Southern Electric Huge Bill - Gas £580 Electric £849 any help please?

Tomboi_2

Hi there!

This is my first post to this great forum. I am really stuck and would appreciate any help as I am completely stumped.

I moved to a new property at the end of last year and have just received my first proper Quarterly Bill from Southern Electric for Gas & Electricity use.

For the period 23 Dec 09 - 26 Mar 10

Gas Bill £581 - 16738kwh usage

Electricity Bill £849 - 6919 units usage

This is the largest bill I have ever received and I am in total shock.
The new property I moved too, is a small 3 bed terraced house. Two of the bedrooms had their radiators switched off over the Winter period as they were not being used. Only two people live here and I just cannot believe the bill can be this high.

I have checked the meter readings from our move in day to present and they tally up with what Southern Electric have on file. When I spoke to them they weren't very helpful and insisted it was actual use and they also said that this was in line with previous bills for the property. Is there a way I could confirm that this is true?

I have spoken to my neighbors either side, with the exact same house dimensions each of their houses have more people living in them too, and their bills with Southern Electric are nowhere near even half of our price. I know it's not an exact science but I thought this was a rough basis to test against.

Any help on what to do next would be most appreciated, I have not budgeted for a bill this large and am completely stuck with what to do. Is it possible that both meters are faulty? Or someone is taping into our Energy Supply etc?

Many thanks in advance!

Michael_Nottingham

I am surprised they weren't able to help you more, most suppliers have specialist teams who should be able to help you. It might be worth trying again to see if you can speak to someone more helpful.

To help, people will probably need some more details. Are the reads actual to actual? Is the house heated by Gas? How long do you have the heating on for each day and at what temp? Also do you use an immersion heater for the hot water? Are you on a standard electricity meter or something like E7?

The elec one is the one I would be particularly concerned about it seems really high.

Its probably worth taking readings everyday for the next week and checking whether they tally up with the consumption on your bill. You could then get a cheap energy monitor to try and find the source of all the elec usage.

Anyone else have any suggestions?

Cardew

Are you really sure that the meter readings when you moved in were correct?

Has it got the old dial type meters or a digital display?

It is very easy to get the dial type meter readings wrong(by thousands of units) as the pointers rotate clockwise and anti-clockwise on alternate meters.

The electricity figure is even more alarming than the gas figure and that is unbelievably high.

mattcanary

Have you lelft the immersion switch on permanently by any chance, Tomboi?

ModernDilemma

Hi Tomboi

We are in a very similar situation. I'll give you the details, the action I took and hopefully you'll get some progress too.....

Bills are from date we moved in 16/10/09 to 14/04/10 (say 5 months)

Electricity - 6938 kWh at cost of £902.62
Gas - 19986 kWh at cost of £731.67

We've lived overseas for years and returned home with a bigger family (5) and to a bigger house (5 bed detached) so had no idea what to expect. We'd heard bills had gone through the roof but this is nuts.

When I set up the account in oct '09 I went through supplier's checklist online so they could estimate our usage. She said monthly DD would be £200. I was shocked and said that was ridiculous. She then told me to wait and said ok how about much lower figure which we agreed on. Assumed therefore I'd been put on a cheaper tariff. Appears that not the case.

With the above bill which came in y'day (first bill in 5 months btw) we are still £1280 in debt to supplier despite regular payments over last 5 months.

After contacting Consumer Advisory people and doing a search on Uswitch I discovered that I could be saving nearly £1000 a year by switching supplier and £909 if my current supplier had simply put me on a proper tariff.

I complained. We have been put on new tariff immediately. I also said it was an issue of concern I wasn't offered tariffs of reasonable level when joined the supplier and now they have agreed to re-bill us with their previous best offer tariffs applying to the relevant periods they were valid over the last 5 months.

I calculate this will drop our current bill by nearly £700 if they are in the region of the tariff payments we've agreed as of today. Even at worst with half of that its about £350.

A HUGE amount of money.

Get on the phone and say you've taken Consumer Advice. Say you want to talk about it to them first as that is what the Energy Ombudsmen recommends.

Say you want to know why you were not put on a proper tariff at time of signing up to the supplier. That you want the best offer tariff started from now (if you are staying with them) and you want your bill re-invoiced with backdated tariffs applied.

If they do not co-operate you have the right to go to the Ombudsmen and make a complaint for them to investigate.

Your bill is ridiculous. I imagine that as you've moved in recently you've been stitched up like us.

This is not legal advice of course, but I am a lawyer by trade. I was polite but firm. Stand your ground. The tariff they have you on would make some families bankrupt. It is simply unacceptable when there are other tariffs they should have and could have offered you which would drastically reduce your bills.

PS Should add if you change supplier you generally can only agree to a period of say 10 weeks in which to pay off any outstanding amount. However, now we've agreed to stay with our current supplier at new levels (saving £909 per year!) they have agreed to spread whatever is remaining due after being re-invoiced over a two year period.

Stand your ground and message back if you want to talk about it more.

MD.

ModernDilemma

ps Everyone our readings are totally correct. No immersion. Brand new highly efficient and insulated house. Am becoming the energy gestapo as of now around here. kids will hate me!

Cardew

ModernDilemma wrote: »

Hi Tomboi

We are in a very similar situation. I'll give you the details, the action I took and hopefully you'll get some progress too.....

Bills are from date we moved in 16/10/09 to 14/04/10 (say 5 months)

Electricity - 6938 kWh at cost of £902.62
Gas - 19986 kWh at cost of £731.67

.

16/10/09 to 14/04/10 is six(not five) months and 20,000kWh for gas in a 5 bed detached house, over one of the coldest winters for years, is not particularly high.

The UK average is 20,500kWh pa and you are in line to use less than 30,000kWh pa which with 5 people in your house is reasonable.

What is wrong, as you point out, is the huge price you have been charged. With OVO that consumption(19986kWh) would cost £448 instead of £731.

On the other hand your electricity consumption is huge. The UK average being 3,300kWh PA and you are in line to use 13,000kWh in a year.

ModernDilemma

Yep, you're right. Maths never was my strong point!

Anyway, you are right the electricity consumption is too high. I'm curious where you got your average usage figure from? Can you pass on the site?

My research today put a 3 bed household of 4, with kids at school all day and parents working at 5,480kWh per annum. With me a SAHM right now and adjusting to the freezing temperatures of UK after Asia, I'm home pretty much all the time with the youngest. So I figured on twice this for us given house occupied all the time, bigger house and more people. My eldest two are also MUCH older and have own TV's in room, one has a pc and other has an x-box.

I'm expecting to be happy to get us down to 10,000 per annum. Am I way off? I have really no idea about this so all help and pointers in the right direction will be gratefully received.

I'm off to the hardware store tomorrow to replace every bulb we possess with low wattage but I'm at a loss beyond that....

MD

Cardew

ModernDilemma wrote: »

Yep, you're right. Maths never was my strong point!

Anyway, you are right the electricity consumption is too high. I'm curious where you got your average usage figure from? Can you pass on the site?

My research today put a 3 bed household of 4, with kids at school all day and parents working at 5,480kWh per annum. With me a SAHM right now and adjusting to the freezing temperatures of UK after Asia, I'm home pretty much all the time with the youngest. So I figured on twice this for us given house occupied all the time, bigger house and more people. My eldest two are also MUCH older and have own TV's in room, one has a pc and other has an x-box.

I'm expecting to be happy to get us down to 10,000 per annum. Am I way off? I have really no idea about this so all help and pointers in the right direction will be gratefully received.

I'm off to the hardware store tomorrow to replace every bulb we possess with low wattage but I'm at a loss beyond that....

MD

20,500kWh gas and 3,300kWh electricity is the standard ofgem figure and is used by all utility companies for comparison purposes. Obviously that ranges from a single person in a 1 bed flat to loads of people in a mansion.

This from the British Gas website.

£150 comprises: savings of £40 against our Standard tariff prices for OnlineSaver 2 customers (who receive a 4% discount on their unit rates below our Standard tariff prices); and savings of up to £110 by reducing consumption by 12% (by using the EnergySmart online consumption hub and electricity monitor). Savings are based on average annual consumption of 20,500 kWh for gas and 3,300 kWh for single rate electricity, paying by Monthly Direct Debit on our Standard tariff prices as at 9th April 2010, rounded average across all regions including VAT. Actual savings will vary depending on individual circumstances.

If you are buying a lot of bulbs some of the Supermarkets are virtually giving them away - I think Sainsburys had them for 5p and Morrisons as well. Worth looking up some websites of stores near you.

Best pointer for kids is demonstrate the 'off' button! and dock pocket money if they fail to operate said button.