Utility bills, am I paying too much? Gas/electric bill's are crippling me.

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Just need some advice, When we moved in our current house the vendor owed £300 on gas/electic. We rang the provider up explaining we were now in the property. We downsized due to our last house being too expensive to run. Still we seem to be receiving large bills. May I ask what some of you're paying quarterly. It seems looking since moving in.19/10/19 we have paid £3400 in gas/electric. We're in a small semi. The boiler is served no leaks or anything. It's actually the same if not higher than our last home. Have we paid off the debt left behind? Or is this average? We're a single income family due to your son having autism and I don't work. It's crippling us to be honest. Any advice welcome.
 
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That is extortionate. I live in a quite a small 2 bed house, I pay 80/100 a month on electric and 120/140 a month gas.
 
That is extortionate. I live in a quite a small 2 bed house, I pay 80/100 a month on electric and 120/140 a month gas.
Honestly I can't believe it. It's really putting a strain on our finances. I'm going to check if we can change provider? I'm hopeless and not sure of our terms. I just panic and get upset at each bill.
 
Who is your provider??

When you called them regarding the debt from the previous owner, what was said? What is listed on your bill??

That sounds completely extortionate to me, £283 a week. Something isn’t right.

Call the provider back and ask them to go through the bill with you, ask them why it’s so high. Tell them the date you officially took over the property - did you take meter readings the day you moved in? Did you supply them with these already?
 
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Honestly I can't believe it. It's really putting a strain on our finances. I'm going to check if we can change provider? I'm hopeless and not sure of our terms. I just panic and get upset at each bill.
Somethings definitely not right there. Contact the providers for a breakdown. And yes move providers if they won’t budge on your bill. You shouldn’t be paying anywhere near that.
 
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Who is your provider??

When you called them regarding the debt from the previous owner, what was said? What is listed on your bill??

That sounds completely extortionate to me, £283 a week. Something isn’t right.

Call the provider back and ask them to go through the bill with you, ask them why it’s so high. Tell them the date you officially took over the property - did you take meter readings the day you moved in? Did you supply them with these already?
Cards on the table, I had a brake down before we moved. So I'm still struggling. They asked us for the previous owners details regarding their outstanding debt. We didn't have them. So I assumed it was no longer our problem. My husband rang several times and we asked for all our bills dated to be sent out. As we were paperless. Paying weekly. We were never told we weren't paying enough. Inevitably we got behind when we rang way too late for a balance. Since we've been having to pay £200 a fortnight to catch up and my parents paid a chunk off. So I thought we were getting there. Today another bill asking for £600 pound for both gas/electric. It all kind of goes over my head. Sorry if I sound like an idiot. And this makes some sense I'm with British gas. For both . We were making payments of about £80 a mnth previously, sometimes £100 for both. Admittedly we have played less than the required £200 but we've still played something. It's like we just can't get out of this situation.
 
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Hope you’re ok now. ❤
Both mine are metered so I’m not sure how the billing system works? Do they send a bill weekly and you just haven’t been checking if you’re paying the right amount?
 
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Hope you’re ok now. ❤
Both mine are metered so I’m not sure how the billing system works? Do they send a bill weekly and you just haven’t been checking if you’re paying the right amount?
Quarterly bills now. We rang in Nov and were thrilled to be in credit with gas and owed £200 on electric.. making regular but smaller payments due to Christmas I thought we were finally ok. But no. I'm not good at explaining..apparently we were still paying the owed money then and this bill is the new amount. for the 3 months. Hope this makes sense? Other than summer we seem to use about £400 each a quarter.
 
So you were still paying the money owed from the previous owners but thought you were paying your own? Then because you weren’t paying your own it has mounted up?
 
British gas are the most expensive , and they're uselss.
I'm in a 2 bedroom flat (ground floor so it's always cold) im with British gas and I pay around £100 per month , a little more in winter , a little Less in summer .
Are you giving them meter readings ? Are they definitely accurate ? Or are they sending someone to read your meters ?
My gas meter is outside , and they were supposed to be sending someone out to read it along with the electrical one - for some reason the bloke read the electric meter but left the gas out ..... For a full 12 months I'd been recieving "estimated" bills !
 
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So you were still paying the money owed from the previous owners but thought you were paying your own? Then because you weren’t paying your own it has mounted up?
We were paperless and recieved payment cards. We were paying what we thought was enough. £80-100 per month. We never received a statement by letter and just assumed we were ok. Not being in the right frame of mind hasn't helped. We buried our head a little. Eventually we bit the bullet and figured out how to get online to look. We were in over £1000 of arrears. My parent's paid £800 off leaving £600 owed. Obviously we are trying to clear that but each month using more. Our bills are £400 each gas/electric quarterly. So we can't seem to get clear. That seems high?

British gas are the most expensive , and they're uselss.
I'm in a 2 bedroom flat (ground floor so it's always cold) im with British gas and I pay around £100 per month , a little more in winter , a little Less in summer .
Are you giving them meter readings ? Are they definitely accurate ? Or are they sending someone to read your meters ?
My gas meter is outside , and they were supposed to be sending someone out to read it along with the electrical one - for some reason the bloke read the electric meter but left the gas out ..... For a full 12 months I'd been recieving "estimated" bills !
We sent them our meter readings when we moved in and in November gone. When we paid our final bills I hoped to be rid. When we moved here we tried to switch provider as they were providing here too. British gas blocked it. I was in no state of mind to contest it. But now I mad. We owed them nothing at that point. The previous owner did. I just hope weren't paying his bill too. Hubbie says no mention of the previous debt owed on our bills. But it might be more subtle or sneaky? I don't know. Just bogging me down x
 
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I currently pay £68 PM for Gas/Electricity. (this can go up/down quarterly depending on how much we have spent. But it is never higher than around £80)

This is in the South East, in a 2-bed end of terrace.

You definitely need to change!! We are with EON. xx
 
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Change-and tell them why
We went to hell with British Gas when my granddad died
He was £160 in credit (said them)
But rather than pay us back they then plucked over £1500 in debt out of thin air
We ended up going through hell and turned out they owed us £450 which we got-well over two years later and the rest ‘wiped’
Which is just what you need when you’ve lost a loved one
I think they thought we’d just cough up to get shot
Take it to the ombudsman and let them deal with it if you get nowhere with them
 
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Change-and tell them why
We went to hell with British Gas when my granddad died
He was £160 in credit (said them)
But rather than pay us back they then plucked over £1500 in debt out of thin air
We ended up going through hell and turned out they owed us £450 which we got-well over two years later and the rest ‘wiped’
Which is just what you need when you’ve lost a loved one
I think they thought we’d just cough up to get shot
Take it to the ombudsman and let them deal with it if you get nowhere with them
I'm so sorry to hear that you went through all that. Dreadful. It does however concrete my feelings they're not at all to be trusted x

I currently pay £68 PM for Gas/Electricity. (this can go up/down quarterly depending on how much we have spent. But it is never higher than around £80)

This is in the South East, in a 2-bed end of terrace.

You definitely need to change!! We are with EON. xx
We have tried, they blocked it..I'm wondering if that's even allowed? But we're certainly going to have to try again. Or look into ombudsmen or something.
 
We pay around £200-£300 a month for each but we have quite a large house and are running a pool filter/heater. We are with British Gas and have had no issues but I have heard some horror stories.

The only thing I would say is where possible do everything in writing and if trying to pay back a certain amount each month is too much let them know. As long as you make an offer (and keep up with that offer) they shouldn’t be able to hound you
 
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I have always been with British Gas, when we moved into the property we are in now, the previous tenants had pre paid meters - we kept them and we have saved alot of money as you are more careful.
In my last house i paid my bill direct debit every month and i always put heating on whether it was cold or not.
I spend £50 a month on gas and £60 on Electric (3 bed terrace) its alot less than that in the summer as we have solar panels so save on electric.
We also have Smart Meters, let me say they aren't very smart. The electric side is working so we can keep track but the gas isnt connecting to the meter. Have spoken to British gas as they couldn't give a tit. I don't recommend the smart meters at all.
 
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I would go through the ombudsman as that sounds ridiculously high! I pay around £80 a month for gas and electric in the winter months, and I have my heating on quite a lot. I’m with green star energy. Hope you get it sorted x
 
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Thankyou everyone. We always seem to cop it. In our last property the previous tenants as it was rented out left over a grand debt. They flitted and I doubt they found them. I still believe somehow we inherit this debt. I always have paid our final bills. I can't believe we aren't paying less in a smaller house. Less rooms and smaller by far.
 
Thankyou everyone. We always seem to cop it. In our last property the previous tenants as it was rented out left over a grand debt. They flitted and I doubt they found them. I still believe somehow we inherit this debt. I always have paid our final bills. I can't believe we aren't paying less in a smaller house. Less rooms and smaller by far.

What kind of heating have you got?
Do you have the heating on a lot?
Do you use the oven/tumble dryer a lot?
Do you run hot water for baths or showers a lot?

Try turning the heaters on each room off unless desperately needed - we don’t have any of the bathroom heaters on in our house and rarely have the kitchen one on. We don’t have a tumble dryer and don’t have baths very often.
 
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