E-on Energy Bills - HELP!

molerat

tbarson1 wrote: »

Basically after 3 months how do I get a new estimation?

The estimate will be reviewed when you submit a meter read (maybe not every week but usually once a month). I believe you can only actually change the DD 3 times a year.

matelodave

If you don't know how much you are going to use how do you expect the electricity company to know either. They can only guess what most people would pay unless they've got better information - I assume that you've got an EPC for your new house in which case you could use the estimates in that in comparison sites and as a basis for your contract with E-on.

As advised above make sure your initial reading was actually sent to E-on and make sure you keep your own record of it. Never ever trust someone else to do it.

Take regular readings of your meter and send them in to E-on and hopefully as your consumption pattern becomes clearer then you can adjust your direct debit payments. It's beneficial to keep your own record (spread sheet or something like iMeasure) rather than relying (or hoping) that the energy company computer systems will keep track of it. It's too late when it's all gone wrong.

You will use more electricity in the winter than in the summer even though you think you won't. Lights will be on more, the solar panels won't do much and more energy is required to heat the water as it's colder when it comes into the house. You'll probably even watch the TV more as well, so beware of just extrapolating summer readings.

tbarson1

Also, I have a smart meter which remotely reads with the outside meter so shouldnt that predict the bills rather than estimating?

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

So you have a smart meter. This will (assuming it works) relay meter readings to the supplier, you shouldn't need to submit meter readings. They will also mean you won't get estimated bills - although if you read your meters regularly you wouldn't have had these anyway.

What it won't do is predict the bills. Nobody can predict the bills. You haven't turned the heating on yet!

matelodave

It's not hard - if you tell E-on how much you'll use they will tell you how much you've got to pay to cover the cost of that prediction. If you don't tell them then they will make their own estimates based on what most other people use (the average).

They wont be able to guess how much you'll use on Christmas day based on what you used yesterday even if you do have a smart meter. However, as the year progresses and it gets colder they will begin to get some idea of how your energy use will vary and will then be able to refine their estimate and hopefully reduce your DD.

If you don't agree then it's up to you to tell them what you are going to use and ask them to adjust the DD to that level.

Getting angry or frustrated because you think they've guessed wrong won't help - you make the guess and tell them what it is and then make sure you keep a careful eye on it.

I also note that you've got an air source heat-pump which probably isn't doing all that much if anything at the moment but be very aware that as it gets colder, they use a lot more energy (even more if you don't have it set or use it correctly) and your solar panels will not contribute much during long cold winter nights or short dark winter days.
Make sure you've got enough credit build up just in case it's a hard winter. Your energy use profile will be very different from a lot of people and the energy firm will have a lot of trouble trying to keep you on track, so if you don't want problems keep a careful watch on your consumption.

I've got an ASHP and it works fine but it does upset the computers at the energy company as my total consumption in a year is about 8000kwh but about 6000kwh of that is between November and March and they find it hard to predict so I have to monitor it myself to stop my DD jumping about like a yo-yo as they try to compensate.
I also need to ensure that I've got a reasonably healthy credit built in by November to ensure that my DD will cover the winter - I pay £85 a month and it covers my consumption over the whole year with about £50 in hand (depending on how severe the winter is).