We are £1326.26 in credit with our gas and electric, should we ask for it back?

williewonder

Its been a cold winter so far here in England and we’ve used £681.78 this month for gas and electric, I live with 3 other people in a big 4 bedroom house which is over 150 years old, and we have the heating on all the time, my housemates opens the window if its too hot instead of turning  down the heating and one housemate keeps the kitchen door open if his dog is outside so the cold does get in. I don’t know if £681.78 a month is a lot of money for energy for a 4 bedroom house.? but we can afford it so it’s not a problem really. We are £1323.26 in credit with our gas and electric? Should be ask for that back from the energy suppler or keep it as it is, we already have the heating on 24/7 and each our monthly payements are covering the bills. 

marcia_

williewonder said:

Its been a cold winter so far here in England and we’ve used £681.78 this month for gas and electric, I live with 3 other people in a big 4 bedroom house which is over 150 years old, and we have the heating on all the time, my housemates opens the window if its too hot instead of turning  down the heating and one housemate keeps the kitchen door open if his dog is outside so the cold does get in. I don’t know if £681.78 a month is a lot of money for energy for a 4 bedroom house.? but we can afford it so it’s not a problem really. We are £1323.26 in credit with our gas and electric? Should be ask for that back from the energy suppler or keep it as it is, we already have the heating on 24/7 and each our monthly payements are covering the bills. 

 Very unlikely they will give it back until spring given what you have said re monthly payments. 

GingerTim

Where are you in England? Apart from a couple  of weeks in November it's been a very mild winter so far.

£681.73 per month is an enormous amount - is that the size of your monthly direct debit or an actual bill? It sounds like a direct debit amount and you have built up a couple of months' buffer going in to winter - but the, frankly, rather wasteful habits of your household will eat into that if it does turn cold.

You need to have a look at your bills to see how much energy you have actually used. If can post the latest meter reading on your latest bill and a meter reading from twelve months ago, and tell us the details of your tariff (daily standing charge and the cost per kwh) some helpful person on here will be able to work out if your direct debit amount is enough to cover your usage.

williewonder

I don’t understand the letter so it would be very helpful if we are paying too much?` This is just for gas, electric is £173.89 for the month.

debitcardmayhem

I note that your statement says Estimated readings, you really should supply meter readings regularly , do you not have a smart meter(sj.?
Take readings now and let us know what they are. You may not be in credit or may be overpaying , keep records of the meter at least monthly.

luci

williewonder said:

Its been a cold winter so far here in England and we’ve used £681.78 this month for gas and electric, I live with 3 other people in a big 4 bedroom house which is over 150 years old, and we have the heating on all the time, my housemates opens the window if its too hot instead of turning  down the heating and one housemate keeps the kitchen door open if his dog is outside so the cold does get in. I don’t know if £681.78 a month is a lot of money for energy for a 4 bedroom house.? but we can afford it so it’s not a problem really. We are £1323.26 in credit with our gas and electric? Should be ask for that back from the energy suppler or keep it as it is, we already have the heating on 24/7 and each our monthly payements are covering the bills. 

The temperatures in the UK seem to have been above average for the past few weeks. We’re only in the first month of winter, so if you think it’s been cold, the next 2 months are typically the lowest of the year.

Do you really need the heating on all the time, especially overnight? You don’t appear to be using your heating very efficiently or economically.

If you or your housemates are having to open windows to let out excess heat, you are throwing money away unnecessarily. Do you have thermostatic radiator valves (TRV)? If so, they should keep the temperature at a comfortable level. If not, fitting them should save a lot of money. I hope the housemate with the dog at least closes the door from the kitchen to the rest of the house when they let the dog out.

£681.78 seems very high to me. You say you can afford it, but is that really the issue here? You're asking about a possible refund of a few pounds, yet are happy to squander much more than that by your use of energy. You also don’t seem to have any consideration for the environment or climate change by wasting energy.

You don’t say whether you’re on a fixed monthly DD, variable DD or pay on receipt of bill. £1323.26 in credit is not excessive. It’s around 2 month’s usage and you expect to be in credit at this time of year.

Your meter readings are estimates. Have you checked the actual readings on your meter to see if they’re accurate?

KxMx

Just so others are aware, this poster lives in Housing Association supported living (presumably with others that have similar needs), has a financial deputy to manage his money and needs a significant care package.

OP I know others have made a number of suggestions, I'm sure your support staff will be able to assist with meter readings etc. 

Exodi

Well first thing is your readings are estimated, so we can't really draw any concrete conclusions. Your actual usage could be far lower and you're due a huge refund, or it could be about right, or higher and your credit balance is swiftly gobbled up.

Assuming it is about right, your usage is flatly insane, you must know it is. That's not far off some older peoples mortgage payment.

I live with my wife and baby (under 1 so the house never gets too cold - e.g. below 18 in the rooms we're in, typically the living room is ~20), we own two electric vehicles and our monthly energy bill is under a fifth of yours. Now our house is a 3 bed (though generously sized) and there is 4 of you so I would expect your bill to be higher, but perhaps 50%, not 500%.

If the house is old and leaks heat, then it sounds like investing in insulation or a more efficient boiler would pay dividends.

Your housemates opening windows because it is too hot is flatly insane. I remember my when my siblings were still living at home, they also had a nice habit of whacking the heating to max, wearing shorts and t shirts with the window open, putting a fan on blowing at their face with an aircon unit running in their room. But as they didn't pay (or perhaps have any comprehension of) bills, they perhaps didn't realise what they were doing was as big of an issue as it was.

Are your housemates very young? Do they pay towards the actual usage (as opposed to paying a fixed figure for 'bills')? You mentioned they are housemates (tbh I thought they were your adult children), are you the landlord and they are lodgers? If they are not paying towards the inflated bill, there needs to be a provision for them to do so in the future, you shouldn't enable such wastefulness.

Being able to afford it doesn't mean it's not a problem. That could be £500 a month saving you could put towards saving for retirement, or going on holiday twice a year, or upgrading the car, or saving towards upgrading your insulation and/or boiler! It's a serious chunk of change to most households.

If we acquired a running leak and our water bill 10x'd overnight, we wouldn't ignore it just because we can afford to pay the higher bill.

That's not even considering the impact on the environment from you using an entire block of flats worth of gas.

tim_p

KxMx said:

Just so others are aware, this poster lives in supported living, has a financial deputy to manage his money and needs a significant care package.
OP I know others have made a number of suggestions, I'm sure your support staff will be able to assist with meter readings etc. 

it would appear that the financial deputy needs to up their game and actually do what they are, presumably, paid to do here. Guessing this is tax payers money we’re dealing with here. Supported living or not, £680 utility bills are a lot of money to not be keeping under tight control. 

MWT

KxMx said:

Just so others are aware, this poster lives in Housing Association supported living (presumably with others that have similar needs), has a financial deputy to manage his money and needs a significant care package.

OP I know others have made a number of suggestions, I'm sure your support staff will be able to assist with meter readings etc. 

Hopefully whichever member of the support staff is responsible for sending in meter readings can be reminded that this is something they need to be doing on a monthly basis ...

Keep_pedalling

MWT said:

KxMx said:

Just so others are aware, this poster lives in Housing Association supported living (presumably with others that have similar needs), has a financial deputy to manage his money and needs a significant care package.

OP I know others have made a number of suggestions, I'm sure your support staff will be able to assist with meter readings etc. 

Hopefully whichever member of the support staff is responsible for sending in meter readings can be reminded that this is something they need to be doing on a monthly basis ...

And preferably  get smart meters fitted ASAP