Eon's electricity meter - is this normal?

Vak

Hello Guys

My partner and I have just become the tenants of our first rental property and would be extremely grateful for any help given.

We moved in on the 21st of February where I gave my 1st electrical meter reading to E.on.
On the morning of the 27th we received our confirmation of tariff so I decided to sign up to their website and input a meter reading, unfortunately the website came up with an error stating that this meter reading was not in line with previous readings.

Alarm bells began to ring so I contacted e.on immediately. The automated machine on the other side also came up with an error when entering my readings and transferred me to a real person. He requested my reading and told me that this was probably an glitch in the system... a few hours later I received an email stating my bill was ready.... £65... in hardly 6 days !!!! We pay 12p a unit.... and run a TV, 3/6 energy saving bulbs and an A class fridge along with 2 2000w heaters that had been used for around 12 hours each.

At this point I contacted E.on immediately and a woman requested that I log my units at 9am and 9pm.

After panic struck and emotions running high I did a small amount of research and found out that 1kwh equals roughly 1 units an hour....

So over a 3 hour period we recorded a 2000w heater. A new(ish) TV, a fridge n freezer and an energy saving light bulb clock up a whopping 65 units.

And while we were out for seven hours we clocked up just 3 units.

Is this normal? I know people say that electric meters very rarely go wrong....

I would appreciate any feedback or advice.

Many thanks

VAK

Ich_2

Silly question, but you are ignoring the last digit on the meter?

Fire_Fox

If the units were low when you were out that might suggest the meter is working correctly at least some of the time. Your post is confusing because you are telling us your usage over six days in pounds (this will include some sort of standing charge and varies with the tariff) and then your usage over a few hours in units or KWH.

Did you take the initial reading or did you rely on the landlord/ letting agent? Are you SURE the units on the meter are KWH? Are you reading any decimal places correctly? You could photograph the meter and upload to a photo sharing site if you are unsure.

Immersion heater with timer clock? Shower? Washing machine? Tumble dryer? Electric panel heater or storage heaters or other?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

Vak wrote: »

So over a 3 hour period we recorded a 2000w heater. A new(ish) TV, a fridge n freezer and an energy saving light bulb clock up a whopping 65 units.

And while we were out for seven hours we clocked up just 3 units

sounds as though you are reading the meter wrong and including the decimal places, if so the above would be 6.5 units and 0.3 unit, which sounds about right.

dogshome

Hmmm - Two 2000watt heaters running 12 hours each ? !

Each of these costs 24pence an hour to run, multiplying this up for two heaters each running for 12 hours gives a cost of £5.76 + 5% VAT Bearing in mind the weather I am wondering if the OP's estimate of just 12 hours heater use over a period of 6 Days, isn't a bit conservative

Vak

Hello guys, we appreciate the hasty replying.

We don't have any other electrical devices, no washing machine, dryer or heating as we have just moved in. The hot water is on constantly.

The meter box is a very small box (post card size) with a small led display and a light next to it that flashes red (says 1000 imp / kWh) it has Single Rate Watt Hour Meter over the top.

When we were billed £65 we used 450 units in under 6 days.

Could the box be set up incorrect? As its LCD it has no decimal.

Many Thanks

VAK

Vak

dogshome wrote: »

Hmmm - Two 2000watt heates running 12 hours a day ? !

Each of these costs 24pence an hour to run, multiplying this up for two heaters over 6 days gives a cost of £34.56 - Adding your Service Charge of appx 23pence a day and 5% Vat, gives a total of £37.73 for these fires alone

I do apologize, we have used both roughly only 12 each throughout the 6 days. We have a single gas fire that we use to heat the living room... the rest of the house is very cold.

VAK

dogshome

The Hot water is on constantly ?
If this Hot water is Elec heated, ( Big cylinder with Immersion Heater), and is on 24/7 it will eat power - Far better to Switch it on 1/2 to 3/4 an hour before you need Hot water, and OFF again

A modern Hot water tank is foam insulated and will keep the water hot for hours, but, there are still some old tanks around with no insulation - If you have one of these wrap as much material as you can around and over it, ( Old Blankets ?), or buy a purpose-made jacket from a DIY store

stewie_griffin

Can you post your current meter reading? It's highly probable that you'll have a 5 dial meter so if the meter says 123456 then your actual reading is 12345. The decimal place on a digital meter isn't always obvious.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi Vak

I'm sorry you had difficulties entering meter readings online earlier this week. We were certainly having problems with this facility around this time.

The automated machine is linked to the same system so was also affected.

As others have said, concentrate on your meter readings. Take them regularly and see if a particular pattern emerges.

Do you have an electric water heater? If you do, as dogshome says, leaving it on constantly will eat electricity.

We've an Energy Efficiency team who specialise in helping people use their heating systems and appliances more cost effectively. Have a chat to these guys. Tell them about your property and appliances. They'll be happy to help.

Talk to us, too, if you're unsure about your meter. We'll go through it with you. If you're still not sure about it, we can arrange for one of our meter readers to come round and go through it with you.

Hope this helps Vak. Give me a shout if you need any more details as will be happy to help.

Malc

Fire_Fox

Vak wrote: »

Hello guys, we appreciate the hasty replying.

We don't have any other electrical devices, no washing machine, dryer or heating as we have just moved in. The hot water is on constantly.

The meter box is a very small box (post card size) with a small led display and a light next to it that flashes red (says 1000 imp / kWh) it has Single Rate Watt Hour Meter over the top.

When we were billed £65 we used 450 units in under 6 days.

Could the box be set up incorrect? As its LCD it has no decimal.

Many Thanks

VAK

Why is the hot water on constantly?? Set it on timer or just switch it on for half an hour before you need it, you may be wasting massive amounts of energy with that, especially if the immersion/ boiler is not properly insulated or the thermostat doesn't work properly.

Again double and triple check the units and decimal places, AFAIK they always have a decimal point or a different colour digit or somesuch. If you switch EVERYTHING off (even lights, use a torch) and turn one of the heaters on in a cold room that should use maximum of 2KW (2000W) in one hour, or 0.5KW in fifteen minutes on the meter - if you aren't seeing that change then either you are reading it wrong or the meter is faulty. Don't leave the TV on standby turn it off at the plug, refrigerator will be fine off for a short period providing you don't open the door.