Eon Extortionate kWh figures/Faulty Meter issues

lauraza

Hi

Our problems with Eon seems to start in October 2012:

1 October 2012: Advised that Direct Debit of £50 did not need to change, and in £51.07 credit

21 October 2012: Advised Direct Debit would need to be increased to £298 a month, as of 1 December, and a balance of £1190.30

Single fuel household, couple, working full time and on the whole late nights at work (!), no heating on due to the building we are in (a converted mill with very thick brick walls, never seems to get that cold, even in winter we are quite comfortable). Washer, no dryer, med size fridge and a small freezer, elec hob, kettle but don't use that often, charge laptops, tv. We are on Eon Energy Plan since 30 June 2012, prior to that Eon Track and Save 9.

'Actual' readings:

5 October 2011 0391
2 October 2012 15744

15,353 in a year seems absolutely extortionate for a couple who work full time, and when not in work rarely at home as we are out!

We complained around that time and Eon took the meter away and tested it, only to get a letter saying everything was fine, but a new meter was put in anyway. New meter 0 as of 23 November 2012.

Reading at 16 December 2012 597.
Reading at 12 April 2013 4406

So in just less that 5 months (from 23/11/12 to 12/04/13) 4406 kWH usage, more than what some large families in 5 bed detached use in a year, according to a few posts on here!

We just don't understand how this is happening...

Complained to Eon to no avail (a passive response to say meter tested and is fine) next step is the Ombudsman I think, we just wanted to get some views on whether this does seem normal or not!

Very poor customer service from Eon, initially complained verbally and asked for a copy of complaints procedure to be sent and a complaint logged, heard nothing and not complaint had been logged we later found out.

Any thoughts/advice appreciated!!

(Eon if you're listening we are 4189022995)

espresso

List each of the labelled circuits on your consumer unit or post a picture of it.

macman

No heating on at all in the billing period? Through one of the coldest winters in decades? How is the property heated? Since you have no gas, are you on E7 or single rate?
You mention 'charging laptops' (insignificant) but fail to say how you heat your hot water? Heating and hot water account for the vast majority of annual energy usage. If you are heating your hot water on peak rate then it will triple the cost over night rate. Immersion heater left on 24/7?
15,000kWh pa is perfectly normal usage for an electric-only property (if it's heated). 3,300kWh is the average figure for properties with gas CH and DHW.
Having a faulty meter is unusual but not impossible. The odds of a second faulty one are tiny.

keith1950

You don't mention how you heat your water........immersion heater ??

The usual quoted figures of average electricity usage of 3600/4000 kWh is where the customer uses gas central heating although that is only an average.....some use 5000/6000 kWh.

If you have an immersion heater then if it is left on it can eat electricity.

Have you used an energy monitor to check what's using the most ?

lauraza

Sorry for missing those points, had my head in paperwork for 8 hours and head is a bit gone!

Our immersion heater is heated for 3 hours in the evening from 4-7 so we can have a shower when we get in. We are not on Economy 7. Also forgot to add we aren't in a typical house, it's single storey apartment with 2 bedroom (one spare and unheated).

The apartment is able to be heated by underfloor heating, but we just don't use it as we don't need to. We switched it on for a couple of hours and only in the reception and bedroom around 10 times over the course of the whole of last winter. There is a period on the bill of 2 October 2012 to 23 Nov 2012 where use was 1849 which we thought seemed high, and this was a period where the underfloor heating definitely wouldn't have been used.

espresso - will get a pic asap

Thanks

ValHaller

OK, you are in an apartment and I will assume that you have verified the billing meter readings against your meter.

Possibilities are

1. The meter is correct and you are using the energy
2. If the meters are in a shared area, you and eon are not actually reading your meter
3. The meter is yours but it is feeding other load within the building but outside your apartment.
4. The meter is yours but not reading correctly

I suggest you test to eliminate 2 and 3. That leaves 1 and 4. I would suspect 1 - but maybe there is a 2nd immersion element you are not aware of or something using energy behind your back

macman

The obvious suspect in this case has to be the u/f heating. How is it controlled? Faulty timer coming on? What does it draw when full on?

Andy_WSM

Got to agree with Macman. Maybe another clue is when you say it's an old mill, that never gets cold. It really does sound like you have some heat on somewhere which would account for the large power consumption.

macman

Is there no other from of heating installed in the property?
An old mill apartment with the heating off is only going to be warm by virtue of heat leaching through from the surrounding apartments, since the external walls are not going to have any cavities.

insanegloss

On the balance of possibility, given what what you've said in the posts above, you've more than likely not understood how your energy consumption.

Fundamentally, you need to understand what you've got and what power ratings they are. For example, a simple electric 1kW heater will use 1 unit per hour. Now a 2kW heater will use 2 units an hour and so on.

Multiply these by the number of heaters and then by the number of hours used and you can achieve those large consumption figures.

I strongly suggest you identify your sources of heating and their individual ratings, underfloor and immersion too. You may be surprised what you really have in terms of your ability to draw in terms of power, but it will give you the understanding of how much it really costs.

espresso

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned lighting.

OP do you have lots of halogen downlighters?

These can be 50W each and would consume lots of electricity, especially when used throughout the property!



You say that you don't use the underfloor heating, so try turning off the breaker for the underfloor heating circuit in the consumer unit. Looking at all of the individual circuits should remind you of any electrical items that you may have forgotten about.

Read your meter once a week to see if any changes you make alter your consumption.