smart meter installed in late 2019. bills just keep going up.

viva1

jlemaitre said:

There are no savings available right now through Uswitch

Your current plan must be pretty good! There are currently no cheaper plans available.

thought id do a check.

Click on Filter which is above the "no savings available" message, then select Include plans that require switching directly through the supplier and click on Show results.

Or just use the Citizens Advice energy comparison instead of Uswitch.

https://energycompare.citizensadvice.org.uk/

QrizB

CAB Energy Compare:

https://energycompare.citizensadvice.org.uk/

Which Switch:

https://switch.which.co.uk/

matelodave

I've just swapped to Symbio (not that I'd recommened them for someone who deosn't have a clue about their energy consumption and costs) but their price per kwh is 12.5p compared with your 19.84p and their daily charge is 12p compared with your 28p

I am all electric (heating as well) and use around 7200kwh a year which means that I would pay near enough £600 a year or £50 a month more if I were on your tariff.

I'm sure you could do a lot better if you put your mind to it, likewise if you read your meter yourself a bit more often (daily or weekly for a few weeks) and understood how much energy you use (In kwh not £££'s) then you could work out what is using it all (I guess the fish tank is the main culprit) and do something about reducing your consumption.

If you dont monitor your consumption you cant do anything about reducing it

victor2

jlemaitre said:

There are no savings available right now through Uswitch

Your current plan must be pretty good! There are currently no cheaper plans available.

thought id do a check.

Any comparison site results are meaningless unless you put in your actual (most recent) annual usage in kWh. Definitely do not use your current costs. Even then, supposed "savings" are rarely realistic, but predicted costs for available tariffs going forward should be pretty accurate for the same usage.
From what you said your rates are, I am surprised uSwitch said there are no savings to be made.

comeandgo

matelodave said:

I've just swapped to Symbio (not that I'd recommened them for someone who deosn't have a clue about their energy consumption and costs) but their price per kwh is 12.5p compared with your 19.84p and their daily charge is 12p compared with your 28p

I am all electric (heating as well) and use around 7200kwh a year which means that I would pay near enough £600 a year or £50 a month more if I were on your tariff.

I'm sure you could do a lot better if you put your mind to it, likewise if you read your meter yourself a bit more often (daily or weekly for a few weeks) and understood how much energy you use (In kwh not £££'s) then you could work out what is using it all (I guess the fish tank is the main culprit) and do something about reducing your consumption.

If you dont monitor your consumption you cant do anything about reducing it

I’m also with Symbio and no problems and so cheap but I do know some people have problems trying to understand how they bill.

Gerry1

victor2 said:

From what you said your rates are, I am surprised uSwitch said there are no savings to be made.

Uswitch didn't say that there are no savings to be made.  They said there are no suppliers who are cheaper and who will pay them commission.  A big difference.

That's why it's best to start comparing with Citizens Advice and 'Which? Switch' because they show all suppliers by default.

jlemaitre

[Deleted User] said:

All energy tariffs comprise a daily standing charge and a unit price. The supplier will usually send the tariff information to your gas and electricity meters INCLUSIVE of VAT.  It follows that if it is working correctly, the In House Display (IHD) should show you a true cost of the energy that you are using. Normally, the IHD will add the standing charge to the daily cost just after midnight. I am not sure why your supplier’s smart meters would be any different?

I've no idea. I don't reallylike their IHD.

I've never bothered sitting down and reading my bills as I've always had a well paid job. After being made redundant I'm now earning less now than I was in 2005.

It's now its having a knock on effect what now is over 2 days wages after tax, would be 1 days wages years ago.

Thankfully my head is on my shoulders and I bought my house in my early 20s. Not a chance I'd get one nowadays. But certainly feeling the pressure of being a home owner at a low wage. 

I'm half tempted to look into a smart meter for the gas. But I can see the bills rocketing.

QrizB

A smart gas meter won't increase your gas use or your gas bill, but at the same time a smart meter for gas is unlikely to save you anything.

Electricity smart meters save you money in two ways; they make you aware of your energy use and the effect of appliances being on or off (eg. your child's PS5 being a much hungrier energy consumer than a digibox or Chromecast) and they give the option of cheaper, smart-meter-only tariffs.

Gas smart meters don't really do either of those things. Typically your only two gas appliances will be your boiler and stove, both of which only get used when needed (you wouldn't leave your stove on if you weren;t cooking and your boiler turns off if there's no need for heat). And I'm not aware of any cheap smart meter tariffs for gas as gas is easy to store when in low demand.

jlemaitre said:

I've no idea. I don't reallylike their IHD.

did you get an instruction book with it? There should be an option to see the usage hourly today, daily for the past week, weekly for the last month or two and monthly fro the last year.

jlemaitre

I was more interested in how much is being used and what the gas is for... It appears my cooker is electric only as the IHD went upto 1600w when my partner was cooking.

I wonder if my boiler is gas heated. I have no tank in the attic?

If the boiler is gas then I'm surprised during the summer months my bills don't go down as the rads are turned off and only a little of water is used during the day.

QrizB

jlemaitre said:

If the boiler is gas then I'm surprised during the summer months my bills don't go down as the rads are turned off and only a little of water is used during the day.

Much as with your electricity, your gas bill should be averaged over the year. The £39 you pay in the summer is far more than you use, but the £39 you pay in the winter gobbles up the surplus.

Just for example, my household uses 12000kWh per year of gas (this is a fairly middle-of-the-road amount). In January this year we used 1800kWh, but in July (last month) we only used 180kWh. If we were billed for our use we would have been charged £55 in January and only £9 in July, but instead we pay £25 per month all year round. (This is an old fixed tariff and I will have to change soon.)