utility bills - the horror.

[lang rabbie]

Check the seals on your freezer door to make sure it is not losing "coolth", and the compressor is working overtime to compensate.

 

[Laney]

Eek that does sound mental - our electricity bill was 60 odd pounds for a quarter, and I live in a student house where we are, to be entirely honest, extremely wasteful with electricity.
The gas was 150 pounds though - so maybe it evens out?

 

[moonsi til]

I'm sure you made a mistake by getting a water meter.Everyone I know's bill has doubled with theirs

I have had a water meter for 3 years. My bill prior was £21 per month. My bills now roughly £60 every 6 months. I live alone so a water meter suits me however before having it installed I considered the impact upon selling but in reality my flat is only really suitable for 1 person with lots of shoes or 2 persons with less shoes !

 

[nellyphant]

Sound logic if you're living in the flat.

Water 'n'shoes? Are you Jesus?

 

[moonsi til]

My flat is all electric with heating from a penny an hour slim line heater in my kitchen and an oil filled 2.5kw heater in my lounge. I switched to EDF and within months they put up my bills from £30 per month to £55 and my bill was in debit. Prior to this I had no problems. Just recently EDF started taking only £26 per month so I gave them a ring. Turns out in my 1st 6 months with them I used a whopping £300 ! I really don't know how that happened ! After talking with them they are going to refund me the £69 that I am in credit and readjust my bill to £40 with the plan to reduce further as at the moment my average monthly use is £26.

 

[Epona]

I got an electricity bill for £2,300 yesterday. We hadn't been billed for about a year due to electricity company cock up, but that was ridiculous. They'd overestimated our usage by more than 20,000 units! Idiots. That would be about 7 years worth of electricity, I was on a key meter for years so I have a fair idea of how much I use.

 

[baldrick]

water meters mean bigger bills except if you are a little old lady whos never in and uses a miniscule amount of water... real human beings however aren't and will pay more...

Fortunately, they will install a meter and give you 11 months to decide whether you're saving money or not. During that period they will take it out for free if your bills increase.

We're with south staffs water, dunno if it's the same for other companies.

 

[aqua]

We're with severn trent and pay £18 a month for all water related stuff, £40 a month for electricity (npower) and £37 a month for gas (British Gas)

and I think our house is slightly smaller than yours? (same council band I think though? - £80 a month?)

 

[baldrick]

We're with severn trent and pay £18 a month for all water related stuff, £40 a month for electricity (npower) and £37 a month for gas (British Gas)

and I think our house is slightly smaller than yours? (same council band I think though? - £80 a month?)

I could cry at our bills atm, honestly. just have to wait till we get a new leccy meter and a new water meter and we might be able to afford a life.

we're band c now - £130 a month. Joy.

 

[aqua]

band c makes sense I guess, considering where the house is

whats your gas/leccy and water then?

 

[Roadkill]

I've suddenly had a gas bill three times bigger than usual. It's one of those estimated bills, though, so I've given them a correct meter reading and hopefully the replacement bill will be more reasonable...

 

[baldrick]

water is over £300 a year, can't remember exactly, but we're getting a meter put in. haven't had a gas bill yet. first electric bill was £64 for 3 weeks because we're on a stupid meter which is also being changed.

 

[baldrick]

I've suddenly had a gas bill three times bigger than usual. It's one of those estimated bills, though, so I've given them a correct meter reading and hopefully the replacement bill will be more reasonable...

we had one of those last year, it was alsmot exactly double what it should have been. funny how estimated bills are never less than they should be

 

[crustychick]

we pay about £50 a month leccy. We have quite a big house... but are quite good at switching stuff off... and there are five of us to split the costs...

 

[May Kasahara]

we had one of those last year, it was alsmot exactly double what it should have been. funny how estimated bills are never less than they should be

Having said that, I did ring in a meter reading once in a state of high dudgeon and got a significantly increased bill back

 

[mr steev]

mr steev - how the heck did you end up paying for everyone's water? was it a shared flat?

Yep. A big old house converted into flats.

Just seen mr steev's post..he's so all knowing!

Why thank you. Unfortunately it's cos, most of the time, I've learnt the hard way! We've just been stung with a £200/q gas bill - the wonders of central heating. I miss my wood burner

 

[equationgirl]

I've just got an electric bill - and it's taken them six weeks to send it to me

It goes without saying that they want payment now...

 

[vipper]

water meters gas meters and leccy meters are all more expesive than the alternatives all companies providn utities give you a payment card whichcan be used to put a little on each month... which is prefferable to the meters which are set at a high unti price...

If you mean prepayment meters then there is no prepayment water meter in the uk and gas and electric prepay meters are more expensive than credit meters because the cost of running them is higher.

If you mean payment card schemes they are generally the same unit price as direct debits.

 

[Wolveryeti]

I've suddenly had a gas bill three times bigger than usual. It's one of those estimated bills, though, so I've given them a correct meter reading and hopefully the replacement bill will be more reasonable...

It seems to be a common pattern for them to not bother sending round an engineer now and just trying it on.

We got a bill a few months back that was 3x what we normally pay. We challenged it and got it overturned.

I am sure that there are some people who don´t realise that you can do this, and that the greedy shits are on the make.

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

If you mean prepayment meters then there is no prepayment water meter in the uk and gas and electric prepay meters are more expensive than credit meters because the cost of running them is higher.

If you mean payment card schemes they are generally the same unit price as direct debits.

i meant prepayment meters in gas and eleccy and meters for water.

the payment card schemes most certainly are not the direct debit prices it's something which has been campaigned for for some time. they are the same prices as pay as you recieve but without the early payment bonus or late payment penalty, that a pay on demand bill gets.