chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

I'm after some suggestions here, as I think I may be getting ripped on my gas

Boiler fixed Wednesday morning, and I put £5 og gas on my card to last me through until today when I usually buy me gas and electric as well as other bits. Checked the meter thing (have pre payment meters for gas/electric currently), and in 36 hours, I had used nearly all the £5

Eh? The house isn't exactly steaming warm, and I've had two baths in that time. Heating hans't been on much as it's been mild up here this week. So by my brief calculations, £5 in under two days would be nearly £20 a week, just in gas. £80 a fuggin month, I had to pick myself up off the floor. Add that to approximately £15 a week for electric (but I do get my monies worth), and thats approx. £140 a month. ****

--------------------------


So... What I would like the S.N. massive to suggest (apart from thicker jumpers) is their options for gas/electric. I'm not staying on pre payment for those prices, even if it means putting aside every week for monthly or quarterly bills (I'll store it in a jar ffs). For the record I've just swapped from Britiah gas to Southern electric for my leccy suppliers, and will be doing the same for my gas supply now too.

So, getting off the pre payment meters, whats the way to go, quarterly bills I set aside money for each week, or the dreaded (possible overcharging) of the monthly Direct Debit?


Over to you, but I'll be doing something about this soon, as I cannot afford that kind of rate for bloody gas

Cheers

(Rant over)

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Heard rumours of upto and including 40%

Southern electric have been slightly cheaper with the lectric, even on a p/p meter, but after the shock last night, I'm swapping gas over too, and off meters for good. That's an unfair price - for a 3 bedroomed terraced

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

I used to pay 80 per month with BG for a 2 bed mid terrace (not pre payment)
I have since moved to a 4 bed house on 3 storeys which is a lot bigger and pay half that per month with EDF and am also in credit.

You do generally get a discount though if you have both services with the same supplier

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Gonna call them and ask about the swap over. I'm still getting over the shock

MOK79

We were paying £90 a month for our gas , Direct Debit as well
But they finally realised we were paying way over the odds and have now dropped it to £35 a month.........

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Think this is whay I'd prefer to pay a quarterly bill and save up as time passes. I mean if I put £30 a week for gas/electric combined away, I'm hopeful that would cover it , still £120 a month combined and £360 quarterly so to speak. If it's anymore than that, I'm off to Primark to buy wooly hats instead, which ARE renewable

NotoriousREV

www.moneysupermarket.com/utilities

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

could it be that you had already gone into the emergency allowance on the old meter reading meaning you had pay the meter back?

i know what i am trying to say

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Just looked on that, thanks. Need to change over from my meters though first, and I'm hoping that there won't be a charge for this

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Nope. When the guy fixed the boiler Wednesday and did the checking of the system, I looked at the balance on the gas meter. Said something like 18p credit. Put the £5 on and it said £5.18p. then checked last night and was nearly all gone

StickyMicky

i always thought the card payment things were more expensive anyway?

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

By the looks of it, they are

Was always convenient as a means of knowing what I was spending. But as usual to get a good deal, you have to do do a little diggin, and pay quarterly

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

i got rid of mine about 2 years ago, glad i got rid of mine.
i suggest you get the meters removed as the rates are a lot higher, i have saved loads of money

SCOsazOBY

If you asked to have the meters put in then IIRC they charge you to have them taken out. You would be better getting Nat to ring up and say she has just moved in and wants the meters taking out then there wont be a charge.

RJMS

iTrader: (2)

Unfortunately to get the best deals you will almost inevitably have to pay by Direct Debit. I've just swapped providers from Scottish Power after they decided that my direct debit needed increasing by 50%. Fair enough I had used more than I was paying for but did they need to get it all back in a month? It seems that they don't like you owing anything and it must always be them owing you and of course getting interest on your money Hopefully BG will be different (they were in the past) but time will tell and the basic BG prices should be saving me around 20% anyway.

wagrain

It's not unusual for a load of credit to go at once after a period of no gas usage. So if your boiler is the only gas appliance, when it was broke you weren't using gas. During that time the daily charges would still be adding up, as in theory they are still providing you with a gas supply. The fact you are not using gas due to a busted boiler is not their fault as such.
But the daily charge does NOT come off while no gas is being used.

When you start using gas again and stick some credit in the meter, within 24hrs the daily charges will have all come off at once, hence the big drop in credit.

I know this from managing lots of rented properties. If they are empty for a few weeks between tenants and no gas being used, when the new tenant starts using gas, they see a big drop initially.
Because of this we always give them for free £10 gas and £10 electric credit when moving in.

We have the meters to prevent bad debts to the utilities.
But if it was my own home, I'd swap to a normal meter and pay by monthly direct debit.

TopBanana

We have a fireplace and I collect a load of free fuel from the woods behind our house. If you can find somewhere to get free wood might be worth going down that road? You'd need to get a stove from somewhere.

Just an idea.

Coffin Dodger

Open fire would do it. Start ripping up your floor boards, skirting, doors, etc. Any unnecessary wood that you have in the house. You'll soon be toasty Better that than freeze to death

TopBanana

Don't be so ridiculous.

You'd start with the curtains.

Coffin Dodger

I wasn't going to explain to him the actual mechanics of getting the fire going, but yes use the curtains for kindling

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

DD is the way to go. We just moved into a house with pre-payment meters which are getting slung asap because it is a rip off.

Movign from EON to Scottish Power because EON wanted £50 per meter to remove them where as Scottish Power will do it for nothing.

Incidentally paying quarterly with Scottish Power is more expensive than their pre-payment charges. DD is the cheapest option.

5t.

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

We're paying about £100 a month for combined electric and gas but as I work from home and Bob does shifts everything is on nearly all the time. Our house is just a small cottage albeit on three floors.

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Well I'm hoping that when I call Southern Electric they will both swap my gas supply to themselves and also put me in normal meters (for D/D or quarterly bills). When I joined British Gas a little while ago, I did state I wanted to stay on meters (from my mothers time in owning the house before me).

So I assume as I'm a new customer and only on a 28 day rolling contract with Southern Electric, they will give me normal meters otherwise I could simply threaten to leave, which wouldn't bother me.

Right, so monthly D/D. My problems with this are (and I've already picked up on these elsewhere recently)...

1. It's a set amount each month, so I could be undercharged or over charged. I use about the same electricity aount all year round, but differing gas amounts. My concern is paying for gas I'm not using then recieving a cheque at the end of the year when really I need to be saving that little bit every week/month. Same issue if I was undercharged and paying too little. I don't want big bills even though I'm paying a monthly D/D.


I'm edging towards a quarterly thing, as I can put away a pretty accurate amount from past experience each week/month and have it there waiting to pay in full. If I have over saved then thats a bonus, but it's gonna be a lot more accurate than a D/D set up by an Indian call centre in New Dehli.

Can people see my reasoning on this, especially considering current circumstance. I want off the meters (pending it can be done for free), but Direct Debit puts me off as it's a fluctuating thing.

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

Scottish Power was a call centre in Liverpool i think. Starting me on £75

Have a look at Uswitch to compare a few. Ubico don't charge different for pre-payment v direct debit so might be worth a shout as it will help with budgeting.

5t.

cossie-nutter

iTrader: (45)

I use £8 a week for gas and £10 on the elec

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

Go into the attic and knock a few bricks out into your neighbours and to into thei electricity supply. You will be able to run an immersion heater 24/7 and never pay a penny


MIGHT BE ILLEGAL THOUGH

Coffin Dodger

Nick there gas too, a-la Richie and Eddie in Bottom nicking Mr. Rottweiler's gas

wagrain

You'd be amazed at how many times I've found this in terraced housing where the roof space is open between properties!!!

Comes in handy when you're doing the place up and don't want to put credit on the meter in the property you're working on. Especially when the w@nker of a neighbour has been bragging how he doesn't pay for his leccy as his mate "fixed it". Or so I have been told by a friend of a friend who's cat was talking to a feline friend that had just been to the pub and overheard its owner talking about it to a friend.

cossie-nutter

iTrader: (45)

Now thatw as funny! I still have that on vhs!