Utility Bills

[Alfa2Evora]

Just had an email from the 8-limbed mollusc crowd pointing out that I'm now on their standard variable tariff after the expiry of my previous fixed-price dual-fuel deal with them, but they can offer me this as an alternative if I'm interested - it's a 3-bed bungalow, not Buckingham Palace, .

Your new quote

£4,717.81

Based on your estimated annual usage, not the figures you gave when signing up.

Tariff cost breakdown

⚡ Electricity

Daily standing charge	24.86p /day
Unit rate	26.39p /kWh
Exit fee	£0

🔥 Gas

Daily standing charge	26.10p /day
Unit rate	6.54p /kWh
Exit fee	£0

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Blimey, I signed up for a 2 year EDF dual fuel tariff 12 months ago.

For comparison, the rates are.

Electricity daily standing charge 19.95p per day.

Electricity unit rate 15.28p per kWh.

Gas daily standing charge 20.74p per day.

Gas unit rate: 2.495p per kWh.

All above tariffs include 5% VAT.

That’s around £1008 per year.

I think I’ll buy a big gas tank and some batteries and spend the next 12 months filling them up with cheap energy to use when my contract expires! 😀

[pete]

Is there any way I can cap the amount my provider takes on my direct debit

[Chillidoggy]

4 minutes ago, pete said:

Is there any way I can cap the amount my provider takes on my direct debit

No. When you sign up for it, you agree they can take varying amounts. But they have to tell you if or when the amount is changing.

[pete]

Don't agree with the amount and have sent readings to prove it

[Barrykearley]

On 23/11/2021 at 14:21, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

 

Electricity unit rate 15.28p 

Gas unit rate: 2.495p per kWh.

Can you send in the post? Couple of thousand units of electric and three hundred therms of gas please.

25 minutes ago, pete said:

Is there any way I can cap the amount my provider takes on my direct debit

An absolute nightmare - I simply gave up and cancelled the direct debit payment method - got fed up with the hassle of ringing them when they decide to go from £100 to £400 per month just cos they fancy it

[Chillidoggy]

20 minutes ago, pete said:

Don't agree with the amount and have sent readings to prove it

I always photograph each meter so I have a record on the day the reading was taken. 

[pete]

16 minutes ago, Barrykearley said:

Can you send in the post? Couple of thousand units of electric and three hundred therms of gas please.

An absolute nightmare - I simply gave up and cancelled the direct debit payment method - got fed up with the hassle of ringing them when they decide to go from £100 to £400 per month just cos they fancy it

What happens when you cancel the direct debit

[Bibs]

Nothing I don't think, just send them a direct payment each month. Worse case they may remove the small discount they give for direct debit payments. 

[Chillidoggy]

Not sure they’d wear it, but it would be worth a phone call to gauge their opinion. All the ones I’ve used insist on DD.

[PaulCP]

2 hours ago, pete said:

Don't agree with the amount and have sent readings to prove it

When BG did this to me a few years back I called them and asked them to provide a detailed analysis of how they had made the calculation.

After a bit of waffle from them, I kept insisting on a detailed analysis and in the end they asked me what I thought it should be and accepted that.

I left BG shortly afterwards

[pete]

Impossible to get through to customer service. 033 number

[C8RKH]

Switch to a supplier who has a full online account, someone like Ovo Energy but many others do it too. Then if you have a smart meter make sure the readings are getting through (they should show up on your online account) or provide weekly/monthly reads directly into your online account. After 8 weeks you can ask them to recalculate your DD payment, or, you have sufficient information to support a request to the DD payment.

 

Remember, how it works is that they try (and believe me they do try but they sometimes are not very good) to assess your annual consumption, then apply the rate, to get to an annual cost. They then split this into 12 monthly charges. The aim is to ensure you don't get any nasty surprises through the year with a big big, and the extra you pay in the summer when you use less energy builds up a small positive balance that is then used up by the higher billing months.

To be honest, I've never been pissed about on my DD, yes the amounts have fluctuated, but nothing that has concerned me, and if you think your +ve balance on the account is too high you can just ask them to send you the cash.

 

[ChrisJ]

I've always paid quarterly by credit card. Submit quarterly meter readings, get an instant bill. I'm with BG,

Uswitch doesn't seem to have any offers for me, but going direct to companies

Couple of weeks ago I did look to switch and had a quote from Eon which was £9k a year - has dropped to £4.5k/year when I redo it now. Current bill around £2k a year.

Others checked:

• EDF not quoting
• BG not quoting as a new customer, but as an existing customer - will take the bill to £3.5k/year

I'm sticking with BG, and will be trying to reduce energy usage first - hence my post in the what made you happy re the Tumble Dryer - which we use a lot, and is (was from Tuesday) a 30 year old machine.

 

[Frickin_idiot]

I use OctopusEnergy and I can vary my DD at will

[Bibs]

To be fair, if I stick with the 'Go' tariff it's up, but not as much. That did make me look twice though!! 

[march]

Bloody hell - what are you growing in the attic ? As an aside I have just been trying to buy red diesel for the farm to keep the tractor going - no chance, not even boilerjuice can supply. Hopefully this will be resolved in a week or two or I will be having big problems as I wont be able to feed the cows.

[exeterjeep]

1 minute ago, march said:

Bloody hell - what are you growing in the attic

It's probably the Kia using too much electricity.

[PaulCP]

Bloody glad I opted for the 24 month fixed back in July rather than the 12 month one, and to think I was moaning like hell back then at our annual quote going up from £1200pa to £1650pa

Absolutely crazy prices

[andydclements]

Not looking forward to the end of March as our current fixed price ends then, so been lucky that I went with one of the firms that has weathered the storm so far (else I'd have been paying more already).

[Kimbers]

Wierd, just had my electricity bill dropped by £50 a month. 

Maybe the Hottub we put away in November has had that effect!!

[Rambo]

11 minutes ago, Kimbers said:

Wierd, just had my electricity bill dropped by £50 a month. 

Maybe the Hottub we put away in November has had that effect!!

A decent sized hot tub will cost approx £1.50 - £2.00 a day to run so that sounds about right. That was before the recent hikes in electricity though.

If you do want to keep it on all the time though (the most efficient way) it is best to dial down the temp. Each 1C drop will save about 10% energy costs

Only rough figures obviously but I think hot tubs might have had their day

[andydclements]

That always defies logic yet it seems to be stated by hot tub retailers all the time. Heat lost depends on the insulation of the tub and the temperature differential between the water and the atmosphere, so if it's kept warmer than atmosphere it looses more heat the warmer it is, as it cools the heat loss decreases to zero. Therefore it's less energy used to heat the whole thing from atmospheric temperature back up to usable temp, than if it had been kept at usable temp. It does take a lot of time, and the energy conversion (electricity usage) is all in one big session (probably at peak rate not overnight lower rate if you have that).

[Kimbers]

3 hours ago, Rambo said:

Only rough figures obviously but I think hot tubs might have had their day

Don't say that! EVER! I worked in my Hottub for the last 2 years worth of Summers. Lappy on the side with the phone, or else I would have melted in my small, not ventilated Office with large Glass doors. One day it was well over 45 degrees! 

[andydclements]

That face, and that amount of bubbles. Hmmm, what is it @Kimbersis concentrating to do ????