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

PrudentEllie

Coffeekup said:

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.

Thanks Coffeekup, I'm rather glad I'm not alone in being confused - though I am less confused than I was earlier!  So glad to learn you have a cat too - mine is a rescue and is an indoor cat (I live on a main road so it was a condition of Cat's Rescue letting me have her).  She is much loved and just now demanding her lunch - what a life!

Seriously, my head is hurting rather a lot - so I will have to probably have a lie down for a bit and come back later to look up the pages people recommended  - with my very grateful thanks to you all for your help and kindness when my confusion must have sounded so very embarrassingly basic - you are all so very kind! 

Robin9

@PrudentEllie  - Winter Fuel Payment 

@PrudentEllie  - Winter Fuel Payment  - do you qualify ?   I think payment is automatic direct to Bank

The winter fuel payment for 2022/23 will be made available for households that include someone born on or before 25 September 1956.

Spoonie_Turtle

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?

The £400 is indeed being paid or credited through energy accounts.

The information about the Cost of Living Payments is here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/cost-of-living-payment

The payments show up in your bank with the reference 'DWP C O L'.  You don't need to apply, but if you should have been eligible and haven't recieved one or more, there is a link to report that your payment is missing.

If you claim PIP or DLA (or AA) and you claimed before May 25th this year, you should have had the Disability CoL payment of £150.

If you claim a means-tested benefit such as UC, income-related ESA, Income Support, etc. you probably were entitled to the £650 split into £326 (paid in July) and £324 (not paid yet).  I say probably because the qualifying dates are essentially 25th May and 25th September but all the exact details are in the link.

I have no idea how old you are; if you are a pensioner and were 66 by 25th September this year, you'll get the Winter Fuel Payment plus the extra £300.

Robin9

@PrudentEllie  You spoke of problems with the Electricity Meter - can anyone on the Forum help ?

ariarnia

we have a smart electric meter but a dumb gas meter and give readings on the last day of the month (always have and these are the ones we use for our spreadsheets) and when ovo tell us they want readings (which for us is the 16th as our month with them runs from when we joined on the 17th of a month a few years ago).

if we only give them readings at the end of the month then they update our bill to that point but the eventual bill for the month will be an estimate. that could be what he meant about needing a reading on the 31st (of this month i guess) if you don't want it to be estimated. 

if you are having problems on the phone maybe it would be better if next time if you need to talk to them again you email or use their chat service? then you won't be struggling to hear a quiet line and you have all the time you want to read what they say and ask as many questions as you want without being hung up on. and if they are rude or wrong in emails then you have a proper record of what was said that you can use to complain. 

it can take a few days to get back to yo but the email address is hello@ovoenergy.com and you can even send them the pictures of your meter to add the reading to your account so you don't have to get your neighbour to do it. 

Miser1964

The OP may benefit from having a Smart Meter installed to avoid the long spells of estimated readings and the supplier can provide more accurate bills based on actual use.

Also having benefits paid into bank account would avoid taxi to Post Office.

I believe the web site "entitled to" (search in Google) will show that benefits are available. The OP may be eligible for Attendance Allowance, for example. 

Robin9

Miser1964 said:

Also having benefits paid into bank account would avoid taxi to Post Office.

@PrudentEllie  Do you have a bank account 

Miser1964

Robin9 said:

Miser1964 said:

Also having benefits paid into bank account would avoid taxi to Post Office.

@PrudentEllie  Do you have a bank account 

The OP mentioned that OVO has a direct debit to pay the bills so I'd assumed so

Robin9

Miser1964 said:

Robin9 said:

Miser1964 said:

Also having benefits paid into bank account would avoid taxi to Post Office.

@PrudentEllie  Do you have a bank account 

The OP mentioned that OVO has a direct debit to pay the bills so I'd assumed so

Missed that.   My £150 came direct to my Bank Account.  So @PrudentEllie why the trips to the Post Office ?

SAC2334

Robin9 said:

Could you give us some of those meter readings please /

Are you aware that gas meters do not read in kWh directly  - modern ones  read in m3 and then conversion factors of 11.2 -  that may explain a confusion..

11,533 kWh a year is not high - mine has been off for over 6 months as well and I expect this year to be about 15,000 kWh

One of the most common smart gas meters, Secure Liberty eg4, does read directly into kwh  as well as the usual M 3.
The kwh screen is I think on 4 th press of button 9 

Odd conversion to kwh s though as it appears to multiply the total M 3 by 11.06 to reach kwh s , not 11.2 or 11.3 
This is one of the false readings that some submit with this confusing meter as they send off total kwhs sometimes and get a bill 11 times more than they should get .