Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

So i just got my quarterly dual fuel (elec & gas) bill.....my good god! £930!?

88 replies

hairymcclary · 09/01/2009 12:39

They want to increase my direct debit from £65 p/month to £262!
I DO NOT have the money.

Seriously stressed!

We do tumble dry, and have electric heaters in our conservatory (rest of house is gas rads). But still seems excessive.

We live in a 3bed semi, 2dc and 2 adults.

What do the rest of you pay?

OP posts:
Blondeshavemorefun · 09/01/2009 13:02

sounds to me that your meter must be wrong, esp if old - they will have to install a new dial one

least they agree that the reading cant be right, and that helps

Lilyloo · 09/01/2009 13:02

Hairy i would def stop using them until you sort this.
The oil filled radiators aren't as good for warming it though. Ours is pretty much out of use when it's this cold.

glaskhamhasoneintheoven · 09/01/2009 13:07

Large 2 bed semi, 2DC, 2 Adults here... we ran up about £600 combined debt in about 18mths with our company... we're currently paying back an extra £20 per month off our gas still and combined we are currently paying £170 per month including the £20 debt... so £150 without. We tend to use about £50 electric a month (PC on a lot, electric blankets on beds etc, washer and dryer on every other day. Gas is on from 5am-10pm and then the electric blankets keep us warm enough while its off if its cold enough for the house to cool down.

ThePellyandMe · 09/01/2009 13:08

Just to add we use the tumble drier about 4 times a week, no conservatory though. I think electric heaters are more expensive to run that gas central heating but even so...

If the company think its very steep too hopefully it may turn out there is a fault.

Original poster
hairymcclary · 09/01/2009 13:11

I hope to god there is a fault. My dp and i are both self employed and currently struggling to find work.
I just dont know what ill do if its right.

Feeling low today and cold, cos ive switched everything off.

OP posts:
Nemoandthefishes · 09/01/2009 13:17

we have one blow heater and one oil filled.
We turn them both on in the morning, take the chill off the room with blow one by which time oil one has kicked in and holds the heat. We have to heat ours as it si the trios play room.

CrackopentheBaileys · 09/01/2009 13:33

I would advise you to give them a ring.
I checked my Nan's bills recently for her, and her Direct Debit was going up by a huge amount. When I called them to find out why they said that there was a glitch in the system and the bills had all been printed wrong.
It's worth a shot

cheshirekitty · 09/01/2009 13:45

That is a huge amount for gas and elec. Make sure you get your meter checked.

We had a water bill once for £1400, and when the meter was checked we only owed £350, so mistakes can be made.

onFriday · 09/01/2009 14:09

£65 p/month to £262 is a massive rise. Is it a long time since the meter was actually read? Conservatories are effectively un-insulated so in cold weather the heaters could have been coming on a lot more (if they are on thermostats). Two 2kW electric heaters on all day for a month would cost about £200 to run, assuming you are paying about 13 pence a unit.

If you have the space to hang clothes dump the tumbledrier and get a de-humidifier - the cheap ones (about £80 in B&Q) are about 220Watts to run, so a lot less than tumbledriers. They will dry most clothes overnight, and the warm air stays in your house, instead of being wasted.

sadnog · 09/01/2009 14:28

I know how you're feeling hairy. I've just had my gas bill, £250 for 2 months! They want to up my DD from £70 to £101 a month. They increased it 3 months ago from £54 to £70, so it's doubled in 5 months! I also pay £54 a month electric. We have 3 bed semi, but our boiler is really old and probably not very efficient. Heating is on mornings and evenings weekdays and all day at weekends (if it's really cold). Have a tumble drier but very rarely use it. We rent our home and can't persuade landlord to update the boiler.

PaddingtonBore · 09/01/2009 14:33

ooh yes, those with huge bills please do get your meters checked. our water bill got steeper and steeper over the last few years. turned out that somehow the meter was going round by itself and Thames Water owed us £800 in overpaid bills.

barbarianoftheuniverse · 09/01/2009 14:58

Its the heaters, hairy. Exactly the same thing has happened to us and we bought an OWL and checked every applience. One 1kW heater on at about half full setting has added a huge chunk to the bill. It's off now, except for a very low setting Economy 7 at night just to stop the back of the house filling with condensation, but that's what did it and we have to pay.

chipkid · 09/01/2009 15:04

have you just had your metres read after a few estimated bills? it could be catch up. If not it sounds ridiculously high. I live in 5 bed detached house, tumble dry most days, computer always on and electric underfloor heating and my combined bills are not as high as that.

expatinscotland · 09/01/2009 15:07

we had to have our LPG tank topped up from about 5%. so the delivery was for 1004ltrs.

the bill just came today.

it's £472.

by contrast, the quarterly electric bill was only £141, and we ran the tumble drier and two electric heaters pretty much non stop.

Lauriefairycake · 09/01/2009 15:10

how long will the lpg last expat?

expatinscotland · 09/01/2009 15:12

depends on the time of year, Laurie. we went from May to October on one tank because we didn't run the heat at all.

normally we wouldn't run the heat so much but we have a 9-week-old baby now.

we got this delivery about a month ago and we're down to 60%.

LPG is dear but there's no choice out here, there is no mains gas. and you can't switch suppliers without also switching your tank, which is very expensive.

there are only 2 suppliers, anyhow.

Lauriefairycake · 09/01/2009 15:14

hmmm....so you might get 3 months for £472 plus £141 for electric - thats £200 a month

that is pretty dear.

expatinscotland · 09/01/2009 15:19

yep, it's definitely quite costly. and again, there's no changing suppliers because the supplier owns the tank. also, the house is a rental.

motheroftwoboys · 09/01/2009 17:10

We pay £210 a month duel fuel for a 3 bed terrace but it is old and draughty. Supposedly we are with the cheapest company. It is just scary. We have full central heating plus one of those coal gas fire things in the living room which I think is prob expensive. I use the tumble dryer for about 3 cycles at the weekend at the moment. I think fuel is just massively more expensive now.

nancy75 · 09/01/2009 17:48

hairy did you give them the reading, or did somebody come and do it?

cali · 09/01/2009 18:00

4 bed detached new build.

£75 for gas/elec per month by direct debit, don't have a tumble drier and like someone earlier, only have hot water on for an hour a day.

But broadband on constantly, tv on most evenings and have lights on a lot of the time, (all energy saving bulbs) dishwasher is on once a day.

have just had quarterly bill in and payments should meet all of our fuel costs.

Your bill sounds completely excessive, and not what you would expect at all.

Moondancer · 09/01/2009 18:12

£30 per week here dual fuel for a 3 bed newish detached.

Original poster
hairymcclary · 09/01/2009 21:35

nancy: i took the reading, as they requested. But apparently, these old meters are difficult to read correctly.
So im hoping its my error

OP posts:
callmeovercautious · 09/01/2009 21:41

Our blow heater costs us 40p per hour. We have an Owl energy monitor which tells you how much you are using. i suspect that might be what has caused it.

Stop sitting in the conservatory

I hope you get it sorted. They will accept a pyment plan though so please don't panic.

Lilyloo · 09/01/2009 21:45

Nemo good tip put the blow heater on tonight for 10 min alongside oil filled radiator then switched off and it stayed warm for longer.
DC got to play with xmas toys i have stored in there