Gas/electricity bills

[super_ram]

We have our gas and electric supplied by British Gas and pay each bill monthly by Direct Debit.On the 11th of this month both our meters were read. In fact they were read twice because the chap doing the readings had a problem with his monitor thingy..On Monday our gas bill arrived which contained our annual review and last quarter usage..You can imagine my language when I noticed that our monthly payments  were to be almost doubled. On further scrutiny of the bill I noticed that the last month's gas usage was considerably higher than the previous 2 months of the quarter.Anyway I decided to read our gas meter myself and was relieved to note that my reading was 08218 compared to the bill reading - 08717.It appeared obvious to me that  a 7 instead of a 2 had been entered by the gas man.I  tried to phone British Gas but there was a 15 minute waiting time.

   The next day our Electric bill arrived but this time I was pleased to note a reduction of £1 per month on the bill.

   I did eventually get the gas bill sorted out .It's staying the same!

   This could be quite upsetting for some people.Has anyone else had similar problems?

[Chris]

We try not to use much gas but even electricity can be over priced, I find it hard to trust these companies. They make so much money, yet are freely allowed to keep pipping up pricing. The most annoying thing for me is the fact that our goverment have helped them by using tax payers money, in order to go green and yet this hasn't reduced the prices like promised.

Once upon a time a company would invest it's own money in order to recoup it in the long run. These days they just upcharges and make us pay double, even if we do built new powerplants. I see nothing changing!

I feel for the elderly who struggle to get out and are forced to turn off the heating, yet I try not to focus on how much we spent.

[Fan of Big Tone]

We are with NPower and I read our meters myself and submit it to the website, then I can see exactly how much gas/electricity we are using, The have a graph of our personal usage which shows how much we have used and we can compare it to the same period last year or the year before etc.

 

I also check regularly to see if I can get my gas/electricity cheaper with anyone and to make sure I am on the best possible tariff for our needs. It takes a bit of time and effort but it is well worth it, I reckon I have saved us hundreds of pounds over the years.

 

When we bought our house from an elderly couple (yes even older than me ) we were shocked that they were on Economy 7 but they had no appliances like storage radiators that would be turned on at night. They must have spent a fortunate unnecessarily on gas/electric. The first thing we did was get the economy 7 meter took out and got on a normal tariff.

[super_ram]

I check our meter readings every month or so to make sure there's no sudden increase that I'm not expecting.The last time I did it was around christmas time which is why I was surprised and shocked  when I saw the Gas bill breakdown.I'm happy again now though-well ,less grumpy.

[Feral Fox]

We moved from BG a few months ago. Regularly higher than others around where we live. We now use Scottish Power, submitting our own reading every month.

[liampie]

my mum complains more about electricity bills, im probably to blame for some of this but i dont see how they can justify the charges.

i think were on british gas, i would not trust many regarding prices because they change link a yoyo and even if its on of those which are able to change, some of these companies have small print to do so.

[Canadian]

Me and the Girlfriend are Investing heavily on Solar power (I understand in England that's impossible) We're trying to get off the Grid. 

 

As for the bills. Completely understand where you're coming from. on Average our Quarterly bill is around $500. And that's being conservative. There is nothing we can do. Unless we get a solar Flare which would basically Decimate the Power Supply. They are the ultimate Kings/Presidents/Premiers/Primes of the world. Without power we have nothing.   

[jurgenpie]

I'm with First Utility and take weekly gas and electric reads, have been cutting down the heating to just a couple of hours in the evening as gas is the biggest usage.

[cheeky~k8]

Our cheapest company is british gas but thats only because our house still has pre-payment meters which we can keep a track of how much we are spending but i know we get charged more for being on it. Currently the electric has gone down a little and the gas has gone up but that will soon change in spring.... thats if it doesn't snow in march again like last year. I keep getting asked by british gas if i want to freeze the price but as i said everytime... unless they offer me a fix and fall offer i'm not going to as if the price goes down ours won't if i fix it... which makes them even more money.

[Fan of Big Tone]

There's lots of good advice on Martin Lewis's Money Saving website about how to get cheaper gas and electricity.

 

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

[GrannyPie]

I think @super_ram will be blowing a gasket soon regarding the gas bill.I'll leave it to him to explain.I'm keeping quiet.

[super_ram]

I think @super_ram will be blowing a gasket soon regarding the gas bill.I'll leave it to him to explain.I'm keeping quiet.

Yes,here goes with an update.  Last Saturday morning I received 3 letters from British Gas and 2 from TSB(more of this on a separate thread) One of the Gas letters was about our tariffs which i had been told about when I phoned up.Very nice to have the rate reduced,though not by as much as it had been previously increased.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                In one of the other letters was an updated annual revue and with a corrected meter reading but still with a higher monthly payment than I had been told over the phone.The last gas letter contained TWO updated details of  our future monthly Direct Debit payments,both of which are different to the other letter and what I'd been told over the phone.As it was Saturday and I was going to see Notts I left things till Sunday,when I set up our British Gas internet site.I first went and looked at our Electricity account and found everyhing to be spot on.I then had a look at the gas part and guess what? Our payments there were different to all the other payments I've been quoted and the projection for a year was too low. I've adjusted our payments to what we've been paying over the last year .

  This morning I received yet another ,and again different,update from British Gas.

  I'm  now waiting for ,hopefully,a last update .Watch this space(and have a look at the bank thread I'm starting

      . 

[Cobby]

I don't want to hear horror stories @super_ram, I've just moved into a new flat and it's the first time I'm having to pay bills separately (my last place was all included in the rent).

 

Can we have some nice stories of how easy/painless/cheap your electricity/gas bills have been please

[super_ram]

You'll never get cheap gas/electricity bills @Cobby! Just remember to turn the heat down when you're warm enough,don't heat rooms that you're not using and switch appliances off when not in use. We don't usually get these bill problems.

[Cobby]

You'll never get cheap gas/electricity bills @Cobby! Just remember to turn the heat down when you're warm enough,don't heat rooms that you're not using and switch appliances off when not in use. We don't usually get these bill problems.

 

I was annoyed at first, but have warmed to the fact we don't have central heating but instead have individual electric radiators in each room. Means we can be much more selective on what room we want to heat! Sadly it's a listed building though, and we don't have double glazing. My and the missus are happy just to put on a jumper and get the hot water bottles out though.

[super_ram]

Hopefully the worst of the winter is over now but don't forget that the bills go down  from spring to autumn and shoot up when it get really cold.

[JC99]

It could be worse, try living.... I will not say it lol

[super_ram]

I received another direct debit update from British Gas yesterday-still wrong.I'm going to wait and see what is actually taken out of my account now before deciding what to do. Watch this space for updates.