B&B Advice on Energy

Energy Advice for B&B Owners Part 4 (Electricity)

Chris Parkin

Electricity

We all use it. You can’t see it. But you know its there, especially if you touch a live brown or red wire!

So how do the power companies arrive at your bill? First you’ll need to understand a little of their jargon.

What is a Kilowatt-Hour?

As you will be billed in kilowatt-hours you might like to know that a
Kilowatt Hour is the amount of electricity required to light one 1000W light bulb for 1 hour or 2 500W light bulbs for I hour or …. You get the picture

Its one kilowatt of energy used for one hour, hence kilowatt-hour.

Climate Change Levy

Climate Change Levy or CCL is a Government tax on power usage designed to fund methods of negating some of the climate change issues we face. By purchasing your electricity from renewable source you can eliminate any CCL payment on your bill. If you are charged it will be at .0043 pence per kilowatt-hour which is Government determined, not you electricity supplier.

Meter Number
A unique number shown of you meter, which identifies that device.

Account Number

Given to you by your supplier, which identifies you as the account holder.

Mpan Number

An MPAN (Meter Point Administration Number) is a unique number to your property. It is found on the electricity bill issued by your supplier. This is sometimes called a Supply Number but don’t confuse it with your customer reference/account number

The full MPAN is 21 digits long and appears like:

B&B Operators Advice on Energy Suppliers

Without going into too much detail:

Profile Class

Every property has a profile class. If you are a domestic customer you are interested in two classes 01 and 02. Other classes that exist are 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, and 08. Where half-hourly metering is installed (large consumers) the profile class in 00.

Meter Time Switch Code (MTC)

The Meter Time Switch Code indicates how many dials your electricity meter has and what times they will operate during the day. The Meter Time Switch Code will show if your meter has two registers, one that records day consumption, the other night.

Line Loss Factor (LLF)

The Line Loss Factor code stipulates the expected costs the distribution company will charge the supplier for using the cables and network in your region. This Line Loss Factor code will also indicate to the electricity supplier the potential charges incurred, due to loss of energy incurred whilst getting the electricity supplier to your meter.

Distributor ID

The Distributor ID will identify the local Distribution Company for your electricity supply a bit like a bank sort code. The distribution company is responsible for management of the distribution system and electricity wires, which transports the electricity to your meter.

10 - Eastern Electricity
11 - East Midlands Electricity
12 - London Electricity
13 - MANWEB
14 - Midlands Electricity
15 - Northern Electricity
16 - NORWEB
17 - Scottish Hydro-Electric
18 - Scottish Power
19 - Seeboard
20 - Southern Electricity
21 - SWALEC
22 - SWEB
23 - Yorkshire Electricity

Meter Point ID Number

This is a unique number within the distribution area to identify the actual metering point.

Check Digit

This number is calculated from the Distributor ID and Meter Point ID Number to provide a check digit that other systems can use to validate the both numbers.

All the information above then is what your power company needs to produce you bill and make sure it gets to the right person.

The mathematical formula used to compute your bill is relatively simple:

CURRENT READ minus PREVIOUS READ multiplied by PRICE PER KILOWATT-HOUR (for how ever many unit prices you have) add CCL (at .0043 pence per kilowatt-hour if you pay CCL) add any STANDING CHARGE/S add VAT (5% for domestic customers or 17.5% for business customers) equals TOTAL BILL

Or to put it another way: try the spreadsheet below:

Electricity Usage and Billing Calculator

Tariff 1		Price per KWH		Total £p
Previous Read
Current Read
Consumption in KWH			£		1st Tariff Charge

Tariff 2
Previous Read
Current Read
Consumption in KWH			£		2nd Tariff Charge	(If you have one)

Tarif 3
Previous Read
Current Read
Consumption in KWH			£		3rd Tariff Charge (if you have one)

Total Kilowatt-Hours used
during this period

Add Climate Change Levy @			£
(If you don't pay CCL enter zero above)

Add Standing Charge 1			£		Quarterly Standing Charge
Add Standing Charge 2			£		Quarterly Standing Charge (if you have two)

TOTAL			£		Total Bill before VAT is added



Add VAT Domestic at	5%		£		Total Bill Paying Domestic VAT

Add VAT Business at	17.50%		£		Total Bill Paying Standard VAT

Enter your readings, previous and current in the boxes provided if you have only one tariff, ignore the other two boxes

Enter the tariff you pay in the box next to the ‘Consumption in Kilowatt-Hours’. Be sure to get your decimal point in the right place so 5.05 pence per Kilowatt-Hour would appear as .0505 on the ‘Price per Kilowatt-Hour’ box.

Repeat in the boxes underneath if you have more than one tariff.

CCL is calculated automatically so if you do not pay CCL please enter a zero in the ‘Add Climate Change Levy’ box.

With the ‘Standing Order Boxes’ it is most likely that you will only need one so either ignore the second box or if you have two standing charges enter them both here.

If you pay VAT at ‘Domestic Rates’ read from the first Total Box if you pay at the ‘Standard Rate’ read form the second box.

The next step is to pull out your last electricity bill and check their figures. I doubt very much if you will find anything amiss, although its not unheard of, but it will give you practice at dealing with the numbers and where to list them for you next major task!

Determining if you have the best supplier.

You will notice I said ‘best supplier’ no cheapest, or greenest, or biggest etc. It is for you to determine what constitutes your purchasing criteria. If you want cheapest or greenest, or biggest that’s OK by using the spreadsheet you now have the knowledge to make your choice on the criteria you set.

If you seriously want to compare tariffs may I suggest that you get your last four electricity bills and use the spreadsheet to determine your Kilowatt-Hour usage for a 12-month period (closing read bill number 4 minus opening read bill number one, for all tariffs)? You then have a meaningful figure to quote to any possible new supplier.

Check out here for a list of electricity suppliers and whether you ring them up or use their automated website you will have all you need to find out which supplier is best for you.

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