Multiple Problems with Electric, Provider and Landlord - Would love advice if so kind

savemeup

Hello guys,

Hope that some of you wouldnt mind helping a 1st poster (long time lurker)

Basically I am recieving absolutely sky high bills from my current provider Eon and am facing multiple problems:

Heres the full info.

Ive been renting a small 2 bed flat with my girlfriend since the end of October (Just over 3 months). I have economy 7 heating and the whole flat is electric only. I just recieved my 2nd bill today which is £400 for the 3 months.

I flat out out refused to pay the first bill of £189 after 6 weeks as i thought it extortionate for the amount we use. Now this bill of £400 for the 3 months (previous amount included) has blown me away.

Just to let you know, the flat is set up on economy 7 and ever since the 1st bill i have been scared to use any heating as me and my girlfriend are broke rotten and ive been just too scared of the bills. The last flat i rented was similar in size and had a pre-payment meter, and it only cost around £12 a week and wasnt even economy 7 which is why i know this is screwed up.

My thinking is that my flat could possibly be hooked up to wrong meter as we are in a new build apartment block. The only way to check is for the apartment management company to do so and they will only give meter readings - NOT check that my meter number corresponds. I've basically demanded to see my meter and they have flat out refused! :mad:

I'm sure that our bill is too much as i looked into switching to scottish power, who estimated that we could pay £40 per month based on how much i use the appliances etc. I really really need to check my meter but what can i do if they refuse to let me see it with my own eyes? Theyre response is we can check meter readings for you but cant have access yourself!!

On top of this i have to deal with a landlord as well who also doesnt have access to the meter and has left us with a faulty dishwasher and washing machine which i believe could also be the cause of our sky high bills. Anyone know if this is true/ have any info?

Anyway, i guess i am posting just for any general advice that anyone can give as I just dont know what to do and can no way afford to pay these bills and any more that come through. I am sick of calling round EON/Apartment Managment/Landlord over and over and just getting fobbed off each side. I would love to swith to scottish power but they wont collect the debt already owed and i can no way afford the £400 i owe so im stuck with these £200/6 week bills for the rest of our tenancy (1 year) if not.

What would happen worse case scenario if i continue to contest that these bills are incorrect caused by either incorrect meter or faulty appliances? I'd be happy to go court etc if i had a case but what evidence would i need and what are the appropriate channels to go through seek advice etc?

I can't pay the money i owe, and the way i feel now i will just have to let them keep building and just leave the flat at the end of tenancy with them unpaid which i will also lose deposit etc and get in a right pickle with debt collection etc. God im in a mess!!

Any help would be amazing.

Thanks in advance.

Magentasue

Before looking at the different points you raise:

What sort of heating do you have?
How do you heat hot water?
Have you used the heating most days recently?

savemeup

Thanks for the speedy reply....

What sort of heating do you have?
Storage heater in the living room which is always off by the mains unless its completely freezing and i switch it on for an hour or so, and two small electric radiators in the bedrooms.

How do you heat hot water?
On economy 7, it heats over night and myself and my girlfriend have 1 shower each per day.

Have you used the heating most days recently?
Maybe use the bedroom radiator for an hour on really cold days and living room heater for 1-2hrs maximum. The last few days i havnt had it on at all - whereas last month when it was really cold i might of been averaging a total of 1.5 - 2 hrs per day at the very most .(always in evening, never day time)


1 thing i forgot to mention that might help, When i called eon to complain i eventually got told after about my 5th complaint that we are on meter 1 tariff as apose to economy 7. When they discovered this today they told me that if they read it as economy 7 then this would add £40 ON TOP of the £400 that we owe so suggested that we stick to meter 1.

Many thanks,

Magentasue

I'm confused - you say you have a storage heater but then say you turn it on. A storage heater is set to store heat overnight and release it during the day. You can open it up to release more heat - is that what you mean by turn it on? Or is it a panel heater?

How long do you heat the water for - probably half an hour or an hour if only for a couple of showers? The shower isn't an electric one, I presume?

How many kwh of electricity do you use per day?

If you don't have storage heaters, you shouldn't be on Economy 7, so eon are quite right there.

Premier_2

Why can't you access the meter?
How much do you think you owe your supplier and why?

As a customer, you have the legal obligation to be able to provide access to your supplier (which really means you need to have access to them)
Furthermore, if you can't see them, how do you know the meter readings when you moved in were correct and/or the meter readings now being used are correct.

Demand to see the meter, accompanied by the management company representative if necessary.
It's quite easy to check if your meter is connected to your flat. Turn off everything. Your meter should not be recording any usage. Turn on some lights and your meter will start to record usage.

With regard to the dishwasher & washing mnacine, in what way are they faulty do you think?
It's unlikely they are using more electricity than they should but may be using less. A failed heating element would mean it uses less electricity. If the heating element had failed so as to cause a short, then the fuse/trip switch would have isolated the supply.
If you want to check, get an power meter from lidl or maplins and check usage for yourself
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1470747

If you don't pay the bills and have no grounds to dispute them, then your supplier may ask to install a PPM to recover their money.

If they are not able to install a PPM for some reason (e.g. you don't give them access as you are legally obliged to do) then they may just cut you off (they'll need court approval to do this).

They will pursue you for the debt until it is repaid. The end of the tenancy does not remove your liability for the debt you have accrued.


Edit: the money you owe to the utility supplier is a debt bewtween you and them. It has nothing to do with your LL, your LL will never be liable to pay for it and your LL will have no right to make a deduction from your deposit because of such debt.

Madfish

I'm confused - you say you have a storage heater but then say you turn it on. A storage heater is set to store heat overnight and release it during the day. You can open it up to release more heat - is that what you mean by turn it on? Or is it a panel heater?

Indeed I work in the trade and it's scary how many people think panel heaters are storage heaters, it may be a incorrect assumption but if the poster above is correct then you are probably running the most expensive form of heating there is (and almost always favoured by landlords as they are cheap). If electic heating is the only option and you are only trying to heat the room you are in at the time then oil filled radiators are a good option as being thermostatically controlled they act like a water radiator and pump out heat whist your not burning electric when the stat kicks in rather than a panel heater that cuts out as soon as its off

savemeup

Magentasue - i think you might be helping me uncover some things that i doing really wrong...

Im pretty sure we have a storage heater here are some pics i just took...





The reason i dont leave it on all the time is i am scared of it costing too much and only turn it on when needed, Even if it heats at night, i dont need to pump it out every day and dont really know how to program it properly so it doesnt do every day.

With regards to heating the shower....

Our "Off Peak Supply" is ON all night as that is what our landlord advised for cheapest ecomony seven. I never use boost as there is always enough hot water for two showers but never much more.
Here is a pic of the settings thingy in the cupboard, i never change these settings.

Just in case its too blurry, Normal Supply is always off, off peak supply always on.
Is this bad?

How many kwh of electricity do you use per day?

My bill states:

150 kwh at 24.18p each = 36.27
1578 kwh at 10.69 each = 168.69

this is from 12 december to 11 feb, so divided by 60 days im gessing my daily rate is
28.8 kwh per day.

A quick google leads to me to belive this is huge?

thanks again for your help

Magentasue

savemeup wrote: »

my daily rate is
28.8 kwh per day.

A quick google leads to me to belive this is huge?

thanks again for your help

1) Can't tell if it's a storage heater - does it have input and output dials?
2) Heating water for seven hours seems excessive to me although it can be argued if your tank is well insulated it won't be losing too much heat overnight. Two showers doesn't sound much unless they're very looooooong showers.
3) I don't think 29kwh a day is high if you have immersion on every night and use electric heating.

Premier_2

Looks like just a panel heater to me especially if you only turn it on when you need it. Storage heaters heat up overnight and give out that heat during the day).

With regards the water heater, you appear to be using that correctly

savemeup

Premier -

Why can't you access the meter?

I currenty rent a new buld apartment block froma lettings company. Though they manage the property, the only people with access to the meter and communal areas of the apartment are the apartment management company.

If you want your meter reading, you make a request on the communal notice board to have them read and the cleaners do this for you and post back the results.

I have demanded to see the meter to the apartment management company and they refuse and tell me its a problem with eon. I call eon and they tell me to demand to read the meter. I call my Landlord and they tell me that they cant acess and to tell the apartment management company. and it just goes back and forth etc with each one fobbing me off to the next.

Funny thing is, the heaters, lights and electrics around the rest of the block are ALWAYS ON and ive got a feeling the bill is being shared by the tenants somehow, or im paying someone elses bill.

im sure that im messing up my setting at home too as per my post 5 mins ago and hopefully someone can advise where im going wrong there too?

How much do you think you owe your supplier and why?

I owe £400

roughly £200 from end of oct to 12th of dec and roughly £200 for dec 12th - 11th feb.

Im aware its my responsibilty to pay and will obviously have to eventually but im scared if this carries on every month my debts are gonna esculate so high on top of my credit cards/other debts etc and im in panic mode.

thanks for the advice

savemeup

Not sure about the dials, here is a better pic to my living room heaters wall box/controller:



Hi-Res is here to see in more detail:
http://i41.tinypic.com/34q0bhw.jpg

Could anyone possibly give me any advice on the best way to set this up? Like i said, i only switch it on for an hour so a day as im scared of the cost but in truth it is bloody freezing in my living room and if theres a way to program this so its heats overnight etc i would love any advice.

So does anyone think that my bills dont seem that high or think that anything unusual is going on? I have rented for over 5 years and never had bills like this before and 2 years previous had pre-payment which despite all the recent bashing i here of these systems was always manageable and never seemed excessive.

Im averaging well over £130 per month for a small flat, with what i deem very light use indeed.

Also, sorry if this is a bit noob, but could anyone please also help me understand what is meant by "Normal Primary Units" and "Secondary Units" as my

Normal Primary is 150 kwh at £36.27
and Secondary Units is 1578 kwh at £168.69 !!

Obviously i would like to pin down these secondary units and see where im going wrong if its my fault. If they are night rates it obviously points towards our water heating overnight so should i cut this out and just boost the setting for an hour prior to showering?

Thanks again for all your help guys