Citizens Advice: Understanding your energy usage

By Kirklees Citizens Advice & Law Centre chief executive Nick

Whittingham: It’s normal for your energy bills to change at this time of year, and it’s particularly important in the current energy situation to understand how much you’re using.

If you think there might be a problem, here are some things you can do:

Firstly, check your meter is working properly and your usage has definitely not gone up accidently (although the price might be higher now, your usage should be similar).

Also, check what heaters you have and whether you’re using them correctly.

Night storage radiators and immersion heaters in particular can cause very high bills if used incorrectly.

There are a few things worth looking into.

It could be that your bill is an estimate, in which case you need to give your supplier a new meter reading.

If it’s not an estimate, check your last meter reading to see if it matches the one on your bill.

Meter readings may not always be possible, but they’re worth submitting to your supplier if you can.

Customer service varies between suppliers and unfortunately we hear of many bad experiences.

We know the problem has worsened recently, and demand is extremely high at the moment.

If you’re struggling to get through to them, you could make a formal complaint.

We offer advice on how to do this and things to consider before.

Remember that from this month you’ll get £400 off your electricity bill, called the Energy Bills Support Scheme.

You don’t need to do anything to get the money and you won’t have to pay it back.

The money is paid in six instalments; £66 in October and November followed by £67 in December, January, February and March.

You should automatically receive the energy discount if you pay by direct debit, standard credit or payment card.

If you have a prepayment meter that isn’t a smart meter, you’ll get the discount via vouchers or as an automatic credit when you top up at your usual top-up point.

Your supplier will let you know how they will issue it.

If you have a smart prepayment meter, the credit should be automatically added to your meter.

If you can’t pay your bills, speak to your energy supplier as they have a responsibility to help you come up with a solution.

If you would like to speak to Kirklees Citizens Advice and Law Centre, you can call us on 0808 278 7896 (Freephone), where we help thousands of people each year.

You may be coming to us for the first time, but we can help with issues such as housing, employment, asylum, debt, benefits, energy and more.

See our website at www.kcalc.org.uk for more self-help information and our web enquiry form.