Understand your home energy bill

 

We think an important part of gaining control over your energy usage is fully understanding your bill. We have the most detailed bills in the industry and are in regular consultation with consumer group Which? to make sure our bills are really simple to understand.

 

Below is an example of one of our bills. Where you see a blue question mark you can hover your cursor over this symbol for more information.

 

 

 

Questions about your bill

How do you estimate my electricity usage?

We don’t just pluck a figure out of the air, we base our calculations on two key considerations:

  1. 1. The Estimated Annual Consumption (EAC)

This information is held in a centralised industry database. The EAC is calculated based on the electricity your property has used over the last year. This is generally updated a couple of times a year depending on how often your previous supplier submitted meter readings to this centralised database. This consumption is estimated at kilo Watts per hour (kWh). A typical EAC for an average home in the UK is 3300 kWh each year.

 

  1. 2. Seasonality change or as the industry calls it Profile Coefficients

This is how the industry adjusts estimated consumption due to seasonality. How much electricity do you think you consume in June compared with December? Using this data we can tell you that on average a domestic customer uses 6.38% of their EAC in June and 10.76% of their EAC in December. So, if we were to estimate your consumption for June we would take your EAC of 3300, apply the coefficients of 6.38% and charge you for 210.54 kWh usage.

 

Please be aware there are 2 different profile coefficients for domestic customers and 6 profile coefficients for business customers. The example given above is for the most common domestic profile coefficient.

How do you calculate my carbon footprint?

If you have a smart meter then each month we will tell you how much you have reduced (or increased) your C02 emissions.

The reduction in your carbon footprint is the same as your reduction in kWhs (units). Basically, using less energy means you have reduced your carbon footprint. We work out the percentage of this as follows:

Example:
If units used last month were 240.400
and units used this month are 234.344
This is a 6.056 difference in units of energy consumed this month compared to last month.
The calculation for working out the percentage is:
234.344 divided by 240.400 times by 100 = 97.48 (round up to 97.50) minus 97.50 from 100 and you get your percentage which is 2.5%. We would then round this up to 3% on your bill (because we use single figures and not decimal places).

My billing email refers to 'the industry' and 'industry data' what does this mean?

 'The industry' is a collection of third party companies that we appoint to look after meters and exchange data between suppliers. Every energy company uses these companies to exchange data when customers switch or have a meter changed or read. One of the key points that may delay us with creating your first bill when you switch to us is using these third parties to verify your opening meter reads. Information needs to be collected regarding your meter read history with previous suppliers and this occasionally takes longer than we would like. Each month we also need to verify your meter reads, if you are submitting them, before we can use them to calculate your bill. If you have a smart meter and your reads are sent to us automatically, we still have to have these verified.

I have a smart meter, why I am receiving estimated bills?

There are rare occasions when we have to use an estimated read to work out your monthly bill. For example, when your supply start date occurs before the installation of your smart meter. If this happens then you will receive estimated bills until your smart meter is up and running.

How do you estimate my gas usage?

The same principle is applied to gas, only this time the names are different to reflect the energy you are using. Calculations are based on 2 key considerations:

  1. 1. Annualised Quantity (AQ)

AQ is held on a centralised industry database. Like electricity it is updated a couple of times a year depending on how often your existing supplier submitted your meter readings into the central database. A typical domestic AQ is 20,500, meaning that a typical domestic customer would consume 20,500 kWh each year.

 

  1. 2. Annualised Load Profile (ALP)

ALP is how the industry adjusts the estimated usage based on seasonality. Using this data we can tell you that on average a domestic customer uses 3.17% of their ALP in June and 14.38% of their ALP in December. If we were to estimate your consumption for June we'll take your AQ of 20,500 kWh, apply the ALP of 3.17% and charge you 649.85 kWh usage.

 

Please be aware there is one ALP for domestic customers which is used in the example above and a further 8 ALP for business customers.