£153 for 12 days of electricity?!

Lexie17

Hi, this is my first post - I've always searched these forums for help before and found it, but can't find anything to help with this particular problem!

I live in a flat which is electricity only, no central heating, just Dimplex heaters. We're concious of where our money is going (or so I thought!), and always switch off lights, heating on for no more than 4 hours a day, computers off when not in use.

Our first electricity bill from E-on was £345.99 for 27th August to 2nd December, which we paid without question (with hindsight perhaps this was a mistake - we're students and this is our first time renting privately, so still learning). The estimated readings they'd used were Night - 31899 and Day - 23589. When I took readings (after paying the bill, stupidly) they were Night - 32256 and Day - 23006 - not very different we thought.

For the period of 2nd December to 14th December (when we were switched over to Spark energy by our letting agent) the bill is £152.70 ... which seems a huge amount! The meter readings they'd estimated are Night - 32095 and Day - 24426. The actual readings (taken on the 17th Jan, so a month after their estimations) were Night - 32710 and Day - 23419.

I rang E-on this morning to raise a query, and was told that £152.70 is more or less right, because of the massive leap of 700 units between their estimated and our actual readings cancelling the difference in the day readings. She asked me to ring back in a week with another set of readings so the computer could work out the proper charge.

I'm really concerned we're going to have to pay the full charge. We're on the Economy 7 plan, and so by my reckoning, the extra night charge (even with the extra month) should only be about £35, and what we've been overcharged on the day rate is pretty much the rest of the bill - if that makes sense. Given that we still haven't used as much Day rate electricity as they thought we had on 2nd December, I'm sure we shouldn't have to pay that much, for electricity we haven't used, but he lady at E-on didn't seem to agree.

I'm just so confused and worried, I hope I'm doing the right thing! We really can't afford to pay that much for less than 2 weeks of electricity, and I hoped I'd be able to sort it on the phone today, but it's just left me even more concerned. Can anyone offer reassurance or guidance? I just don't understand how this has happened

Magentasue

Most of the electricity you are using is probably on heating. What do you mean by Dimplex heaters? Are they storage heaters (using night time elctricity) on wall heaters that you turn on during the day (in which case you probably shouldn't have Economy 7)?

It's hard to see how many units you've used because of all of the estimates. When did you take the readings of 32256/23006?

Lexie17

Hi! Thanks for your reply. We have some storage heaters and some wall heaters - I'd say we mostly use the wall heaters as they're in the bedrooms.

The readings of 32256/23006 were on the 2nd December, or very close to it. I get the impression we have used a lot of units! I've calmed down a bit and worked out what our bill from Aug-Dec should have been with those readings, £262.09 - so I think we've been overcharged there. And based on the bill from 2nd Dec, I've worked out it should only be £93.08 even if they were charging us up to 17th Jan, let alone 14th Dec.

We're moving out and going abroad next month, so I really want to a) get the bills paid and b) not pay more than we should!

Magentasue

2 Dec - 17 Jan

night = 454
day = 413

over abou 45 days - seems OK if you're using electric heating.

Premier_2

Lexie17 wrote: »

Hi! Thanks for your reply. We have some storage heaters and some wall heaters - I'd say we mostly use the wall heaters as they're in the bedrooms.

The readings of 32256/23006 were on the 2nd December, or very close to it. I get the impression we have used a lot of units! I've calmed down a bit and worked out what our bill from Aug-Dec should have been with those readings, £262.09 - so I think we've been overcharged there. And based on the bill from 2nd Dec, I've worked out it should only be £93.08 even if they were charging us up to 17th Jan, let alone 14th Dec.

We're moving out and going abroad next month, so I really want to a) get the bills paid and b) not pay more than we should!

You've kind of let the estimates run away here haven't you?

In December you were overestimated by about 500 day units (about £75 based on 15p per unit, but check this against your actual tariff) and underestimated by about 350 units night time (about £21 based on 6p per unit, but again check against your actual tariff)

Because you failed to advise the supplier of the errors, they have compounded them with even greater errors now. It's a pity you left it over a month as the supplier may not be prepared to issue a revised bill mid cycle.

On the bright side, as you plan to leave in a month, if you supply actual readings then the supplier will create a final bill based on those and send you any rebate due - which might help you on your foreign travels

Lexie17

yep it would seem the estimates have definitely got the better of us! I made the mistake of assuming my flatmates had taken readings when they moved in (which they hadn't), as I moved in a month afterward, so we've been going off estimated readings the whole time we've been here. I'm going to ring the new electrictiy company right away and try to limit the damage! A rebate would be lovely, I just hope we don't have to ring their 0870 numbers from France!

Fire_Fox

Why did the letting agent switch you over to another supplier? Was it actually cheaper or did they get a nice little backhander? Are you using both the storage and panel heaters? If you are not using the storage heaters I would question how you have used more than half of your electricity overnight, are you sure the readings have not been mixed up?

Lexie17

The letting agents are getting a nice chunk of commission from our bills, but it was in our tenancy agreement that we had to move to Spark energy - sly. I did check if we were getting a good deal and British Gas would have been a bit cheaper, but as we're only here for 6 months and both landlord and letting agents were being awkward, I didn't want the hassle. There were more pressing things like the broken shower to pester them about!

I hope the readings are the right way around, no one at either of the energy companies has questioned it - we do tend to do most cooking/heating/energy heavy things (very late) at night and are out during the day.