£440 a month Electric on Economy 10

Debt_Slayer

Hi folks. Not posted in a long time as things have been going along rather well. Should've known it was only a matter of time.

So anyway, as the subject says that's what my last revised bill was for an all electric 3 bedroomed semi-detatched property running Economy 10 for 46 days. 80 units a day.

I should go into the details, strap in...

Over the last 12 months we've been on a pre-payment meter as I had one before I moved in here and found it easier to budget the bill when it's essentially PAYG. So I got EON to come and install the same thing in here and they did. We started getting problems then with the lack of hot water available, we'd put the booster on but no hot water. Called a repair in but everything was fine apparently.
Fast forward 12 months and after everyone from the housing being involved and EON switching electrical meters several times we've had plumbers, electricians, engineers etc tinkering with it and none of them finding a problem.

Turns out EON fitted an Economy 7 meter, which was ok as we were paying about £110 a month and so long as we weren't greedy wasting the hot water there was just enough for us all to bath/shower etc. This was consistent with monthly top ups between £90-£130.

Due to the price hikes we thought we'd shop around for a better deal and also found out about potential discounts we may be entitled to as we have a disabled daughter. Phoned EON and they said we'd be better off on this other tarriff, one for the Economy 10 system and that we'd save a small fortune compared with the more expensive pre-pay meter.

The new Economy 10 meter was installed and I kept an eye on the usage so I could give them a few readings to calculate how much i'd need to set the standing order up for. After 46 days they meter has racked up 80 units a day and they billed us £440.

I'm now in a dispute with them as we have very little plugged in, energy bulbs throughout the house, loft and cavity wall insulation and our kitchen appliances are all 'A' grade for efficiency.
We've had the housing out to check over the system and they've said it's correct and working properly. I've been on the telephone to both housing and EON countless times and nothing is getting done, i'm just banging my head against a brick wall.

I know it isn't right, because we've not changed anything. I know it's winter but even last year during all the bad snow when it was -15 when even i'll admit we did use a lot keeping the house warm it was still only £130 in a month.

We're really stuck as we don't know what to do or where to go. We're both depressed now and we're all ill due to switching the off button at the main fuse box. We dare not have anything on as even when we have everything in the house switched off with no plugs in it's running up 50 units a day.

EON say it's right, housing say it's right but both agree it is a lot....and nothing gets done.

I'm on the verge of packing our bags and finding another house as this is just ridiculous.

If you're still reading this, thankyou.
Any help greatly appreciated...

Debt_Slayer

80 views and not a single bit of advice?

amusedbystander

its obviously a hell of a lot you can ask for a meter accuracy test but i would say only do it if your 100% certain as if there isn't a problem you will be charged

Debt_Slayer

amusedbystander wrote: »

its obviously a hell of a lot you can ask for a meter accuracy test but i would say only do it if your 100% certain as if there isn't a problem you will be charged

Already down that route. They're fitting the check meter for free to aid the resolve. The point is that our consumption has not changed but from one meter to the next it's quadrupled in cost.

That is what my dispute is.

Richie-from-the-Boro

- pre payment is the very most expensive option, but some like its 'controllability'
- E10 is the most expensive luxury version of E7, but some like its 'flexibility'
So changing from E7 to E10 means you fell for the spiel and sales talk .. .. a bad move !
- lack of hot water means you did not have a big enough tank [a store of cheap stuff]
- or used an exceptionally large amount of hot water for family and disabled daughter's needs
- or you don't have an E7 tank / cylinder [see * below]
In which case you need a bigger tank [a store of cheap stuff]

Amazingly you make no mention whatsoever of heat, if you are on E7 / E10 how do you heat your dwelling, with what ?

Bottom line .. E7 is cheaper than E10 and direct~debit on~line~account is cheaper than any other. Now unless you post your usage expressed as kWh no one here can really make any useful 'guesstimate' of your pricing problem.
_________

When you moved in and in / changed supplier / started reading the two separate digit meter have you read Night [cheap] and Day the wrong way round ?
_________
* Does your hot water tank / immersion have two ports like this one / elements each with cable going to it, one at the top and another at the bottom of the cylinder with a factory applied hard insulating material ?

HappyMJ

80 units a day is a lot but that should only cost you £8 a day on a reasonable standard rate... £240 a month. With heating that's quite normal and you should get it cheaper than that due to E7 being cheaper than standard rate. E10 is never competitive on pricing so I would avoid that.

Can you post the meter readings at the start of the 46 days and at the end?

jalexa

Debt_Slayer wrote: »

my last revised bill was for an all electric 3 bedroomed semi-detatched property running Economy 10 for 46 days. 80 units a day.

Many people with gas central heating would use 80kWhs/day during the mid-winter heating season. Of course they would have a nice toasty house.

Why do you think 80kWhrs of electric heat (and other other usage) is (1) excessive and (2) wrong?

E.ON_Company_Rep_Chris

Hi Slayer

I’d really like to help with this, almost £10.00 a day for electricity use seems very high. Can I check a few things with you please?

Have you been given the switching times for your meter? Richie is right; E10 is a comfort tariff for particular types of electric heating. It’s only economical if your heating is set to come on at the off-peak times.

Debt_Slayer wrote: »

The point is that our consumption has not changed but from one meter to the next it's quadrupled in cost.

I’m a little confused by this, so 80kWh a day is normal for you?

If it’s only the cost that’s the issue then this also suggests that the fault lies with the switching times. If you don’t have these, send an email to the address on my profile and I can get them for you.

Have you taken any spaced readings so we can see what’s being used when? When’s the check meter going in?

I know how stressful this is for you, bills this high need addressing and quickly. It does sound like our consumption specialists are dealing with this and that your concerns are being taken seriously with a check meter being fitted.

If this isn’t the case then make sure that this has been logged as a complaint, escalate to a manager if need be or contact our Directors’ Office. This will ensure that a full review is undertaken and you’ll be kept informed every step of the way.

That’s my advice for now Slayer, sorry if only going over old ground, do give me a shout if I can help further.

Amanda

Bexbox22

Hi there, we had a similar situation our bills doubled once economy 10 meter fitted, we went to housing association , Scottish hydro ( our new supplier ) no one seemed to help but after many calls they fitted a test meter all fine! And finally someone said it was most probably when the economy 10 meter was fitted the old one was so out of date and not set at correct prices! So we have put in £700 since nov 11 to now makes us sick we haven't even been warm only using it at correct times don't no if this is any help

chris1973

My record was £120 a month last winter on E7 Pre-Pay. £90-ish of that a month was being spent on 3 storage heaters, in a 1 bedroom flat

Using a clamp meter and purpose programmed recording laptop borrowed from work, I established that on an input setting of '8', (and output damper closed), the 3.4kw heaters drew current for a total of around 5 hours 50 minutes of the available 7 hour E7 Period, even after heat cycling for several days and warming themselves with residual heat and also into the building fabric.

If your E10 system, is, at times, drawing current outside of the E10 period, which would be charged at 'higher than average' peak rates, then yes, I would assume that without care, and with the system left running outside of the 10 hour cheap rate periods, then £440 was easily possible in a 3 bedroom property.

E10 is really designed for 'Wet' heating systems with Electric Boilers and storage heaters, so that the system heats water (or bricks in the case of storage heaters) during the E10 periods, and then outside of these periods the elements switch off, and the stored heat convects from the water / bricks during the peak periods outside of E10. If you are using conventional 'real time' electric heating such as convectors or fan heaters, you won't be able to store heat, and so will be continuing to draw large amounts of Electricity outside of the E10 discount periods, when the Electricity price will often double!.

If you do have 'Wet' heating or storage heaters, make sure that they only 'heat' during E10 times, and remain off, when the price changes to the peak tariff (i.e the other 14 hours per day).

Electric Heating is expensive, especially during peak periods outside of any discount tariff rates. Care should therefore be excercised to ensure timers are scrutinised and set correctly, and you understand how the system works.