EDF wrong meter reading?

Palmer89

Hello

I am a 21 year old student living with one other person in a rented flat in the center of a large city. During the months from september 14th to december 11th our units used read as follows:

Day - 64829 > 65363
Night - 54243 > 54381

However, we have just recieved a bill for since 11th december to 31st March and it seems absurdly excessive.

Day - 65363 (previous reading) > 66037 (this seems normal)
Night - 54381 > 66037

I believe they must have read the reading for the day and just put the same figure down as the amount we have used at the night, however we are incredibly tight about the amount of electricity we use and especially at night turn off everything bar the fridge.

From the reading (all are actual rather rather than estimated) it seems like they have just used the same latest reading for the day as they have for the night (I don't dispute the day reading as that looks normal).

But for September to december we used 38 units at night and apparently near 12,000 for december to march, this despite us being at home for christmas for 3 weeks. Am I right in assuming they have wrongly used the figure from the day usage for the night when they should have a separate night figure?

I am a tenant with a landlord who insists all the bills are in their name and as such cannot dispute on our own behalf but we are fairly sure the latest bill must be wrong. Our landlord uses EDF energy. I am unsure where the night readings came from on our last 2 bills but they obviously haven't come from the same place on our latest bill.

It's risen from £84 for the 3 months to £675 for the 4 months despite us being away for 3 weeks during that time.

Any help appreciated
Thank you
Palmer89

Palmer89

Just to add, it's economy 7 electricity tariff DD.

jd87

Yes obviously some sort of mistake. What are the chances of both readings being exactly the same when it was read? Just call them up and give them the correct readings (or get landlord to do it if they won't speak to you).

markharding557

If the bill is in fact in your landlords name then it is his problem not yours because the the name on the account is the one liable.
You need to stand up to this person and not be bullied.
I find it rather suspect that he insists on keeping the bills in his own name,there is a good chance he/she is conning you

jd87

markharding557 wrote: »

If the bill is in fact in your landlords name then it is his problem not yours because the the name on the account is the one liable.
You need to stand up to this person and not be bullied.
I find it rather suspect that he insists on keeping the bills in his own name,there is a good chance he/she is conning you

It is a bit weird yes, but as long as the OP gets to actually see the bills then I don't really see how the landlord could be conning them. Probably just a typical control freak landlord who doesn't want anyone to switch the supplier in case it causes him hassle.

Palmer89

We always have the bills copied to us, I understand why the landloard wants them in their name as after this year I believe they are no longer renting out their flat. So no conning going on we are sure on that.

JD, cheers, thats exactly what we thought but the landlord tried to suggest otherwise but he may have also made a mistake or not understood us.

I'm sure it's just a honest mistake but we would phone up if it was in our name, hopefully we can get our landloard to phone on our behalf since he has requested the money from us ASAP.

As a side note, I have no idea how they have read the 'night' readings from previously as from what I can see we only have one figure on our meter, although there must be another reading as both our previous bills have read around the 53,000/54,000 mark for the night, perhaps this is where the error came from. I'm just unsure when the night time readings came from.

dogshome

Hi Palmer89 - There is certainly something wrong with the End Reading for your night rate on the latest bill - You need to read the meters Night rate now to get a true figure that can be reported back to EDF
Whilst you may not know how to interrogate the meter so that it shows the Night Rate reading, your landlord will, and it is in his own interest that he co-operates as it is he that EDF will be pursueing for payment.

That said, for an Economy 7 set up your Sep to Dec meter readings are something of a puzzle. Over this period of 89 days, your Day use works out to around 6 units a day which is about average, but your Night use over this period.is an unbelieveably low 1.5 units a day - Not the 38 units a day listed in your post - a typo?
Most storage radiators are rated at 2.5Kw, so if just one is on for 5 hours overnight until it's thermostat turns it off, it will burn 12.5Kw a night and your hot water will be about the same -
so how many storage heaters do you have?

Have a look a the copy bills the L/L gives you to see if any of them have Estimated readings, as this may just be a case EDF catching up with a proper reading after years of under estimated bills - a problem that could go back to before you were the tenant
Best of Luck

Palmer89

Our night usage for those days was a total of 38 units, not per day, sorry.

We don't use anything during the night, we turn off all plugs and appliances and we didn't turn the radiator once during those nights, this should explain the very low readings, we're quite tight with the electricity we use, when does the night readings start and end?

We never use any heaters and only turn the immersion heater on during the day for when we want a shower or do some washing, we never leave anything on overnight, even turning off phone chargers.

There were a few estimated readings previously but these were caught up on the last bill, the actual readings were the original figures I posted in the original post. So all estimated readings have been definatly caught up.

Thanks for the advice, I am currently home for easter but am returning this weekend, I will try and get a proper reading on the flat from the landlord ASAP but I believe he lives a large distance away from the flat, would it be possible to phone the company and get another reading?

macman

Palmer89 wrote: »

Our night usage for those days was a total of 38 units, not per day, sorry.

We don't use anything during the night, we turn off all plugs and appliances and we didn't turn the radiator once during those nights, this should explain the very low readings, we're quite tight with the electricity we use, when does the night readings start and end?

We never use any heaters and only turn the immersion heater on during the day for when we want a shower or do some washing, we never leave anything on overnight, even turning off phone chargers.

There were a few estimated readings previously but these were caught up on the last bill, the actual readings were the original figures I posted in the original post. So all estimated readings have been definatly caught up.

Thanks for the advice, I am currently home for easter but am returning this weekend, I will try and get a proper reading on the flat from the landlord ASAP but I believe he lives a large distance away from the flat, would it be possible to phone the company and get another reading?

In that case, why are you on a Economy 7 tariff? Going by your September to December readings, and assuming these are correct, you are using only 20% of your units on E7 cheap rate. The other 80% you are paying a peak rate premium for. Do you have storage heaters? If not, or if they are not being used, then it will be almost impossible to gain any saving from E7. Your current pattern of usage indicates that you would be better off on a single rate tariff.

Palmer89

The landlord chose the tariff and company to be with, we had no say in the matter at the time and was just looking for the best place for us 2, it's not a big deal because our bills are usually quite cheap anyway.

If it was up to us we'd probably have chosen something else but the flat is a good price and we don't use alot of electricity as it is so didn't really say too much about it.

We phoned EDF who said it's definatly wrong and will be getting a correct reading over the next day or 2 though, so thanks for the help/advice/agreements.

DVardysShadow

Palmer89 wrote: »

... I am currently home for easter but am returning this weekend, I will try and get a proper reading on the flat from the landlord ASAP but I believe he lives a large distance away from the flat, would it be possible to phone the company and get another reading?

You mean get them to come out again? Because they have no more idea of the reading than you do until they come out.

Palmer89 wrote: »

As a side note, I have no idea how they have read the 'night' readings from previously as from what I can see we only have one figure on our meter, although there must be another reading as both our previous bills have read around the 53,000/54,000 mark for the night, perhaps this is where the error came from. I'm just unsure when the night time readings came from.

If it is a modern meter with an LCD display, there are some buttons on the front. Press each in turn several times and you will start to get readings. Maybe there is a button on there which makes it all go bang.

Tip for you. Whenever you move into and out of occupation of premises take readings on all meters and phone the utility concerned. Keep your readings for 6 years at least.