people on gas / elec prepay?

wez130 · 31 Jan 2013 at 21:22

How much do you put in your meters per week / month? Size of property and how many occupants?

I feel like i'm getting shafted by E-on on monthly DD, 3 bed house which is empty from 7am - 6pm, Started off paying £60 / month 30 months ago, dd went up to £112 as it got in arrears, fair enough, arrears got cleared, then dd went up to £134 / month in Jan, no arrears, then it's gone up to £160 / month from March! I haven't been there for almost 3 months so i'm using no electric, i'm assured that the heating hasn't been over used and has been on timed (6-7am then 4-9.30pm). Only other electric uses are washing machine (A-rated), maybe once a day and 47" lcd tv till 10pm at latest. no dishwasher etc! When i was on a prepay meter, i was paying £40/ month.

Mr.Yellow · 31 Jan 2013 at 21:27

Can you not pay monthly or quarterly by DD? We are with E-on, they send us an e-mail asking for a meter reading and we receive a bill pretty much instantly.

The amount is then collected by DD and we are only paying for what we use.

Haze · 31 Jan 2013 at 21:32

do u give them regular meter readings ? sounds a bit crazy

tom_e · 31 Jan 2013 at 21:35

Normally stick £100 split over the gas and electric on a month but some months that'll last us a little bit more or a little less.
That's a 3 bedroom old Victorian terrace house with a terrible bath room extension that just saps heat and the back door open for the dog.
So it sounds like they're not even having the courtesy to use lube when they bend you over!

Resident · 31 Jan 2013 at 21:36

I'm only on pre-pay for the leccy and there are 4 of us in the place, one of which is disabled and home practically all day. We also have quite a bit of electronic equipment on the go.

We probably use about 8/9 quid a week during 'winter' months, less in the summer months due to not needing the lights so much.

Gas I pay monthly, £65 each and every month. Builds up a nice cushion for the extra winter use from the summer 'over-payments'.

vanandjuanunited · 31 Jan 2013 at 21:39

About 90 pm for elec inc heat at the mo
About 40-50 pm in summer
Two bed apt. Out 8-5 mon to fri.

Matthew.M · 31 Jan 2013 at 21:39

Try changing off fixed direct debit?

I have a smart meter which automatically submits its readings and it's costing about £65 with Eon for a 3 bed semi (gas and electricity). Although that is a new build so very well insulated.

What temperature is the heating set to? That could be 6 hours of the boiler being flat out in the recent weather, that would do it.

Take your own meter readings a few days apart and see what the actual usage is?

wez130 · 31 Jan 2013 at 21:39

Mr.Yellow said:
Can you not pay monthly or quarterly by DD? We are with E-on, they send us an e-mail asking for a meter reading and we receive a bill pretty much instantly.

The amount is then collected by DD and we are only paying for what we use.

Haze said:
do u give them regular meter readings ? sounds a bit crazy

Every time they ask, last one was November, this time about a week ago, i get my bill the same day i send reading. I do pay monthly DD with a supposed dual fuel discount for paying DD!

the1gooner · 31 Jan 2013 at 21:43

I have a 1 bedroom house which is electric only and paid with a key meter.

I credit it with £50 per month.

Haze · 31 Jan 2013 at 22:01

i do really feel sorry for all you ppl on key meters, when i 1st moved out of home i was on one, but we managed to talk the landlord into to changing to a normal meter, and the savings are MASSIVE!!

spookywillow · 31 Jan 2013 at 22:07

4 bed house, on average its about £30-40 for electric and about the same for gas. 1 week over christmas we put in £50 of each. Yes this is every week NOT monthly.

Trothy · 1 Feb 2013 at 08:07

3 bed semi. British Gas. Generally it's £30 a month on electric. Gas is £40 a month during the winter and £10-15 during the summer. I'm pretty stingy with my heating though.

Mr.Yellow · 1 Feb 2013 at 08:25

wez130 said:
Every time they ask, last one was November, this time about a week ago, i get my bill the same day i send reading. I do pay monthly DD with a supposed dual fuel discount for paying DD!

Just tell them you want to pay on receiving of a bill, none of this £160 a month carp. If they get attitude either shout them down or switch to another supplier.

We are in a 3 bedroom house, always someone in as two of us work from home most of the time and we weren't exactly tight with the heating. With e-on the last bill for the quarter Oct-January was £149 electricity, £181 Gas.

wez130 · 1 Feb 2013 at 09:19

We apparently use £300 of gas between November and January, that works out at £5 a day, thats purely central heating and occasionally the hob, the gas fire isn't working so hasn't been used this year. And that's for about 6 hours a day with the central heating. The central heating is also a modern unit too with frost protection, the combi boiler is in an outside cupboard.

tom_e · 1 Feb 2013 at 09:31

spookywillow said:
4 bed house, on average its about £30-40 for electric and about the same for gas. 1 week over christmas we put in £50 of each. Yes this is every week NOT monthly.

are you leaving all the doors open as well? That's 4 times what we use and as I said we have the back door open for the dog so the heating is on a fair bit and the house is generally freezing if the heatings not been on.

OllyM · 1 Feb 2013 at 09:32

Do a comparison and switch to the cheapest supplier. Keep paying by monthly direct debit as it is the cheapest way to pay and definitely don't go to pre-payment meters as you will spend even more money.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity

wez130 · 1 Feb 2013 at 09:34

From my latest bill.

Hide

E.ON EnergyOnline (No Standing Charge)

Gas charges between 08/11/2012 and 18/01/2013
Meter Number G4K**********
Gas previous 12036 read by us on 08/11/2012
Gas current 12612 estimated on 18/01/2013
Difference - 576 units - with multiplier value 1.0, conversion value of 1.02264, calorific value 39.8
Converted into - 6512 kWh (kilowatt / hour) used

Charges
Gas units used 521 kWh at 8.165p each £42.54
Gas units used 5991 kWh at 3.552p each £212.80

E.ON EnergyOnline

Gas charges between 18/01/2013 and 29/01/2013
Meter Number G4K*************
Gas previous 12612 estimated on 18/01/2013
Gas current 12701 read by you on 29/01/2013
Difference - 89 units - with multiplier value 1.0, conversion value of 1.02264, calorific value 39.8
Converted into - 1006 kWh (kilowatt / hour) used

Charges
Gas units used 1006 kWh at 4.128p each £41.53
Standing Charge 11 days at 26.09p per day £2.87
CR £42.82 Discounts and rewards Show

Jono8 · 1 Feb 2013 at 09:35

£160 a month seems excessive.

spookywillow · 1 Feb 2013 at 10:07

tom_e said:
are you leaving all the doors open as well? That's 4 times what we use and as I said we have the back door open for the dog so the heating is on a fair bit and the house is generally freezing if the heatings not been on.

Nope, If only we were

My Other half is always in as we have kids and the heating is always set to 18-20c and the house has crap insulation and a semi working boiler due to the landlord not wanting to fix it :mad:

This is with southern electric.

Raumarik · 1 Feb 2013 at 10:28

4 bedroom mid-terrace house with an extension at the back so fairly large and an old boiler we're hoping to replace soon, I have a feeling it wasn't replaced when the attic/extension were added years ago and it's struggling to keep up. Heating is on most of the time due to having a 2 year old who likes to run about in next to nothing! We've no central thermostat, but radiator ones in each room, however it's pretty inefficient.

£147/month with Ovo Energy fixed until next year, got to say Ovo are by far the best utilities company I've had in the past 5 years, not the cheapest but their customer service etc has been superb and I'll be sticking with them for a while.