Quarter bill from NPower has shocked me- is this normal?

[stripeybanana]

Just received my quarterly bill for electric and gas for small one bedroom flat I share with my toddler DD (am single mum). It is just under £400! I don;t particularly feel like I have had my heating on for more than usual despite the cold weather. Have had a few occasions where I was cold during the night and had to put it on, and also have heating on to dry laundry usually every other day. But this has been the same as for the year I have lived here.

This bill for the last 3 months is just under the total I have paid since April 2012! I can;t believe I have used around the same amount of gas and electric in the last 3 months than I have for the last year!

The bill states the reading from the end of January (actual) and there is another actual reading for the end of march and I have checked the gas meter outside and it concurs with this. Could it be possible the meter is wrong in some way or am I just deluded and have been using loads of fuel without realising? Or is this a normal bill for the winter months?

Thanks for any advice.

It does seem high our bill for a 2 bed flat was £270 for the quarter. Did you have the heating on all day and night?

I've just submitted our quarterly readings, and the past 3 months was £270 for a modern (ie well insulated) 4 bed. What was the bill before like? I'd expect Feb Mar April to be similar (we've had a bad spring) to Nov Dec Jan.

Check what tariff you're on and, if you still have it, what your usage was the same quarter last year. Prices have gone up a lot and, even if you've used exactly the same number of units, the bill will be higher.

Winter quarter is always the most expensive and this winter really dragged on long and cold. You should probably run your usage on a few comparison sites and see if your supplier is charging over the odds.

My combined bills from April 2012 to January 2013 amount to £489 which is about £100 more than the last 3 months thats why I'm so shocked at this last bill. I do have the heating on sometimes during the day, particularly if I have laundry to dry and also in the evenings if its been particularly cold but I really don't feel Like I've had it on loads. No more than during the last quarter. Its certainly not on 24/7. I'm in shock.

Another issue is that the bill only arrived today, yet it is dated 15th April and the bill is due today! Am I going to get into trouble if I can't pay it immediately? Could I get away with paying it in 3 or 4 weeks time?

I'd give them a ring about delayed paying. And question the amount while you're at it.

We pay about £180 a quarter for gas and electricity for a two-bed terraced house - Good Energy for elec and Scottish Power for gas so it's not a combined deal (at some point I'll get around to using Good Energy for gas too). We do pay by direct debit though. DH is here all day and is sometimes too ill to leave the house so it's not like we're really low users.

I'd honestly recommend trying Good Energy, I think people assume because they're supposed to be green they must be the most expensive, other people often seem to pay a lot more than we do.

I'd also have a think as to whether you could squeeze a ceiling airer into your place, would your landlord consider installing one? They are incredibly efficient even if the heating's not on.

Would just like to add that my sister got an unusually high bill in this quarter too from southern electric. Almost triple what it normally is and same as you she hasn't really changed her habits from the last quarter. After a couple of phone calls they have placed a check meter beside her actual meter to see if there are any discrepancies and so far it shows her actual meter running at double the units of the check meter. So maybe something to consider too? Hope you get it sorted x

i just rung npower about my electric.. and re read them my reading which were lower than what the meter readers had put figures down as. so my bill should be less! their reclaculating my bill.. it was £189 for three months with 2bedroom house and a tumble drier. (gas ch)