Monthly gas + electricity bill over £600 for 3 bedroom semi??

makara

My father passed away earlier this year. He always paid the gas and electricity and other utility bills, so this is all new to me. 

We have not yet informed any utility providers of his passing as we are still trying to deal with inheritance and probate etc. 

But his latest G and E bill from SSE / or rather from OVO who we have just been moved to is for over £600 for what I presume is just a month. 

I have been uploading manual readings to the SSE website.

For a 3 bedroom semi with now 3 adults (rather than 4) is £600 a month excessive?

Should I take this up with OVO? 

Stompa

makara said:

But his latest G and E bill from SSE / or rather from OVO who we have just been moved to is for over £600 for what I presume is just a month. 

Take a look at the standing charge on the bill, it should specify how many days the bill covers.

markin

The DD is meaningless, many are over charging "ready for winter", You need to know the kwh per month and the annual usage.

makara

Take a look at the standing charge on the bill, it should specify how many days the bill covers.

Many thanks - I will take a look, and revert. 

makara

markin said:

The DD is meaningless, many are over charging "ready for winter", You need to know the kwh per month and the annual usage.

Many thanks - when you say "ready for winter", is that a normal process year on year? 

And in effect do things even out over the seasons (i.e. over-charged now means under-charged later) ?

Or is it in reference to this October   - when the prices are going up for everyone?

Robin9

SSE have tariffs which bill every 6 months. Is this the first one you have had since your father died?   

Look closely at it - the meter reading dates ?   Is the bottom line a credit or debit ?   Is this £600 just the amount of the debit rather than a new monthly DD ?

Do you have access to the online account ?  Are all your DD's there ? 

pochase

You were saying billed in your first post, so is this a direct debit or is this really a bill?

If it is a bill are the readings on the bill in the same region as the ones you have taken now, in other words did you father take regular readings and submitted them, or is this a bill based on estimates?

You can see this on the bill, there should be something behind the readings like E, estimated, read, R.

Even if you were not talking about a bill in your first post please check the last bill you received for the above.

Jonboy_1984

If this is the first bill from OVO just be aware that they are estimating final readings with SSE and then migrating based on this estimate, regardless of what and when readings are submitted.(for my migration they ignored reading from 5 days before migration and under estimated by 40%, others on their forum have large over estimates).

They then follow this with a period where you cannot submit readings on the ovo site for good measure. When you do get a reading in (4 weeks later in my case) they then recalculate the bills they have issued accordingly and re-issue.

In my cased there was a weeks lag between changes on the ovo side being reflected on the former SSE side, but their calculations ultimately matched mine.

nyermen

 I suspect you've given the first actual reading for a while, and the priors were estimates so there's a catchup.

If concerned however, you can check the meter by turning off everything and check the counter isn't still going.  I remember finding my mothers huge bill was due to her accidentally leaving the immersion on...

makara

pochase said:

You were saying billed in your first post, so is this a direct debit or is this really a bill?

If it is a bill are the readings on the bill in the same region as the ones you have taken now, in other words did you father take regular readings and submitted them, or is this a bill based on estimates?

You can see this on the bill, there should be something behind the readings like E, estimated, read, R.

Even if you were not talking about a bill in your first post please check the last bill you received for the above.

I had been submitting readings for the past several months on his behalf.

I just checked his PAYMENTS on his SSE account -

Gas -

08 Jul 2022	£305.00
08 Jun 2022	£305.00
08 May 2022	£300.00
08 Apr 2022	£300.00
08 Mar 2022	£300.00
08 Feb 2022	£200.00

Electricity -

08 Jul 2022	£304.00
08 Jun 2022	£304.00
08 May 2022	£248.00
08 Apr 2022	£248.00
08 Mar 2022	£248.00
08 Feb 2022	£181.00

I can't see how £600+ for a 3-bedroom Semi with 4 (now 3) people in normal usage can be correct. 

Should I call SSE?  Or OVO? 

makara

Robin9 said:

SSE have tariffs which bill every 6 months. Is this the first one you have had since your father died?   

Look closely at it - the meter reading dates ?   Is the bottom line a credit or debit ?   Is this £600 just the amount of the debit rather than a new monthly DD ?

Do you have access to the online account ?  Are all your DD's there ? 

Thanks - please see my response to pochase - with all the PAYMENTS from his SSE online account.  They've been taking over £600 per month for a while now...