OMG how can we be paying £100 per month but owe £1000 for Gas and Electric

[icarriedawatermelon2]

Ok, I should have spotted this sooner, but have been paying a standing order of £100 per month for duel fuel. 3 bed terrace, family of 4.
The bill they send always says 'in credit' take no action etc. They never seem to ask for a reading and I can't remember anyone coming to do one.

DH looked at the metre today and compared it to the estimated bill and he thinks it works out to be about £900-1000 under what it should be!

OMG! Panic. Not sure I can quite believe this! I can pay this off in Aug/Sep in full but I don't know what to do as this just can't be right......can it......

feel stupid enough so please be kind :(

I. too, am shocked by how much some of you are paying for your gas and electricity. We pay £75 gas and £50 for electricity a month. We have a four bedroom detached 1970s house with cavity wall insulation; but only double glazing on the conservatory and large utility room extension we had built. Last year our loft was re-insulated under some government scheme. We are both retired so there most of the time, and I seem to wash at least five times a week. My husband is very careful to move our gas and electricity suppliers whenever he can and there is a financial advantage to do so. I would urge all of you to keep on checking whether or not you would be better off doing this.

When was the last actual read?

There is something called charter back billing that may apply here. I think* that it basically means if they haven't read your meter, or tried to for a certain length of ttime they can't bill you the total amount.

*I work for one of the big 6 suppliers but not in that particular dept.

If it's my company I'd be happy to try and help you sort it tomorrow if you'd like. Inbox me if you like.

And the prepay meter prices depend on your supplier. Most still have a standing charge making them expensive.

Sorry if I missed it but who is your supplier?

I also can't believe what some of you are paying!

We pay £100 a month duel fuel and are in credit for both electric and even more for gas! And thats 5 of us in a 3bed end of terrace house.

Who is your current provider op?

Seconding all those who can't believe how much some people are paying - our monthly DD is less than £100, we provide meter readings every other month (are on an online tariff, we get email prompts) and are usually in credit. Ours is a 3-bedroom semi, well insulated and double glazed. We only have the central heating on when we are in and not in bed, few gadgets, obsessive about energy saving bulbs and turning stuff off but still...

I pay £86 a month, 3 bed 107 year old draughty end terrace with original
sash windows (mentioned to show this is
far from an energy efficient building) - 4 of us and I'm home all day with a baby and toddler so the TV and washing machine are on constantly. I thought £86 was a lot but it doesn't seem to be. I have meter readings taken and submit my own monthly readings online.

OP, can you submit your own readings in the future to stop estimated bills?

We pay less than £90 for a 2 bed house, in fact our monthly direct debit has just been reduced.

I'm shocked at what some people on here pay per month,

OP, I'm sure they will agree to a repayment plan.

I'm paying £66 for duel fuel. They've just lowered my dd from £80 (EDF). I read my meter every month and enter it online, hate nasty surprises.

Some of these prices are incredibly high. We pay £76 per month gas and electric. The new gas price has just gone up £3 but we also were in so much credit on the electricity that I took £100 back. This is for a 4 bed semi with DH working at home 4 days a week plus me 1 day a week.

We are a family of 5 in a bijou minniscule mid terrace and pay around £58 per month duel fuel

The average fuel bill is £1252 a year - about £100 a month.

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2146260/Energy-costs-rising-seven-times-faster-average-income-levels.html

It would be interesting to see that broken down by house, insulation etc.

We had cavity wall insulation a couple of years ago. It's definitely made a difference. Though one of the offspring moving out has helped too

We do have the tumble dryer on......lots

I avoid using the tumble dryer, hang clothes up on hanger and dry them on the dining room curtain rail - in warmish dry weather it all goes outside. Neighbours home most of the time and I think help keep us warm we have a naturally warm house I think, lots of sun - east facing.

Get a smart meter as well. It's a very visual way of seeing how much electricity you use. Put on the kettle and see the usage zoom up. As my DS found out - it definitely promotes a family approach to saving power.

Oh - and it helps the environment a bit.

Our tumble drier broke over a year ago - don't miss it at all. Bought a cheap clothes horse, put it up in dining room and clothes dry for free overnight.

I used to work for a main energy company in the collections team (so when people get behind in payments etc) Now they don't all have same rules but No1- you will not be allowed to leave owing so much. No2- don't waste time, call them with new reads if you haven't already and explain whats happened (be warned though providing a read is a customers responsibility companies MUST do it once every 2 yrs) No3- if you have had more than 2 failed payment plans in the last 12 mths (this is with my ex company not all of them use this rule) then it will be full balance they ask for...if you tell me which company and its the same as i worked for I'll tell you what to expect and what to say ;) because the rules can be changed depending on circumstance.

we went onto pay as u go and no problems for years then had a meter fault and had a new meter put in that showed we had a £1200 DEBT...which we didnt...brit gas said it was a error on the meter and owed us £197 still waiting for cheque...and the meter still is faultly...had them out 3 times already got a new card and it says we have £1268 of emergency credit!!!!GO FIGURE, HAVE PHONED THEM ABOUT TWENTY TIMES AND THEY ALL SAY THE SAME......its like they are reading from a script, the meter wont accept the credit we put on and am fed up with trying to explain the situation, they even put the phone down on me....am worried gonna end up with big bill for the gas we have used that s not being paid for ....this has gone on for a month....dont know what to do next so completely understand whats going on with u....u cant believe anything they say to u

we went onto pay as u go and no problems for years then had a meter fault and had a new meter put in that showed we had a £1200 DEBT...which we didnt...brit gas said it was a error on the meter and owed us £197 still waiting for cheque...and the meter still is faultly...had them out 3 times already got a new card and it says we have £1268 of emergency credit!!!!GO FIGURE, HAVE PHONED THEM ABOUT TWENTY TIMES AND THEY ALL SAY THE SAME......its like they are reading from a script, the meter wont accept the credit we put on and am fed up with trying to explain the situation, they even put the phone down on me....am worried gonna end up with big bill for the gas we have used that s not being paid for ....this has gone on for a month....dont know what to do next so completely understand whats going on with u....u cant believe anything they say to u

Someone way up thread said "I think under £100 a month duel fuel is too low for your family"

We have a 3 bed terrace and pay £45 a month on gas and electric (and my account isnt in credit or debit by more than a few pounds)

But then I restrict our use of tumble drier, dont own a dishwasher, try never to leave appliances on standby and only put the heating on when it is actually cold - so maybe we use less than many households?

Mobile fone chargers left plugged in and laptop chargers are BIG electricity eaters along with the obvious ones. You can call the energy companies and they will advise you how to reduce consumption, very good advice.

Im also shocked at the bills on here. I had a conversation with npower last week about our electricity bill which i was told by them is amazingly high. It averages £80 per month. We have oil fired heating and no underfloor electric heating or anything like that so its really just lighting and appliances. But we have a very large house with six bedrooms and a separate guest house and four sets of electric gates. It really is worth doing a price comparison so that you dont pay over the odds!

Missgrohl during the next call, demand to be put through to complaints team (they have more power to sort out this situation) then mention you are going to speak with the energy ombudsman or ofgem....mentioning either of these will start the alarm bells to move their asses and visit your home to check this meter. It could be a cross meter exchange - where the serial no doesnt match the one you have at home- if they haven't already asked you, write it down, its on a sticker on the meter and insist they check it against what they have on the system. To be honest, they should have sent an engineer out to check everything.

Crikey, if I work out the average, I pay around £65 a month for duel fuel. That's for a 3 bed end terrace. That £65 is the actual cost, not an estimate or direct debit monthy payment thingy.

I would cry if I paid as much as some of you!

thanks ....have spoken to a manager but he was useless also, they keep asking me to read the meter and i did but got nowhere hav had them out about three times and they all say it will be ok now but it hasnt...will get in touch with complaints in the morning