electricity supplier switch...now getting humungous bills

FunkyFlowers

Hey all

Nice to meet you, I'm new here, thought I'd join as these are tricky times and it really isn't helping that I've just had a massive electricity bill. I was with Swalec until March when I switched to Manpower who stopped me in the streets. While I was with Swalec I was spending approximately £30 a month in the summer and £50 in the winter. I was on a token meter (had been with them for 8 years but shortly before I switched to Manpower I had a normal meter installed. I then (last week) had my first bill for Manweb based on a meter reading which was £259 for the first quarter. I nearly fell through the floor. This is for the summer months which would mean I am almost spending twice as much with them in the summer as I as with Swalec in the winter. I don't use much electricity as I live in a bed sit with no major appliances. I explained this to them and they seemed to think it was something to do with my leaving readings from Swalec. Hs anyone experienced anything like this and also is there a way I can work out exactly how much electricity I using per unit so I can be armed with this info when they next contact me?

Thanks soooooooo much

penrhyn

I'm surprised your previous supplier let you leave if you were in debt with them.
One unit of Electricity is the same as one Kilowatt hour.
Read the meter weekly and give your supplier that information.
If you want to compare prices try a comparison site like Energyhelpline.

Vestra

If you were on a token meter and hadn't been updated for a while you might have been paying old prices.

Premier_2

penrhyn wrote: »

I'm surprised your previous supplier let you leave if you were in debt with them.
...

The OP didn't mention they had any debt with the previous supplier.

They did mention they had a token (pre-payment) meter for many years. Lots of people have these but are not in any debt with their supplier.

Premier_2

FunkyFlowers wrote: »

Hey all

Nice to meet you, I'm new here, thought I'd join as these are tricky times and it really isn't helping that I've just had a massive electricity bill. I was with Swalec until March when I switched to Manpower who stopped me in the streets. While I was with Swalec I was spending approximately £30 a month in the summer and £50 in the winter. I was on a token meter (had been with them for 8 years but shortly before I switched to Manpower I had a normal meter installed. I then (last week) had my first bill for Manweb based on a meter reading which was £259 for the first quarter. I nearly fell through the floor. This is for the summer months which would mean I am almost spending twice as much with them in the summer as I as with Swalec in the winter. I don't use much electricity as I live in a bed sit with no major appliances. I explained this to them and they seemed to think it was something to do with my leaving readings from Swalec. Hs anyone experienced anything like this and also is there a way I can work out exactly how much electricity I using per unit so I can be armed with this info when they next contact me?

Thanks soooooooo much

As I understand it, you had your token/prepayment meter changed to a credit meter shortly before the switch to ManPower

When the meter was changed, you should have been left a card (or other info) detailing the start reading on the meter when it was installed. Check that that matched the start reading from your bill from Swalec with a credit meter.

When you switched, you should have supplied a mewter reading on the date of the switch. It doesn't really matter if you didn't, just check that the meter reading on the final bill from Swalec is the same as that as the initial meter reading from ManPower.

Finally, check the latest meter reading from ManPower is not an estimate, and also check to see if it is reasonably accurate compared to todays reading.

FunkyFlowers

Hi, thanks for the replies. I wasnt paying old prices on the token meter as they updated them shortly before I had my meter changed, my question really is though...is there a way of me working out how much electricity I am actually using as opposed to what they say I am using?

FunkyFlowers

Sorry for the typos, have edited. Thought maybe that's why no one said anything else!