Very high Scottsh Power energy bills

stefanr

Hi

Please excuse anything I may have missed or not read but I thought I would just get going with my problem.

My wife and I have being living in a two bedroom cottage in Middlesex for 14 years, no dependants. It has a small downstairs extension, which is a kitchen and bathroom at the rear.

Our fuse board is just about to get changed from the old bakerlite wire type and we are requesting Scottish Power to change our meter, currently the old bakerlite wheel type.

We have been with Scottish Power for just over 5 years and have been alarmed at the high energy bills we've been getting. Please see below for what we are paying. But in essence, electricity we're paying £82 every 22 days, this seems very high for just the two of us, we both work 5 days a week so other than the usual stuff, tv, washing machine, dishwasher there is nothing that is power hungry. We have turned off most lights and in the process of changing bulbs for ES/LED.

We've had arguments with SP regarding consistent meter readings by G4S which for some reason they don't seem to pass on to SP plus, they seem to think that £82 per 22 days reasonable. I don't.

I spoke to an electrician today and he "only spends £21 per month and he has a four bed with five kids", didn't say what supplier he was with and I didn't ask as I was in shock. He also said that "it sounds like the old meter is running too fast" and hence being overcharged. if so, this has being the case for over 5 years or as long as we have been with SP.

We would like to change supplier but have an outstanding debt of £2139 from the previous 18 months which was based on us paying £371 per month, we couldn’t always afford the full amount hence the debt plus, they are basing this years bill on the same amount of usage (again ‘based on’ and not taken from G4S readings) £2249.00.

My wife finds it all too confusing to comprehend the bill. I can’t make head or tail of it either LOL.

Is there anything I/we can do to check the usage £££?

The gas (boiler and hob) seems high as well but we have cut this down by burning our open fire and log burner during the winter months and this shows on a SP bar chart attached to the bill. The electric usage has gone up during the same period??

Kind regards


Scottish Power Bill

Energy charges this period

ELECTRICITY

DOMESTIC - Meter number AK000000

Start Reading: 99653 Actual 17 Jun 13
End Reading: 286 Estimated 09 Jul 13

Units used 633 = 633 KWh (kilowatt-hrs) used

17/06/13 to 08/07/13 Consumption charge 633kWhxl3.0S6p = £82.64
17/06/13 to 08/07/13 Standing charge, 22 days x 3l.3l0p = £6.89

Total electricity charges £89.53

GAS

DOMESTIC - Meter number 00000000

Start Reading: 1010 Actual 17 Jun 13
End Reading: 1023 Estimated 09 Jul!

Units used 13 = 408 KWh (kilowatt-hrs) used

17/06/13 to 08/07/13 Consumption charge, 408 kWh x 3.934p = £16.05
17/06/13 to 08/07/13 Standing charge, 22 days x 31.31 Op = £6.89

Total gas charges £22.94


Gas & Electricity discount credit -£0.60

Total discounts -£0.60

Vat at 5.00% on £111.87 £5.59

Total VAT £5.59

stefanr

This was taken this morning (16.08.13) at 7.30am will take another tomorrow.

10.000 at 0
1,000 just over half way between 0 & 1
100 1/4 way past 6 between 6 & 7
10 nearly half way between 2 & 3
1 between 4 & 5
1/10 nearly half way between 3 & 4

No immersion heater.

notbritishgas

Well unfortunately I make that reading 00624 which is considerably more than the estimate.
Being so close to the changeover point from 99999 to 00000 meter misread is a possibility.
What was your last bill like, presumably it ended with a reading of 99653 actual?
I will see what others think.

keith1950

Hi, you need to take control of this and enter meter readings online around once per month.

Have a look back through your bills and see which were produced with actual readings, see if there is one from around 12 months ago so we can see your annual usage.

Your reading seems to be 624 ( always take the lower number) so you appear to have used 1071 kwh in roughly 8 weeks. So on an annual basis that would be around £982 or £82/month. Roughly double the average usage figure.

There can be lots of things that can contribute to high usage.......tumbler driers, hot tubs, electric fires, unnecessary security lighting, electric shower and I would again ask ...are you 100% sure that there isn't an immersion heater you don't know about.

Take the electricians words with a pinch of salt, £21/month is totally unrealistic for his circumstances.

I live on my own, I am out all day and still use £40-£45/month based on a standard tariff.

notbritishgas

Just to clarify Keiths figures.


"Your reading seems to be 624 ( always take the lower number) so you appear to have used 1071 kwh in roughly 8 weeks. So on an annual basis that would be around £982 or £82/month. Roughly double the average usage figure."



If the reading is 00624, you will have used 00624 minus 99653 which I make 971 kwh in 22 days:eek:
16100kwh a year is considerably more than £82 amonth!

Edit I will not edit my incorrect post but see later for the correct figures.

keith1950

If the reading is 00624, you will have used 00624 minus 99653 which I make 971 kwh in 22 days:eek:
16100kwh a year is considerably more than £82 amonth!

Sorry I agree with 971 not 1071 but that is over 60 days ( 17th June was the actual reading). So that's 5904kwh/year which on a standard tariff would be £848/year or £71/month.

Thanks for pointing out my error.

notbritishgas

keith1950 wrote: »

Sorry I agree with 971 not 1071 but that is over 60 days ( 17th June was the actual reading). So that's 5904kwh/year which on a standard tariff would be £848/year or £71/month.

Thanks for pointing out my error.

Yes I confused myself as well:o I did not allow for the fact he took the meter reading today. Sorry.

stefanr

This was taken this morning (17.08.13) at 9.30am

10.000 at 0
1,000 just over half way between 0 & 1
100 nearly halfway between 6 & 7
10 nearly at 4
1 nearly halfway 8 & 9
1/10 just passed 4

So 00638

Normal evening in, tv on, computer on for an hour, lights on/off as normal.

keith1950

You need to monitor your usage monthly, although based on 14 units in 24 hours, would mean around £65/month, £780/year.

This is above normal but not enough to start questioning a faulty meter.

From these figures I would expect SP to try and recover the debt over 12 months so £2249/12=£187/month plus around £83/month to cover regular usage giving a DD of around £266/month.

There is no prospect of switching until the outstanding debt has been reduced to below around £200 so if you could stretch to £300/month you could probably contemplate switching in about 9 months.

oldboy64

Learned something new today!

I have been with Scottish Power for the past 11 years and to be honest I have never taken a meter reading.

I just presumed that they read it and/or gave reasonable estimates.
To be honest I don't know how to read it and don't know how to get into the boxes in the wall!