never seen my meter reading

dbks

emma1808 said:

thank you all for the advice, i am renting from housing association,...

Complaints

Follow these steps if you have a problem with your housing association home:

1. Complain to your landlord - they should have a complaints policy that you can follow.

2. Make a complaint to a ‘designated person’ (your MP, a local councillor or a tenant panel) if you can’t resolve the problem with your landlord.

3. Contact the Housing Ombudsman if you and your landlord still can’t resolve the problem.

https://www.gov.uk/housing-association-homes/complaints

Gerry1

emma1808 said:

hi Gerry1 my daily charge is £20.66p my night rate is £12.81 per week 

VAT (Domestic Rate) @ 5.00%

£6.12

last month i was billed over £33 for usage at night 

Are you paying an energy supplier such as British Gas or EDF directly, i.e. not to the housing association as part of your rent?  If so and you pay by Direct Debit (usually the cheapest way) I think you may be mistaking the DD amount with the bill.  They are not the same thing.

Your tariff will be so many pence per kiloWatt hour (kWh) plus a daily or standing charge.  For example, electricity at 21.56 p/kW plus a standing charge of 24.04 p/day, and gas (if you have it) at 4.053p/kWh plus a standing charge of 26.12p/day. (The rates you see on your bill will probably be a bit lower because VAT is added on at the end.)

The first things you need to check are the kWh rates and daily charges.  If you're lucky enough to be on a fixed tariff that you took out back in the summer your rates may be below those I've just quoted, which is a typical Standard Variable Tariff, the capped rates.  If you're already on the SVT you won't find anything better at the moment.

If you're on Fixed Direct Debit it's like flat sharers paying a fixed amount into a kitty in a jam jar.  It's not All You Can Eat, so if you use more energy your fixed DD will increase and you'll pay more.  All that's fixed is the kWh rate and the daily charge.

Variable DD simply means you're charged for what you've used in the last billing period, provided that an accurate meter reading has been received and that the meter is really the one connected to your property.  It's easier to understand but it means high bills in the winter and lower ones in the summer.

If you can tell us your tariff of rates then someone will be able to advise.  A photo of the meter would be very helpful (preferably with the serial number and bar codes redacted) because some are very difficult to read properly.