HELP!?! I think I'm being robbed!!!!

spittingpink

So, after over a year and a half I finally got npower to give me a bill, after knocking off over £200 it was down to just over £600 for the year. Our monthly payment was £75.

This quarter, our bill is over £400! now we owe nearly £900!!! and our monthly payment is up to £168!!!!

We live in a 2 bed flat, only using electric. Although we have storage heaters, our heating over the 3 months was only £42 (from £0 as we have them switched off for about 9 months of the year).

We had about £26 nite costs, which is fine as we do have a heater on overnite to dry clothes in the spare room.

but the DAY TIME costs were over £300!!! but we both work, so we are only here on weekend! I've taken readings and npower say they are right, but how are we using over £300 during the day in just 3 months???

and how can I check if that is right??

CashStrapped

Ok, first calm down and do not worry.

The reason you have a meter is so that there is a actual record of what you have or have not used.

So, before we look at anything else,

1.Take a meter reading as of now.

2. Get your old bills and go through them and write down all the meter readings you or your electricity company have submitted. Ignore the estimated ones and look for confirmed or actual readings. These usally have a C or an A next to them.

3. Write down all the confirmed or actual meter readings and the date they were taken and post them on here.

4. Look on your bill for the tariff. That is what you are being charged per KWH. It should say soming like 12.25p per KWH (or somthing similar). You could also look for the tariff name. It may be called, Standard Tariff or have another name.

Post all that information on here and we can help you out.

matelodave

You need to read your meters daily for a few weeks to identify when you are using it all and what is using it. Also to check the timings when it switches over to low rate. When you've established your consumption pattern you can do something about reducing it.

Check that your hot water is only being heated during the low rate and that you are trying to use stuff like the dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer etc during the low rate period.

Do you have electric showers? Halving the amount of time you stand in there will halve the consumption. Don't let hot water run down the sink when washing or rinsing stuff.

Turning stuff off at the wall when you aren't using it especially computers, printers and other entertainment equipment. Make sure lights are switched off when the room isn't in use. Changing halogen downlighters to LEDs will also save a fair amount.

jbuchanangb

It is possible that the day & night tariffs are swapped over somehow. Doing the daily meter readings will help you nail that down. Your storage heaters should be consuming at night time rate.

[Deleted User]

jbuchanangb wrote: »

It is possible that the day & night tariffs are swapped over somehow. Doing the daily meter readings will help you nail that down. Your storage heaters should be consuming at night time rate.

I agree with the above, also the timerswitch which controls the switchover times can be widely out if its an old 24 hr analogue timer leaving the cheap seven hours slot anywhere in the 24 hrs

markprior

i am in a similar situation and getting frankley nowhere fast

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/66587241#Comment_66587241