Scottish Hydro -gas bill help?

imported_Ducklet

Could someone please help me, i'm having difficulties understanding my Scottish Hydro - gas bill.
It has:

Standard energy=2197.06 kWh at 1.680p = 36.91
Monthly direct debit discount = 2.21
Service charge at 9.160p for 91 days = 8.33
VAT at 5.00% on charges of £43.03 = 2.15
TOTAL this invoice = 45.18
Balance from previous bill = 65.18
Payment received 15th April 2005 =15.00CR
Payment received 15th April 2005 =15.00CR
Budget account balance carried forward =80.36


I have already phoned them up regarding a previous bill and they ended up amending it. Am i being ripped off? I know for a fact i hadn't used to much gas as i was away from my flat for a solid month. Just live myself so i'm either out working or at my parents. I have an electric oven so that can't be the reason. Does that bill mean i owe £80.06 over and above my payment?

rchddap1

To my eyes this says that you owe in total £80.36. This is made up of £45.18 from this bill, and the rest (£35.18) is from the previous bill (after taking into account the credits made on 15th April).

We have an electric cooker, but our centarl heating is gas. If you were away for one month did you turn your central heating off, as well as your hot water heating. If not, this is where the gas will have been used.

imported_Ducklet

Yep i only had my gas coming on for an hour in the morning :-s

rchddap1

Have you tried turning everything off...taking a gas meter reading..leaving things for a while...and then checking the meter again. This should at least tell you if there is something strange going on. Other than that...I'm foxed.

amd

Hi imported_Ducklet,

My mum is also with Scottish Hydro. I've had to spend a while checking her bills and querying things so am familiar with them!

Looking at your bill - it's for 3 months usage which comes in at £45.
You're paying £15/month which should cover that usage - if readings are correct.

The bill only shows 2 £15 payments (not 3 for some reason) (presume typo on your dates!) therefore increasing your previous outstanding balance of £65 on last bill, to £80 on this one.

If you're using £15/month in summer, you should have been using much more last winter, so you should, in theory, be paying a bit more.

The problem with Scottish Hydro is that they seem to underestimate your usage and so you get gradually behind. My mum is 75 years old and her outstanding balance crept up over 3 years until she was £300+ in arrears! All this and she never missed a direct debit. My fault for not checking!!!:o

I'd give them a call and get them to work out your actual yearly usage from the meter readings - they did that for us. You need your monthly payments recalculated to account for your current usage and to clear the arrears gradually. Don't wait for them to do it.....the sooner you do it, the less the arrears can grow!

Hope that makes it a bit clearer!