How to understand your energy bill

If you’re serious about cutting the cost of your energy bills, it makes things a lot easier if you can find your way around one - here's how to understand your energy bill.

How to understand your energy bill

If you’re serious about cutting the cost of your energy bills, it makes things a lot easier if you can find your way around one.

Here’s how to understand your energy bill…

The first thing you’ll notice is the logo indicating which supplier you’re with, and next to that should be all the contact details you’ll need to get in touch with them.

If you look further down the bill, you’ll find the name of the tariff you’re currently one.

If you’re on a standard variable rate tariff, you’ll have been placed on this because you’ve let a fixed rate deal end, or you’ve never switched supplier before.

The next thing to look for is your customer reference number, which is usually required when contacting your supplier to help them quickly access your account.

Then there’s the bill date and the billing period, which is the length of time your bill covers. It should run from the day after your previous bill period. If this isn’t the case, get in touch with your supplier.

Further down still is your payment information, which will tell you how your last bill was paid – if you’re paying by direct debit, you’ll also be able to see how much you pay each month, and whether or not your account is in credit.

If your account is in credit, this means your supplier owes you money, but it may be worth leaving it in your account until you switch provider, to cover any unexpected spikes in usage.

If it’s in debit, this means you owe your supplier money, and it might be worth increasing the amount you pay by direct debit to avoid being hit with a massive bill when it comes time to switch.

Next up is the section outlining exactly how your bill is broken-down and what you’re being charged for – it’ll include details on whether your supplier is working from an actual figure or an estimated reading when working out the cost of your energy bill.

There should also be a figure that shows your actual usage – in kilowatts per hour – over the last 12 months. If you have this figure to hand when switching, it means we can return much more accurate quotes.

And then there are your meter reference numbers for gas and electricity, which are sometimes required when switching to make sure the right meter is getting switched.

Although you don’t need a bill to switch energy supplier – we can estimate your annual usage based on the size of your house – if you have one to hand and can supply accurate information, this means our quotes are more accurate.