.... totally nothing to do with health or fitness, but something Jackie said about writing down her measurements every month reminded me of this good idea.

If you pay for utilities monthly by direct debit, and they have a price increase (as is happening frequently these days), the supplier will just estimate how much gas/electricity you used at the old tariff and how much at the new higher tariff. Inevitably this will be in their favour.

I've started making a note of both meter readings at the start of every month so I can "update" the supplier with a closer guesstimate if they increase the price between formal meter readings.

Thought I'd share this with the other 55,755 of you out there!

Good thinking Fiona - especially as my electric supplier has now switched to six month bills. The favourite is the price hike is at end of May. They look at consumption between 15 April and 15 July, divide it by two and say that's 13 weeks, with 6.5 weeks at old price and 6.5 weeks at new price. Yes, but from 15 April to end of May I had storage heaters on, but none from in June and July. I have queried this in past, been promised an adjustment but nothing happened. Sometimes one runs out of energy (forgive pun!)

I've been reading my meters weekly since I had a strong disagreement with British Gas about how much gas I had used prior to a price rise last year. I try to keep track of anything that could be disputed in the way of bills but companies always seem to have a way of getting the money out of you somehow.

Checking my bank statement today, noticed my monthly direct debit for electricity had gone up by 60%. Although signed up for paperless billing, Scottish Hydro is meant to send me an email saying there is a bill. Insult 1) They hadn't sent an email, so I didn't know to check online for a bill and that they were proposing increasing monthly sum.
Insult 2) The unit rate went up on 1 April, and of course they calculated I had used same number of units for heating between 1 April and 14 June as I had between 14 December and 31 March (in fact, it's about 3 units a day compared with 45 units).
Insult 3) They reckoned I wasn't paying enough because they had estimated my annual usage as some 25% higher than it has been in the four years I have lived here.
Thank goodness I had taken one reading in April, and was able to argue my case. They have credited for heating units, and my monthly payments will be increasing by 15%!

All these big companies rely on apathy to get them out of trouble. They assume we'll all be to lazy to do anything about it when they overcharge us or missell us things but as teh banks are learning there is only so far you cn push consmers before they revolt.

Yes I'm not impressed with British Gas. Had an appointment this evening between 6pm and 8pm for a quote to replace my boiler. These visit take around and hour, so I would have thought ...... well speak of the devil - they've just phoned nad he's on his way - at 7:25pm!

On the other hand, the chap from nPower, who was booked to come between 1pm and 5pm phoned yesterday, and again this morning, to say he'd be here just after noon - he arrived at 12:10!

So I think I know already who'll be installing my new boiler!

Scottish power inform me by letter if the monthly DD changes. Funnily enough since my son joined the RAF two years ago it has almost haled. I'll just have to see how it goes in the future. I always keep tabs on the meter as well. Coals not cheap either, at £12.50 a bag for the cheap stove fuel. Have decided to go for it and order one of those paper brick makers, if it works it will be well worth it with the amount of paper we end up binning! And it cost just a little More than a bag of coal.

... well I'm even less impressed now! Why do people think it's OK to turn up for an appointment chewing gum???????

And I don't know whether I should be insulted or not, but he recommended the "low cost" option - does he think I can't afford a decent boiler? Interestingly, their "low-cost" option is the same price as nPower's top of the range reliable (German) boiler with whizzy wireless electronic controls that checks itself once a day and tells the engineer what's wrong with it if it ever breaks down.

Nor me - they couldn't get gas to me in last two houses. In previous village, they even used to drop of circulars at every house inviting you to switch to British Gas even though nearest supply was 5 miles away.
Perhaps he just meant that your apartment doesn't need a huge boiler designed for a six-bedroom detached house?

If he's so unprofessional, have you checked to make sure he didn't leave it behind on your carpet

...no actually it was because the "customised" quote would have taken him far longer to complete and he'd still be here! The "low cost" element only means you don't have a choice of boiler, and it's installed by subcontractors as opposed to men in a Scottish Gas van!