Can anyone help explain this? Faulty meter?

flubdub

About a year ago, we switch to EDF energy via a door to door salesman. He assured us that EDF would be cheaper than the £40 a month we were paying to British Gas for both our gas and electric. So, we switched to EDF and over the next few months, we payed them £40 a month. When we gave them a meter reading, we were suddenly on £1500 debt with them! Our payments went from £40 a month to £90. We couldn't change supplier because we suddenly owed them all this money. We stopped using anything we didn't need to, like the tumble dryer.

At one point, we went on holiday so obviously we were not in the house. When we came home, I took a meter reading before we did anything else. Surely if nobody had been in the house, the usage will be lower? No. Our payments shot from £90 a month to £130.

So. A month ago I decided to test this. I started doing ALL clothes washing at my parents house. I took a meter reading on the 8th Oct and then another on the 8th Nov. So no washing machine or tumble has been used this whole month.
I got an online bill off EDF yesterday and it shows us using MORE electricity than we previously had been. It's physically impossible. We are SO careful with what we use. All appliances, apart from the dryer, are A rates too.
When I questioned EDF about the rising bill in the past, they just spout loads of energy saving info at me - but that isn't my problem. Why does it show that we are using more electric than we are - even when the house has been empty, or we stop using our appliances.
We have three children so don't expect our bill to be virtually nothing, but RISING when were not even in the country? And when we stopped using our two major appliances?

What can be going on? We pay them £30 a month toward the debt too so £160 is pretty crippling. We are on the Blue Price promise so I know this rise isn't to do with the energy price increases. Ours isn't supposed to go up. Besides, it shows us using MORE kW each day.

closed

What were the meter readings you took and when, you need to identify actual kwh usage (based on actual readings not estimates) rather than concentrating on the DD amount. Are the actual meter readings reflected in the bill?

Are you using electricity for heating, house or flat?

Check you are on the best tarrif on uswitch etc.

Read the meter at the same time every day for a week, and go around the house looking for anything switched on that doesn't need to be, particularly heating appliances, water heating (immersion heater), halogen lights etc

victor2

Firstly, look at kWh figures rather than cost, by reading your meter. It does sound as if you've been doing that in part at least. EDF have a crazy direct debit recalculation system, which plain and simple doesn't work. As Closed says, make sure actual readings and not estimates have been used.

It's unlikely, but not impossible, that your meter will be faulty. So start there. Switch everything off in the house for an hour or two (including the fridge) and check that the meter is showing no usage. Don't forget to switch the fridge back on afterwards!

If all looks OK, start reading your meter at different times of the day, followed by daily, to establish how much you are using and when.
Make a list of what appliances you do have and establish what they are using. Presumably your water is heated by gas, but do you have a hot water tank with an immersion heater as well?
£40 a month dual fuel for a family sounds very low to me. EDF should show on their bills what your annual usage has been in kWh - put that into a comparison site and see what it says your annual cost shoud be on your tariff. Of course it won't account for the debt you now have, but it will give you an idea what your actual recorded usage should be costing.

dogshome

EDF's Blue Price promise tariff was never the cheapect option because of the premium it carried for a Fixed Prices,( To 2014 in your case?), so it appears that you were 'sold' the change to EDF by a rep. anxious to get some commission - However with the recent price rises he probably did you a favour.

With a family of 5, it's unlikely that your £40 a month D/Debits were ever enough to clear the Annual bill for both the Elec & Gas.
Your main concern seems to be the Elec Bills, but to get help you need to quote the billed meter readings and dates - meanwhile check the following

Do you have a hot water tank with an Immersion Heater? - If so check that it's not been left on 24/7.
Check that the Elec Opening Reading on EDF's first bill, coincides with the closing reading on BG's Final Bill

[Deleted User]

No wonder doorstep selling of utililties has been banned when people fall for that old con of offering lowered monthly direct debits. Monthly dd is only an educated guess at your actual useage. the meters dont lie, unlike doorstep sellers.
You have to rule out a meter running fast, which is difficult to do. One of the tricks is to switch everything off and then just use something like a one kilowatt hour , (one bar on ) ekectric heater for an hour to see if it measures one unit on your meter. If you have a none digital meter, you could just have it on for half an hour to see if clocks up half a unit, Other than that, the supplier can fit a check meter alongside your main one, but there may be costs for that.
If you have an electric shower, its the highest rated appliance in the house,7 -9 kwhrs, so thats something to look at also

flubdub

My previous meter readings don't seem to be on my online account, but all my previous bills are. Yes we heat our house with gas. We do have an emersion tank but this is heated when we put the central heating on I think.
Ill post the previous kWh if they're any use?

13th Jan - 13th Feb '12 - 38.96 kWh
14th Feb - 2nd April - 14.7 kWh
3rd April - 11th July - 11.61 kWh - this is when we were on holiday and the monthly cost went from £90 to £130.
12th July - 26th Sept - 11.4 kWh
27th Sept - 9th Nov - 12.38 kWh - this is the time period we stopped using washer and dryer.

I have NO idea why the usage was so high in the beginning. None of these readings were estimates as far as I know. It's only the last month that we've been using the heating really, and this is shown in the gas meter reading and seems fine, so I'm not worried about that. It's the electricity. I do NOT understand how we have used more electric this last month when we've cut out so much more than the month before. I've tried complaint to EDF that their salesman lied about the lowed D/D, but they just shrugged it off.

closed

If that's average daily use, they aren't overly excessive, apart from the first one. Around 10-12kwh/per day is reasonable.

How are they getting those readings, smartmeter, someone reading them, or you submitting them? Do they match your own reading. It's typical for 6 monthly readings, and an estimate in between - your bill should show if they are estimated or actual.

Winter readings tend to be higher - the central heating water has to be pumped with electricity is one reason, lighting is another - are you using low energy bulbs?

Gas use will probably be a higher percentage (typically double) of your outgoings than electricity, doesn't the DD cover this too?

The monthly DD jump may not be linked to usage in any particular period.

victor2

Apart from the Jan/Feb figure, they look reasonable daily usage averages. Do you have an electric shower?
Electricity usage (even with gas heating) will increase a little in the winter months, lights are on for longer periods and an electric pump drives the water round the radiators. Doesn't use a lot, but it contributes to the usage.
At a glance, it doesn't appear that your meter has a major fault, so look in more detail at what you should be paying for your gas and electricity - that may explain the debt you have.
An empty house still requires power. Presumably you left the fridge on while you were away, that will be the biggest single user of electricity in those circumstances. Other contributors can be security lights, alarm systems, broadband routers and anything else you leave running 24/7.

flubdub

Ok thanks everyone. I guess I just assumed that as we stopped using the washer and dryer, the kWh would go down, not up. I know we dont use more than average, but shouldnt the kW have gone down? I'm worried about using the washer again now. The readings were taken by me, apart from the first one which was probably EDF. I was just shocked that it went up £40 when we were not even here. It just seemed like it was spiralling out of control. We can't leave EDF until these arrears are gone and as the price keeps going up and up, I'm worried what it wil be like in say, another year. Especially as we aren't using more electricity than previously.

victor2

Did you look at what your annual usage should be costing? Armed with that figure, the extra you are paying will help clear the debt, so you can figure roughly how long it will take.
Once you have a monthly DD amount you and EDF are happy with, stick to it. EDF's system will doubtles keep trying to adjust the amounts every time they produce a bill, but just phone them up and they'll put it back to the agreed amount, in my experience anyway.

grahamc2003

flubdub wrote: »

About a year ago, we switch to EDF energy via a door to door salesman. He assured us that EDF would be cheaper than the £40 a month we were paying to British Gas for both our gas and electric. So, we switched to EDF and over the next few months, we payed them £40 a month. When we gave them a meter reading, we were suddenly on £1500 debt with them! Our payments went from £40 a month to £90. We couldn't change supplier because we suddenly owed them all this money. We stopped using anything we didn't need to, like the tumble dryer.

At one point, we went on holiday so obviously we were not in the house. When we came home, I took a meter reading before we did anything else. Surely if nobody had been in the house, the usage will be lower? No. Our payments shot from £90 a month to £130.

So. A month ago I decided to test this. I started doing ALL clothes washing at my parents house. I took a meter reading on the 8th Oct and then another on the 8th Nov. So no washing machine or tumble has been used this whole month.
I got an online bill off EDF yesterday and it shows us using MORE electricity than we previously had been. It's physically impossible. We are SO careful with what we use. All appliances, apart from the dryer, are A rates too.
When I questioned EDF about the rising bill in the past, they just spout loads of energy saving info at me - but that isn't my problem. Why does it show that we are using more electric than we are - even when the house has been empty, or we stop using our appliances.
We have three children so don't expect our bill to be virtually nothing, but RISING when were not even in the country? And when we stopped using our two major appliances?

What can be going on? We pay them £30 a month toward the debt too so £160 is pretty crippling. We are on the Blue Price promise so I know this rise isn't to do with the energy price increases. Ours isn't supposed to go up. Besides, it shows us using MORE kW each day.

Effectively, you've been conned by the salesman. Even a year ago, for a family of five, the typical gas and electricity costs would be greater than £40pm averaged over the yar. I expect a year ago you were building up a deficit in you account. You do realise that the direct debits are payments on account don't you, and not bills? The bills come from your meter readings and hopefully if set correctly, over a year your DD should match the bills.

So in comes a salesman who says he can lower your DD while energy costs are rising and you probably are already paying too little in your DD to cover your bils. The results of that are inevitable - you'll soon build up debt with your new supplier, and when reviewed your dd will rise to reflect your usage and bills. Then they'll rise agsio because we are (and will be for several years) in a period or rapidly rising gas/electric bills. The slimebag salesman doesn't give a toss about putting you into debt (as he knew it would) and only sees his £100/£200 commission he gets for getting you to switch.

Your electricity usage isn't high. Do you know how much per kWh you are paying? That may or may not be high (but will rise in the future). Your DD rise isn't directly linked to your monthly usage - it's linked to what they expect you to use next year plus the debt you've built up - hence why it went up when you consmption went down one month.

So where to go from here. Firstly, don't consider skipping a dd payment, or cancelling the dd or otherwise building up more debt with your supplier. The last thing you want is to get on the road eventually leading to a pre-pay meter, which will be expensive. Check for the cheapest tariff from other suppliers - if your tariffis much more, then switch to them (through a cashback site). Unfortunately, you'll probably have to clear your debt with your current supplier to do that.

A slimebag has dug you into a little hole at the moment, the same as thousands of others. Why this practice hasn't been stopped is beyond me. As a general rule, imv, tell anyone who stops you in the street, who knocks at your door uninvited, who rings you up out of the blue to cut your costs/give you something for free/ etc to pee off.