Unbelievably High E.On Bill - Help/Advice Needed.

Jamie.Campbell

I moved into a one bedroom apartment in December. The building is all electric using the economy 7 plan with no gas whatsoever. All the meters are in a locked room (to which I have no access) Upon moving in, my landlord gave me the low & normal meter readings over the phone which I then contacted E.On & gave them the readings to set up a new account. I was quoted a monthly DD payment of £48 which as I work all day & am rarely ever in I felt this was too much but agreed in the short term to go forward with. In March I switched over to Scottish Power as they quoted a monthly DD payment of £21. Now upon receiving my final bill from E.On which covered December thru till end of February, E.On have presented me with a final bill of £352 claiming I have used 3100kWh. Although this an estimated bill it is not far off the meter readings my landlord gave me so I am worried he has given me the wrong meter readings (there are over 70 apartments in the building so being 2/3 bedroomed) I have no washing machine or dryer in the apartment & only one radiator which is a storage heater. I only have the fridge & freezer on permantely & I have the storage/water heater set to come on from 03:15 until 07:15 during the off peak period. As this is my first apartment I am not sure what the average energy consumption is but around £117 per month seems unbelievably high. I am getting worried that the landlord initially gave me an incorrect starting meter reading.
Any advise on on heter this seem average or on similar consuptions would be greatly appreciated. I am going out of my mind wondering how it is possible to use that much electricity as I live alone.
Thanks in advance,
Jamie

Vestra

Could be correct, I would raise the £21 direct debit though as that is far too low for an all electric flat.

Can you not ask to see the meter yourself?

Magentasue

3100kwh for a winter quarter heating hot water every night and using a storage heater isn't unbelievably high.

Jamie.Campbell

That is what I have asked to do from now on. Unfortunately that won't help with the current bill. I was hoping to get a few other peoples opinions on whether the bill is too high.
Rian1988 you think it is possible to use £117 per month of electricity when I live alone?? I personally think between £30 - £45 per month would be accurate if going off what I have been reading/hearing from friends etc.

Magentasue, The storage heater was set on a setting of four for the input (out of nine) & three output.

Magentasue

Jamie.Campbell wrote: »

I personally think between £30 - £45 per month would be accurate if going off what I have been reading/hearing from friends etc.

And I'd agree if you had gas heating and hot water.

Jamie.Campbell

Magentasue wrote: »

And I'd agree if you had gas heating and hot water.

Thanks for your responses, what do you mean by hot water. All my hot water is from the cheap night rate (5.28p per kWh).

lf846

I have a studio flat, it sounds similar to yours although I do have a washing machine on a couple of times a week but not too much otherwise. Just the usual tv, oven, fridge etc.
My direct debit is £30 a month (they tried to raise it but I refused)
In the summer months I average about £20 and in the winter about £40-£50 a month so it evens out over the year. I agree, yours does seem a bit high, although I doubt you can do anything now at least you'll have some idea for your next flat.

NowThenAgain

One storage heater and an electric immersion heater are very capable of running up this kind of bill.

Your figures imply an average of 34 KWH per day. Last winter, in a similar all-electric flat, living on my own, I averaged 32 KWH per day.

This winter, I averaged 7-8KW. The difference? No storage heaters and no hot water (..w/electric shower).

E.ON_Company_Representative

Hi Jamie.Campbell,

I have to agree with the comments by other posters and say that for all electric an average of 34 kWh per day is possible, electric heating and water is expensive.

My advice is to look at the other aspect of this and ensure that the bill you have had is correct in respect to the readings and meter details used.

I’d certainly demand access to the meter room and ask which meter the landlord/caretaker is reading for your flat. Take the E.ON bill with you and check the serial number on the bill matches the details on the meter he’s been reading.

If the two sets of details don’t match, contact E.ON immediately to have this rectified.

If the details are correct, definitely look at your current bills and the amount you are paying to avoid this happening again. Also ask your new supplier for guidance on how to use the storage heating and water heating as effectively and efficiently as possible.

If you struggle to pay the final bill from E.ON contact us and discuss setting up a payment arrangement to help make the payments manageable for you.

Brian