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This is getting ridiculous (energy prices - Strictly NO referrals!)
- Thread starter DXP55
- Start date
Soldato
I will when i can, I just wanted to vent right now. Just had enough of going in circles for the last 2 years.
Even talked about it to Zenduri so many times, managed to get things cleared then I'm right back where I started.
Soldato
Need to clear the arrears first. Which I can't afford atm.
Its a bad situation, but you should stop paying by monthly DD letting them decide what your monthly amount is as they clearly cannot be trusted.
Variable DD is available where you pay for your exact usage every month. Obviously after you have sorted out the issues.
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Soldato
I don't think you need to clear them, you just needed to get them below a certain figure right?
I don't think they have to be £0.
Get over to Octopus was my suggestion previously if you can, I know you said why you couldn't at the time, but that is still the best advice really. They can't stop you if arrears are below a certain threshold.
Also your bills can't make things up, they have to bill you based on reads and balance paid in. If you can post a bill or two here we could probably look, but you should remove any personal info and serial numbers/addresses etc.
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Soldato
No its not possible to move without clearing them. You will be given a final bill within 28 days, if the bill accounts for arrears over 28 days you cannot move without paying.
Soldato
Bleh yeah I just read that, then if you can do what I suggested it may help, last couple of bills with all PI redacted.
Soldato
Will do as soon as I can.
I wish I didnt live in a flat with all electric, (i specifically avoid using heaters/water heater once a day usually).
You need to get more involved.
Examine your usage, and compare it to others in similar situation to see if its even remotely realistic.
Look at what tariff you on, are you paying competitive rates, might you be better on something like tracker e.g.
A starting point maybe get some watt meters to measure your devices,, and compare that to daily readings from your meter. Also consider a creep test as well (turn everything off for some hours and see if the meter registers usage). But before doing these find out your actual billed usage.
I started taking stock of my energy situation, and it eventually ended up with a new smart meter which mysteriously gives much lower readings than the old legacy one did, I eventually got compensation for over billing on the previous meter, this new meter also means I never have estimated readings again, can look at time of day usage, live usage, and access to tracker and tou tariffs.
Also a bit more info here on my old meter which is interesting, there is a story of a faulty batch of meters published years ago, I compared my meter to the one they had in a photo and it was the same model (although not same batch), also the old meter was outside of its expected life.
Also, and definitely not a dig at you, I think a grant should include a full investigation of the bills and usage and corrective actions, otherwise you can just end up in a perpetual loop like the one you seem to be in. £200 a month for what you seem to be describing as a single person household should have had questions asked.
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Soldato
Its been hard to manage it all between my moms brain tumor last year etc, applying for her pip, being in cambridge most of the year dealing with consultants, and all the grant stuff. It has been hard to manage.
I am getting a smart metre installed Tuesday and getting electrical usage monitors for the house to help me more directly manage my usage and figure out if anything's amiss.
I'm gonna post couple of my bills when I get a chance as some of the guys here suggested.
Thank you for your reply.
Soldato
Before the new meter is fitted take a photo. So you have a record of which meter it was, and the readings.
You can check now that the meter number on your bill matches if you haven't already done so. Its not unknown for the wrong meter to be recorded against the wrong address.
You can check now that the meter number on your bill matches if you haven't already done so. Its not unknown for the wrong meter to be recorded against the wrong address.
Associate
Post your meter readings and consider getting a third party monitor which clips round the cables. If you truly are frugal with your usage, I'd suspect a rogue device/appliance you may not be aware of sucking power or a meter fault. I had the latter and although it took a while to sort a few years ago, it did get sorted I got refunded based on average readings before the issue. We live in a 3 bedroom semi with extension, GCH, I have a couple of small low power servers, couple of gaming PC's and the usual toys/tablets/TV etc for the wife/smaller child - electricity usage on average is around 11-12KW a day.
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Soldato
I will do that today.
Soldato
Okay I will do this also thank you for the advice.
How best to check for potential issues like that?
If you don’t have a smart meter, start taking daily readings.
What are you monthly readings you are providing now?
Do you have a time of use tariff?
Water heaters use a shed load of energy. The amount of energy isn’t just about how long you run it, it’s about how much water it’s heating and to what temperature. Then how much water you use and the heat loss of the tank determines how much it costs to reheat it. The immersion will switch off when it’s up to temperature so it’s not all that relevant how long it’s switched on for.
How old is the tank?
Is it warm on the outside?
How big is it?
What temperature is it set to?
You say you don’t use heating, how are you keeping the property warm?
Once you have your new meter an easy method is to look at your watts on the inhome display. Base line with just a fridge is around the 200-300w mark.
See where you are and gradually turn things off and see what is causing high usage. Can also go in the opposite direction and gradually turn everything on.
There are loads of things that can drain power if left on. Microwave (yes the clock), sky box, some plugs will still use power just plugged into the wall etc
I'm in a 2 bed semi by myself. Even having my TV on all day, microwave on, air fryer on etc I don't use much electricity.
This was yesterday, computer on all day as working from home, air fryer, microwave etc
On working from the office days it doesn't even hit 40p.
My electric usage has never went above £20 per month.
Also check your tariff your more than likely on a silly expensive tariff. For low users octopus tracker is by far the best right now.
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Soldato
I will post replies plus bills asap guys just in Cambridge atm, hospital stuff.
Thank you for all the suggestions and help.
Thank you for all the suggestions and help.
Soldato
Perfect thank you, I will do that this week.Once you have your new meter an easy method is to look at your watts on the inhome display. Base line with just a fridge is around the 200-300w mark.
See where you are and gradually turn things off and see what is causing high usage. Can also go in the opposite direction and gradually turn everything on.
There are loads of things that can drain power if left on. Microwave (yes the clock), sky box, some plugs will still use power just plugged into the wall etc
I'm in a 2 bed semi by myself. Even having my TV on all day, microwave on, air fryer on etc I don't use much electricity.
This was yesterday, computer on all day as working from home, air fryer, microwave etc
On working from the office days it doesn't even hit 40p.
My electric usage has never went above £20 per month.
Also check your tariff your more than likely on a silly expensive tariff. For low users octopus tracker is by far the best right now.
I have some work to do. I want to get in on min maxing my energy costs like you guys now that I have the time.
Soldato
It's not about min/maxing, it's more about understanding what is used/where it's going.
If I need to cook food to eat, or I want to watch TV, or play a game on my PC/PS5, I'm not going to not do it, just to save some money.
The kind of usage that @MatsyLR is showing (kWh would be more useful here not £ especially as price per day changes on tracker) is not really a yard-stick for your average use, their consumption seems to be on the very low end.
I'll use power when I want to do something with it, what I try and avoid is using power when I don't need to. For example I won't just leave my PC on all day when I'm in another room doing something else (I put it to sleep mode when not using it), and I won't leave the TV on playing to no one, or leave the oven running after I'm done cooking stuff.
Smart meter helps as it shows when power is used down to 30 minute intervals, so you can see what you couldn't before, exactly when/how much power was used, by 30 min intervals, by day, by month etc. It gives you a baseline, as well as allows you to see random peaks/spikes.
By the way, not all things are equal when it comes to efficiency of power consumption. I've heard of people who ran things like very old fridges/freezers, which were incredibly power inefficient, and changing to a newer one quickly paid for itself and reduced ongoing costs, whilst performing the same task. Not saying you have this, but it's one example which some won't consider before seeing the evidence to support it. Other examples like this exist, for instance switching from old bulbs to newer LED ones, light output is similar but power consumption can be 5-10% of an equivalent legacy bulb.
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