A heart attack inducing bill from Southern Electric!

Vegeeta316

Hi Folks,

Its true, I'm in a state of shock at the moment.

I just gave Southern Electric my current meter readings and I'm speachless. They have worked out my new bill its £1465!.

It turns out the £35.00 per month that they agreed (as being a reasonable DD amount) was in no way sufficient and I am approx £600.00 behind!

My gripe is that I honestly don't think we can possibly be using that much electric! We live in a 3 bed middle terrace. We have gas heating so no storage heating problems there! By my own admission we HAVE been using the tuble drier 3-4 times a week due to the wet weather but other than that, only the TV really gets used during the day (my wife is a stay at home mum and my 3 year old likes to watch cebeebies etc lol).

Is it possible the meter is wrong?!

Somehow from October I need to find £133 per month for the next 11 months... How did this happen?!

jalexa

Vegeeta316 wrote: »

I just gave Southern Electric my current meter readings...they have worked out my new bill its £1465!.

It turns out the £35.00 per month that they agreed (as being a reasonable DD amount) was in no way sufficient and I am approx £600.00 behind!


Is it possible the meter is wrong?!



How did this happen?!

First of all, keep calm. I could work out from the numbers how long you have been on supply, but please say.

You would have received quarterly bills from Southern Electric. Each bill has a "thumbs up" for an actual reading and a "thumbs down" for a estimated reading. Did you provide customer readings whenever the bill contained an "estimated" reading? Are you online with Southern Electric?

Other advice when you post again.

Vegeeta316

Hi Jalexa,

Thank you for your reply!

I will confess, I have never really paid too much attention to my bills! Ordinarily they come around when I'm at work and my wife will let them in to read the meter. I (by my own admission here I HAVE been remiss with bills etc in that I just let them run on their respective direct debits).

I went paper free about a year back as they said it would save money. I remember that a year ago, the bill was only 149 odd for the quarter so I wasn't too worried.

I just tried to log into the account online and the the site is down atm. I will post some more info as soon as its back up.

jalexa

Vegeeta316 wrote: »

I will confess, I have never really paid too much attention to my bills!

OK. Get a handle on your consumption by taking daily meter readings (at the same time of day) for a week then weekly readings for a month. Always check any bill with an estimated reading.

Check that the most recent reading on the new bill is the reading you provided and is "approximately" what the meter is reading today.

And while you are at it don't fall into the same trap with your gas.

Vegeeta316

/facepalm

This latest bill IS based on an actual meter reading.

The last two bills were estimated ones...

I refuse to believe that 1 grown up and a 3 year year old can possibly use THAT much electric...

Vegeeta316

jalexa wrote: »

OK. Get a handle on your consumption by taking daily meter readings (at the same time of day) for a week then weekly readings for a month. Always check an bill with an estimated reading.

Check that the most recent reading on the new bill is the reading you provided and is "approximately" what the meter is reading today.

And while you are at it don't fall into the same trap with your gas.

I am in credit with my gas at the moment, thats going to be £50.00 to put towards the electric...

macman

This makes no sense. If you are 'only' £600 in arrears, how can your quarterly bill be £1465? That suggests that your actual usage in the billing period is £865, which is unlikely even in an electrically heated property.
Forget about monthly DD amounts for now, they're not relevant, what matters is to get a handle on your actual consumption in kWh, which is obtainable by looking at your bills or asking your supplier.

macman

Vegeeta316 wrote: »

/facepalm

This latest bill IS based on an actual meter reading.

The last two bills were estimated ones...

I refuse to believe that 1 grown up and a 3 year year old can possibly use THAT much electric...

Exactly-you haven't used it in this quarter. What you've got is a huge catch-up bill from 9 months ago when you (presumably) had your last actual reading, until you submitted a reading recently.
You need to quote your actual kWh usage during the period in question.
Of this current bill, how much is arrears and how much is actual ongoing consumption?
Go back to your last actual (not estimated) reading about a year ago and calculate your annual kWh consumption from that. That's the key to knowing if the consumption is excessive.
BTW, almost everybody with this issue thinks their meter is faulty-they very rarely are.

peterod1

£35 a month does seem a bit low. I currently use around 400kWh per month (this is the average for the period Apr-Jul) which is for a 4 bed house, mid terrace, double glazed with gas central heating, energy saving bulbs, dishwasher & washing machine used every day with a sty at home mum too and my actual cost is nearer £60 per month, which will no doubt rise when it starts to get darker in the evenings. Try and make a point of reading the meter regulary and submitting them to your provider either by phone or online and always check bills if estimates to see how accurate they are. You could always get an energy monitor which will help you in understanding what you are using the energy on, some energy providers give them for free. If you suspect the meter is inaccurate this will also help you as if it is not and you may end up having to pay for the testing.

jalexa

Vegeeta316 wrote: »

This latest bill IS based on an actual meter reading.

That wasn't *exactly* what I asked which was to check that the "reading" on the bill was "approximately" what the meter reads today.

(to eliminate inadvertant errror)

mattcanary

Has the meter been changed since the last peoper (ie: not estimeated) reading was taken?

If it was, maybe your supplier have not processed the meter change correctly. This would result in an inaccurate bill.

Also, when you moved in to this house/ changed your supplier to Southern was the right meter reading used to start your account?