 kwh @ 12.2p each
Secondary units used 679 kwh @ 10.41p each

Night unit used 587 kwh used @5.73p each

Standing charge 87 days at 49.23p per day

Direct debit discount £3.00

Vat at 5%

Sub total before vat £231.38
Vat £11.57
Total charge inc vat £242.95

Account balance from last bill £70.61

Total payments £270 credit

Account balance in debit £43.56


New monthly due £110.00

You haven't said where you live and who is your energy supplier. Also if any of those readings are estimated(they have an 'E')

The reason why your DD has increased is you are going into the heaviest usage period with a small debt. However I really can't believe you are paying that much for your electricity.

I have looked at the cost of your consumption using BG Click Energy 4(and they may not be the cheapest supplier). As you haven't said where you live I have taken one of the more expensive areas and it would cost(including VAT) approx £180 and depending where you live could be less.

You can work out your exact cost from below:

http://www.britishgas.co.uk/pdf/Click%203%20elec%20tables.pdf

Actually your night/day ration of usage is not bad(I am assuming this is E7 and not E10) as you use about 30%. However it still might be an idea(again depending where you live) to look at just getting a 'normal' tariff.

On the BG click Energy 4 single rate tariff you would pay between £145 and £160 for the 1,981kWh you used.

maninthestreet

What is an 'Electric exertion heater' ?

Justin_GB

Powergen is our supplier, and we live just outside Gainsborough, Lincolnshire,
sorry should read immersion heater ,
Justin

Cardew

Justin_GB wrote: »

Powergen is our supplier, and we live just outside Gainsborough, Lincolnshire,
Justin

I believe that is in Eastern district for electricity.

On BG Click Energy 4 using their normal tariff(i.e. same rate 24/7) you will pay 11.087p for the first 225kWh in a quarter and 7.036p for the rest - you will get a discount of £4.75p per quarter for paying by DD.

So for the 1,981kWh you used in 87 days with that BG tariff you would have paid under £144; and you wouldn't have to worry about using electricity at cheap rates. That represents a saving of £99 or put it this way you are paying Powergen 69% more than BG would have charged.

Also as said above there may be cheaper tariffs than BG - and there will certainly be companies with better service than BG.