Gas Bills

Gerry1

Trying to claim that you are being charged 100 times too much is equivalent to a petrol station displaying 137.9 on the totem and then trying to charge you £137.9 for one litre.  You must always be consistent with the units.

hypokratis

Gerry1 This was the confusing part.
I was using a similar analogy buying Euros at 1.16. I would not expect it to mean £100 buys a euro at 1.16. I am surprised at the lack of clarity in all this.
 I only spotted this anomaly after looking closer at my Tariff details because of the excessive increase in my monthly payments after being in credit for most of the time. 
It is odd how many people I have spoken to who just pay their bills by DD and not even aware of the detail or what their meter actually measures ! 

hypokratis

Gerry1 
Let me add this in closing. 

I try to mean what I say and when my meter stated in 3 different areas units of “cu.ft “I would expected to see “100’s of cu.ft.”stated .
It will be difficult to move from that 
I am also doubtful now that the person I am dealing with at my new energy supplier actually knows what she is talking about 
Thanks for your input. 

Robin9

@hypokratis You will be wasting your time talking to the call centre - they will not understand what you are trying to say. With respect I think you are overthinking this'

Can we go back to some actual numbers please - I want to get to the bottom of this 77%. Can we have those meter reads please, the DD'd and what you have given your new supplier. Give us the names of the suppliers as well.

hypokratis

Robin9
An increase of £38 per month on my original monthly payment of £50 was 76 % ( or 77%) depending on which calculator I picked up !.
This was after burning 248 “units” of gas on my U6 meterfrom 29/June /20 to 11/ June/21 The new supplier is charging me on a 2 year fixed plan,  £54.40 / month. Old supplier EDF new supplier Octopus. Not sure why you need this supplier info. ? Does it help. ? 

[Deleted User]

hypokratis said:

Robin9
An increase of £38 per month on my original monthly payment of £50 was 76 % ( or 77%) depending on which calculator I picked up !.
This was after burning 248 “units” of gas on my U6 meterfrom 29/June /20 to 11/ June/21 The new supplier is charging me on a 2 year fixed plan,  £54.40 / month. Old supplier EDF new supplier Octopus. Not sure why you need this supplier info. ? Does it help. ? 

I worry when I read posts like this. Monthly direct debit payments are nothing more than money that you put in a piggy bank from which actual charges for energy used are deducted. Fixed Plan does not mean that the supplier agrees to supply you with as much energy that you need for a given monthly payment. The things that are fixed are the contract term; the unit price and the daily standing charge. Similarly, a 76% increase in your monthly payment is not a sign that you have been overcharged: it suggests that a debit balance was carried forward. This is why Robin9 et al are asking for more information.

Robin9

Suppliers don't really matter except that some have weird billing systems and some have equally weird predictions.

There is something going on here which I am not understanding. (The 0283 and 2.83 are just different ways of saying the same thing and is a red herring)  It's a hot afternoon and my little grey cells are struggling.


In 12 months you used 248 metered units in cu ft  (assuming both readings were ACTUAL and not ESTIMATED. - what are they - look for those letters A,C and E. That is approx 8000 kWh  and would typically cost £300 a year - that's below average (and you say you are frugal) . Where then does the £50, £88  or even the £54.04 come from and it's not a factor of 100 because that would give £700 a month. Octopus's £54.04 at approx 3.5 p is suggesting an annual consumption of 18.500 kWh (above average)

Or is there possibly an error in the meter records - check the serial number on the meter and compare it with the statement and does the statement say m3.

Are you in credit or debit with Edf ?

Again I ask what figure in kWh did you give Octopus (or did you say my old supplier is charging £88 - can you beat it?)

hypokratis

Robin9 
The  two figures giving 248 “ units” were actual readings from the meter and sent on line having logged on. The 8334 figure was received by the supplier on 29/06/21. On 15/06/21 I had been told my monthly payments were increasing from £50 to £88.I am still working out from recently received copies of my bills following my account being cancelled along with the bill data, how I got into “debt” at the same time I was in credit but my charges were enough to cancel  the credit out.  

The £54.40 per month is my monthly payment with my new supplier fixed for 2years At this point in time 54.40 is a better price than £88. As with you Robin I have yet to get my own grey cells around it all ! 

EDF had the correct meter number. One of the first things I checked. 

It is dated 1991 so maybe a possible fault has developed on the meter.
I did not give Octopus a KWh figure. I gave them an opening meter reading as requested for both energies. Octopus have my correct meter serial number. I actually do not remember giving it to them but it is there on my opening on line balance. 

I shopped around although I had heard good reports of Octopus which were confirmed when I was offered the 2 yr contract. 

Hope all that helps. I must now try to translate and understand all the info I have received and hope I spot something amiss. I have a feeling I will not but will be monitoring Octopus and any other future supplier from now on as a standard procedure. 

Gerry1

hypokratis said:

Robin9 

The £54.40 per month is my monthly payment with my new supplier fixed for 2years At this point in time 54.40 is a better price than £88.

No, No, NO ! as Maggie would say.

Your monthly payment is NOT fixed.  All that's fixed is the cost of each kWh and the daily charge, nothing else.  It's NOT All You Can Eat.

If you don't tell an energy company how much you expect to use, preferably based on the last 12 months' usage from actual meter readings, NOT estimates, it's likely to end in tears.

Switch to GerryGas'n'Juice and I'll quote you a DD of just a fiver a month.  You'll think it's fantastic value and you won't notice that I'm charging you 50p per day for each fuel, 30p for a kWh of electricity and 10p for a kWh of gas.  You won't check your bills thoroughly and you won't notice the big number marked Balance gets bigger each time.

After six months I'll tell you that your DD will be £200 per month.  You'll blow a fuse and try to leave, but I'll block any switch you try to make, and there'll be nothing you can do about it.  If you make a fuss I'll let you pay your arrears over 12 months, and if you don't stick to it I'll install pre-payment meters.  I'll set them to swallow a big chunk of each top up, so you'll have to feed them fast and furiously to keep the lights on and the boiler working.

Sorry, but that's how it works.  Once again, a fixed monthly DD is just a regular top up which may or may not be enough to pay the bills.  It's just like four students in a flat putting money in a jam jar to pay the supermarket bills.  If they don't put enough in each week they'll soon have a problem at the checkout when he jam jar is empty.

hypokratis

Robin
I understand I hope the difference between “fixed” and “ variable”One is more stable than the other so long as one stays within the consumption limits, which I have always managed to do until recently. I spotted a £32/ month offer for example but it was variable 

I have to take the time to analyze the info I now have and learn what I can from it including monitoring the claim that my new supplier will be working with the factor 0.0283  and having the correct details of my gas meter.