electric direct debit rise

scooby2sue

Hi, I was wondering if someone could give me some advice, i live in a 3 bedroom semi detatched house and british gas have put my direct debit up to £160 for electric and my gas has remained the same at £41, it just seems a lot for my electric i don't live in a mansion my original direct debit was £125 which i considered high, i have a debt with them of £341.42 and at the last quarter it was £469.21 so i have paid them more than £100 since the last statement off my debt. It says on my statement i used £238.96 in electric and paid them £375. I don't know what to do to get it reduced and nearly a quarter of my husbands wages go to british gas, does anybody have any advice please?

Thanks Sue

scooby2sue

There as been no change and the statement is after the meter was read.

Cardew

Al_Mac wrote: »

Check the readings are not estimates and are accurate.

Have you had a meter change, from imperial to metric, apparently can cause problems.

The problem is with Electricity. Imperial and Metric meters are for gas!

For a house with gas(presumably for CH) the OP seems to be using huge amounts of electricity.

For OP

The payments made are not a reflection of consumption when you have large debit balances.

You need to tell us what your electricity consumption is in kWh - preferably for the last year.

Are you using electricity for any heaters - including water heaters?

scooby2sue

The statement says actual readings and my readings from 28th Nov reading was 13892 to 17th jan reading 15289, and then 18th jan reading 15289 to 25th february reading 16296. From 28th nov to 17th jan i used 1397kwh over 51 days and then from 18th jan to 25th feb i used 1007 over 39 days.

Thanks Sue

scooby2sue

Sorry if forgot to answer the question about water heaters, i don't have a water heater because we have a combi boiler i don't have a electric fire it is gas and i have a gas cooker i peg my washing out when i can and put some washing on the ceiling airer but with 4 kids i do have to use the dryer occasionally. Thanks Sue

Cardew

In 3 months you have used 2,400kWh which is very high(for a house with gas)

Bearing in mind that you use more in winter(lights on longer, dryer used more often etc) you are probably looking at an annual consumption of 8,000 to 9000kWh - the UK average is 3,300kWh

You don't say where you live, or what BG tariff you have(their Click 5 is cheapest) but even with that high consumption your annual bill should be around £800 - £900 so the £125 you were paying is way above that. Presumably you were paying a lot less that that?

You really need to cut down on consumption, and look at getting on a cheaper BG tariff(Click 5) or another company.

However your major problem is you are using too much electricity! Tumble dryers use lots of electricity!

scooby2sue

The problem is it has now gone to £160 per month and i am using nothing different and i wouldn't say a tumble dryer that is used occasionally would not cause me to use all this electric, i used to be on pre payment meters and when i first had them installed i was putting about £10 to £12 a week in the meter and then after a couple of years it started to go up to £25 per week and i didn't owe a bill at the time so we arranged to have the normal meters put in because i was told it would save me money, how wrong i was i have landed up with a bill because they were charging to little at the beginning and now the bill is coming down my direct debit is going through the roof, with nothing different in my house like i said i don't have a electric fire, water heater or electric cooker.

scooby2sue

Just a quick question would i be able to change supplier if i owe BG a bill?

shelly

scooby2sue wrote: »

Just a quick question would i be able to change supplier if i owe BG a bill?

I think to move supplier you have to settle any outstanding debts with the current supplier first.

We recently moved from Scottish Power to BG and BG told me if I owe anything to SP I have to settle that first before they will take over my supply.

WestonDave

Do you use an instant heat electric shower or one fed off the combi - and how long do your family spend showering. From personal experience unless you are doing a lot more than 4 TD loads per week, your monthly bill should be more like that amount per quarter. The only thing I can think of is that 6 of you are showering your electricity bill into the stratosphere!

scooby2sue

I don't have a electric shower, my shower runs off the combi boiler there is no electric involved in it.