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

JGB1955

OK - so you know the payments made... but what has the usage been?  

TheMilkmansDad

Sorry if I've missed this - but what does your actual bill say? Is it based on actual reads? What are those reads please?

makara

JGB1955 said:

OK - so you know the payments made... but what has the usage been?  

TheMilkmansDad said:

Sorry if I've missed this - but what does your actual bill say? Is it based on actual reads? What are those reads please?

From SSE online account - it appears I haven't submitted a reading since April 29th - but even then...I have no idea how to work out what is stated - how do you / I know if the what the meter differences are month-to-month are fair for what is being charged?

Sorry for sounding thick - but my father never involved us in Utility bills, and managed them by himself


Gas -

06 Jul 2022	Gas Standard 53115
05 Jul 2022	Gas Standard (e) 53115
29 Apr 2022	Gas Standard 52801
27 Jan 2022	Gas Standard 51564
27 Oct 2021	Gas Standard 50192
27 Jul 2021	Gas Standard 49344

Electricity -

Meter reading history 

Your next reading is due between 09 Nov - 26 Nov 2022

06 Jul 2022	Standard (e) 26236
05 Jul 2022	Standard (e) 26236
29 Apr 2022	Standard 24637
27 Jan 2022	Standard 21783
27 Oct 2021	Standard 17953
27 Jul 2021	Standard 16368

makara

P.S. - the Gas meter says "m3" on it if that is of any use

Robin9

If these are correct they are very high

Electricity for July 21 - April 22 (9 months) is 6872 = approx 8000 in the year . That's more than double a typical user.

makara

Robin9 said:

If these are correct they are very high

Electricity for July 21 - April 22 (9 months) is 6872 = approx 8000 in the year . That's more than double a typical user.

On phone with "OVO" now - the guy I spoke to agreed it did seem excessive - but that he would see if OVO's "Collections" department can reduce the monthly Direct Debit by any amount.  

He also says if it's SSE at fault for over-charging we need to address this with them.

I read an article online that SSE and two other Scottish companies (Scottish Power and Scottish Gas I think?) had been fined for overcharging many customers...I hope that's what's happened with us.  We don't use more than what's "typical" AFAIK

k_man

makara said:

Robin9 said:

If these are correct they are very high

Electricity for July 21 - April 22 (9 months) is 6872 = approx 8000 in the year . That's more than double a typical user.

On phone with "OVO" now - the guy I spoke to agreed it did seem excessive - but that he would see if OVO's "Collections" department can reduce the monthly Direct Debit by any amount.  

He also says if it's SSE at fault for over-charging we need to address this with them.

I read an article online that SSE and two other Scottish companies (Scottish Power and Scottish Gas I think?) had been fined for overcharging many customers...I hope that's what's happened with us.  We don't use more than what's "typical" AFAIK

I think the comment was about the meter readings, not the monthly DD payments.
The meter readings do suggest very high usage for gas and electric

Get an actual reading if possible.

If the readings are right, the £600 a month be correct (not sure of OVOs rates)

pochase

Unfortunately it seems the £600 is not far of.



At current SVT you would need to pay £504pm, from October it will be a scary £880.

This is for not even a full year (21 days short), but with an estimated meter reading for the 5th/6th of July.. 

Almost unbelievable is a gas usage of 9500KWh between 27th of July and 27th of October, that is summer/early autumn, and you are almost using as much as the national Ofgem average for a year.

Can you give us todays meter readings please? We really need to see if this readings are real, whereby the (E) for the last two readings hints they might be correct.

makara

pochase said:

Unfortunately it seems the £600 is not far of.


Almost unbelievable is a gas usage of 9500KWh between 27th of July and 27th of October, that is summer/early autumn, and you are almost using as much as the national Ofgem average for a year.

Can you give us todays meter readings please? We really need to see if this readings are real, whereby the (E) for the last two readings hints they might be correct.

Thanks - have just come off a LONG phone call with OVO - and asked them to change us to Smart Meters in early September

(it can be done before...if you think that's beneficial...)

My concern is the Electricity meter in particular is I think 50 years old - and might not be reporting accurately - although the OVO lady said she didn't find any sudden speed ups or slow downs in either of our meters.


I also gave her today's readings, which are -

Gas - 53306

Electricity - 25514

One thing she did mention - the Air Coolers / Heaters we use DO use a lot of Electricity. 

I have my Air Cooler on pretty much all day (bar a few hours) - it's 65 Watts - but even that on an 18 hour estimate of use per day she worked out to be only £10 per month.

My mother's Air Cooler / Heater is 75 Watts.


But here is a weird thing - my brother's Air Cooler / Heater sticker says it is 2100 Watts - surely that can't be right...?  EDIT...NEW INFO FOUND!!  SEE 2 POSTS DOWN...

makara

pochase said:

Almost unbelievable is a gas usage of 9500KWh between 27th of July and 27th of October

I may be mis-calculating - but the usage I made it is 848 ?  50192 minus 49344 ?

27 Oct 2021

Gas Standard

50192

27 Jul 2021

Gas Standard

49344