Elderly Parents getting Ripped Off

xlnc99

Hi, 
Looking for some advice on my parents house. They are old and fragile and live alone. Recently i found out they have been paying £315 a month for electric and energy bills. I have no idea how this stuff works but i have read through some posts on here which state that even £100 is too much for a family. 

Are the firms ripping off my family due to their age? Is this price normal? Any advice appreciated on how to sort this out - i am a novice so do not know anything about this.

Robin9

It s good that you've picked this up on behalf of your parents. There will be no rip off due to age.

More details please - you will need to look at their bills to see if these are estimated and what the tariffs are. Who reads the meters - it is rare for a meter reader to come these days.
 
Is this £315 recent or ongoing  - is it electricity or gas ? What is the heating - storage rads ?(or I hope not super dooper magic dust panels - or electric boiler type wet rads - or underfloor)

Could you post a copy of a bill please - blank out the private info.

matelodave

It's unlikely that they are being "ripped off" as you put it but they could well be on an inappropriate or more expensive tariff than they need to be. Likewise as Robin says they could have a heating system which is expensive to run or not being used in the most efficient way.  I could easily add £50 a month on my leccy bill by selecting an unsuitable or expensive tariff and probably another £50 if I didn't set the controls propelry (or if let my wife do it - she'd have a fan heater on all day given half a chance)

So the key to sorting it all out is by understanding what is going on rather than just thinking that they are being taken advantage of. Most energy companies have a priority services register which will help elderly  or infirm people but they can only do that if they are aware.

As said, you need to investigate further, what sort of heating, how is it used, how are the controls set, how do they use energy, what tariff are they on, how much per kwh etc. Have they or someone else been reading the meter(s) and sending the readings into the suppliers. Have they been checking their bills to ensure that they are based on actual readings and not estimates.

RelievedSheff

You need to establish a few facts of the situation before wading in and stating that the energy supplier is ripping them off. Energy suppliers are not in the habit of doing this.

What tariff are they on? Is it the most suitable for their requirements? Are their bills based on estimated or actual readings? Is their current supplier the cheapest for their area?

I think the first thing to do here is to submit some fresh meter readings to the supplier and check that they tie up with what the provider is expecting. If their bills have been based on estimated readings for a long time it could be that they have built up a large credit balance or equally they could have built up a debt balance.

If their bills have been based on estimated readings and then a meter reading has been taken it could be that the £300 per month is to catch up on reduce a debt balance.

You really need to come back with facts and figures. How much per kWh are they being charged? How many kWh are they consuming?

roddydogs

And of course the size of house, £300 pm is at least 3 times too much for a small house, even detached.

Robin9

Some checks for you zinc99 when you get the bill.  There is plenty of scope for things going wrong

1) Look at the meter and note the serial number - is this the same as on the bill
2) On the gas meter look for m3 or cuft - is this the same as on the bill
3) Read the meters when you are there - take great care with the decimal point and ignore any figures after the decimal point. If the meters have a little key pad take even more care. You need to press button 9. The elec meter is straightforward but the gas needs even more care -make sure you use the figure alongside m3
4) Photo the meters and post them here
5) Give us the meter readings
6) Look at their bank statements and check that the DD's have been paid

Give these figures to the supplier - use your parents online account. 
Set up a simple spreadsheet and record these reading
Look back at your parents invoices and find some readings with the letter A (for Actual) against them. Then do some sums and work out how much they should have paid.

Talldave

roddydogs said:

And of course the size of house, £300 pm is at least 3 times too much for a small house, even detached.

Under £140 a month here for a 5 bed detached eating through 43,000kWh gas and 4800kWh electricity a year.

OP urgently needs to review the bills!

RelievedSheff

Talldave said:

roddydogs said:

And of course the size of house, £300 pm is at least 3 times too much for a small house, even detached.

Under £140 a month here for a 5 bed detached eating through 43,000kWh gas and 4800kWh electricity a year.

OP urgently needs to review the bills!

The trouble is with very little detail we don't know the situation or how the £300pm figure has been reached.

Agreed it does seem far too much but is this catching up on previous under payments? Are they using electric heating on a high standard tariff unit price? We just don't know and won't know unless more detail is provided.

Robin9

Lots of potential here - perhaps coming to the end of a fix and the supplier playing catch-up.
Hopefully xlnc99 will come back to us with some info.

xlnc99

Hi Guys 

Thanks for all your replies. I am gonna get all the info you requested and post back today with everything. Thanks for your help, i really have no idea about any of this stuff so its also a good learning curve for me. 

JJ_Egan

You should also check on the other stuff , pensions council tax water charges phone etc .