HUGE electricity bill!

amie1234

Hi everyone,

I would really appreciate your advice on an electricity bill I have recently received.

I moved into a top floor, two bed flat with my partner in august. The flat is about 7 years old and is all electric. Our heating system is similar to a gas system, with all the radiators, pipes etc... but the boiler tank is heated using electric. The hot water is also heated using the same system (although i dont know much about how that bit works!) We dont have the heating or water on a timer as we just turn them on as and when we need them- usually the heating for 4 hours a day during the week, 6-7 hours a day at weekends and the water for a bout 3 hours a week. We have mostly energy saving bulbs, apart from a few halogen spot lights and our cooker is fan assisted (if that makes any difference?)
We both work full time so are only home evenings and weekends.

In February we got a bill from N-power for £187. I thought this was a little low but paid it. In mid march we got an amended bill for £1065!!!!! So in 7 months, they are saying that we have used £1250 worth of electricity. This just cant be right!

I asked n-power to come out and the engineer said that we have a meter that should only be fitted when storage heaters are used. We obviously dont have storage heaters. Also, he said that the meter is only wired up to monitor the most expensive day rate. Could this be the reason why our bill is so high?

Surely, the fact that they have installed the wrong type of meter is not our fault? and why should we be expected to pay for their mistake?

N-power insist that we need to settle the bill before they change our meter.

Any advice?!!!!! Thanks, Amie

withabix

Probably about right for an all-electric property with wet heating and the hours per day you have quoted.

You might have a 2-tariff meter reading only one tariff - what tarrif are you on?

I've got an E7 meter and have gas central heating. We run the washer, dryer and dishwasher at night rate and usually beat what the bill would be on a single tariff.

The type of meter you have isn't the fault on Npower - they won't have fitted it.

The idiot who put in a wet electric central heating system is to blame!

Halogen spot lights can use a LOT of electricity as well.

amie1234

Thanks Withabix, I really appreciate your response.

Surely though, if the meter is the wrong type, then it has been charging us over the odds for the electric that we have used? I just cant see how it can be that much. We dont even use the washing machine much and dont have a dishwasher etc..

The meter was fitted before the flots were dirst occupied and the wet heating system was fitted at the same time. Were on the standard heatwise tariff with n-power.

Are the wet electric systems known to be inefficient then?

Thanks again!

Amie

HappyMJ

amie1234 wrote: »

Thanks Withabix, I really appreciate your response.

Surely though, if the meter is the wrong type, then it has been charging us over the odds for the electric that we have used? I just cant see how it can be that much. We dont even use the washing machine much and dont have a dishwasher etc..

The meter was fitted before the flots were dirst occupied and the wet heating system was fitted at the same time. Were on the standard heatwise tariff with n-power.

Are the wet electric systems known to be inefficient then?

Thanks again!

Amie

Heatwise is an awful tariff. Pay the £50 or so to Npower and change the meter for a standard meter then switch to the most competitive standard tariff you can find. The best rate at the moment is around 10p for all units plus a standing charge. Heatwise charges about 9p for the heat units but charges a premium on all the other units making it not worth having. You cannot switch as all suppliers supplying heatwise charge the same.

Wet electric are efficient but you need to be very careful how you use it. To be most efficient (savings wise) it needs to be timed to only work during the heatwise hours but you need to leave it on all the time so that you don't need to use the boost function when heatwise hours are not cheap. It's easier just to have electric on standard and use it whenever you want.

amie1234

Woah, this is so complicated! Thank you for your help Happy MJ.

Do you think it is worth arguing the toss on the grand they want us to pay? They are going to fit us a new meter in may, for free- so I guess thats a bonus! I just cant afford to pay the £1065 bill! Aaaaahhhhh!!

HappyMJ

amie1234 wrote: »

Woah, this is so complicated! Thank you for your help Happy MJ.

Do you think it is worth arguing the toss on the grand they want us to pay? They are going to fit us a new meter in may, for free- so I guess thats a bonus! I just cant afford to pay the £1065 bill! Aaaaahhhhh!!

You got a new meter for free. That's a £50 credit. That's a start. The bill will be high anyway. What is the total of all the kWh's on the bill? At standard rate you would multiply that by about 15p then add a standing charge of £1 per week to see what the bill would have been had you been on standard from the beginning. You need to use a comparison site to find out Npower's exact standard rate for your area. My area is the East Midlands and Npower charge 14.511p per kWh and 18.554p for the first 2kWh per day.

The calculator on ukpower may help http://www.ukpower.co.uk/tools/smart_meter_calculator/

amie1234

Thanks Happy MJ.

The total number of kw is 8687 so x that by 13.5 is roughly £1130. Looks like we got it cheap then!

That is mental! I just cant rest though- i cant see that we have used that much! Typical woman- wont be told!!

Amie

HappyMJ

amie1234 wrote: »

Thanks Happy MJ.

The total number of kw is 8687 so x that by 13.5 is roughly £1130. Looks like we got it cheap then!

That is mental! I just cant rest though- i cant see that we have used that much! Typical woman- wont be told!!

Amie

That is quite reasonable. You said it was over 7 months. The last 7 months I assume. So it's a whole winter. You would only use another 2,000kWh over the next 5 months having a total of around 11,000kWh for the year. That isn't bad. Most households use about 3,300kWh in electric per year but they also use 16,500kWh of gas per year for heating and hot water so your usage of 11,000kWh is a lot less than the combined average.

Npower does have a high standard charge. You can now compare tariff using 11,000kWh as your annual usage to see what your annual bill will come to on a better tariff. Ignore the £££ savings figures provided as they will not be accurate.

amie1234

Thank you so much for your help....I'm off to compare tariffs! Amie

Terrylw1

Npower will be at fault here as well because in the new connection process since 2000 the supplier is registered and arranged to fit the meter when the contractor confirms the distributor has finished the supply and the contractors have completed the internal wiring.

Npower would be told what to install though by the contractors as only they know what they have wired up.

A big question mark hangs over how the meter is connected and this might help you out. If you have Heatwise you would have 2 MPAN's on your bill. From what you are describing, I'm wondering whether its not actually set up for Heatwise but now for standard elec by disabling the Night tails or not having them fit.

Its possible that something has occurred with the previous occupier that resulted in a "dodgy" practice whereby the meter was fiddled with rather than changed. Then the supplier billed the customer on a standard rate. When this happens, its a well known issue that the new account gets defaulted back to the previous product which would be Heatwise. If this has been the case, yes change the meter, but npower knew they were disadantaging you by defaulting the product pack. In reality, its a situation that is too slight for a normal operator to spit, which is how it normally happens. If this is the case, you would have grounds to request rebilling to standard rate if its cheaper for you and it would be from your moving in date.

Forget about the £50 credit for a meter change, they don't charge for credit-to-credit meter changes such as this.

Also, how many meters do you have? On your meter, are the dials moving on both Day and Night or just Day?

amie1234

Hi Terry,

Would the MPAN be the 'supply number' noted on our bill? If so, we have two.

Weve only got one meter and there is aticker on it saying heatwise. There are also 5 rates on the meter but only one is advancing.

Im beginning to think that it is our landlords fault for not checking that the meter is wired up right and for putting us on the wrong tariff when we moved in, but also, as you say, its N-powers fault for setting us up on a tariff that they knew we could never benefit from.

So, do you think that I have a strong case- to get our bill recalculated? How they would do that, I dont know!

Thank you for your help