Mega Mega Big Leccy Bill

Annando

I would be concerned about the halogen lighting, if you want to cut back you can switch to LEDs that come in the same format as the halogens. It will cut your usage down. We had about 16 halogens in our kitchen, our usage was 4000KWh/year, we replaced them all with LEDs type downlighters, cost us quite a bit, but we are now down to 3000KWh/year. Also change any normal incandescent bulbs you might still be using for economy bulbs.

I don't think they will give you 3 years to pay, the way they see it is that it is now overdue and needs to be paid... plus you would still be using energy that would also need to be paid. The sooner you pay the sooner you can switch to a cheaper supplier????

Cardew

mooro1973 wrote: »

Cardew,

You seem pretty clued up on this.

If they say may meter is indeed correct do Ihave any options for a reduction.

Surely they should see the meter more than once every three years?


One representative did say the bill would get reduced because they ahve cahrged the whole lot at today's and not 2006 prices.

When I actually agree on a debt with my suppier, Am I right in thinking that I have 3 years to pay it back, since it has acrrued over three years?

Cheers,

mooro

Gas meters must be inspected every 2 years(for safety). That doesn't apply to electricity meters.

The normal method of calculating a bill is to estimate a meter reading at the date of every price change and charge the appropriate tariff. e.g.

11 Dec 2006 estimated meter reading xxxx so ?kWh @ Yp and ?kWk @Zp.

13 Aug 2007 estimated meter reading xxxx so ? kWh etc etc

They actually have an independantly audited computer algorithim that estimates readings taking into account seasonal variations. However that assumes your pattern of use was the same over the 3 years

They could work it out at today's rate and offer you a large reduction to compensate for cheaper prices in previous years.

It is certainly normal practice to offer customers a period of time to pay back the debit balance, commensurate with the time it took the debt to build up.

I would continue to make a fuss - in writing - about the lack of meter reading and the inconsistencies in the bill etc.

They may decide to monitor your consumption over a period of time and base a revised bill on those readings. make sure your hot tub is switched off over that period;)

mooro1973

Cardew wrote: »

I would continue to make a fuss - in writing - about the lack of meter reading and the inconsistencies in the bill etc.

They may decide to monitor your consumption over a period of time and base a revised bill on those readings. make sure your hot tub is switched off over that period;)

Thanks for that, and apologies for the typo's in the previous post.

I will do exactly as you say. However as I say even with the hot tub switched on, the average daily use calculated from actual readings of the last three, getting colder months, was 27 units as opposed to over 50 in the previous 18 months!

I'll let you know how I get on.

olympus593

Gas meters must be inspected every 2 years(for safety). That doesn't apply to electricity meters

This is incorrect. There is a legal obligation for Electricty Supply Companies to appoint a data retrieval company (meter reading company) who will read the meter and perform a simple visual inspection of the condition of the metering equipment and cut outs. I believe the time limit is currently 18 months but would have to check.

This is part of one of OFGEMs special licence conditions. I cannot remember which one but think it is section 12.

There are several reasons for this visit.

1. To ensure that the metering equipment is in good(safe) condition.
2. To provide a reading to allow accurate billing and this in turn allows for the settlement procedure where Energy Supply Companies pay for energy that their consumers have used to the Network Operators and Energy Producers.
3. To ensure the meter has not been tampered with.

Getting back to the original thread I would be interested to know if the meter is a dial type meter or a digital meter.

The reason that I ask is that it is easy to misread these and a mistake on the initial reading back in 2006 would be the explanation of unusually high energy consumption.

spiro

olympus593 wrote: »

This is incorrect. There is a legal obligation for Electricty Supply Companies to appoint a data retrieval company (meter reading company) who will read the meter and perform a simple visual inspection of the condition of the metering equipment and cut outs. I believe the time limit is currently 18 months but would have to check.

The time limit is 2 years but unlike gas the 2 years resets at Change of Supplier so if you change your electricity supplier every 23 months it may never get inspected unless you are in when they come to read it.

timmmers

Had to smile when OP says the appliances are on standby...must turn off the hot tub.

Those halogens look like they are going to cost as much as the kitchen pretty soon too.

t

mooro1973

olympus593: The meter is an old fashioned dial.

timmers: I don't expect leaving a telly, sky box and ipod on standby would equate to energy useage of 12,000+ a year! As for the hout tub, has been in five months, and I was expecting it to add £40 each a month (approx). So unless the hot tub has clocked up 35,000 units on its own in 5 months, it doesn't explain my bill either!

olympus593

mooro1973 I think there's a possibility you have misread the current reading if it is a dial meter.

The pointer may well appear to be pointing at the 9 numeral in the 10000 units dial on the very left hand side, but could actually be an 8.

The way that you confirm if it is an 8 or a 9 is to refer to the dial immediately to the right. If this is near the 7 as you state in your first post, the pointer on the 10000 dial is moving towards the 9 but has not yet got there so should be written down as an 8.

I therefore suspect that your meter reading for October 2009 was 87332. I might be wrong but if you could post a photo of the meter I could read it for you.

Hope this helps

Cardew

That could well be the problem, but your earlier actual reading must have been wrong as well. And your 23 units a day is wrong as well.

It's no mystery! Your electric meter can easily be read if you understand some basic rules. Each of the five dials represent one digit of the present reading. As you can see, the dials move both clockwise and counter clockwise. When the hand of one of the dials is between numbers, always take the smaller number. For example:

46372

If you cannot tell if a hand is past a number or not, simply look at the dial to the right. If it has passed zero, then the hand is pointing to the correct number. If the dial to the right has not passed zero, then use the next smaller number. Totally confused? Let's try an example:

46392

The third digit is a three because the digit to the right has not yet passed zero. If the second dial from the right was between the zero and the one, then the third digit would have been a four. Easy isn't it! To practice, go outside to your home or business and record the readings for several days in a row. By subtracting yesterday's reading from today's reading, you can get a feel for how much energy (kilowatt hours) you use each day.
Keep in mind that when the power company representative reads your meter, they do NOT set it back to zero. Therefore the dials keep turning until the next time the meter is read. By subtracting two consecutive readings, the amount of kilowatt hours is determined for the month. Greeneville Light & Power System personnel use hand-held computers to record the meter reading. The computer immediately checks to see if the reading is about the same as the one the previous month. If it is quite a bit lower or higher, the meter reader is asked to re-read the dials to make sure the reading is correct. This helps insure your bill is accurate each and every month!

mooro1973

olympus593 wrote: »

I therefore suspect that your meter reading for October 2009 was 87332. I might be wrong but if you could post a photo of the meter I could read it for you.

Hope this helps

Sorry guys I hvae mislead you. I took analogue to mean a dial that spins around in the middle. I do infact according to those diagrams have a digital meter.

I turned the hot tub back on, and started recording useage after it had reached the set temeprature.

I have used 20 units a day total for the last two days, nearly exactly. About 8 more than with it off.

So the hot tub is definately not the culprit over the whole three and a bit year period.