Electricity bill...... AAAAAGH!

[VenalWinfrey]

Please can someone help/advise me concerning my Dad's electricity bill?

My Dad lives in a council property. He is 80 years old (retired), and he has a prepayment key meter for his electricity.

He has no gas whatsoever. No central heating.

What he does have is an electrically run water heater, and two small electric heaters in the house.

I realise these things can be costly to run. But he refuses to have gas/any central heating system installed. So, so be it.

My question is simply this: he pays on average £50-70 per week. Yes, really. Each week, in electricity top-ups on his key.

He is limited of budget, being retired, and, having spoken to some other friends, they were astonished at how high his payments are.

I have just this week changed his supplier, which hopefully will reduce his bills somewhat. He is on the standard variable tariff.

My hands are limited somewhat, in that he won't let me interfere too much in his affairs. But I was wondering, would it be worth me calling either the new supplier/the council/some other organisation that could perhaps advise me if there might be something wrong with his electricity set-up?

It just seems such an huge sum of money to pay, for what is essentially a few lights, two televisions, one kettle, etc.

Any suggestions, particularly helplines we might call, or really any ideas GREATLY appreciated.

Thank you for reading!

[Myriad2112]

I am also on a key meter and pay around £20 per week for a 2 bedroom detached house with no central heating. We also have two heaters, one fan heater and one halogen heater. The fan heater almost doubles the rate even though we only use it for an hour or two each night. I suspect that your dad has them on most of the time in this cold weather. I advise that you try and replace them with something more economical.

[islasmum]

The fan heaters tend to work out quite expensive, but the government are doing a Warm Home scheme at present, where they can top up your electricity meter key for about £130 (I think) if you look up Warm Home. gov (sorry, can't remember the link) you should find info about this. Also I'm sure that PAYG meters work out more expensive than direct debit.

[boxtops]

paying by meter seems to be a lot more expensive, and you get a discount if you pay up front by direct debit. We have gas heating and water and electricity for everything else, there are only two of us here in quite a big house, and our bills for direct debit are £70 a month. Your dad's electric space heaters will be expensive to run, you might want to look into that - the elctricity supplier will help you work out daily usage on each appliance.

[abstibus]

If you manage to get the bill sorted, would you consider buying him a Christmas pressie of a heated throw? I bought one for an elderly neighbour a few years ago. She is on a very limited income and says it has been a godsend. I then bought one for myself on her recommendation and just love it.
Here's a link
Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

[Old_Geezer]

You don't understand the concern factor ? An analogy for you to try. Get copies of your car and house keys and give a set to everyone in your neighbourhood, they just have to promise not to use them without telling you they are going to. Sound sane to you ? No, me neither. How much worse when it is your savings you are giving access to. But the real issue is that you are near forced to do so or will be charged more for the same service/product as others. You are basically bullied into it.

[starone]

When I was working, many years ago, I worked for the local electricity board in the accounts department. Many times I had to advise on the use of electricity and believe me electric heating, especially by fires is enormous. You might think your father's fires are small but they are still racking it up, especially if he has them on all day. Even the cheaper option - off-peak heating - is not very good and need back up heating during late evening, just when you need it most. I opted for gas central heating when I was given the choice, again, many years ago, although I felt disloyal to the place I worked. But - this above all, to thine own self be true and I knew how much it cost. It is not advisable for him to get cold but I must admit it is going to be very difficult for you to persuade him to change.

[starone]

Me again - paying by direct debit does not have free access to your savings, only to your current (cheque) account. My savings are entirely separate from my current account in which I keep enough to cover my bills, all paid by direct debit plus a bit extra for anything else I might have to pay for.

[factor-fiction]

>You don't understand the concern factor ? An analogy for you to try. Get copies of your car and house keys and give a set to everyone in your neighbourhood, they just have to promise not to use them without telling you they are going to.

Sorry, but I think that's a ridiculous analogy, Old_Geezer. I am protected by the DD guarantee, I know exactly who is taking my money, I can (and have done so) successfully negotiated changes to DD amounts and I can stop the DD if I'm not happy with them.

Paying by direct debit has ever caused me any problems. It is far more convenient than paying by cheque, and I benefit from lower rates because it's a more inefficient system. Moreover my current energy supplier pays me interest of 3% pa tax free when my account is in credit, so there's no incentive on them to set my DD's too high.

But I also agree in freedom of choice and if you prefer to pay in a way that costs the companies more (and maybe costs you more) then both parties are happy