Problems with E-on & huge bills

Madascanb

I will try and be succinct as to the history of what we have experienced.
We live in a rented house and have been here for 8 years.

The house is not large, 3 beds, with oil fired CH, LPG gas hob with electric oven. Normal A grade appliances, which have all been checked for faults, and came out perfect. We use energy saving light bulbs.

When we moved into the house in 2002, new circuit breakers had been installed along with a new meter which obviously had a reading of '0'.

In April 2007 our usage stated that for the 5 years that we had lived here we had used approximately 30,000 units overall

Our supplier was Powergen.

In 2007, we recieved a letter from EDF, to inform us that they were up dating all the cabling in the village as a new sub station was to be installed less than 50 yds from our house. We were asked to give EDF access to our back garden so that they could carry out the necessary work, ( the pole that carries supply to other houses is at the end of our garden).They completed the work, and had to come back as they said that there had been a mistake, which they had to rectify. It was at this time we also discovered that our digital meter ceased working. Powergen had now become E-On, so we informed them of the dead meter and it took 18 months for them to install a new one. The new meter was installed 8th December 2008.

I should add at this point that when the old meter was working, I had all my kids at home, so the house was always full of teenagers and their friends coming and going. Since 2007 it's been just my husband and I along with 1 daughter, who is hardly here anyway, university, and so on.

By April 2009 the new meter had registered 12,000 units. According to the new meter our consumption for 4 months was a quarter of what we had used in 5 years !!! I then recieved a bill stating that for the 18 months of not having a meter I had been under-estimated, therefore we owed £7,000 (which included the current quarter)

After many phone calls with E-On I had a check meter installed, (meter was working fine) I then wrote to Ofgem, and have since had the bill reduced, by £2000.00. However Ofgem and E-On have both failed to answer the question as to why since 2007 our usage has escalated to such an exorbitant amount.
Going on the present readings and given the fact that we have had the new meter for 18 months. The readings now are 35,464 which is more than we used in 5 years.

I am told by E-On they are not concerned with any problem that I have re the high usage. Gordon McGowan their customer complaints advisor has informed me as the meter has been checked to be working fine, I owe the money, He informed me as did Ofgem that I have no recourse.

Last week we had 2 power cuts, for a week before the said cuts, lights were flickering. The night before the first power cut @ midnight I read the meter and it read 35,102. The power cut was around 10.30 the next morning. Power was resumed at midday. I read the meter and it read that we had used 56 units that morning. Impossible!!!

Can anyone shed any light as to why this has happened. I know that electricity has gone up in price. So I expect to be paying more, but my consumption of electricity should have gone down, instead it states that for the two of us we are using on average 65 units a day. Which overall is a bill of some £250.00 per month. Could EDF be responsible for this.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

Clearly you cannot be using the amount of electricity your meter is recording.(35,464 kWh in 18 months in a house with oil ch)

The only suggestions I can think of is that the meter digits are 'jumping' or you are supplying other properties via your meter.

I suggest you obtain an Owl or Watson energy monitor and connect it to your supply(very easy for a layman) and this will record the cumulative consumption over a period of time - obviously record your meter readings over the same time for comparison. The OWL/Watson monitors are accurate enough to show if there is a gross discrepancy.

I would also contact the Energy Ombudsman and/or BBC Watchdog programme - if you are a member of WHICH they will help.

PNPSUKNET

if you have had the meter tested then cant see what else you can do, your complaint sounds like its with a distributor rather than the supplier.

Madascanb

If I thought I owed the money would gladly pay it....but as Cardew stated how can a 3 bedroom house us more electricity in 18 months than was used in 5 years....

E.ON_Company_Representative

Hi madascanb,

My concern is that the meter has been proved accurate; suggesting that something after the meter is drawing electricity.

You mention in the post that the meter had used 30,000 units up to 2007 when you noticed the meter had ceased recording and that the 30,000 units covered 5 years. Is this accurate or had the meter recorded 30,000 units in 2 or 3 years and the meter stopped 2 or 3 years ago.

If this is the case then 30,000 units would have been used in a shorter time period thus distorting the figures causing concern on the new meter.

Is the figure 30,000 the actual units used since you moved in or is that the meter reading taken when you realised the meter had stopped?

Without seeing the details we can only speculate what the issue is here, so please excuse me if these ideas have been covered already and investigated.

The complaint advisor you mentioned works in the same office as I do, if you would like my opinion on this please send me an email to the address in my profile and I’ll take a look at your case for you.

Brian

dogshome

Hi Madascanbe - Like you, I have oil fired heating & HW and with a family at home, 6000Kwh a year of electricity is about right, but with less people in the house your current readings are off the scale.

You meter accuracy check will only verify that the amount of power being used, is accurately recorded by the meter, so it would seem that something with high useage is running permanently, or you have a wiring fault in the house.

Check your immersion heater in the hot water tank for a failed timer or thermostat, and if that's OK it would be best to get a local sparks in to run his meters over the fuse board to see which circuit/circuits are drawing down all this power

DVardysShadow

In your position, I would turn off the main switch[es] for the house and check that the meter stops dead. Subject to freezers, I would leave it for an hour or 2 and see whether anyone complains about no power. And I would trace the wiring into and out of the meter. Or I would get an electrician to do this, having explained the problem.

Am I correct in suspecting you live in farm type premises?

Madascanb

Hi Brian

Before the old meter stopped working it was read in April 2007. The 30.000 figure is from that bill. We had been in the property for 5 years. So the reading was indicative of the years that we had been living here. It was in July that EDF came and upgraded the cabling. It was also at this time that the meter packed up working. So theoretically it would have been due for it's quarterly reading at that time. I will send you an email tomorrow, however since last week we have had two power cuts, and the meter shows a definite jump. So something is wrong it's just trying to locate where.

Madascanb

Emersion thermostat has been checked and a new one installed last year, (just to be on the safe side) also a new timer was put on in 20th December 2008. I agree I think that there is something faulty underground or coming from EDF's work...Every appliance has been checked by an independant electrician as well as my landlords electrician. Everything came out okay...Example I read the meter last night at midnight, got up this morning at 7 and read the meter and it's stating that 15 units were used overnight....how !!! no lights on, nothing !!!! If someone is attached to my electricity it would be attached from the pole in the garden....not my house...which is detached and a bit difficult for someone to get to. I think I will turn everything off tomorrow and see what happens...I know the pole supplies electricity to a few houses, and DVardysShadow whilst it's not really a farmhouse it is old and detached and in a very rural area, but I have houses all around (if that makes sense) and let me tell you if one of them was getting their electric through me, they would not say a word...

Cardew

As stated in post#2 why not get an Owl or Watson type monitor?

socks_uk

Like someone else suggested, I would turn off and unplug EVERYTHING including SKY, TVs DVD recorders/players, phone chargers, computers, printers, washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, fridges & freezers (including any you might have in the garage!).

Madascanb wrote: »

Example I read the meter last night at midnight, got up this morning at 7 and read the meter and it's stating that 15 units were used overnight....how !!! no lights on, nothing !!!!

But was your fridge/freezer and all the above things also switched off & unplugged? Things still plugged in and not switched on or on stand-by still use power! (or did I read this wrong and last night was one of your power cut days you mentioned?).

Good luck with sorting this out, it sounds a nightmare!