Paying too much for electricity

Glendo1

So basically she's lied to me then? Wouldn't surprise me in the least to be honest. Hopefully in the summer I'll be leaving England so if it works out cheaper than what I'm paying now it's a bonus. I've no idea what my KWh usage is over the year tbh.

MWT

Glendo1 said:

Thanks all for your replies it's much appreciated. Called EDF just now and changed over to a direct debit fixed rate and will now be charged £127 a month. I must be mad I should have done this way back.

This isn't the answer, if your current bills are £270-300, and those bills are correct, it is unlikely that £127 a month is going to cover the annual total so you are going to be accumulating debt.

Your monthly cost outside of the peak heating months over winter will be lower, but not that low...

MultiFuelBurner

Glendo1 said:

So basically she's lied to me then? Wouldn't surprise me in the least to be honest. Hopefully in the summer I'll be leaving England so if it works out cheaper than what I'm paying now it's a bonus. I've no idea what my KWh usage is over the year tbh.

Ok so that's where you start, go through all your bills for an actual reading and go to the meter(s) today and get today's readings. Total up the kWh and divide by the number of days since you last actual reading and either multiple up to a year or divide to make a year. That will be your rough yearly estimate and allow you to set your correct DD.

If bills are marked as (E) estimates they are no good.

Remember it's winter now so ideally get an actual reading that comes about this time last year or close if you can to make the estimate more accurate.

DE_612183

Glendo1 said:

So basically she's lied to me then? Wouldn't surprise me in the least to be honest. Hopefully in the summer I'll be leaving England so if it works out cheaper than what I'm paying now it's a bonus. I've no idea what my KWh usage is over the year tbh.

It will say on your statement.

MWT

Glendo1 said:

Hopefully in the summer I'll be leaving England so if it works out cheaper than what I'm paying now it's a bonus.

Expect there to be a balance to pay when you leave, just keep an eye on your bills so you can see how much is still owed after each monthly payment.

The later in the summer you leave the more likely you will have paid enough to cover your use.

victor2

Glendo1 said:

So basically she's lied to me then? Wouldn't surprise me in the least to be honest. Hopefully in the summer I'll be leaving England so if it works out cheaper than what I'm paying now it's a bonus. I've no idea what my KWh usage is over the year tbh.

One of the "issues" with EDF is that they only bill once every 6 months, although they are supposedly changing over to a better billing system.

As others have said, you need to think in kWh, not £, and you need to understand that the fixed Direct Debit could well mean you are underpaying and will get a very nasty catch-up bill at some point in the future.

If you want to get on top of this, you MUST know what your usage has been in kWh. It will be shown on your statements, and with smart meters, there should be actual readings. If, for some reason, EDF are estimating your readings, they can be far away from your actual usage, and that can be to your benefit or go heavily against you.

If you can upload suitably redacted images of your latest statements (just the pages with the readings on), people may be able to help you more. Redacting them means hiding your name and address, and also the meter number and/or supply number, as that can identify you.

Gerry1

Glendo1 said:

So basically she's lied to me then? Wouldn't surprise me in the least to be honest.

With all due respect, unfortunately the problem is that you don't understand how Fixed DDs work.  The DDs aren't fixed, only the daily standing charge and the price per kWh.  Use more and you pay more, it's not All You Can Eat.

If dozy Ofgem were any good they'd ban the term 'Fixed DDs' and replace it with 'Equal DDs'.

Glendo1

Thanks for all your replies. So really there won't be much of a change expect a few hundred slapped on when I'm about to leave. Maybe I'll get in touch and tell them to charge a higher direct debit, if I can do that.

MWT

Glendo1 said:

Thanks for all your replies. So really there won't be much of a change expect a few hundred slapped on when I'm about to leave. Maybe I'll get in touch and tell them to charge a higher direct debit, if I can do that.

You can do that, but better to just do as suggested several times now and track your own consumption so you know exactly what you owe rather than remaining in the dark...

Glendo1

GingerTim said:

DE_612183 said:

Glendo1 said:

Thanks all for your replies it's much appreciated. Called EDF just now and changed over to a direct debit fixed rate and will now be charged £127 a month. I must be mad I should have done this way back.

This is NOT the answer to your issue / problem - in fact it could make things worse if they under-estimate your usage.

Which I think is what has happened to get the direct debit down to £127. I fear a nasty shock awaits in a few months' time unless the OP gets on top of this.

I make you right thinking that myself now.