Power Bills

[patsy]

I have just got my electric and gas bill, what is going on? I understood it was going to go down a few months ago, the government today say we are in deflation now in the UK, what??? they are kidding, I got about 10 items today from Tesco store, and they cost me £23 and the same things last month were only £18, even veg and fruit are up by 10% each around my area.
Are we being taken for a ride, or is Labour just rubbing it in?
Patsy

[Mandy]

I am sure things like foods, and everyday things like power and fuel bills are going up much higher, but this tribe in power in the UK dont count things in the inflation rate that we simple folk use, so they say things are cheaper, if we start to eat clothes yes maybe things are cheaper, but I cant chew the thread with my teeth, can you?

[debbie]

I was hoping mad when I got my power bill, it eat up all my credit of £200 and I was going to make sure I kept my lights and heating low last winter, but it made no diferance by doing that.

[chrissie]

I work from home for the utility warehouse and although we always guarantee to be cheaper than british gas and the local electricity supplier, I was disappointed by how little our energy prices came down last month.

All suppliers put costs up last August/ september by around 40% for gas - some more - and about 10-15% for electricity, and yet now prices have fallen by that amount they`ve either reduced it by single figures or some companies not at all!!

Ofgem should be tougher - its a useless body, and most energy companies are now run by france or germany!!! and their prices are much less in those countries than they charge us.

Anyway - enough moaning - it is causing genuine hardship for some people though.

Hopefully by becoming "greener" we will start to make changes in our lifestyle which will result in us using less energy in our homes.

chrissie

[Derrick]

I just read your article on here about the power bills, your quite right my dear, how come they all go up last year by over 60% yet they are reduced by only about 8 to 12%? it is just that we are being ripped off.

Thanks for the light on that information my dear, was good to read, some nice common sense for a change in the UK.
Derrick.
Leicester

[Micheal]

I nearly died when I see my latest gas bill was £160 inc VAT as I have only had my heating on at night from 7 till 9pm each day, seems the less we use the more we pay to me.

[chrissie]

Michael hi

You might find that your bill is estimated.

Make sure you send in regular meter readings as sometimes meters aren`t read more than once or twice a year.

I encourage all my customers with the utility warehouse to ring me or the company with their readings every few months or enter them in online.

Your bill hopefully will be less when it is an accurate reading.

chrissie

[angie]

I read my meters myself, my father told me how to do it when I was only 17 years old, I trust my readings more than theres.
Angie
Member of forum

[john]

Welcome to the forum chrissie & Angie, I think you are both cleaver young ladys.
John

[chrissie]

I am happy to advise anyone who needs it with their bills without obligation.

There are usually 2 ways of paying for energy:-
A budget account is when your annual consumption is divided into 12 and you pay the same all the year round.
The second option is to pay for what you use and this involves regular meter readings to the company.

I am not trying to get people to sign up to the utility warehouse even though I feel its a good company.

But for those who do not know -

a) prepayment meters are the most expensive way to pay for energy. Some companies allow you to have pre-payment meters replaced free with ordinary meters unless your credit is bad

b) The next most expensive is quarterly bills. The cheapest rates are with monthly direct debits

c) Another way to cut down costs is have both gas and electricity from one supplier. Some companies give discounts for this. A lot of people, especially older people have never changed from gas with British gas and electric with their regional supplier.
We (Utility Warehouse) guarantee to be cheaper than both of these.

d) The cheapest of all is paperless online billing - although unfortunately this option is not available for those without computers.

2 households can have the same supplier and be next door to each other yet be on different tariffs
Always check what you are paying by comparing the kwh rate. It will say e.g. 11p per kwh electreicity or 3.5p per kwh gas

If people come selling to your door, this is the only way to compare whether they are cheaper or not in spite of what they say.

Hope this helps.
Its so easy to change these days and very little hassle but people in general are afraid to

chrissie