help bill says I've used 31000 kwh in 3 months

emmie26

I've had a bill through today saying I had used 31000 kwh of gas in three months, we both work full-time, have not had the heating on, only occasional showers at home the rest at the gym, the meter readings are correct, could the meter be faulty?
E:on have said they will investigate but I'm worried!

slipthru

I don't think most people use that in a year, so it could be a faulty meter.

macman

First thing to check is whether your meter reads in 100's cu ft or cu m (it's marked on the meter), then check if you are being billed on a metric or imperial conversion basis (shown on your bill). It's relatively common for them to get this wrong-especially if you have had a new meter recently (which will be metric).
That's about 2 years use for most people, so clearly something is wrong.
However, even if it is that, it would 'only' bump your bill up by a factor of about 2.8-which will still mean 11,000kWh in 3 months-far too high for March-June.
Are you sure all that usage is withing the 3 month billing period and not a catch-up bill?

Cardew

Are you sure you haven't had a series of bills based on under-estimated meter readings? i.e could this be a catch-up bill now based on the correct reading?

ihateyes

is u meter inside/outside.... have u smelt gas... could there be a small leak on the meter (if its o/side maybe the smell isnt just as strong)

emmie26

thanks guys, the meter is outside but there is definately no smell of gas, we are regularly in and out with the children and it is at the side of the house where I regularly park my car so I would have smelt gas I would have thought! The bill is in m3 and so is the meter, it is definatley not a catch up reading, as the meter is outside the meter reading guys have always been able to gain access to it, and I have also regulary inputted meter readings online just to make sure. When I telephoned up they took a meter reading over the phone and in 10 days I had used 400units which is crazy, as I said we haven't had the heating on and minimal hot water has been used. I just hope it is a problem with the meter so it can easily be resolved, but even then how do they know when it started to go wrong, our bill has said we have used vastly more than the previous year since it was fitted.

Naf

if its a problem with the meter they'll likely go with national average figures for the period, and the new/repaired meter will start from square one.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi emmie26,

Good advice from other posters, so thanks guys.

It's good that you have already contacted E.ON to get this investigated.

If it turns out that the meter is faulty then we can estimated your bill using previous accurate usage. There is a specialist department within E.ON that deal with faulty meters and they can calculate the seasonal variances etc, to make this bill correct.

If you need any help from me, just ask.

Helena

emmie26

Thanks for that, I've just contacted eon again to chase up when they can send someone out to see if the meter is faulty, they have arranged although the man I spoke to seemed a bit vague about what they would do, he said they shouldn't just read the meter!! If they do just come out and read the meter I will go mad, they are not even coming out until next wednesday so by that time I will have used another 400 units. I'm just wondering how you make a complaint to the energy watchdog because I emailed eon back in march to say that the online energy tracker was saying that I was using loads of gas, which I did not think was correct and I was told at the time that it was a mistake not to worry about it, you think they would have some sort of system to notice when a domestic account starts using astronomical amounts of gas, so that they can check what the cause is. I am very annoyed!

emmie26

Just a quick update on this - my meter was faulty and for other people out there apparently there is a known fault on the smart meters. When they sent mine off to be tested it was going round when there was nothing going through it so they could not even say by how much it was out it was just completely and utterly wrong. I did have my bill slashed and I am back now to spending £70 a month on gas and electricity and I have one of the old meter installed where you have to go online and give readings. I'm still annoyed with e-on, it took months of phonecalls to them telling them something was wrong and I still think that there should be some way of the system highlighting the fact that a bill has suddenly rocketted especially when that customer has a meter with a known fault. It was really stressful thinking that we might be liable for a massive bill, however I ma not going to jump ship as I think the energy companies are all the same customer service is not their strong point.