This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

£250 per month for electric?!!!!

13

Ive just had a letter from our electric company, Scottish Power

I currently pay £60 per month for electric via direct debit, however Ive had a letter today saying its going up to £256 a month!!! :eek:

Im astounded by this, there is absoloutely no way we use that much electric, theres only 2 of us and we live in a 2 bedroom terraced house!!!

Ive tried to phone but theyre closed on Saturdays (typical!), so Im not sure what to do!!

I have no idea where theyve got that reading from, in fact I check our electric meter regularly so I would know if we were using ridiculous amounts like that!!

What can I do? Should I just change suppliers? Or am I likely to be left with a hefty bill if I do that??

Im really annoyed and upset too, theres no way I can afford to pay £256 a month!!

Reply 1

Annoymous

thisbemadness

Ive just had a letter from our electric company, Scottish Power

I currently pay £60 per month for electric via direct debit, however Ive had a letter today saying its going up to £256 a month!!! :eek:

Im astounded by this, there is absoloutely no way we use that much electric, theres only 2 of us and we live in a 2 bedroom terraced house!!!

Ive tried to phone but theyre closed on Saturdays (typical!), so Im not sure what to do!!

I have no idea where theyve got that reading from, in fact I check our electric meter regularly so I would know if we were using ridiculous amounts like that!!

What can I do? Should I just change suppliers? Or am I likely to be left with a hefty bill if I do that??

Im really annoyed and upset too, theres no way I can afford to pay £256 a month!!

Maybe they upgraded to the same insane billing system as the one used by British Gas...
First of all - don't panic. Make sure they have the correct meter reading from you.
Then calculate the difference in your meter readings at the beginning and the end of the month, and use a formula (British Gas usually prints it at the end of every bill) to work out how much they should charge you.

If they still want to charge you £256 a month (that's insane to be fair), just change suppliers.

Reply 2

frost105

14

have you recently just had a meter reading done?

Reply 3

happy cola

Welcome to the private sector.
Change suppliers. :smile:

Reply 4

tbm

OP

13

frost105

have you recently just had a meter reading done?

Yeah I think they came the other day because I noticed that they'd left the meter door open. I already have a meter reading from the beginning of May so I might take the reading now and phone them up and ask what they have compared to my readings. But there is absoloutely no way we are using that much electric, there must be a mistake somewhere

Reply 5

PinkMobilePhone

Chat Forum Helper, Life & Style Forum Helper

22

Why don't you just ask them to install a token meter? I have one - we use about £20 a month in electric (myself, hubby, daughter - we, too, live in a 2 bedroomed terrace house).

Be warned though, if you use electric heaters that eats up a LOAD of electricity. We had to use them when our boiler was broken and we were using on average £120 a month. Soon as we got a new boiler, the costs decreased dramatically.

As for why on earth you should be expected to pay £256 a month is beyond me. That is quite ridiculous.

Reply 6

tbm

OP

13

PinkMobilePhone

Why don't you just ask them to install a token meter? I have one - we use about £20 a month in electric (myself, hubby, daughter - we, too, live in a 2 bedroomed terrace house).

Be warned though, if you use electric heaters that eats up a LOAD of electricity. We had to use them when our boiler was broken and we were using on average £120 a month. Soon as we got a new boiler, the costs decreased dramatically.

As for why on earth you should be expected to pay £256 a month is beyond me. That is quite ridiculous.

Actually that sounds like a good idea, do you have any idea where I can get one installed from? Also are the electricity cards easy to buy (ie can you get them from lots of places?)

Reply 7

Flash6289

3

Ours has just shot up from £300 for a quarter to £600. And we've been doing nothing differently so it was quite a shock!

Reply 8

RK

TSR Community Staff

22

thisbemadness

Ive just had a letter from our electric company, Scottish Power

I currently pay £60 per month for electric via direct debit, however Ive had a letter today saying its going up to £256 a month!!! :eek:

Im astounded by this, there is absoloutely no way we use that much electric, theres only 2 of us and we live in a 2 bedroom terraced house!!!

Ive tried to phone but theyre closed on Saturdays (typical!), so Im not sure what to do!!

I have no idea where theyve got that reading from, in fact I check our electric meter regularly so I would know if we were using ridiculous amounts like that!!

What can I do? Should I just change suppliers? Or am I likely to be left with a hefty bill if I do that??

Im really annoyed and upset too, theres no way I can afford to pay £256 a month!!

My parents had the same problem (either with Scottish Power or British Gas) - they kept trying to increase the driect debit payments to stupid amounts which my parents would never use enough gas/electric which they would have paid for.

Each time my Mum has phoned up with the meter reading and amanged to get the mayments stay pretty similar to what they were paying - which is still enough, their bills have not actually increased much, despite being asked to pay more than double by direct debit.

So, just phone them (when yuo can) with a meter reading and explain there is no way you will use that amount of electricity, not that you could afofrd it. Hopefully it'll get sorted out easily :smile:

This has happened several times over the last year

Reply 9

Paeony

11

That's an insane amount of money (unless you're hugely in arrears). Even sixty pounds a month sounds a lot if it's just for your electricity - my partner and I get a combined gas and electricity bill from Powergen and the bill for the last (winter) quarter for a two-bed flat was less than two hundred and fifty pounds. I'd call them asap and then I'd go and look on Uswitch and see if there are any better deals out there.

Reply 10

randomgirl

14

Are you completely sure that £250 is for a MONTH? That is quite frankly insane. It sounds like the amount some people would pay for a quarter. No way can 2 people use that much electricity.

Get on that blower first thing on monday morning and give 'em a good old questioning! Change your provider quick before they rip you off anymore. Pfff extortion.

Reply 11

PinkMobilePhone

Chat Forum Helper, Life & Style Forum Helper

22

thisbemadness

Actually that sounds like a good idea, do you have any idea where I can get one installed from? Also are the electricity cards easy to buy (ie can you get them from lots of places?)

your electricity provider can come and fit one if you phone them up and say you would prefer to be on a token meter rather than on bills.

as for the tokens, you just get them anywhere you see a PP (PayPoint) sign. Post Offices do them, but there are lots of other places aswell.

EditedToAdd: I think you might want to switch providers before getting a token meter installed though - you never know - if Scottish Power are as bad as they sound, they might set your token meter to eat up electricity quickly or something.
I'm with npower if that helps.

Reply 12

CheesyBeans

1

I had a bill sent through the other day from British Gas, for electricity, saying that we owe them over £1000. The bill was estimated and also reckons that we owe them for 15 months worth!! We have been having bills sent through every 4 months over the past 2 years and have paid all bills on time.

I phoned British Gas and they took my real meter reading and said they would send another bill. I have no idea how much the new bill is going to be. My summer is ruined now though because of the bills as we will be recieving a gas bill pretty soon too.

Reply 13

Segat1

16

British Gas are muppets. We've had so much trouble with them. We changed, worked fine.

£250 per month for electric?!!!!

Related discussions

Articles for you