Anyone else suspicious of low how their energy bill is?

[Hagpie]

I’m very worried of getting a massive bill in April or something because it doesn’t seem to make sense so here is the situation. Please bear in mind that all of these figures are before our monthly refund of £66/67 okay?

DP and I moved in on July 30th and had no credit with anyone. We live in an E-rated 3-bed semi with 2 kids and our first bills were £180 DD per month. Then it suggested putting our DD down to £101 after 2 months which we did. Then last month it asked for £133 - no problem, when we moved in I was ready for £300+ like it seems everyone else is paying and we had turned the heating to 18° where it has stayed since late October/early November. When we moved in we had no furniture at all so I kind of ignored my suspicions because well we needed a fridge lol and have a baby due January.

Anyway, last month a guy from British Gas came over to take a reading. Later on I read in the news they were sending workers out to check customers aren’t messing around with the equipment/committing fraud and obvs we didn’t because I like breathing. After his visit, the app updated to say this. It should be reassuring but I am still worried. Would you enjoy your good luck or put the DD up to £300 because I am definitely screwed come April?

take a reading every month, work out the kwh you're using for both gas and electric, and work out your own usage.

Gas will be high beause its cold, but see if you can estimate how much is heating and how much is hot water - that may let you estimate what your summer bills will be (much lower).

6x winter bills, 6x summer bill (estimated) gives you your yearly estimated usage. Divide by 12 for a 'flat' monthly amount. That won't be enough in the winter but will be too much in summer - overall will come out in the wash.

Any dramatic devitation from what your energy supplier is telling you, talk to them.

We are paying £440 a month - up from £80pm!! We are on a variable after our fixed rate cake to an end. Heating is on twice a day (1 hour morning and 1 hour in the evening). Barely cook with gas / in the electric oven to save money and yet we are still being charged £400 a month. It makes me feel sick. We live in a newish build, so insulated but the £66 or whatever it is doesn’t make a jot of difference

We have a smart meter - according to the app, our next monthly bill (gas & electric) is on track to be £850 😳

The credit is huge because BG only bill every 6 months so the credit just sits there from the direct debits until it is applied to the bill, we have about £900 credit, I think our bill is due January

Ours is similar, three bed town house. Heating on periodically throughout the day as both wfh and we have a toddler, plus the windows/French doors aren’t very well installed.
I was paying £230 a month until October when they sent me a notification to say they recommended by DD should be £156 a month, gas and elec. I’m not going to argue with that. We submit readings for both every month and recently had the guy out to get readings too so if they come back in April with an extortionate bill they’ll be told to bolt!

You talked about putting your direct debit up to £300.

Instead of doing that, I would keep the direct debit at £130, then save £170 a month.

If you go on Martin Lewis’s website there are some decent regular savings accounts at the moment. Just pick one that allows withdrawals if/when the energy company wants more.

We live in a 4-bed terrace and ours is going to be at least £450 this month. It was below £200 a month before putting the heating on!

I am with Eon though?

Amen to that. I can't work due to my disability. Keep getting refused pip so the government aren't offering extra help for me because I'm not getting disability benefit, even though I get LCWRA. It's annoying.

It is probably worth getting the British Gas app then you should be able to track your usage and send in regular meter readings.

I would check your readings and work it out manually, it's not that difficult - it should say on your bill how to calculate actual charge from the number of units used.

I am on Octopus flexible tariff, and live in an old victorian poorly insulated 2.5 bed semi with no cavity wall insulation. I get most of my evening heat from a wood burner in one room. Heating is on for 2 hours morning and 2 hours late afternoon, on 5 days of the week, max.

I run a highly energy efficient tumble drier 4 times a week and the usual household appliances like a TV, PC, etc.

I just got my monthly bill as I submit readings and pay in full each month, it was £260 before the rebate.

We’re in a 3 bed and currently using around £100 for electricity and gas combined according to our bill. We submit monthly meter readings and have been paying double just incase

I take my meter readings every 10 days.

I moved from a two bed to a house and our energy bills halved.

Better construction and insulation etc.

How? We have no heating apart from 2 electric heaters in the house which are switched off more than they are switched on. The washing dries on its own and £103 wouldn’t last 5 days let alone a month.

Ours is looking like £6-700 and we aren’t even warm.

I could understand it if we were warm but I haven’t had a shower in weeks (I work on my own otherwise I would have to join a gym and take showers there.) The bathroom is so cold that I don’t want to take my clothes off. I sit in hoodies and coats and thermal socks and I am freezing cold and I just think that this isn’t living.
I am thoroughly miserable. The only bright point on the horizon is I refuse to do this next year. I am moving overseas even if it just for the winter months.

I don’t have a smart meter, but enter my meter readings every month. I’m electric only, no gas. My bill for Nov was £123.02 and October was £105.75.
It will be more this month as I’ve actually put the heating on. I’m a 3 bed terrace.

I am thoroughly miserable. The only bright point on the horizon is I refuse to do this next year. I am moving overseas even if it just for the winter months

We're not warm either, the thermostat is set to 17.

My British Gas app shows no electric usage at all, it says no data yet and it only shows gas usage until end of September. SMETS1 electric meter is connected to DCC, I checked, haven't bothered with getting a gas smart meter because of my bad experience with electric one

Have you tried to find out what the annual usage is like from neighbours or previous occupants? Then presume that your usage will be vaguely similar, there are many factors to consider but this is better than guessing.
I also think that I have read take your usage from start of November to end of February then multiply by two and a half to estimate annual usage. Hopefully that will not be outrageous compared with what you end up using.

Because she is on a fixed rate that is much much cheaper than what's available now.

The only think you need to look at is the amount of energy used.

Our gas bill has been incredibly low this winter but only really noticeable since the cold weather started because it was unseasonably mild earlier on.

Contacted them as I was worried they’d come asking for a huge arrears amount down the line. Turns out someone there had a bit of a moment and changed something on their system to say that our meter measured in cubic feet when it’s actually cubic metres. Basically looked like we were using hardly anything.

They've corrected it now (took seconds to do) and future bills should be ok but it seems to be something that could happen far too easily. I presume it could also happen the other way too and overcharge people.

You can check what it says on your meter against the calculation area on your bill. I didn’t know there were two ways of measuring it but I’ll be checking it in future.

I am pay as you go. All of a sudden from spending £25 in 2wks to heat up a 3 bedroom house , it has jumped to £30-35 a week. To make matters worse, the meter take money off even when the heating n hot water is off. This absolutely grand robbery.

Try £25 per day for 2 electric radiators

I'm in North East and on 2 year fixed rate of 70 a month for duel fuel... so sounds right. I did this in Sept last year... so pleased I did!