Boy do I need some help!

Jeanny

About 18 months ago my old electricity meter was replaced with a tiny white box. Since then I've had no-one come round to read the meter. I don't know if I'm reading it right, but according to the meter, after calculating the costs using the unit prices on my electricity bill, my average monthly spending has increased from approximately £40 a month to £140 a month, so rather than being in credit or owing a little more, I now find myself owing the electricity supplier £1800. As I live in a modest 1 bed flat, work a 9-5 job away from the home and don't run any huge energy draining appliances, I'd be grateful if anyone could help to point me in the right direction. Who can I challenge over the meter settings? Even with the price hikes over the past year or so, I find it frankly ludicrous that I have supposedly used £140 worth of electricity a month, but if I don't pay it, I will be in trouble! I've never paid a bill late or had such an anomaly between estimates and actual readings. I'm losing sleep. Can anyone help?

Cardew

Wecome to the forum.

Can you give more detail please. Meter readings - your assumptions on cost - Economy 7 or 'normal tariff - utility company etc.

There is no way a new meter is going to triple your cost - it should remain the same.

losgiganteskid

Jeanny - join the club. I too had one of those small white new meters fitted about 9 months ago and my bill has shot up from circa £80 p month to £120 p month - have written to my lecy supplier without reply

Cardew

losgiganteskid wrote:

Jeanny - join the club. I too had one of those small white new meters fitted about 9 months ago and my bill has shot up from circa £80 p month to £120 p month - have written to my lecy supplier without reply

What do you mean by circa £80 - is this a direct debit payment?

What is the £120?

Has your consumption shot up? What company/tariff etc.

Jeannine

...Make sure that you read only the first 4 or 5 digits - NOT the last two on the right.

oldwiring

Have you actually got a start reading for the new meter or hust assumed it started at zero. That is not guranteed from what I have heard.

Crystaltipps_2

First thing I would do is ring your supplier and ask for a meter man to read the meter.

There may also be a little sticker on the meter which tells you what the start read was.

Have you actually received a bill for £1800? And is this just for 3 months, or for the 18 months since the meter was changed? As oldwiring said, the installation read for the meter may be wrong. It's possible there may also be a problem with the removal read of your old meter if the big bill goes back that far.

There are so many reasons for a big bill that we need a bit more info to advise - but in the meantime, ring your supplier for that meter man.