What if I gave a wrong reading to my electric company?

dannisteele

Hi guys, new to the forums because having trouble at the minute.

I live in a one bedroom apartment that it powered only by electricity, so I don't have a gas bill. I have been paying £42 a month until I received an email yesterday saying it had gone up to £123 a month. I contacted the provider who said that it does look weird, and that I possibly gave a wrong reading the first time.

I gave a reading when I started with this company in October 2014 (55374) and then naively didn't realise that the smart thing is to keep giving regular readings. I received a bill last month saying it had gone right up to £124 so contacted them who said they will chase it up and reset it to £42 in the meantime. I gave another reading at this time of 61430, which is obviously much higher than the first one.

So yesterday I get another bill saying it has been re-evaluated to £123, and I give another meter reading of 61693. These readings were 28 days apart and the equivalent of £36.38, which shows I don't use that much electric, leading my only thought to be that the first reading was a digit off somewhere.

Is there anything I can do? I can't prove that the first reading was wrong, other than saying that common sense would suggest a one bedroom flat can't use that much electricity. Or should I just bite the bullet and pay for my stupid mistake?

Thanks for any help.

molerat

6319 kWh for 11 months is not totally unreasonable for an all electric property, how do you heat the flat ? If you cannot prove what the opening reading was then it would be difficult to dispute the bill. You say "started with this company" - who were you with previously and how long for - do you have previous bills ?

dannisteele

I was with Npower for 6 months but they don't have my readings any more and I didn't keep track. And I don't really need to heat it until Winter as it is well insulated, and I have electric heaters. It just seems odd that I would have only used 263 kilowatts in the past month, but 6319 in the past 11 months, with no noticeable changes other than heating in the winter. And my parents live in a 3 bedroom house and spend around £80 a month on electric, so I just find it hard to believe that a one bedroom apartment with only a living room, bedroom and bathroom could cost more.

modsandmockers

£36 over a 28-day period when I would guess you were not using much heating is not much less than the £42 a month which you have been paying over almost an entire year including a winter period. You obviously know how to convert your meter readings into pounds and pence, so I would suggest that you do the sums for the entire 6319 kWh which you appear to have used. The revised monthly payment will be calculated so as to collect last year's shortfall and also to ensure that the coming year's bills will be properly covered. The bills which you should have received will show you what meter readings have been used, and you should be able to work out for yourself if the estimated readings are way below the actual readings which you, by your own admission, should have supplied. Electric heating is very expensive if you leave it switched on most of the time.

Cardew

In an all-electric flat, 6319kWh(units) in an 11 month period is low consumption.

You simply cannot take a 28 day reading of 253kWh for Mid August to mid September and estimate that your annual consumption will be 13 x 253kWh.

You will probably use over 1,000kWh over 28 days in Jan/Feb and likewise you cannot estimate that your annual consumption will be 13 x 1,000kWh.

Many people on MSE report that they use 75% of their energy in the coldest mid-winter quarter. Don't forget it is not only heating in winter, but lights are on for far longer during the day.

The important point to note from post#4 above is:

The revised monthly payment will be calculated so as to collect last year's shortfall and also to ensure that the coming year's bills will be properly covered.

Once that shortfall has been repaid your direct debit will fall so it covers just the estimated consumption.

Nada666

"other than heating in the winter" - hardly an 'other than' 'other than'*

6,319 kWh should only be costing you £60 or £70 per month - the extra £80 is because any shortfall has to be repaid at twice the difference - that is both the arrears and the assumed ongoing corrected usage. So if you were paying £42 but using £82 you don't just pay the £40 difference.

263 x 11 = 2,893.

That's 3,426 kWh for the winter months. Say four months - about 28 kWh per day. You mention 'heaters'. For three heaters that's only three or four hours each.

If you weren't paying attention to your usage because you were only paying £42 and had a small insulated home then it would be trivially easy to use what is claimed.

Are your parents in an electricity-only home, too? Are they actually heating two of the bedrooms? Do they have storage heating?

* ask Mr Rumsfeld for help parsing that .

dannisteele

Thanks everyone. I think you may be right in that I massively underestimated what I would use in the winter. Although I maintain that the electric company shouldn't have set my bill so low in the first place for the debt to build up, it is most probably correct.

I'll call them tomorrow and see if I can pay off the debt in one go and pay less a month.

Thanks for everyone's help. It was much appreciated

Cardew

dannisteele wrote: »

Although I maintain that the electric company shouldn't have set my bill so low in the first place for the debt to build up,

The problem is that call centre and other 'sales staff' are on commission and will set the initial Direct Debit as low as it takes to snare you - and thus ensure their commission.

[Deleted User]

Single rate electric for an all electric property ? are you sure its not an eco 7 meter with a day and night reading ?

Mr_K

The best way to 'reset' your DD to something reasonable is to switch provider and start again. If you joined them in October last year you should be coming to the end of any tie in period. (you'll have to settle up any balance before switching of course).