Prepayment meters question

kimp22

Hi I have been on prepayment meters for both gas and electricity now for a few years it seemed easier for me at the time but I have recently been writing down balances on meters to see how much I am using. On Friday I have £43 on my electricity tonight £35 so I have used £9 in two day and around £5 on my gas metre. Is that the new normal now.
I can't afford to pay £4 a day electricity over a month it's going to cost around £120 when I usually only top up about £90 at most.

Is this because of the prices going up and how can I reduce it. 

Thanks 

Kim

Gerry1

You need to switch to credit meters because you're wasting money with prepayment meters: the rates are higher.  Also think in terms of annual kWh derived from actual meter readings, not ££.

As you have gas, avoid using electricity for room and water heating and don't use an instantaneous electric shower.

kimp22

I don't know if they will let me swap over I am Scottish Power and have been for about 12 years the metres where in the house when I moved in.
I will try ringing tomorrow and ask them if they can help.

Kim

Gerry1

Just make sure you don't inadvertently sign up to an expensive fixed tariff; Scottish Power don't have a particularly good reputation.  Check the kWh rates and standing charges and do the sums before agreeing to anything.

If you've never switched in 12 years you're probably on an expensive tariff, and in normal circumstances it would be well worth switching suppliers.  Unfortunately we're not in normal circumstances right now, so staying with your existing supplier but on a credit tariff may be the only realistic option for the time being.

wild666

Try turning off everything that is in standby at the wall socket, that's TV, DVD/Blue-ray player, games console, surround sound system, shower, washer, cooker, microwave, charging leads left in sockets turned on, you could even turn off the router if it's not used at night, but I personally don't, just leave the fridge and freezer on 24/7. 
This could save you hundreds of kWh per year, even up to a thousand if you have more devices left on standby.  This could save you anything from a pound per week upwards with more devices turned off at the wall socket.
Personally this is saving me just over £3.30 per week, nearly £172 per year.

wild666

kimp22 said:

I don't know if they will let me swap over I am Scottish Power and have been for about 12 years the metres where in the house when I moved in.
I will try ringing tomorrow and ask them if they can help.

Kim

When I moved into my flat,2011, there was prepayment meters in the place, so I asked to have them taken out and replaced, they said it would depend on a credit check and as I had a DD at the place before they did the check and said they would replace them almost immediately. The only option now is a smart meter, if yours is a smart meter rather than the old key meter it could be as simple as pushing a few buttons at their end and either setting up a DD or a pay on demand bill. 

kimp22

I have recently started switching everything off in kitchen at night and making sure that my sons playstation is off properly that always seems to be on. I have no smart meter but have a option to get one installed on the Scottish Power app.
I am not really good at understanding the kwh last night I a went on a website which you can put the kwh in and its tells you how much it will cost. So I went on the Scottish Power app and that showed you how many kwh used per month for the last few years.
It says I used 615 in January this year and was £96. I put it on this other website the 615 and now it's £220. That would be for electricity only. 
Regarding a normal meters I am on benefits but I don't have a great credit record but I don't owe much money now.

Thanks 
Kim

tim_p

For a house with gas that 615kWh in Jan is on the high side. Do you use the gas for heating but also use supplementary electric heaters?? Electric shower?

kimp22

Sorry should have said that is the electricity bill.

Kim

kimp22

Thats what it shows 

Gerry1

You don't need to use a website to work out your electricity costs.  Find out how much you are paying per kWh (make sure it includes the 5% VAT) and also the daily charge, noting that if you are not on a fixed tariff the rates may well have increased over the year.  The cost over any given period is simply the number of kWh (the difference between the opening and closing meter readings) multiplied by the cost per kWh plus the number of days multiplied by the daily charge.

For example if you were paying 20p/kWh and a daily charge of 25p, and you used 500kWh in October, the calculation would be

(500 x £0.20) + (31 x £0.25) = £107.75

A couple of points to note.

• The rates shown on the bills will be slightly lower because the VAT is added on right at the end, e.g. the above rates would appear as 19.048p/kWh and 23.81p/day.

• On some LCD meter displays the decimal point can be very hard to read, it may be just one pixel.  When taking readings, ignore all the figures to the right of the decimal point and any figures or dials shown in red.

It's much the same for gas, although you have to convert the meter reading (which is a volume) into kWh.  This site (scroll down) will do it for you.  Just make sure you use the Imperial or Metric version that's appropriate for your meter and enter your VAT-inclusive kWh rate.  You'll have to add on the daily charge to get the total cost.  To be 100% accurate you'd have to enter the exact calorific value that applied (it's a measure of how weak or strong the gas is) but it doesn't vary very much so the result will be near enough.

For a property with gas, the average annual consumption is 12,000kWh and for electricity it's 2,900kWh but obviously this will vary with size/type of property, number of occupants, insulation, latitude, daytime occupancy etc, but your electricity usage does seem a bit on the high side.  An immersion heater and electric shower may be the culprits, together with any panel heaters or plug-in heaters.

Calculate what you're paying annually on pre-payment and compare it to what you would be paying on a Direct Debit credit tariff with the same provider's default tariff (you may have to be a bit persistent there, otherwise you may only be offered some sky-high fixed tariffs).  That's probably as good as it gets at the moment, apart from making sure you're not using electricity for heating when you could be using gas, and all the usual energy saving stuff such as turning down thermostats, shorter showers etc.