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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:
AnarchyAunt · 09/01/2009 21:51

£80 a quarter for gas/electricity combined.

But our house has no heating! So that is for immersion water heater (on for 1hr every 2 days), lights (all energy saving bulbs), fridge/freezer, tv and laptop, one oil filled radiator, and, er, thats it.

Original poster
hairymcclary · 09/01/2009 21:52

Thankyou callme. Ive been in hyper panic mode all day! short tempered and cold (cos i switched off the heaters)
We use the conservatory alot! Its the childrens room really, tv, dinner table for drawing and eating etc, wii and so on. Cant see how we can stop using it. Our main front room is daddys room, he naps, watches his shows which are inappropriate for dc, smokes etc.

OP posts:
nancy75 · 09/01/2009 21:55

hairy just seen your reply, we had one of the old clock meters in my old house, i did a reading and got one number wrong which made our gas bill £100s in the summer! i got them to come and read it befor paying, it turned out we only owed something like £75. they are really hard to read and according to the gas reading man you always read it as the lowest number possible, so if the hand is between say the 2 & 3, even if it is just about to touch the 3, you read it as 2 if that makes any sense. lets hope you did it wrong

Original poster
hairymcclary · 09/01/2009 21:58

Yes, thats what they said on the phone. The thing is, the very first dial (the 10,000 unit one) is sooo incredibly close to the the number one, its like touching it, but is very slightly above. Im hoping this is my culprit.
Got to wait 3 weeks for a man to come and read it correctly, so have cancelled the direct debit in the meantime.

Fingers crossed.

OP posts:
nancy75 · 09/01/2009 22:01

sounds like it hairy, honestly my bill was about £500 and as we hadnt had the heating on all summer i was convinced next door had plugged themselves in to my gas mains! i think it happens quite alot, annoying you have to wait so long to have it read though.

nooka · 09/01/2009 22:25

Get one of those monitoring thingies so you can see what uses the most power, and check your insulation. £65 for dual fuel seems rather low to me though, and this will be one of the expensive quarters, as usually you build up credit in the summer to use in the winter.

Using your conservatory as your main living room is going to be very expensive though, as the insulation is not going to be good, and it isn't on your central heating. It also may well overheat in the summer. If you are going to do that long term you need to upgrade your heating, and get better insulation (and probably blinds too). In my mind I think you would do better to fumigate "daddy room" and move back in there. I'd have him outside for the smoking, in the bedroom for naps, and watching his inappropriate TV when ds is in bed. But that's just me

callmeovercautious · 09/01/2009 22:39

Ok. Smoking if it has to be done is better in the Conservatory. He can make as much mess etc as he likes and all the smoke goes outside - we do that here. Secondly your DC need a safe and warm room to play in - tell your DH the glass is an issue or somthing if he moans

Not judging as we smoke BUT we do it outside the living spaces and DD has the run of the carpeted CH space and naps on the Sofa. Don't know how old your DC are but I think your DH needs to swap spaces

It also means we only use the heater if V cold i.e right now! rather than all afternoon.

cat64 · 09/01/2009 23:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster
hairymcclary · 09/01/2009 23:10

There is no way he would swap rooms. I dont think dc would want to either. They have all their things just so. He has his big tv, the sky plus, the surround sound. Dc have washable everything, floors even the windows are more practical than the main front room walls. Their wii, books, table for drawing at, the garden is right there too. Oh the list is enormous!

Yep, the increase is for past and the expected future use.

Still am hoping its an error tho.

OP posts:
prideandprejudice · 09/01/2009 23:24

It's probably the heaters - they eat money. Agree it would be worth getting an OWL - it's amazing how much some things cost to run. We got one after our similarly v scary combined bill (£870!) and it has been really illuminating. With us the bill was so high partly because of playing catch-up with previously low estimated bills, and partly just because energy is much dearer now. Hope yours is a mistake, obviously!

laumiere · 09/01/2009 23:38

Check your meter readings, our company (EDF) did the same, wanting to put up our bills to £250 per month. We called them with updated meter readings and they amended to £124.

devilisunaccomplishedinprada · 09/01/2009 23:43

Well apparently my gas bill from September to December was £1597. We live in a 3 bed townhouse and the only gas we've got is the central heating a hot water boiler. I phoned them and got them to talk me through giving them a meter reading. Got an amended bill of £128. Yep bit more like it.

Definately phone them and check the meter readings.

Hopefully · 10/01/2009 07:34

Hairy, i know you don't want to swap the rooms round, but on my very quick calculation it seems reasonably likely that the blow heaters are costing you near to that amount. Or perhaps look at getting some oil radiators, as others have said?

How frustrating to have to wait so long for a reading - can you hassle them and explain that you need to work out how to heat the house for your children? Might hurry them up...

Dresdenfiles · 10/01/2009 19:40

We pay £60 a month for our electric no gas, and in sept they sent a letter putting it up to £105. I didnt question it at the time as i knew prices had escalated and being colder weather, only to get a letter saying we were £75 in credit on estimated reading. After doing a proper reading i was furious to be told i was actually £248 in credit! My advice to anyone who has had a letter asking for increased direct debit amounts to be careful unless you want your money sat with the electric company earning them interest!

GinghamRibbon · 10/01/2009 19:47

I will bet an online hug that the OP is with British Gas.

They are proving to be terribly expensive and you should go to Uswitch.com and check out other prices. This is not the first time I have heard these prices this year and everyone is with BG. Hope this helps.

lottiejenkins · 10/01/2009 19:54

Dont know if anyone else has said but the webchat thingy on here soon is with a woman who knows about heating bill etc.........

kettlechip · 10/01/2009 20:37

£150 per month for a 5 bed 3 storey detached. Heating on about 8 hrs per day, tumble drier on twice a week if that. Hot water for 2 showers and 1 bath per day. We're with n power I think.

worley · 10/01/2009 20:54

we pay £65 a month for a 2 bedroom terrace, we have no gas at all, but have 1 storage heater upstairs and 1 downstairs. tumble dryer broken so not in use scince summer.

at the moment i am having to plug a little oil heater in for ds's bedroom before they do to bed to warm the room up and then turn it off when i go to bed. they have 2 duvets on their beds too. im waiting to get their storage heater fixed (my dad is a sparky and am waiting for him to come fix it), but it has been off for over a year now.

we do have a real fire place we use everyday as well though.

Ponders · 10/01/2009 21:04

What heat output are the electric heaters, how many are there, & how often are they on?

One 2kw heater will be about 30p per hour at current prices (depends which part of the country you're in but they're all about 14p + or -); 2 heaters 60p; 3 heaters 90p - call it £1 per hour if you have 3.

If they're on 4 hours a day that's £28 a week, £364 a quarter; 6 hours a day £42 a week, £546 a quarter.

And it has been a much colder winter than previous years.

BouncingTurtle · 10/01/2009 21:23

Check your meter readings.
Eon put my DD up from £73 to £110, because I'd apparently had an excessively high electric bill over the summer. When I checked my meter, the reading was LESS than the reading taken a month before hand!

I definitely agree your should consign your DH's smoking to the conservatory.

SingingBear · 10/01/2009 21:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

pluto · 05/02/2009 12:59

Hairymclary - I've received a letter from Eon today saying they are going to increase our monthly dual fuel direct debit from £90 to £185. A guy came to read the meter the other day - I'm off to check the readings before phoning up Eon and asking what is happening here! DH always submits meter readings online so the bills should be accurate and not basaed on estimates. I've just started mat leave 2 weeks ago so we're using a bit more fuel - but I can't believe the monthly should have doubled! We don't use a tumble dryer, have energy saving bulbs etc, so I don't understand what's going on, I thought energy prices were coming down - I am really worried, we can't afford this kind of a hike.

CharleeheartsherChains · 05/02/2009 13:04

I live in a 2 bed flat and tumble dry about 4 times a day so pretty much all day, i put £40 a month on my leccy key meter and pay a £20 month dd for gas (which heats water and radiators all day to) plus hey have just sent me a gas statement saying they owe me £80 for gas.

Were Sounther Electric, something aint right!

moonmother · 05/02/2009 13:11

Just had my quarterly bill in, don't pay by Direct Debit.

Our bill was £363.00 that's for Gas and Electric, we have an old 3 bed terrace mostly double glazed but quite draughty. No cavity wall as its too old.

We have energy saving lightbulbs in all lights but I also use a tumble dryer (usually daily) and have had a electric convector heater on for an hour in the evenings on the landing, as we have no radiators in the hall..

We are with Eon and are on a price cap, I'm glad we are because otherwise I hate to think how much the bills would be.

The whole putting up monthly payments thing is the whole reason that we pay when our bills come in.

NancyAnnSeancy · 05/02/2009 13:15

Oh gosh, what a shock.

Last week I had a bill which I didn't realise at first was estimated.

Cheeky sods were asking me for £534 owed, and thus a direct debit of gawd knows how much per month. I checked the meter and they were WAY off - it turned out I only owed £187 and have adjusted DD to £60 for the next few months, thereafter £45 once the debt is paid off.

I'm careful with the heating - am here all day every day, it's a big victorian flat with huge ceilings, no double glazing and until last week had a 24yo boiler which was costing a fortune - even if it only served 3 rads out of a possible 14!

I keep the thermostat on 15 at night and when we go out; when it gets chilly I put it up to 17 or 18, very rarely higher - I think for a few days when we all had flu and weren't moving much I put it up to almost 20.

The heating men said it ought to be at least 21 as standard but can't afford that and I don't find it cold on 18.

Hope you have got it sorted, Hairy.

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