Huge gas and electricity bill

[SueOrr0103]

Hello,

We just received our bill for gas and electricity for last 3 months and it was around ?900!! This sounds ridiculous to me so was wondering if anyone has had a similar bill at all. It was a particularly cold winter and the prices are rising, but ?300 per month does sound excessive.

We, my husband and I, live in a 3 bed semi and work during the day, so use up gas and elec only in the evenings/ weekends. Hence a bit surprised.

Would love to hear from any of you. many thanks,

Sue

[JohnL]

My bill has doubled in 5 years, so I'd think that would be similar

They have changed the method of totting it up (NPower did anyway) - or check you haven't

had a year or two of estimated bills (like my water bill :( )

[CocoC]

That does sound a bit high Sue. Like you, we live in a 3 bed house (terrace though, not semi) and our combined gas and elec for three months was ?400 and something. I thought that was pretty steep but I can now see that maybe we got a good deal!

[SueOrr0103]

JohnL, yes we are with NPower as well, will chk tonight how they've added the bill and will probably speak to them.

CocoC, who is your supplier? probably its time to switch!?

Sue

[stacey-lyn]

Is it estimated? Whenever we've had an estimated bill, it's been astronomical. The actual meter readings are not nearly as high, albeit still exorbitant. If it's estimated, call the provider & supply the reading - they'll send you an amended bill.

[Alan Medic]

Someone else started a similar thread recently. My own bill for the last quarter was the highest its ever been. BG kindly sent me an email as to how I could save about ?60 a year. Big deal.

I think the biggest problem with suppliers is it seems impossible to compare like for like or is it a case of doing more research?

[indiepanda]

Alan Medic Wrote:

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>

> I think the biggest problem with suppliers is it

> seems impossible to compare like for like or is it

> a case of doing more research?

I think provided you know your actual consumption and what plan you are on with your current provider it's quite easy to compare suppliers using sites like uswitch. I've been pretty slack at taking meter readings but after getting stung with a bill for ?1300 for 6 weeks of gas (I protested and ended up not paying) I take them regularly now - once I have a year's worth I will be comparing prices.

http://www.uswitch.com/

[the-e-dealer]

I pay ?183 a month. Do you have a very large house with a duckhouse?

[Jeremy]

SueOrr0103, how many kWh were used, and how much were you charged per kWh? Then maybe you can compare with others on here.

[Lowlander]

There's a list of comparision websites and useful advice here. It's incredibly easy to compare energy suppliers.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity

Put in your usage or bills and they will calculate how much you can save by switching.

Good advice on switching things off, although mobile phone chargers are pennies a year.

[Alan Medic]

I'm not sure it's so easy given the ifs, buts and maybes there are with so many tariffs offered. Someone was saying as much on the radio this morning stating that it's just not as simple as comparing petrol prices.

[Lowlander]

Yes, not as simple as petrol prices, but the comparison websites do all the work. Put in your current supplier, tariff and consumption in ? or KwH.

Even Which magazine have a dedicated site. Will take you less than 5 minutes.

[SueOrr0103]

Hi guys thanks very much for all the info and suggestions. I will use the price comparison sites first and then start tracking my meter reaings every month.

Its mainly Gas thats very expensive. It was about ?200 for gas pm these last 3 months. The high VAT on the total bill does not help either.

[rememberwhen]

I hope you are only paying the domestic 5% VAT tariff?

If you use a large amount of gas you may be charged at 20% as a commercial customer!

Please check following your comment about high VAT

[Strawbs]

We had a bill like that once for over ?1000 and they were reading the meter incorrectly (apparently there are two different types of measurements they can use and they were using the wrong one) after them three times coming out and continuing to read the meter incorrectly we took a picture of the meter and sent it in and they rectified it down to a couple of hundred quid.

Take a picture, get an email address of someone at Npower and get it checked.

We are with Npower and for a 2 bed flat now pay ?107 a month in gas and ?60 in elec and both work so the heating isnt on 24x7.

[Alex K]

Two-up, two-down tarpaper shack (but terraced rather than free-standing, and double-glazed) in the cul-de-sac estate tucked between Dulwich Hamlet Football Club and the railway line. ?435 for the last three months' worth of nPower combined electricity and gas. Similar timed approach: Two hours in the morning, three in the evening.

Around November we started baking the breakfast bacon crispy (electric) rather than stove-top frying it (gas). Bet that's what done it.

[Tatty Mum]

Check that you are not being billed by cubic foot when your meter is metric and therefore cubic metres - this can result in being overcharged by 2.83 times. Very common when you regularly switch suppliers and they are never in a hurry to refund you the difference - http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theoneshow/2009/12/is-a-gas-meter-mixup-costing-y.shtml

[MrBen]

Gas is on the up anyway but its also been a long cold winter - so everyone is feeling higher bills as a result. These victorian/Edwardian huts we all prize might look great but even the refurbed ones are less energy efficient than many decent new builds.

[Nigello]

Have you lagged your roof and filled in the gaps between floor-boards? Have you thought of only putting on the upstairs rads about an hour before you go to bed? I do that and have noticed a difference in bill amounts. Do all the usual stuff - turning of the lights, boiling only enough water you need, doing fewer washing machine cycles etc - and you'll hopefully cut your bills.

[Sue]

Individual thermostats on rads helps as well.

Until I had those, I always found the upstairs rooms were far too hot, because heat rose from below but I had to have the heating on quite high to have a comfortable temperature in the living room.

[Andybol]

Sue

Is it an estimated bill or from a reading you took. If estimated it tends to pick a specific period of time and extrapolates that out. So if you were heating a 3 bed 24hours for a few days and it happens that the estimate calculations is based on that period then it will be abnormally high.

[meadow408]

The same thing happened to me: I live in a 2 bed flat in a newish block; I usually pay around 125 a month for both gas and elect with Npower: then suddenly I got a revised bill for 350 a month!! Several calls later, many readings provided and silly questions like:" have you installed a hot tub? Underfloor heating or servers room?" (!!!) Npower finally aknowledged that they might have made a mistake... I have a feeling they try to pull a fast one every now and then...

[gm99]

We used 50% more gas in the last six months than the previous year (based on actual readings, not estimates) and just got a massive bill. Ironically, this was after we had proper thermostatic/timer controls installed for our boiler/central heating - I think we were much more frugal when operating the system manually. But it has been (is it too soon to say was?) a long cold winter.

[SCSB79]

Check they have not calculated it wrongly by using cubic feet rather than cubic metres... or the other way round?? We got a bill a few years back that was astronomical and when querried further, it turned out that they had used the wrong measurement and it was multiplied by three as a result...

Can't remember whether it is cubic feet or metres it should be... might be worth googling and looking into it???

[Andybol]

Hey SCSB79

It depends what the meter measures it in. More modern meters often measure at M3 but older one in ft3. But yes it could be that they have used a wrong calculation although nowadays that's very, very rare as the billing is automated.

Sue

Remember that prices went up by on average 11% for Gas across the board in October as well so a combination of increased prices and perhaps increased use as a result of a naff summer and prolonged winter could be the reason? Are you a Direct Debit Payer as well as depending on when the contract started could mean you not being able to average out your payments throughout the and having to pay a balnace at the end of each year i.e. if your contract started in winter your yearly consumption will appear bigger than if you start your contract in Summer.

And yes I totally am an energy geek and can recommend Uswitch - just be careful of cancellation charges that you can accrue moving from one supplier to another.

:D

Andy

SCSB79 Wrote:

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> Check they have not calculated it wrongly by using

> cubic feet rather than cubic metres... or the

> other way round?? We got a bill a few years back

> that was astronomical and when querried further,

> it turned out that they had used the wrong

> measurement and it was multiplied by three as a

> result...

> Can't remember whether it is cubic feet or metres

> it should be... might be worth googling and

> looking into it???