Please help - estimated gas bill ten times what it should be

Coffeekup

BooJewels said:

I think you're closer @Coffeekup - the second post appeared whilst I was already typing.  Using half of 2 years readings as an annual average gives rise to an average annual bill of £1370.28 = a monthly DD for gas alone of £114 - so the £185/month they've quoted for both fuels sounds plausible.

Yes.. once you take in to account the electric. Using 90kwh's a month of electric which is low will set you back £50 now or £600 a year.
Add on the £1,400 for gas and that's £2,000 annually or £170 a month

Robin9

PrudentEllie said:

The reading on 1 Oct was 18697 and today it is 18717 - meaning I've used 20 cubic metres of gas in just under two weeks.... which means I'm going to be turning the heating off again except for drying washing.... 

Please don't do that -  it's important that you don't get cold.   20 m3 is about £20 - is £10 a month really too big a price to pay ?

The Government is giving you money -  you have already had £150 and the initial Part of the £400 . Did you also qualify for the £364 ?  .  Do you also qualify for the Winter Fuel Allowance which will be £500.  ?  Also Warm Homes Discount ?

PrudentEllie

Thank you so much all of you, Robin9, BooJewels, Coffeekup, Tucosalamanca, and MWT!   My internet connection keeps dropping out - so frustrating, I keep missing things and having to log in again twenty minutes later!  Thank you all for your help, it is very much appreciated I assure you.  Wouldn't it have been nice if the man from OVO had had the intelligence and decency to say any of this to me - such a lot of misery would have been saved!  

Does anyone think the man from OVO's last idea that the computer only accepted meter readings taken and submitted on the 31st of each month is true - surely it can't be??  He said that the computer had ignored all my meter readings as they weren't on the 31st of the month... yet from what you all say they seem about right now that it has been explained to me, therefore that has to be a load of hooey.

 

Tucosalamanca

MWT said:

Tucosalamanca said:

A typical boiler will be 24kw, even a small one is 15kw.
If we assume just two hours of use with a small 15kw boiler, that would be 30kwh or approx £3.09 plus standing charge per day.

Just to avoid this comment causing unnecessary concern, that isn't how gas boilers work, they don't run at full blast all the time they are on, they modulate the burn as needed and will often spent a significant amount of time not burning at all.

I've deleted the comment to avoid any misunderstanding

Robin9

PrudentEllie said:

Thank you so much all of you, Robin9, BooJewels, Coffeekup, Tucosalamanca, and MWT!   My internet connection keeps dropping out - so frustrating, I keep missing things and having to log in again twenty minutes later!  Thank you all for your help, it is very much appreciated I assure you.  Wouldn't it have been nice if the man from OVO had had the intelligence and decency to say any of this to me - such a lot of misery would have been saved!  

Does anyone think the man from OVO's last idea that the computer only accepted meter readings taken and submitted on the 31st of each month is true - surely it can't be??  He said that the computer had ignored all my meter readings as they weren't on the 31st of the month... yet from what you all say they seem about right now that it has been explained to me, therefore that has to be a load of hooey.

 

Unfortunately those who work in Customer Services for the Energy Companies have a poor reputation for quality.

OVO's users may comment about only providing readings on the last day of the month.

Coffeekup

PrudentEllie said:

Does anyone think the man from OVO's last idea that the computer only accepted meter readings taken and submitted on the 31st of each month is true - surely it can't be??  He said that the computer had ignored all my meter readings as they weren't on the 31st of the month... yet from what you all say they seem about right now that it has been explained to me, therefore that has to be a load of hooey.

I couldn't say for sure I've never been with ovo, but previous suppliers I've had I always give them a manual read on the 30th +/- 3 day's as I like to know my own usage, I always like to check it year on year too, to see if I'm using more or less or if I can cut back.

Maybe he just means if they get a reading by the 31st they can generate a more accurate bill (without estimates) if that's the case Dona meter reading every month on the 28/29 or 30th of every month.

Whilst your In the energy forums check out a few threads on cutting back energy use, and other ways of keeping warm. @HertsLad has a thread on how he wraps up warm, and others say they feel the cold and sit on sofa with an electric blanket instead of having the heating on at this time of year, some other things you may find of interest too.

PrudentEllie

Thank you Robin9 - it is just that I am in debt and slowly trying to get out of it and I have a possible/probable brain tumor hanging over my head (if you see what I mean!  Sorry - hospital humour!) - but you are quite right, and having a little gentle heat does make it a bit easier for my awfully wobbly legs to work a bit if they are warmer - and so I don't sound too pathetic, my cat highly approves of the heating too! 

I had the £150 - I had to get a taxi to the local post office, I've recently had notification of £200 from the Welsh government which I have to go to the post office to collect in the next couple of weeks....  Is the £400 from the government (London) being paid directly into our electricity and gas accounts?  I thought so....  but as for the other things you mentioned, I'm sorry to say I haven't got a clue - do I have to apply for them?

BooJewels

@PrudentEllie - I'm sorry that we haven't been able to bring you more positive news.  You do think, if you'd been querying that they were quoting you numbers that were ten-fold plus what you were expecting, that the meter being read in m³ and needed to be converted to kWh for billing might have been explained to you.  But sadly, I'm not sure some of the staff in call centres even understand this.

In respect of the meter reading timing - I used to have accounts with Avro and one of the properties (an estate property I was selling) proved more problematic than my own, timing-wise.  I would submit readings when they asked me to, but then get an estimated bill anyway - which was always a fiver more than I'd used that month.  After some back and forth, we were able to establish the exact time to submit my reading to get a bill that reflected actual use.  But the estimates were never far out and did even itself out over time, but was an annoyance to me.  So even if you don't submit a reading at just the right time, they probably base any estimates on numbers you've given them in the intervening period, so it probably isn't that far out.

But I do strongly recommend that you do take a meter reading each month at a set date that suits you - or get help if it's not easy for you - so that you can run your own plausibility check on your billing and at least understand your usage.  If nothing else, the more reliable data you have to hand, the easier it is to argue any problems that arise.  

BooJewels

Just an additional quickie - the Warm Home Discount criteria has changed recently, but this is the latest page on it - I think it gets paid somewhere between November and Christmas.

Coffeekup

PrudentEllie said:

I had the £150 - I had to get a taxi to the local post office, I've recently had notification of £200 from the Welsh government which I have to go to the post office to collect in the next couple of weeks....  Is the £400 from the government (London) being paid directly into our electricity and gas accounts?  I thought so....  but as for the other things you mentioned, I'm sorry to say I haven't got a clue - do I have to apply for them?

Is being paid £66 in October 66 in November and £67 in December, January, February and march... So if you're DD is £185 currently it'll go down to £119 for this month.
That being said different supplier's are doing slightly different thing's from what I hear I can't keep up with it all, I could be wrong but I think different region's like Scotland and Wales have slightly different systems. I'm basing the above on what's happening to me.

As for the cat I have one that lives outside all year, she doesn't need any central heating.