Ridiculous overestimated gas usage

Green_hopeful

My son has a small flat, 36 m2 with 2 radiators and a towel rail. Eon estimate his usage will be 20600 kwh. We have four years of actual usage at circa 3000 kwh per year. 

So obviously we send monthly meter readings but they still keep trying to increase his direct debit. 

He normally pays £100 in the winter and £60 in the summer. This covers his usage and he never owes them any money but every three months they try to increase the direct debit to £186. We write in and ask them to keep it reasonable and normally they do it but this time they are saying let’s change it to £186 and see. He has £140 credit at the moment. 

Has anyone managed to change the Ofgem estimated usage. The estimate is nearly twice the national average and clearly that isn’t correct. 

Keep_pedalling

Get him to switch to variable DD. If Eon don’t offer that, switch to a supplier that does. I am with Octopus variable DD but I can set how much I pay per month (currently £10 in the summer and £70 the rest of the year. If my usage goes up in the very cold months I can make a one off payment to cover it. 

EssexHebridean

Ignore the estimated usage - he has actual use, the supplier has actual use, the supplier must allow a DD which is appropriate for the annual use plus a small amount of uplift to account for increased prices or an unusually cold winter - but I'd suggest that shouldn't be more than at most 15% on top. He needs to make a formal complaint to the supplier about the unreasonably high DD, pointing them to his actual use (I take it for avoidance of doubt you have checked that the current billing is based on the actual meter readings supplied  by him?) 

While variable DD is always there as an option (even if one has to change suppliers to get it) it doesn't suit everyone, and in any event, doesn't solve the actual root problem. 

As an aside - and this is only a "gut feeling" as I've not done any sums on it, but £100 in the winter and £60 in the summer sounds like high payments anyway for a use of just 3000kWh p/a - and especially allowing that you say that he only has credit going into winter of £140 too. Are you sure that he's not a duel fuel customer and his electric is factored in here as well? On the face of that credit he is below the current recommendation for where he should be at this point in the year - and that might be why they are insisting that things need adjusting. We use roughly double his gas amount and that level of DD would cover my use easily enough. 

Green_hopeful

@EssexHebridean it does include electricity usage so its correct. 

He is my youngest child so he sends me a photo of his gas meter and i do the meter reading online. He can be quite responsible but some things don’t feature on his horizon. To be fair if my mum was willing to deal with my bills I might go for it. Ironically i do her meter readings as well. 

I think we might look to switch and see if it works out better on a pay as you go tariff. 

EssexHebridean

I'm going to suggest that if he still has a parent looking after sending his meter readings then the chances are he may not be a good candidate for variable DD - to avoid financial issues you do need to have a good grasp of your household budgets and your use, too. 

There is definitely something odd about that use and the associated DD amounts as stands though - presumably he's a high electricity user and that's what makes the difference. Lots of use of a gaming computer, perhaps? 

Brie

EssexHebridean said:

I'm going to suggest that if he still has a parent looking after sending his meter readings then the chances are he may not be a good candidate for variable DD - to avoid financial issues you do need to have a good grasp of your household budgets and your use, too. 

There is definitely something odd about that use and the associated DD amounts as stands though - presumably he's a high electricity user and that's what makes the difference. Lots of use of a gaming computer, perhaps? 

how would that effect his gas use?

MikeJXE

I’m in a small 1 bed with 5 radiators, set at. 18 degrees 24/7 and use 3000 kWh gas and 550 kWh Electric and pay £51 monthly with Octopus

You don’t mention electric so not sure what his DD covers 

It’s good you keep records as I do then no one can tell you an estimate with any accuracy 

Green_hopeful

@EssexHebridean his electricity usage isn’t mad but no gaming. It’s about 2000 kwh per year but his oven and hob are electric and they tend to run a dehumidifier quite a bit. 

We have a shared household email address so i know exactly what is going on with the bills.  It works quite well for young people as well as older people. We have house email accounts for sons and parents and an auntie we look after.

vic_sf49

Re the estimated annual usage, are his bills definitely based on the supplied readings, and not estimated readings?

There's been a few posts over the years, where people have submitting readings, and their utility company has been ignoring them.

Also, is he 100% sure which meter is his, as you mention a flat?

And do the meter numbers (mpan / mprn) match what is on the bills?

Edited to add, isn't the estimated usage, at least based on previous usage at that address, maybe adjusted if a colder winter is expected? I'm not absolutely sure. BRB after checking what my bill says.

Another edit. Octopus has my estimated usage about right. Maybe a smidge low, if anything.

Not that any of that solves the high estimated usage. 

Green_hopeful

@vic_sf49 his bills are correct and he is paying the right amount but they keep trying to change is direct debit because they estimate the annual usage as 20600 kwh just for gas. 

The gas meter is definitely his because its in the bedroom cupboard. 

We had a right old time when he moved in and it turned out the gas supply had been illegally connected by a previous owner. They had hot connected to the supply to the block of flats. Cadent were quite excited about it for a little while but eventually we got it regularised. As a result there was no previous usage because the connection was illegal.