General Chat

Yes my dad has gas the same as you but he thankfully capped his rate until next year so lucky for him the rise wont affect him yet.

Difficult one deciding what to do given that switching over to a different supplier is supposed to be painless and quick etc but it would seem thats not quite the case reading other people's experiences including my own!

Florence in the hebrides

Martin Lewis is suggesting that the October rise will be the same size. But I couldn’t find any reference to changing tariffs.

However, he does say if you are on a DD then you should give in a meter reading on 31st and state this needs to be charged on the rate of that date not the first of April.

The biggest chunk of my proposed increase is for Gas ( we cook by gas and have hot water and central heating)
Standing charges for both electricity and Gas are increasing too.

For electricity, I have what used to be called Economy 7.and usually do all the washing at off-peak rate.
I'm always awake early enough to boil the kettle ( not too much water !) on the night rate too for my morning hot drink.
I think I am already mindful about keeping costs down, but will sit down with daughter and decide whether or not we need to change tarriffs / supplier.

Is that what you thought the figure might be Gwyn?
What new units prices have you been given? Because these figure are based on you using the same amount of electric just at the higher unit price. So if you are able to reduce your daily usage by just say 2 units, that will bring it down.

Given that we are almost in Spring, you will use less for heating up until the Autumn so that will keep the bills down and those savings will help next winter.

My company does not have a daily standing charge, but slightly higher unit prices but its still cheaper than SSE who I was with for over 25 years.

Maggie, are you saying someone else will be paying money to your BG account from their bank account? Oh my goodness, what a shambles!! Really how difficult is it to set up! You give your bank details over the phone and it should only take a few minutes

I have come to the conclusion that moving house in regards to electricity accounts and telephone are the most stressful things to sort out. I have moved twice in 5 years and both times I had problems.

Florence in the hebrides

Well it would seem that they are going to want an extra £951 a year from me. :-0

Florence, the main problem is, the direct debit isn't set up to MY bank account, it's someone elses!

Names - I'm not surprised :-|
I want to change to Octopus.

Not much solace for Maggie but she is not alone:

/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10584497/Thousands-customers-let-switching-energy-suppliers-British-Gas-survey-suggests.html

Maggie!!!! What a saga. Good grief, I would be tearing my hair out by now. Although eventually after moving last May, Im now with Utilita, i checked my old a/c with SSE and there are still 2 dormant accounts from my last 2 addresses despite me asking many times to close them...they are at zero but still remain open.

It is a nightmare when you move house isn't it? You can just cancel the d/d if you wish through your on line banking or tel your bank to do it. This would stop them taking any more money until its sorted. have you gone to the Ombudsman? i did this and they were very helpful its just the procedure takes weeks.

Hope you get it sorted soon.

Florence in the hebrides

I have not been overly concerned about our monthly payment because I read our meters and I knew that we were £190 in credit as at 1 January, which I left as I knew bills were rising and we still had two colder months to come (if March was fine).

However, now I’ve read up, I expect our bill to rise by about the same amount as Belle’s as the energy price cap has risen to a max of 54% - and it could rise again around October.

There are calls for our government to reduce or abolish VAT on our bills which would mean a reduction in our monthly payments - but I am not holding out much hope of that happening!

Maddie, the sum of £1981 the energy company wants from you amounts to around £82 per month if your meter was read just before lockdown in March 2030. Does this seem to be an excessive amount for energy use when added to the monthly payments you have made?

For example, if I had been paying around £20 per month I would have expected a big bill. If I had been paying £60 per month I would query that £1981 was a too-high figure - unless you have the heating on all the time.

One final thought, if you feel that all other ducks are in a row - has anyone tapped into your electricity supply?

Energy suppliers??? I have (another) saga!

My provider was one that disappeared, and British Gas was, once again, foisted upon me. However, I DO know, I was over £200 in credit with the previous supplier.
I tried to log in to my online account, only to be constantly informed there were ‘technical issues’. This meant I couldn’t set up a direct debit, or see my bill - or even my account number.

Then I received a phone call informing me I owed £89, and had to pay it immediately. I pointed out that I couldn’t see y account etc etc – ‘Oh was the reply, yes, we are having problems, but you need to pay your bill’. ‘Okay’, says I. ‘So I pay my bill without knowing how it was worked out, or even knowing my account number?’ Apparently so. ‘What about my credit – can’t the bill be taken out of that?’ Apparently not, as it hasn’t been ‘processed’ yet.

Well, against my better judgement, I phone back and pay the bill, but demand a paper copy of ALL bills, including the one where BG took over, and my money back.

When I heard nothing, I went into their ‘chat’ room where I was informed I couldn’t have another account using the same email address! She also offered to set up a direct debit – which I refused. When I mentioned the credit – I was timed out. I waited for another ‘bot’, who also ‘timed out’ when I mentioned the credit, so I sent off an official complaint, which directed me t their ‘help’ page.

Then I received notice of my direct debit. I phoned about this, as I’d said I hadn’t wanted one set up, but decided what the heck, but wanted the date monies were to be taken out changed. They wanted £80 a month - £20 more than I had been paying. I phoned, she checked the details – it had been set up with another person’s account – it wasn’t even my bank!,

Then, despite saying I wanted to be contacted by email, I received texts about my complaint – which suddenly stopped when I mentioned the credit owed.

Last week, I received my revised direct debit details. The date had been changed, as had the amount – now it was £137 – but STILL from the wrong account!
For some unknown reason. I asked for the direct debit to be stopped.
I also received a paper bill – BG had (of course) underestimated my last ‘reading’ so the bill was more than it should have been! Oh yes, I DO have a smart ,meter – put in for the last tenant - but no handset, but BG have never managed the ‘automatic’ reading lark.

I just want to change providers, but while BG are playing silly b*ggers, it isn’t too easy.
I had a phone call 10 days ago from BG about all this, The lady gave me her email address to contact her, which I did, last Sunday, pointing out all the failures.
I received an automatic reply, saying they would reply within 3 days. I'm still waiting......

Oh dear Maddie!
Im guessing that you are all electric? I remember years ago, my grandmother hadnt had her meter read for over 2 years. They did send her letters when a man would call but she always said they were not convenient times!!
Anyway one day a letter said she had to get the meter read by someone and so dad read it.When the adjusted accoiunt arrived, she owed over £1000. Each quarter she had used more electric heaters as she felt the cold and so the q bills were increasing without her realising.
She paid it off and after that dad went over and read it every time a bill arrived to keep it up to date.

But it sounds a lot for a 1 bed room flat. Do you have a water heater on all the time, just a thought?

Like you Brian, i have always read my meter weekly and recorded the figures etc. I knew that on average then i was using around 8 units a day.

I am shocked though at hearing peoples electricity per month is over £200?? It seems a huge amount to me.

Florence in the hebrides

My son has a one bedroom and has been working from home, he has just been informed his electric will be £37 and his gas £54. Up from£27 and £40.

He admitted last year that he found he had big water bills. He had never bothered to check the payments.. Turned out his meter had been broken. It took ages to get replaced because of covid!!

Added: if you Google you should find several sites that give you the average usage for various sized ‘mansions’.

hallo
had a friend check meter and reading is correct
my mansion is a 1 bedroom flat
have asked for a break down but not heard from them since thursday
wil try them again tomorrow

If you keep your old bills then you can track back over your usage. It might be worth getting a more agile friend to check the meter as it might have been read incorrectly.

I’d want to know over how long this has been building up as that sum is very close to suggested price cap for the summer.

What size home do you have as someone might be able to give you some figures to compare.

hi florence61
i knew the bills were estimates but i cant see the meter under the stairs, should have asked for help but i dont like to impose, as to last meter reading they cant make up their minds but it must be just before lockdown,
i have been trying to work out how much electricity £1981 can buy,but no luck
i dont understand how it works
i pay on a budget plan and payments were increased at the last review
have to wait and see what they say
thank you
maddie

We have gas central heating so our electricity consumption is fairly low. My letter says it will rise by an estimated £400 a year, or £8 a week.

It also says to expect another rise at the end of October - just in time for winter!!

I make a point of reading the meters on the last day of every month and keeping a spreadsheet of the readings plus each bill as it comes in.

Eon have managed to re-activate their link to the electricity smart meter they installed when we were with them previously but it does not record the gas consumption.

We've managed to cut our usage a bit compared to the same period last year but the monthly DD has increased from £166-odd to £200 which is a little below the current consumption as you expect in the winter months but well below their estimated annual cost of £4,000, so even allowing for the heating (gas) bill to drop in the warmer weather I'm expecting to be paying £300 or £350 soon as I don't think the estimate allows for the increase in the price cap next month.

Maddie, when the last time you gave a meter reading prior to the guy reading it? Did you not get quarterly bills which would have shown if they were estimated?

Its a huge amount to be owing?

Florence in the hebrides

Belle, I bet you gulped when you read that! :-0

My 1st 2 units are going up from 32p to 52 p, rest of units 20p- 27p. But im on the cheapest tarrif and also have a smart meter so its always up to date.

Last year i didnt use heating from May til October, so i shall let my d/d continue building up credit for next winter.
We are luckier as im all electric and its a new house so well insulated. Infact yesterday i never put the heating on at all so only used 5 units which was for cooking, washing machine & hot water.

i have many friends whose bill just now is £200 a month!! so goodness knows what theirs will go up to.

Florence in the hebrides