Hi there - a similar vein although a year on...... I pay a montly DD for elec and have just had my latest EDF bill in. It is showing that I appear to be using an average daily usage of 10.7 units for this quarter - last quarter being 12.02. Thats all great but what does it actually mean and is that a lot? I am generally at work all day Mon-Fri, the heating / water is on a timer - few hours in the morning, few hours in the evening.

I live in a new style 4 bed detached, but we dont have masses of items on standby, 2 sky boxes and 2 telly's plus all the other usual suspects. Washer goes on probably about 4 times a week and never use a tumble dryer unless there is a dire need, so can't figure out why after paying my monthly amounts (£30)I still end up with a bill for £65.00 for the quarter???

Also having looked at my bill, you might be able to explain the following:

21 Dec 07 - 18 Jan 08 - units 300 - first 69 units @ 15.240p next 231 @ 7.400p

18 Jan 08 - 18 Mar 08 - units 642 - first 148 @ £16.440p next 494 @ 7.980p

am assuming the unit price is due to recent increase but why do I get more units at one rate in one quarter than another?

In short - I am rather confused by it all and would lsimply like to know - do I have excessive consumption and if so what is the most effective way of tackling this - energy saving plugs?

Thanks !

Energy supplier employee head on here! Hope I can put this in plain english for you Purkiest

The elec usage is about what one would expect for your property- in fact that's quite good so well done! The reason you have been charged more at the top rate on the second bill is simply that it is over a longer period than the first bill. All suppliers have a quarterly threshold of so many kilowatt hours to be charged at the higher rate (depends on the supplier on what the threshold is) and so they will be totalled up first and then whatever's left will be charged at the lower rate.

For example the company I work for will charge you 125kwh every 90 days at the higher rate and everything else on lower rates. On a shorter bill that's on a sort of pro rata basis if you see what I mean. Your breakdown above looks ok to me.

Feel free to e mail me if you need any advice

You are not always billed to an excact quarter the number fo days you are being billed over varies, this is usually decided upon when meter readings are being recieved by your supplier. There is usually a window around the date your bill is due to be released. If readings are received inside this window your quarterly bill is released based on them, if the window closes without receipt of these readings an estimated bill is sent.

To work out your primary unit allocation per bill, or billing segment. divide the total number of primary units per year by 365 and then multiply by the number of days being billed for : -

for example

(900/365)*91 = 225 (rounded)

In this example energy upto the 225th unit would be charged at one rate, everything else at the lower.

LooneyTooner is quite right in saing that the amounts you are paying, (and should be paying is quite low). From the infoamtion you have given, it seems that your actually using around £36.00 per month on your energy which would lead to an annual bill of around £432.00.

All that has happened over the year is that while you have been paying £30.00 per month your average monthly usage has actually equalled £36.00. During the summer you probably would not have noticed this as at this time your usage is generally quite low, however when you go through winter and your usage increases this shortfall becomes very apparent. If i were you and if it were possible, i'd clear the shortfall in a single payment and ask my supplier to review my MDD so that you are at a 0 balance this time next year, this will mean an increase in your MDD now, however it will save a lot of problems a year from now.

Oh and if you haven't got yourself a capped/fixed price tarriff - get one!