Querying electricity bills

Cornwaller1

I moved house, down sizing, expecting smaller bills.Instead received huge electric bills, probably double or treble what I normally pay. So far I have had three bills and disputed each one but because of duress from the company I have ended up paying them. I have spoke to staff and can't get any sense from them. I still want to pursue this by writing to them and or going to Ombudsman.
My question is can I change energy providers whilst I query those past bills? (I don't owe any money)

Thank's.

Nada666

Yes you can switch supplier but if the usage did not correct itself after the initial bill then changing supplier will not solve very much.

Have you checked readings on bills with meters and serial numbers? Is the meter in your property or with others in a common area? Have you checked that the meter being read moves when you are using electricity? (If in a flat a kettle, a friend, and mobile phones can confirm that.)

Does the meter reading have the correct number of figures? Are there any leading zeros on the meter or the bill? That can occasionally make a start reading be incorrect. Eg 01234.5 being passed as 12345 which results in subsequent reads being ten times too high.

Are readings double or treble over summer? Over a low usage? What type of heating - has this changed?

You can ask to have the meter tested but this will cost 70 to £85. It will be paid back if the meter is faulty. But there are lots of variables with usage for different properties so that is unlikely to be the answer.

Other than size what is different? Panel radiators or storage heating? Hot water? Electric cooker? Or are both properties dual fuel with gas central heating?

matelodave

Have you been checking your consumption by reading the meters and making sure that they correspond with the readings on the bills. As Nada says, you need to make sure that you are the only one using the energy that's being recorded and you could try minimising it to see what effect it has.


Without having an accurate record of what you are using and making sure that the bills properly reflect your meter readings then it's really hard to establish what is going on. You might find that things like immersion heaters or other stuff (lights, Tvs, computers, X-boxes, Sky boxes and the like) are being left on and racking up a fairly moderate but continuous consumption which can add up to be quite a lot over a few months.


Read the meter weekly and record it and then try a regime of turning stuff off and see if you can reduce your consumption.

Cornwaller1

Thanks for help. My main query -I was asking whether I could leave a supplier whilst disputing bills.Once I have left, can the company still be made to pay me back,if I 've been over charged?


I am testing the meter,as suggested. The next challenge is to get through to someone at the supplier,who will actually listen and investigate properly!