Very high electricity bill?
Discussion
Hi folks,
My gf just e-mailed me to say our electricity bill had come in, and we are in debit to SSE to the tune of £496 for our electricity, i assume for the last month as we have only been in since October last year and our bill was £70 and i believe we had a credit on that too.
Anyway the landlady said that the meter was read on the 7th when we were out at work, so the reading is accurate, but i cannot fathom how we used some £400 of juice in a month.
Main things in the house are central heating (electric but liquid system\radiators), washing machine, oven, a couple of tv's (only 1 really used), a electric fire (almost never used or very rarely) and a few other odds n sods.
The main one would be the heating/immersion heater but we are pretty strict on its use as it heats the water, not the boiler, so we have to use it for an hour or so a night.
We are on Economy 10 with cheap rate at early morning, lunch and after 8:30-midnight. We use the washing machine and such at those hours and the heating is on a clock for 2 hours in the morning and from 5:30-9:30 during the day.
The bill price went up (as all energy suppliers did in Dec, but no way to the tune of adding some £400.
Only thing i can think of is we either sent an incorrect meter reading to them (its an odd setup with 2 numbers, cheap rate, and normal rate hours, then a combined one) and i maybe gave them the 2 rates the wrong way round, but they never confirmed this, and now they have taken a reading that maybe conflicts with the previous reading.
Even taking that into account £496 for the last month would mean an annual bill of some £5k!!
This can't be right surely.
Anyone had a similar issue where they have got a massive bill and it was due to some odd thing or mixed up reading.
Any experience would be helpful.
Cheers folks.
EDIT: Bit of an update, seems that this is for the period we have been in the flat, i.e. from September, Although in spetember nothing was on bar a light as heating was off during refurbishment work. So i can only assume we had an under reading at our first time, and now they have set it and it works out we should have been paying more.
Its not a massive issue but i wouldnt mind if they had charged us what they actually needed to charge us, i.e. higher direct debit, rather than notice 5 months later we should have been paying more.
At least we dont have to give them £500 now, just arrange to have higher monthly bill.
Still what a massive farce, and i for one am going to enquire about a smart reader so i can see what i am actually using!
My gf just e-mailed me to say our electricity bill had come in, and we are in debit to SSE to the tune of £496 for our electricity, i assume for the last month as we have only been in since October last year and our bill was £70 and i believe we had a credit on that too.
Anyway the landlady said that the meter was read on the 7th when we were out at work, so the reading is accurate, but i cannot fathom how we used some £400 of juice in a month.
Main things in the house are central heating (electric but liquid system\radiators), washing machine, oven, a couple of tv's (only 1 really used), a electric fire (almost never used or very rarely) and a few other odds n sods.
The main one would be the heating/immersion heater but we are pretty strict on its use as it heats the water, not the boiler, so we have to use it for an hour or so a night.
We are on Economy 10 with cheap rate at early morning, lunch and after 8:30-midnight. We use the washing machine and such at those hours and the heating is on a clock for 2 hours in the morning and from 5:30-9:30 during the day.
The bill price went up (as all energy suppliers did in Dec, but no way to the tune of adding some £400.
Only thing i can think of is we either sent an incorrect meter reading to them (its an odd setup with 2 numbers, cheap rate, and normal rate hours, then a combined one) and i maybe gave them the 2 rates the wrong way round, but they never confirmed this, and now they have taken a reading that maybe conflicts with the previous reading.
Even taking that into account £496 for the last month would mean an annual bill of some £5k!!
This can't be right surely.
Anyone had a similar issue where they have got a massive bill and it was due to some odd thing or mixed up reading.
Any experience would be helpful.
Cheers folks.
EDIT: Bit of an update, seems that this is for the period we have been in the flat, i.e. from September, Although in spetember nothing was on bar a light as heating was off during refurbishment work. So i can only assume we had an under reading at our first time, and now they have set it and it works out we should have been paying more.
Its not a massive issue but i wouldnt mind if they had charged us what they actually needed to charge us, i.e. higher direct debit, rather than notice 5 months later we should have been paying more.
At least we dont have to give them £500 now, just arrange to have higher monthly bill.
Still what a massive farce, and i for one am going to enquire about a smart reader so i can see what i am actually using!
Edited by Rick_1138 on Monday 13th January 12:14
I got the account info from the Mrs and am having a good read, i think its as it should be, the issue was they estimated our bill and were taking a direct debit of £70, when in actual fact this should have been closer to some £170 a month i think.
Which is tbf more what i would have expected a bill to be especially as it was over winter.
Hopefully we can get our D\D changed and once we get accurate readings taken our bills will be more expected.
I thought that the £490 was for last month, but this was actually for the entire period we have been there minus £30 credit, and 3 £70 debit payments.
Thankfully we dont have to find £500 out of the savings
I would rather have paid more a month and been paying too much hehe.
Mild panic over there.
Which is tbf more what i would have expected a bill to be especially as it was over winter.
Hopefully we can get our D\D changed and once we get accurate readings taken our bills will be more expected.
I thought that the £490 was for last month, but this was actually for the entire period we have been there minus £30 credit, and 3 £70 debit payments.
Thankfully we dont have to find £500 out of the savings
I would rather have paid more a month and been paying too much hehe.
Mild panic over there.
Turns out that th whole bill was about £700 for the last 4 months and a bit, and that is the most expensive period, so its not as bad as I had feared. The way the GF made it sound was that we had used £500 in just a month. Which I couldn't fathom as we are pretty careful.
Things like thermostat is sat at 20, boiler temp is sat below 60, immersion heater is set at about 60' rather than the 85' it was set at by previous tenant!! Electric fan heater is hardly ever on and oven and such are only on to cook dinner and that not every day as we often have cold stuff instead.
Turns out that SSE advised the GF to pay £70 a month DD when they should have been less conservative and asked for about £130, but they were very good on the phone and agreed upping the DD was a good idea and they review in July anyway so come spring etc we will hardly have the heating on at all so should be a lot cheaper.
Looking at about £1600-1800 a year for all heating and power
Things like thermostat is sat at 20, boiler temp is sat below 60, immersion heater is set at about 60' rather than the 85' it was set at by previous tenant!! Electric fan heater is hardly ever on and oven and such are only on to cook dinner and that not every day as we often have cold stuff instead.
Turns out that SSE advised the GF to pay £70 a month DD when they should have been less conservative and asked for about £130, but they were very good on the phone and agreed upping the DD was a good idea and they review in July anyway so come spring etc we will hardly have the heating on at all so should be a lot cheaper.
Looking at about £1600-1800 a year for all heating and power
JamieBeeston said:
Likely simply that your old bills were based on estimates and the final reading showed they slightly underestimated your use.
and it's entirely possible to spend well more than that on a home, mines almost double that even after switching.
You spend over £900 a month on electricity for a single house?and it's entirely possible to spend well more than that on a home, mines almost double that even after switching.
Wowsers.
I've just had an estimate from them for £450 of Electricity (December -> mid-January). The actual usage is £27!
To be fair, it's all been sorted out online but they could at least provide realistic estimates. Imagine going away for 6 weeks and then coming back to that.
I'm not looking forwards to the Gas estimate - expect it to be in that ballpark!
To be fair, it's all been sorted out online but they could at least provide realistic estimates. Imagine going away for 6 weeks and then coming back to that.
I'm not looking forwards to the Gas estimate - expect it to be in that ballpark!
AGK said:
GruntyDC5 said:
SSE are a bunch of idiots
One year on I've given up trying to get them to understand I'm not on a pay as you go meter.
They have no record of my new meter and refuse to attach it to my account.
Rick_1138 said:
They were very helpful when the Mrs phoned.
However we are going to take readings each month and put them in online, and keep records.
Hopefully that will make it more accurate.
This.However we are going to take readings each month and put them in online, and keep records.
Hopefully that will make it more accurate.
Last year, I spent some considerable time resolving my girlfriend's utility bills due to a whole host of complicated issues such as billing for incorrect meter, non-reconciliation of payment, final payment notices plus interest. Eventually all resolved with nothing to pay, but took 5 months of calls, emails and documentation. Thankfully, my girlfriend had all the documentation from the specialist who had visited 6 months prior to confirm meter for the premises and the correct meter number.
We also had an issue with outstanding gas debt (caused by her ex). Resolved the debt through a re-payment plan per month, agreeing fixed amount per month and last payment date - especially as she moved to a new (modern) premises, so we needed agreement to tie up loose ends.
As a result, I signed up for online bills and online meter readings and perform all meter readings every 2 months. No surprises.
It is facile to state but always:
1. Meter number correctly identified
2. Know and confirm what plan you are on
3. Rate costs both on-peak and off-peak
4. Contract expiration date
5. Rate cost out of contract
6. Take regular meter readings (at least once a quarter, preferably monthly)
I do this with all bills and everything is online. V. Easy to analyse spend and pre-empt any issue.
I'm a little surprised at your annual bill for just 2 people. In my last place (flat, well-insulated) everything was electric and costs were around £600 p/a. Probably more when my girlfriend moved in. My new place (moved in last year), is both electric and gas, and not so well insulated. Electricity costs are fine, but gas costs for heating will sting. That said, I estimate approx £800-900.
When I take the meter readings and the next bills come in, I'll take a 9/10 month view then extrapolate for annual costs.
As an aside, insulation is crucial during winter months to retain warmth. Once we buy some stage next year, one of the first jobs will be looking at insulation costs and performing man maths to calculate break-even point.
P.s. Glad that you resolved the situation OP.
P.p.s. I recall around 4 years ago when I was in Japan for Christmas (10 days), my mother popped round, turned on the on-demand radiator and forgot to switch it off! Burned £40 in a considerable short amount of time. Silly mare! Fortunately, she did notice when she popped back a couple of days later.
Edited by putonghua73 on Friday 17th January 11:38
Edited by putonghua73 on Friday 17th January 11:39
swerni said:
iphonedyou said:
JamieBeeston said:
Likely simply that your old bills were based on estimates and the final reading showed they slightly underestimated your use.
and it's entirely possible to spend well more than that on a home, mines almost double that even after switching.
You spend over £900 a month on electricity for a single house?and it's entirely possible to spend well more than that on a home, mines almost double that even after switching.
Wowsers.
Has there been a funny smell from a neighbouring house?
http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/th...
http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/th...
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