Utility Bills

[emmie]

not sure best category and wonder if anyone understands this
I use little gas, one appliance only, so the pay as you go meter is or has been ideal up to now. In the last six months to a year the money going in has been more and more, and so i phoned the gas company and asked them why i appear to be paying a lot more and this is what i was told

that they now levy a daily standing charge as the governments asked all the utility companies to make their bills easier to understand. so that charge which wasn't there before has hiked my expenditure for gas double what it was a short time ago.

[emmie]

i don't want a quarterly or monthly direct debit bill for gas, but does anyone get why they think shoving on a daily standing charge easy to understand

[factor-fiction]

You need to ask them to put you on a different tarrif or you can shop around

[boxtops]

This was publicised quite a while ago, emmie - and unfortunately it's smaller users like you who are affected (pro rata) the most.

[kateisamazing]

If they have to try and make the amount even maybe they are rounding up all the prces so maybe from like 2.80 to 3 so over time it rises

[factor-fiction]

It's because suppliers who had no standing charge were charging a higher rate for the first few units and then a lower rate for subsequent units, and that was deemed to be being used to confuse people or disguise prices. So now they have to offer a fixed price option plus a single unit rate. Go on a price comparison site and see if you can find a better deal, either with the same supplier or elsewhere

[emmie]

i hate faffing about changing things, but will have a look at comparison sites. I am annoyed however seeing as how even if i don't use the gas, the daily standing charge still go on.

[Peter Pedant]

Utilita do a tariff without a standing charge but I am sure that their p-per-therm isnt the lowest - swings and roundabouts -

If you are a tenant then you will need the permission of your landlord to change.
[ if e g you are a six month tenant and you dont use the gas for the final month then you are not keen to pay the 30 d standing charge and someone has to. IN this was a tenant can transfer some of the bill on to the Landlord. Yippee ! that is why his permission is needed. ]

[joko]

if its only one appliance, that you dont use much, why not just replace it with an electric one and cut the gas off and pay nothing?

[emmie]

joko, its a distinct possibility , however i just had my electricity bill and having a problem over that, have no idea why my electricity varies so much, and it's not like its a houseful of people, i am careful, frugal even,
don't leave lights on, switch off everything off when going out, or to bed, either that they have whacked the prices up as well.

[emmie]

though i have never been overly happy with electric oven