Is a 343 pound bill normal?

fuming_2

Hi everyone, I just wanted to get some comments or advice from others. I am in a one bedroom flat (my wife and I) and for the period of March 10th- July 2nd we received a bill from Npower for 342 pound! They are saying we used 2484kWh of energy for that period. Is that even possible for a one bedroom flat? Seriously this apartment is one box room and that is it, with a small upstairs bedroom that overlooks the bottom floor. My old apartment we only used 60 pounds in three months, and that was a double bedroom flat being shared by 4 people, that had a separate living and kitchen.
Any reaction, comments, or advice will be very appreciated.
Thanks in advance

shandypants5

sounds a lot to me..

Our bill says we used 1441kWh in the same March july period.

We have a 4 bed house, so your using WAY too much juice.

notbritishgas

fuming wrote: »

Hi everyone, I just wanted to get some comments or advice from others. I am in a one bedroom flat (my wife and I) and for the period of March 10th- July 2nd we received a bill from Npower for 342 pound! They are saying we used 2484kWh of energy for that period. Is that even possible for a one bedroom flat? Seriously this apartment is one box room and that is it, with a small upstairs bedroom that overlooks the bottom floor. My old apartment we only used 60 pounds in three months, and that was a double bedroom flat being shared by 4 people, that had a separate living and kitchen.
Any reaction, comments, or advice will be very appreciated.
Thanks in advance

I presume you are talking about electricity? Do you have electric heating? Any gas in the flat?
On the face of it £342 is quite high for that period (depending on type of heating). But, were the readings actual or estimates, also were the readings on previous bills actual or estimates, if estimates then this could be a catching up bill.
If this is your first bill since moving in was the opening reading correct.
Just a few things for you to think about!

fuming_2

Hi thanks for the replies
The type of heating we have is only electric, no gas at all. Also I have no access to the electricity metre as I am in a block of flats, and the metres are in a parking area that is locked and have no access to it since it is locked and only people who have a car in there have access to it. The first reading when I moved in was done by the letting agency (or they got it from npower) will have to see if they took a metre number down. Anyway this is really frustrating I wnat to sort this out before the bill is due on 20th of july, (going away to paris from 14th-16th) so will have to move my !!! on getting things resolved when I get back on 17th. Any help I get, or number I can call to complain to would be helpful. I just think that it is impossible for 2 people in literally a 1 room flat, to use 2484kWh of electricity in a 4 month period.

lynzpower

can you ask a newighbour who has access to the car park to let you in to see your meter.

I hate the way that in flats the meters are off "somewhere" rthat tenants & residents cant get at. My old flat was the same :wall:

fuming_2

Just to let everyone know, the appliances we have are:

Washer/dryer (used every other day, once in awhile we might use a couple of days in a row, medium sized fridge (of course on 24/7).

Electric heaters.
Electric hob.
1 desktop
1 laptop
ricecooker
boiler which only comes on between 3-4am. once in awhile might turn it on if water is a little cold.
Our lights are the little tiny ones that are only about 12 watt strength each.

Anyway I just don't see anything that would put us at such an excessive amount of electricity use.

lynzpower

Do you use your dryer daily?

When we got a dryer we noticed our electricirty bills shot up. Now I just do the jeans & towels etc in there but the small stuff ( undies/ tshirts etc) are done on an airer or outdoors.

beingjdc

Sounds over the top. We have a 2-bedroom flat and used just over 2000 kWh in that period, and that's largely because we have a really inefficient water heater. Also seems to me like you're paying too much for what you are using - unless you're paying extra for a cap - have you checked your tarriff against competitors?

Ishtar

Sounds quite high - we were in a similar situation many years ago where the electricity people said we owed almost £600...we were in a two-room bedsit with shared bathroom (hot water for the bathroom was on a coin meter).

We couldn't access our meter as it was within the flat downstairs - flats were part of a converted farmhouse. Anyway, it turned out that 'our' meter was on the original circuit, ie. the whole house, which had old-style sockets still live, and which the downstairs tenants were plugging stuff into...not sure how they got hold of the old round pin plugs but there you go.

Although highly unlikely, it might be worth checking that someone else isn't tapping into your supply. Definitely get access to your meter - I vaguely recall from our experience that you have some kind of a right to see it whenever you want. If you can only manage this occasionally then might be worth switching all your appliances off and seeing if the meter is still spinning...you never know, it could be faulty.

For info, our combined gas and electricity cost for this quarter was just under £200 - we're in a 3-bed house with all sorts running most of the time.

Hope you get it sorted
D.

Cardew

£343 for 4 months in an apartment with electrical heating is high, but not extreme.

As said above, the first thing is to check if the start or end meter readings are estimates.

The average household annual bill is £1000 a year, and that includes the majority who have gas, which is much cheaper than electricity.

JackSnap

i hear what your saying and feel for you.

This quarter my bill was £300, and i have gas heating!
i am out at work all day and theres just me living there.. its a 3 bedroom semi.

im at a loss to explain why mine is so high too.
im going to start a plan of monitoring soon, by getting a load monitor (like owl) and also a monitor plug for individual devices. the two devices i suspect most are shower and the fridge. neither of which i can do without, but i need to know where all this money is going!