Scared and worried, not sure what to do (Scottish Power fixed term ending)

bRi6r4

My wife and I are grateful of any and all advice received.

Our fixed term energy rate with Scottish Power ends at the end of May. We are currently paying £159 per month.

When we log into our account, it says our cheapest rate going forward will be £656.37 PER MONTH or £7876.41 PER YEAR.

We are worried that there is a problem with our gas (we live in an averaged semi-detached home), we have never looked at the amount of kwh being used, our latest bill says that in the last 12 months we have used 28,949 kwh on gas. A quick google shows this to be remarkably high relative to our home and how we use our gas.

We have a smart meter, we have switched everything off today and so far our meter shows 56kwh used up until now (12.30pm).

A calibration issue?

We are very scared as we simply do not have that kind of money to pay that bill. We don't know what to do or who to turn to first.

Thank you for reading. 

tacpot12

Yes, 28949 kwh of gas is a lot. My five bed victorian end-terrace house that has poor insulation uses about 21,000kwh a year. We are retired so are at home most of the time. We have a gas hob and an electric oven, so some of our gas usage is cooking. Most is heating.  

Many people are going to be faced with gas and electric bills that they cannot afford to pay over the next year. 

I would advise that you do the following: 

1. Check that your meters are reading correctly. With everything turned off, if you have used any gas, then you have a leak and should be able to smell it.  Electricity is a bit harder to cehck as there are many devices that might use electricity that you might not be aware off, but turning off the consumer unit at the main switch should show zero consumption. You can turm circuits back on until find what is consuming power. You can also look at the rating plate on each device to see what the manufacturer says it should consume. Report any problems to your supplier, unless you smell gas in which case you need to turn the gas off and call the emergecy number  (0800 111 999). 

2. Call your supplier and see what the cheapest fixed rate tarrif they can put you one will cost. Make a note of the standing charges and per kwh rates for gas and electric. Then hop onto a comparison site to see if you can beat this. Then check what the capped rate for your area is. The cap is likely to increase in October, so its anyone's guess as to whether being on a fixed rate or being on the standard varaible (but capped) rate is going to be a better deal. If the fixed rate is double the rate of the current cap, I think you might be better on the capped rate, but there is no guarantee. (I doubt the cap will double, but it might).

3. Plan to reduce your usage massively. Set the thermostat to 10C and get lots of warm clothing in, and more blankets or an extra duvet for the bed. Plan to boil kettles for washing, and only heat a tank full of water when you plan to take a bath or shower. Take the cost of cooking a food item into account when buying it. Slow cookers can be much cheaper than the oven for stews. 

I doubt your bill will be £7,000 a year. It would have thought £5,000 would be more likely if you don't reduce your consumption. We are expecting ours to be about £3500 to £4000.

Ultrasonic

A key thing to check is what units your meter uses and if this matches your bills. Billing issues when cubic meters and feet have been mixed up do happen.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

when you say 'smart meter' are you talking about the actual meter or the IHD?

Penelopa.Pitstop

bRi6r4 said:

My wife and I are grateful of any and all advice received.

Our fixed term energy rate with Scottish Power ends at the end of May. We are currently paying £159 per month.

When we log into our account, it says our cheapest rate going forward will be £656.37 PER MONTH or £7876.41 PER YEAR.

We are worried that there is a problem with our gas (we live in an averaged semi-detached home), we have never looked at the amount of kwh being used, our latest bill says that in the last 12 months we have used 28,949 kwh on gas. A quick google shows this to be remarkably high relative to our home and how we use our gas.

We have a smart meter, we have switched everything off today and so far our meter shows 56kwh used up until now (12.30pm).

A calibration issue?

We are very scared as we simply do not have that kind of money to pay that bill. We don't know what to do or who to turn to first.

Thank you for reading. 

Can you switch off gas at the meter? Then you will be 100% sure nothing uses gas in your propery and meter might be faulty. In my case, faulty meter was moving by 10m3 when gas was off. It's a shame you didn't check your bills earlier. Can you go back to previous years and check your gas usage?

MWT

bRi6r4 said:

We are worried that there is a problem with our gas (we live in an averaged semi-detached home), we have never looked at the amount of kwh being used, our latest bill says that in the last 12 months we have used 28,949 kwh on gas. A quick google shows this to be remarkably high relative to our home and how we use our gas.

Start here:

Ultrasonic said:

A key thing to check is what units your meter uses and if this matches your bills. Billing issues when cubic meters and feet have been mixed up do happen.

If they think it is still imperial reading in units of 100 ft3  then they are overcharging by a factor of 2.83x so that would be a quick and easy win.

Generally you don't see gas usage near 30,000 kWh in house, but it is not uncommon in a bungalow.

Aside from that check your most recent bill and make sure it was using the smart meter readings and isn't estimated. 

bRi6r4

[Deleted User] said:

Hi,

when you say 'smart meter' are you talking about the actual meter or the IHD?

I'm referring to the lcd screen we have in our home that shows the current usage and charge, apologies if this isn't a smart meter I assumed that's what it was called. It is like a mini-tablet.

bRi6r4

Penelopa.Pitstop said:

bRi6r4 said:

My wife and I are grateful of any and all advice received.

Our fixed term energy rate with Scottish Power ends at the end of May. We are currently paying £159 per month.

When we log into our account, it says our cheapest rate going forward will be £656.37 PER MONTH or £7876.41 PER YEAR.

We are worried that there is a problem with our gas (we live in an averaged semi-detached home), we have never looked at the amount of kwh being used, our latest bill says that in the last 12 months we have used 28,949 kwh on gas. A quick google shows this to be remarkably high relative to our home and how we use our gas.

We have a smart meter, we have switched everything off today and so far our meter shows 56kwh used up until now (12.30pm).

A calibration issue?

We are very scared as we simply do not have that kind of money to pay that bill. We don't know what to do or who to turn to first.

Thank you for reading. 

Can you switch off gas at the meter? Then you will be 100% sure nothing uses gas in your propery and meter might be faulty. In my case, faulty meter was moving by 10m3 when gas was off. It's a shame you didn't check your bills earlier. Can you go back to previous years and check your gas usage?

Thank you for responding, we are about to go through all bills and paperwork to see.

MWT

bRi6r4 said:

[Deleted User] said:

Hi,

when you say 'smart meter' are you talking about the actual meter or the IHD?

I'm referring to the lcd screen we have in our home that shows the current usage and charge, apologies if this isn't a smart meter I assumed that's what it was called. It is like a mini-tablet.

That is the In-Home Device (IHD)

It will usually show you the usage in kWh for both electricity and gas, and often a 3rd figure which is the total for both.

The cost that is shows may not be accurate, but the kWh figures should be reliable.

The important thing to check first is if your bills are using metric (m3) or imperial (ft3) for the gas.

It is usually easy to spot as there will be a calculation method printed on the bill somewhere near where the gas consumption is converted from the meter reading, if the is a multiplication in that calculation of x2.83 then they are treating your meter as imperial, which would be a mistake. 

If in doubt just tell us how many units of gas were shown as used on your most recent bill and how many kWh they calculated that to be...

wamphyri

Meter reading usage aside the increase in the monthly DD/cost may well be about right I am afraid.

I am with SP too and got a fix in just before the new cap was announced but had I not my old £256 per month fix would be increasing to a fix of just over £1000 which is being offered to me now (I took a 2 year fix at £458 - bigger than normal house as it's a guest house) .

Point being my current "offer" is roughly 4x my original fixed monthly DD which is the same factor increase you are being offered.

bRi6r4

MWT said:

bRi6r4 said:

We are worried that there is a problem with our gas (we live in an averaged semi-detached home), we have never looked at the amount of kwh being used, our latest bill says that in the last 12 months we have used 28,949 kwh on gas. A quick google shows this to be remarkably high relative to our home and how we use our gas.

Start here:

Ultrasonic said:

A key thing to check is what units your meter uses and if this matches your bills. Billing issues when cubic meters and feet have been mixed up do happen.

If they think it is still imperial reading in units of 100 ft3  then they are overcharging by a factor of 2.83x so that would be a quick and easy win.

Generally you don't see gas usage near 30,000 kWh in house, but it is not uncommon in a bungalow.

Aside from that check your most recent bill and make sure it was using the smart meter readings and isn't estimated. 

I'm afraid I don't know how to tell, are you able to tell from the image or suggest how to check. Thank you for replying