High electric and new tenancy

charliexyz

Your hot water tank might have an emergency immersion heater that has been left on, I think only something like this could cause such a high bill.

a.g.r.c

Charlie I left the switch at the wall on next to the water tank. Well there is two.

One has a boost with a dial, a switch from off and timed.

Two is a plain wall switch.

I don't know which does which.

ChumpusRex

49 units in 3 days is high, but not terrible for a 1 bed flat heated only by electricity (electric hot water, cooking and space heating).

However, 49 units should cost about £8, even on the most expensive tariff possible. If you genuinely have used £18 of credit for 49 units, then the meter must be deducting money for some sort of debt, as there is no possible tariff you can be on that is that high.

a.g.r.c

Chumpus thanks for the confirmation of my suspicions. Added with the fact I have hardly been in the house only makes matters worse. The heating has been on all the time on a low setting which led to the 49 units for £18.00. My Dad said it was illegal to charge so much but after raising with SSE they simply said that's your usage and that's your rate.

I have been assured there is no debt on the meter, I just topped up another £10.00 and turned off the water and the heating so will monitor usage over the next couple of days.

If it comes back that I simply am unable to heat the house, is there a way out of the tenancy?

BASFORDLAD

No this would not get you out if your tennancy. Its silly thing to want to leave for as it can be sorted

paddedjohn

Are you sure its only your flat thats connected to your meter, possibly a fiddle going on or comunal areas connected to it. Turn everything off in the flat and see what the meter does.

Norman_Castle

I don't have the £52.00 right now, but will that have an impact on the cost?

Possibly not. Find out before considering it and divide the £52 by the time you expect to stay there. You may also have to provide a deposit if moving to a credit meter.
Its cold at the moment. The weather will change soon so no heating will be needed. Warm clothes and thick socks will help.

amcg100

If your flat is all electric, you are probably on economy seven storage heating. If this is the case you would have two meters, or one meter with 2 dials, and there will also be a clock which switches your meters from daytime usage to night - time.The cost of night - time usage is about a third of the cost of day time. It is quite common for these clocks to be a out, therefore if your water heater is set to come on during the night ( cheap ) the meter is charging you day rate.

Secondly, the reason that many people like yourself struggle with energy costs this time of year is because of your payment method. There is nothing unusual about your consumption, if you are going to heat your flat then you can expect to use about 10,000 units per year. I use around 15,000 per year in a 2 bed. If you change to a monthly direct debit payment, then you pay the same amount each month all year. This means that during the summer months you save up for the winter, and therefore don't have to fork out the sort of money that you are during a cold spell. During cold weather, you obviously use much more electricity than during the summer months, and the sort of money you are putting into your meter is normal, you just notice it more because of the payment method.
There may of course be other factors as the previous posters point out ( debt on meter etc ), but the best advice is for you to pay the £52 to have a credit meter installed, then pay a monthly direct debit. Not only will this reduce your immediate outgoings, but it will also get you a discount rate as well.

tim123456789

a.g.r.c wrote: »

I tried to have it changed over to Scottish Power but they couldn't get control of the electricity as SSE has the meter.

Any ideas?

Thanks Werdnal

I don't believe that this, simplistic reason, is a valid one for not letting you switch.

It it was, every leccy company could stop every customer from switching by claiming that they "owned the meter".

Meters have to be a common resource for switching to work. Leccy companys can't "own" them, even if they supplied them.

Complain to the regulator.

BTW 18 pound for 49 units is well OTT even for a key meter. There must be something wrong here.

tim

amcg100

Scottish and Southern will charge a standing charge of around 30p per day for your meter depending on where you live. When you moved into your flat, ( and say the flat had been empty for 100 days ) it would have wacked you with a thirty quid charge straight away. This will have distorted what you believe to be the amount you are paying for the electric. You should be able to get this refunded to your key if you tell S&S the date you moved in.