EON Electricity Usage

dunney66

I moved into my rented house in August 2012. It is all Electric with storage heaters. I have a normal meter and a RHT Meter. I rang EON last week to give them a meter reading, and although I pay £90 a month via direct debit, I still owe £745. This would mean that in the last 6 months I have spent £1285 on electricity which I think is excessive.

I told them that I think my electricity bill is high, considering the house is empty for 6/7 hours a day, 5 days a week and possibly the meter is faulty. They have asked me to keep a log of my electricity usage over the next 7 days as they won't send anyone out to check it.

Last night, at midnight I carried out my own test. I switched off all the electricity that wasn't on the RHT meter so only the storage heaters were on. My normal electricity meter, as well as my RHT meter, was still running. When I switched the storage heaters off both meters stopped. When I queried this with EON this morning I was told that it can take 6 hours for the meter to stop running.

Surely if nothing is switched on the meter shouldn't run. The lady at the comsumptions team at EON was very helpful and I am due to call her back on Thursday with a full weeks meter readings but if my meter is faulty and has been faulty from when I moved in how am I going to get a true reading.

Has anyone else had issues with RHT meters. I cannot change supplier due to this type of meter and when I asked about changing to an Economy 7 meter I was told there would be a charge which the Landlord is not will to pay.

Please help as this bill is crippling me financially.

Wywth

dunney66 wrote: »

I moved into my rented house in August 2012. It is all Electric with storage heaters. I have a normal meter and a RHT Meter. I rang EON last week to give them a meter reading, and although I pay £90 a month via direct debit, I still owe £745. This would mean that in the last 6 months I have spent £1285 on electricity which I think is excessive.

I told them that I think my electricity bill is high, considering the house is empty for 6/7 hours a day, 5 days a week and possibly the meter is faulty. They have asked me to keep a log of my electricity usage over the next 7 days as they won't send anyone out to check it.

Last night, at midnight I carried out my own test. I switched off all the electricity that wasn't on the RHT meter so only the storage heaters were on. My normal electricity meter, as well as my RHT meter, was still running. When I switched the storage heaters off both meters stopped. When I queried this with EON this morning I was told that it can take 6 hours for the meter to stop running.

Surely if nothing is switched on the meter shouldn't run. The lady at the comsumptions team at EON was very helpful and I am due to call her back on Thursday with a full weeks meter readings but if my meter is faulty and has been faulty from when I moved in how am I going to get a true reading.

Has anyone else had issues with RHT meters. I cannot change supplier due to this type of meter and when I asked about changing to an Economy 7 meter I was told there would be a charge which the Landlord is not will to pay.

Please help as this bill is crippling me financially.

It's most unlikely that two separate registries are recording the same electricity consumption.

However, if you want to make youreslf sure, carry out another test tonight.
Again, turn off what you think is all your electrical appliances except for your storage heaters.
Take a meter readings say 1 hour apart and see if both registreies record exactly the same amount of electricity.

If they don't (which is the likley scenario) then you are using electricity elsewhere other than your storage heaters so hunt down what other electrical appliance is being used.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

Hi dunney66,

Already some excellent advice from Wywth, so thanks for that.

It sounds to me like you're already on exactly the right track to get this sorted, the consumption guys are the ones that deal with these sorts of issues, so that's great.

If it's found that there is something wrong with the meter, they can normally re-calculate the bill using correct usage from the new meter, this would be charged at the prices applicable for the time.

You can always ask for the calculations as well and go through them if you need to.

Hope it's sorted asap.

Helena

dunney66

I have been sitting here all night doing meter readings every 10 minutes and I am convinced the meter is faulty. The first thing I did was switch off and unplug everything. I then switched on 1 storage heater and it was the normal meter that moved. I then switched off the storage heater and put on the normal stuff you would have on in the evening, TV, lamp etc. Again it is just the normal meter that is moving. Final experiment, 1 storage heater on and all the normal stuff and again it is just the normal meter running. In fact the reading for my RHT meter is the same now as what it was at 8pm when I started. I will be calling EON in the morning.

I'll let you know how I get on.

dunney66

So I've called EON consumptions department and given them my readings. They have advised that it looks like my RHT meter is wired incorrectly. They have told me to get an electrician in to put in right. I've called my letting agent and they have said that as the meter was installed by EON I should go back to them but they will check with their own electrician if this should be the case.

I can foresee the blame being passed from EON to the landlord and back to EON again. I think this will be a long drawn out process.

Andy_WSM

dunney66 wrote: »

I have been sitting here all night doing meter readings every 10 minutes and I am convinced the meter is faulty. The first thing I did was switch off and unplug everything. I then switched on 1 storage heater and it was the normal meter that moved. I then switched off the storage heater and put on the normal stuff you would have on in the evening, TV, lamp etc. Again it is just the normal meter that is moving. Final experiment, 1 storage heater on and all the normal stuff and again it is just the normal meter running. In fact the reading for my RHT meter is the same now as what it was at 8pm when I started. I will be calling EON in the morning.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Your storage heaters won't take any power until your economy 7 period starts at night regardless of whether you flick the switch on or off!

Take a reading of both meters before you go to bed and again when you get up.

The night or low meter is the overnight one which records the consumption of the storage heaters. If it doesn't go up, then yes, something is wrong!

dunney66

Following a visit from an electrician, turns out the 2 storage heaters in the living room are wired to the normal meter and the other 3 are wired into the RHT meter and the RHT meter is running on the wrong time.

In the process of getting it fixed.

Fire_Fox

Is the meter newer than the storage heaters or the storage heaters newer than the meter? Might be worth writing to your landlord - use the address at which to serve notices on your tenancy agreement - see if they will cover any of the excess charges. Letting agents are notoriously useless, they won't want to put any effort in and they work for the landlord not you.

dunney66

EON coming out on the 21st March (earliest appointment) to look at the RHT meter as its running on the wrong time. Waiting for a call from letting agents about getting the wiring fixed.

The RHT meter was fitted in 1990, there is a label on it. Don't know when the storage heaters were installed. Whoever installed it wired it up wrong so all the previous occupiers have been paying over the odds for their electric.

I will be seeking compensation (either EON or the landlady depending on who's fault it is) for the overpayment of electric I have been using since August 2012. In the process of writing to the letting agent to let them know.