Energy bill... Clueless help

[Tulipdays]

Recently moved with my DS into a 2 bed flat. It's an old property and it's freezing so I've had the central heating cranked up and electric heaters on too.

Energy bill is a fixed price each month around £150 pcm. Bloody website is useless and doesn't show up my account details. I will need to call them directly.

I feel clueless about the price hikes and don't even know where to begin understanding how I can budget. Please any tips on what information I should be asking for from the energy provider, what does it mean that the bills are the same each month (even though I've submitted meter readings), any tips on how to economise.

TIA

If your bills are a fixed price, economising will make no difference, it will still be £150pm……..

Who is your provider?
Are you on a fixed tariff bearing in mind its the price per kWh that's fixed not your monthly amount?
If £150 doesn't cover what you use then you could be in debit and owe more money.

@Pineapplemonkey

If your bills are a fixed price, economising will make no difference, it will still be £150pm……..

That's the direct debit amount and may not cover her usage.

Thanks for the replies

I'm with SSE

For some odd reason I can only see details of my gas account. The tariff is 2 year fixed until 2023, paid by "fixed direct debit". I don't understand why this is a fixed amount each month and if I am using more then the £150, when do they whack me with the bill for the rest of it?!

So frustrating, the website and app are useless. I have submitted at least 2 meter readings in the last few months but the website keeps saying meter readings are needed yet.

Anyone help shed some light on this?

Sorry that should've said meter readings are NOT needed yet

You normally pay a fixed amount and then end up in credit in summer to carry you over the winter months. It's to spread the payments out. I'd contact them about the fact you can only see one of your products though

So they have estimated what you will be using for the year in gas and electricity, worked out what it will cost you for the year, and then divided that by 12.

You should keep an eye yourself on your usage to see if you think you are under or over paying - ideally when your contract ends, you should be at a zero balance.

If you recently moved in, do you know how they estimated your energy use?

If one of your accounts can't be seen you will need to ring them (takes ages to get through though) when you finally speak to someone they will add the second account for you but it takes a few days to appear.

You are paying a direct debit of £150 a month, but you need to pay for your actual usage, so if your direct debit does not cover your use, the energy company will put you into debit with them. You need to locate you had and electricity meters and submit monthly readings, as otherwise they will be billing you on estimated figures.

What you need to find out from your energy company is if you are on a fixed tariff and if so what rate you are paying per kw/h for both gas and electricity, and what your daily standing charges are.

If you are on a fixed rate tarrif, find out how long you are locked in for. If you are still in contract on a fixed rate, the energy price rise next month will not effect your energy price.

The price cap set by Ofgem only effects those who are on a variable rate, fixed rates can much (much!) higher than the price cap, so be sure to get all the rates if you are not on a contact or are coming to the end of a contract and are thinking of entering into another contract. (Note that you do NOT have to enter into a fixed rate contract, you can request to stay on a variable rate).

Ring SSE and give them the metre readings over the phone. I am also with SSE and also moved a few weeks ago - they sent me a bill with ‘estimated’ readings which were about 3 times higher than our actual use! Rang them and gave them actual readings and they sent us a new bill 2 days later for our actual use.

I have just seen from your update that you are on a 2 year contract, so your tariff rate will be fixed and you will not be effected by the price increase next month.

With regards to ways to reduce usage:

Thermal linings on curtains

Use a crockpot or air fryer instead of oven/hob.

Use heated throws/electric blankets/hot water bottles instead of heating whole room

Don’t leave appliances on standby.

Reduce temp on thermostat by 1-2 degrees

Try to dry laundry outdoors as much as possible.

Switch lightbulbs to energy efficient/led’s

Only boil as much water as you need in the kettle.

Limit showers to 3min.

If you have little ones who bath, get a bath dam to half the size of the bath.

The tariff is 2 year fixed until 2023, paid by "fixed direct debit". I don't understand why this is a fixed amount each month and if I am using more then the £150, when do they whack me with the bill for the rest of it

It's the rate per kWh that is fixed, not the monthly amount, which is a surprisingly common misunderstanding going by the number of recent posts about this. Energy is like petrol, where there's a price per unit, so if you spend a fixed number of pounds, the amount you get depends on the price per litre/kWh.

(I'm now wondering if all those people who claim that they get significantly lower mileage with the new E10 petrol are those types who put in £30 pw and haven't realised they're actually buying less and less petrol as the prices have gone up?)

If you underpay, they will increase your DD at sometime in the future, although it could well be that £150 pm at last year's prices is enough to cover your usage when averaged over the year.

But you can work out how much you should be paying from your meter readings and price per kWh/daily standing charge if the website isn't being helpful.