Is my electric bill too high?

Bfracks

Hi, I live alone in an apartment. Turn everything off after use, have always done this, its second nature now (except WiFi router). 
Before the ridiculous increase in energy bills, I was paying £30 monthly. 
Then went up to £54 the end of March. Now, it has gone up to £88 monthly! 

(I know it isn't a comparison to what a lot of households are paying) 

It doesn't seem right at all. I send in my meter readings so there's no estimates. 
(I'm young-ish, and wasn't taught about things like this and have no one to ask) 

Thank you for reading 

The_Fat_Controller

Has a fix just ended ?

Are your DDs actually covering your usage ?

What is your annual usage and what tariff are you on ?

Mstty

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

On the face of it £88 does not seem too high but as has been stated above to check this out we need how many kWh you use in a year and confirm you are on a variable capped rate now and if not what standing charge and price per kWh you are being charged for energy is.

NorthYorkie

If your direct debit went up at the end of March and we are now only 18 days into April, I don't understand why it should have been increased again. However the energy company base the payments on their estimate of your annual usage so they do not necessarily bear any relationship to your actual usage for any particular month. The result will be that you will have either a credit or a debit balance showing on your bills.

I suggest that you calculate the actual cost per month from your readings (kWh x unit cost plus daily standing charge plus 5% VAT on the total) and use this to get the energy company to reduce the direct debit if appropriate.  

Gerry1

Do you have gas?

What do you use for room and water heating?

Size of apartment (studio, 3 bedrooms etc)?

Sunny Scillies or Siberian Shetland?

Bfracks

Thank you all for replying, I really appreciate it!
 
I'm on a standard - no end date tariff.
Standing charge is: 48.13p per day
Price per kWh: is 27.86p
My estimated usage is: 1,754.47 kWh

Thank you again

[Deleted User]

Hi,

do you have any actual usage figures and dates please?

pochase

From the estimate you supplied your monthly direct debit should be £55.37, £664.47 per year.

Did you supply a meter reading at the end of March that was higher than the estimate? What is the estimated meter read and what is the one you supplied?

Bfracks

Recent readings are -
January usage - 6927 kWh 
February usage - 7031 kWh
March usage - 7065 kWh 

Then a reading I submitted on the 15th April is: 7107 kWh. However it gives the date of March 31st? So I don't understand. I always take a photo of my meter reading and the date of the photo shows the 15th April.
It's showing no submitted reading for April :S
 

Gerry1

Bfracks said:

My estimated usage is: 1,754.47 kWh

I assume you are in the Midlands, where the average annual usage for electricity only properties is 4,747kWh.

Your estimated usage therefore appears to be very low, but estimates are of only limited use: to be meaningful, you need annual consumption derived from actual meter readings.

Unfortunately, without the further information previously requested it's not possible to offer much meaningful advice.

Bfracks

pochase said:

From the estimate you supplied your monthly direct debit should be £55.37, £664.47 per year.

Did you supply a meter reading at the end of March that was higher than the estimate? What is the estimated meter read and what is the one you supplied?

Hi, thank you so much for helping. I didn't think it should be £88.
The estimated meter reading at the end of March was: 7340 kWh 
My actual reading I submitted was: 7065 kWh
So lower than the estimate.