Firmus First Time User - How should I pay??

therabbitt

Hello one and all!

I have recently moved into a newbuild flat which comes with gas hob and gas fired electric heating. We have a 3 bed flat and we have always been very frugal users of our heating, I'd always reach for a jumper or two than turn her on! Waste not want not, plus my jumpers are cosy!

We have been signed up to Firmus as our providers and they have given us two options of how to pay for our gas. We can pay monthly as a lump set fee of £40, which can then be adjusted depending on actual consumption or we can pay quarterly related to how much we actually use.

Ive never had gas and am a complete novice, what is our best bet?? Any kind of help greatly appreciated?

If anyone has any general advice on patterns for setting it to come on on its own or whatever, then let me know too. Remember complete novice (I'd only just gotten used to using heating oil!) here in NI!!!!!!

Muchos gracias

Ken68

Hi Rabbitt......this board would be more helpful.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=78

There is a sticky about oil prices.

mute_posting

Ken68 wrote: »

Hi Rabbitt......this board would be more helpful.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=78

There is a sticky about oil prices.

Why would a discussion about oil prices help OP decide how to pay their gas bill?

Hi OP

What type of heatig do you have?

Regardless, you often get a discount (say 5%) for paying your bill by monthly DD.
My advice would be to watch your usage for a couple of months and make sure that the DD is covering your usage.

this link may help with setting advice..

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/content/download/1539/10344/version/3/file/publications_how_to_take_control_heating_controls.pdf

Basically, turn heating on only when needed (don't leave it on 24/7 "on low" thinking it will save energy)

HTH

MP

Ken68

Ooops sorry Rabbit..lost it there. Northern Ireland Gas.
http://www.firmusenergy.co.uk/publisher/index.jsp

notbritishgas

therabbitt wrote: »

Hello one and all!

I have recently moved into a newbuild flat which comes with gas hob and gas fired electric heating. We have a 3 bed flat and we have always been very frugal users of our heating, I'd always reach for a jumper or two than turn her on! Waste not want not, plus my jumpers are cosy!

We have been signed up to Firmus as our providers and they have given us two options of how to pay for our gas. We can pay monthly as a lump set fee of £40, which can then be adjusted depending on actual consumption or we can pay quarterly related to how much we actually use.

Ive never had gas and am a complete novice, what is our best bet?? Any kind of help greatly appreciated?

If anyone has any general advice on patterns for setting it to come on on its own or whatever, then let me know too. Remember complete novice (I'd only just gotten used to using heating oil!) here in NI!!!!!!

Muchos gracias

Can you clarify this? Do you mean it is a gas boiler but uses electric for the pump and controls, if so the electric used is not a lot so you have gas heating.

therabbitt

Yes - I think it is gas heating with an electric control unit, sorry about the confusion. It controls our hot water too, whenever we turna hot water tap it fires up.

At the minute we have not set the heating to come on at any specific time, just fire it on for 20 mins here or there if we feel a wee chill. Considering setting for 20/30 mins in the morning to make the house warm for getting up.

If we remain frugal in our use of the gas, perhaps we would be better paying monthly by DD and seeing what the bills are like??

Any other thoughts much appreciated

notbritishgas

therabbitt wrote: »

Yes - I think it is gas heating with an electric control unit, sorry about the confusion. It controls our hot water too, whenever we turna hot water tap it fires up.

At the minute we have not set the heating to come on at any specific time, just fire it on for 20 mins here or there if we feel a wee chill. Considering setting for 20/30 mins in the morning to make the house warm for getting up.

If we remain frugal in our use of the gas, perhaps we would be better paying monthly by DD and seeing what the bills are like??

Any other thoughts much appreciated

Thanks for clarification. I think you understand that if you pay monthly this is not a "use as much gas as you like" situation, you could use more than £40 worth or less, so you could end up with a credit or debit balance.
When you have been in the flat about a year they will know what your annual usage is and set a more accurate monthly amount.
I do not know what Firmus do but most suppliers give a lower rate if you pay by Direct debit monthly.

therabbitt

notbritishgas wrote: »

Thanks for clarification. I think you understand that if you pay monthly this is not a "use as much gas as you like" situation, you could use more than £40 worth or less, so you could end up with a credit or debit balance.
When you have been in the flat about a year they will know what your annual usage is and set a more accurate monthly amount.
I do not know what Firmus do but most suppliers give a lower rate if you pay by Direct debit monthly.

Ok, so I should just set up a monthly direct debit?

notbritishgas

therabbitt wrote: »

Ok, so I should just set up a monthly direct debit?

As I have said I do not know Firmus's T&C's but normally monthly direct debit is the cheapest.

However check your bills when they come in and if the meter reading has been estimated make sure you ring them with an actual reading. Then check the bottom line of the bill to see if you are in credit or debit, very high figures either way could mean the monthly debit is too low or high.

But you can perhaps expect to be in credit in the summer months or debit in the winter months due to different usage, but on the yearly anniversary of starting the DD the debit/credit on the bill should be approx £0.