Bulb pushing for monthly Direct Debit increase?

Shoxt3r

Thanks @MattMattMattUK - makes sense! I'll look into increasing the Direct Debit in that case and submitting readings on the 1st of the month (I usually do it before then as Bulb suggest that they will raise the Direct Debit 3 days later from the notification time so I try to do it as soon as possible so I don't forget).

It still seems strange that the Energy usage and statements don't tally up though - the gas statement in particular is way off compared with what we actually pay and is outlined on our bill - is that a glitch with their "Energy usage" area? Something I will question with them I think...

For example, what I stated before with the screenshots:

£190.00 Energy usage vs statement/payment of £112.44

£147.00 Energy usage vs statement/payment of £116.69

@pochase Sure, that's what we've been used to as well really. Here are some readings from our April 2021 and April 2022 statements:

April 2021
Electricity - 6216
Gas -  4449

April 2022
Electricity - 8116
Gas - 5381

Hopefully that helps but let me know if any other information would be good

Many thanks!

pochase

Shoxt3r said:

@pochase Sure, that's what we've been used to as well really. Here are some readings from our April 2021 and April 2022 statements:

April 2021
Electricity - 6216
Gas -  4449

April 2022
Electricity - 8116
Gas - 5381

Hopefully that helps but let me know if any other information would be good

Many thanks!

The estimated use you gave earlier is almost identical to your figures, a bit more electricity use and a bit less gas use.

Electricity	£     560.20
Gas	£     763.98
Standing charge electricity	£     152.06
Standing Charge gas	£       99.35
Total	£  1,575.59

So there estimate is bit more than 3£ off per month. Unfortunately that does not make a bit difference.

Shoxt3r

pochase said:

Shoxt3r said:

@pochase Sure, that's what we've been used to as well really. Here are some readings from our April 2021 and April 2022 statements:

April 2021
Electricity - 6216
Gas -  4449

April 2022
Electricity - 8116
Gas - 5381

Hopefully that helps but let me know if any other information would be good

Many thanks!

The estimated use you gave earlier is almost identical to your figures, a bit more electricity use and a bit less gas use.

Electricity	£     560.20
Gas	£     763.98
Standing charge electricity	£     152.06
Standing Charge gas	£       99.35
Total	£  1,575.59

So there estimate is bit more than 3£ off per month. Unfortunately that does not make a bit difference.

Ok thank you - still coming out at £132 on average per month in that case, so in line with the Direct Debit they've estimated....fun times ahead then, especially with the October increase looming!

Any ideas why the "Energy usage" and payments aren't matching up or is that a bug with Bulb's platform that I need to highlight to them?

QrizB

Shoxt3r said:

Any ideas why the "Energy usage" and payments aren't matching up or is that a bug with Bulb's platform that I need to highlight to them?

I'm looking at this thread on my phone, which doesn't help my understanding, but is it that your historic energy usage was at previous, lower tariff rates and your forecast for the future is at new, higher ones?

Edit to add:

Yes, I think the bar charts are using the current tariff not the one that was in force at the time. The bills, however, use the correct tariff for the date

If I recalculate your January bill using April tariffs I get the same sort of numbers as the bar charts show.

Coffeekup

Your gas usage looks consistent.... So I'm guessing your boiker on a timer or on a thermostat. 
One of the easiest ways of bringing your bills down is using less energy, so turning down the thermostat 1-3*C can make a difference, or setting the timer to come on for half hour less in the morning and or half hour less in the evening. Even better manually making decisions on having the heating on.

Get look at how many unit you use every month and try and cut back on them, every unit less is money not spent.

Shoxt3r

QrizB said:

Shoxt3r said:

Any ideas why the "Energy usage" and payments aren't matching up or is that a bug with Bulb's platform that I need to highlight to them?

I'm looking at this thread on my phone, which doesn't help my understanding, but is it that your historic energy usage was at previous, lower tariff rates and your forecast for the future is at new, higher ones?

Edit to add:

Yes, I think the bar charts are using the current tariff not the one that was in force at the time. The bills, however, use the correct tariff for the date

If I recalculate your January bill using April tariffs I get the same sort of numbers as the bar charts show.

Ah ok that's confusing, so even though January & February's numbers would have been before the price rise they are using them to show the energy usage that we've already paid for rather than what's in the future. I wonder why they would opt to do that rather than simply looking at April onwards when the price increase actually applied?!

Coffeekup said:

Your gas usage looks consistent.... So I'm guessing your boiker on a timer or on a thermostat. 
One of the easiest ways of bringing your bills down is using less energy, so turning down the thermostat 1-3*C can make a difference, or setting the timer to come on for half hour less in the morning and or half hour less in the evening. Even better manually making decisions on having the heating on.

Get look at how many unit you use every month and try and cut back on them, every unit less is money not spent.

Actually, we tend to simply do a manual boost each time we need the heating for an hour at a time (sometimes shutting it off when we get the house to optimal temperature) but the hot water is timed. Sometimes we boost the hot water if we really have to. We're currently set to 20* on the thermostat but this is generally not helped by our aging boiler which has since been serviced and we've been strongly advised to change it (have another thread on that currently) so generally there are savings to be made there anyway once we get it sorted. We're also looking to get TRVs installed on all radiators so we have more control over the heating - apparently a requirement when we get the new boiler fitted.

Great tips on the timing and degree settings though - thank you!