Energy Misselling successes

Gerry1

Looks like it started at 99999 which is normal, on 30/08/16.  So about 5300kWh per year which suggests the rate has increased dramatically since last summer: you've used 41% of the entire 4.5 years' worth in just the last seven months !

See what a week's worth of readings reveals, the more readings the better, even a few more 'switch off' sanity tests.

MarinaPilar

I will get on to the regular readings tomorrow. 

I can’t tell you how grateful I am for this.
I reckon I should probably be paying around £110 a month. The average of the last 7 months is £165. And that is already double the rate they started me on.

I’ll do daily updates, more than once a day. Sound reasonable?

MarinaPilar

And tomorrow I’ll call Avro to set up a payment plan if they’ll let me. The next payment of £216 is due on the 22nd and I quite honestly cannot afford it.

Gerry1

Yes, see whether there are any strange peaks at odd times.  Also consider turning everything off at the consumer unit overnight to see whether the reading increments.

• Don't think of monthly averages, they're meaningless because of the seasonal changes.

• Similarly, think kWh not ££: cost comparisons a bit meaningless because they depend on the tariff.

• Even the DD rate is meaningless because it's not the bill, it's just a top up of a kitty which may or may not be sufficient to pay the bills.  It's merely a guesstimate, so it could be set at any value, it's not an All You Can Eat tariff.

Faites vos jeux: faulty meter, blocked pump in the garden, strange cables going through to the neighbour's loft (the one that never has snow on the roof)?

MarinaPilar

Faites vos jeux: faulty meter, blocked pump in the garden, strange cables going through to the neighbour's loft (the one that never has snow on the roof)?
Possibly only the first! But the plot thickens. My ineptitude with this situation knows no bounds and it will not surprise you to know that I did not submit frequent meter readings to the previous supplier. This meant that the starting reading that Avro had was a data collection, partly an estimate (I have learned all this today).
After I left People's Energy, not realising that this had taken place (and not being on the ball) I emailed with my own meter reading. As the changeover had taken place this was ignored but I have found the email and the readings are significantly higher than the data collection readings for just a couple of weeks earlier.
Nice chap at People's Energy told me I can raise a dispute with Avro so that's what I'm trying to do now, if only they would answer the phone. I'm going to keep taking meter readings because it is still entirely possible that there is something wrong with the meter!

I'm going to cancel my direct debit till this is resolved and pay my previous direct debit amount/whatever my actual charges are from this point until I'm free of Avro. I'm assuming that's within my rights to do?

I'd like to emphasis at this point that I accept responsibility for my own mistakes and this will not happen again. I let the situation get out of my control but once things are resolved I will be very much in charge of it ( I do well when things become an obsession).I dropped the ball with this and I will not let it happen again.

MarinaPilar

Readings from this morning:

Tallerdave

I wonder if your meter isn't in E7 mode, so the rate 2 register never increments? Is there a "home" screen that shows the active register ie: "01"? If so, does that ever change to "02" in the middle of the night?

Gerry1

8kWh overnight seems bit high.  That's about a day's normal usage.  (It might theoretically be 7kWh if your first reading was actually 25419.999 and the second was 25427.000)

See what happens over the next week.  Take lots of readings and remember that the little red light is your friend.  Look at it frequently, work out the kW being used at that instant and if necessary turn circuits (and then appliances) off to find the culprits.  In the daytime the normal background use is probably  150W - 300W (standby items, fridge, freezer, boiler pump) so anything significantly above say 500W (about 8 flashes per minute) needs investigating.

DON'T cancel the DD, that will only make things worse and put you on a more expensive tariff.  Just be a patient detective and collect all the evidence methodically.

The meter may fall under suspicion and if so it might turn out to be worth having a check meter installed, especially if the cost is relatively low.  You could even consider buying a conventional electronic meter and have an electrician install it, although that might require the electricity company to arrange for the supply to be disconnected to allow this.  But with the high usage you're experiencing it might be worth it.

Let's see what the coming days reveal.  Try turning the entire supply off tonight (first close down and unplug computers, TVs etc, switch off the boiler and anything else that may be sensitive) to make sure there's zero consumption.  Who knows, if the place is chilly in the morning you may find that you have electric underfloor heating !

MarinaPilar

Thank you both for your advice.
The reason I wanted to cancel the direct debit is that I simply don't have the £216 they want to take on the 22nd (for the second month). I know there's a cut off date by which you cannot stop payments and it must be approaching fast. if they won't answer the phone or if they insist that £216 is the payment plan what should I do?
I will keep up the detective work in the meantime and will try complete shut down overnight tonight.

MarinaPilar

Just did an initial red flash test, other than the basics and my laptop nothing major is plugged in. It was 12 flashes in a minute.
Tallerdave: can't see anything that indicates which rate is currently in use.