general how much do you pay Q

joe13

Van1971 wrote:

2 bed flat, 1 kid, we were paying £42 a month for both gas and electricity (Powergen) but just got a letter saying that they've increased our DD to £144 a month because we haven't been paying enough in the past 2 years.

I gave them my meter readings hoping to prove them wrong but after updating my account they actually raised my DD to £166 a month! :eek:

We were also under paying and they have recently raised our DD from £56 per month to £89. Originally they asked for £116 per month, I queried this and we settled on £89. This is for gas and elec combined on a 4 bed home.
I try to be economical , I only use the tumble dryer on wet days, only use the dishwasher for a full load and always turn off lights when not in a room.

Joto_2

Can you not work out from your bills from the last 12 months how much you should be paying a month, plus a little for increases. Over the years everytime our DD's have gone up and I've asked them how they got to this figure we have always ended up paying less. Don't forget while your in credit they are making interest on your money

barbie_babe

i pay 40 a month electricity and in cold weather aprox 50 in gas (its bottled so costs more).no gas in summer.we have a three bed house 2 adults and four kids .

flea72

you say that your monthly dd has no bearing on how much you use, but what my OP was refering to was, 'is my meter up the shoot'?

its ok saying i use so many units of elec, but that only makes a dd seem expensive, if you are using a costly provider - not the fact that even though i have very few electrical appliances, and use very little electricity, i still seem to be paying lots more than someone else in the same type of house/social position as myself

i would expect there to be no more than £5 - £10 difference per month between the different providers, so im questioning whether mine is high or not

even compared to my parents house, twice the size of mine, less tight with their electrical consumption, home all day, and with the same elec provider - they still pay less per month than me, and also tend to find they are in credit come the end of the year

i just wondered if i was deluding myself, as to how much i should be paying?

flea

Helen_from_yorkshire

You can ask your electricity provider to run a test on your meter to check it is calculating the number of units you use correctly. There is no charge for this if they find out that the meter is faulty but if it is ok there is a charge, not sure how much though.

black-saturn

I'm one adult and 2 children in a 2 bedroom house and here's what I pay each month:

Electric - £13
Gas - £5
BT - £25
Sky - £35
Water - £10.41
TV Lic - £9.99

I must admit though that I am really strict with everything and am constantly switching things off and measuring out water before I boil it etc etc.

vansboy

At a guess - unless there are any Moneysavers that work in the callcentres, to correct me, the computer works out the figures from previous spending, plus projucted price increases, plus does a credit check on us, to see what they think we can afford.

Ours is £30 & £30, 4 bed detached- for Grandma 2 bed flat, just £4 less!!

VB

anniecave

? a credit check to see what they think we can afford ? I wish!

I would think its based purely on previous annual consumption (and possibly projected price increases), factoring in whether the relevant electricity / gas account is currently in debit or credit.

We've been in our flat over a year and still waiting for a bill! And not for lack of trying! When it comes, it will be be big... arghh!

Gambler

Helen_from_yorkshire wrote:

You can ask your electricity provider to run a test on your meter to check it is calculating the number of units you use correctly. There is no charge for this if they find out that the meter is faulty but if it is ok there is a charge, not sure how much though.

Any idea how much this costs?

vansboy

Gambler - think it's more than £100 - sure to be an amount to make you think twice, just in case their right & the customers not!!


Annicave - I know what you mean, but I'll bet they do some check, just in case they think that 'why are they changing' in case £$£$£ situation is changed?? Then they could ask for some deposit, or look a bit deeper!!

VBk