I really need help - I do not know where to turn

angel1mole1970

Please, please, please can someone help me with my electricity crisis.

We have been in our house for nearly 16 years and have had constant problems with our electricity bills..... they are massively high.

It's a very long story, covering the 16 years, and we still have had no help, no answers or, in fact, anything done to help us.

For example, our recent electricity bill is £643 for 12 weeks, which has been added to the £2700 they already say we owe, which is for 12 months. We do not have a washing machine or tumble dryer due to our bills being so high, we used to keep reptiles and exotic animals which required heat sources and light, and due to advice from our electricity supplier at the time, these have all gone and our electricity went up.... we have tried the ombudsman, who is no help, we have had our meter on a key meter but were having to put between £50-70 per week, we have asked for an independent evaluation of our house, but unless we can afford to pay the £200 needed (which we can't) they will not help us.

This situation is making me ill, I am already registered disabled, but am now suffering from excruciating migraines, anxiety and panic attacks.

Please help..... Thank you so much in advance.

ic

Some questions:

What type of home do you have, how many bedrooms and bathrooms?
Where in the country do you live, and how exposed is your house?
How do you heat your home and water? Do you have any electric showers?
Do you use gas or electric for cooking?
Have you had the house insulated, and if so when and if you know to what level?
You say you're registered disabled, do you use any medical devices that are plugged in for long periods?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

just to add to above,

what tariff are you on, and do you have meter readings consumption details?

Sasahara

If you have a £2700 debit and are now on a key meter it's likely you are paying off a large part of this every time you load the meter.

So of the £50 - £70 per week, maybe half of that (or more) is paying off the debt?

Best thing to do is at the same time every day take a meter reading and record it in a spreadsheet.

Find out what you tariff is, this will be a standing charge per day + rate per kW.

Once you have that you should be able to work out how much it should be costing per day, any extra is likely to be debt repayment.

angel1mole1970

Thank you for your replies...

We have a 4 bedroom, 1 bathroom ex-council house in Highbridge in Somerset. We are end of terrace with the exposed side of the house being south facing.
Our home is heated with gas central heating (our gas bill is £20 per month, if that), we have a gas hob and electric cooker, which is used for approx. 1hr per day.
We do not have an electric shower and we do not have a water tank, so our water is heated via gas as we use it, no immersion heaters or such like.
We have cavity wall insulation and 6" insulation in the loft half covered with loft boards, our roof has insulation which is covered with plastic sheeting. We only have single glazed windows to two of the upstairs bedrooms, as we cannot afford new windows, but the rest of the house is double glazed.
My disability means that my bedroom is downstairs as I cannot climb the stairs, I have Fibromyalgia, Arthritis and degenerative disc disorder, so other than pain, I do not use any electric aids at all.
My husband and two remaining children are out all day at work and college. We all use computers, rarely have the lights on, do not have a television, DVD player etc. Have a large 'American style' fridge/freezer which is 5 years old and A++ rating.
We are with E.on, and no idea what tariff we are on, we give them regular meter readings, and their rep. comes every six months to do an independent reading.

Hope this all makes sense.

angel1mole1970

No, we are not on a key meter, we were on a key meter a few years ago and could not afford the £50-70 pw needed, so changed supplier and went onto a credit meter in the hope that a new supplier would sort out our problems and cost what our electricity should really be.... manageable and normal.

We have done the daily readings thing numerous times, every supplier says that our bills are 'well above what they should be' but fail to do anything to help us.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

can you dig out some old bills and give an idea of annual consumption?

System

I sympathise with your situation but this is not something that will be solved by posters coming forward with a raft of helpful suggestions on a public forum. You need independent advice from someone from Citizens' Advice who has the time and the skills to look carefully at the detail of your bills. They can then offer you advice on how best to take matters forward. CA also has links to suppliers' executive teams.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/

angel1mole1970

I am so sorry, all our bills are with the Ombudsman at the moment, but in my mind it goes beyond just what the meter is saying we use..... we cannot humanely be using the amount of electricity that they say we are using, and I am convinced there is a problem, either with the supply to the house or how many houses or utilities we are actually paying for. I know I sound paranoid and probably a bit crazy, but one of our bills was £1200 for three months.... that is NOT right, something is wrong and we are just stuck here with no way of it ever being sorted.

angel1mole1970

I've been to CA, this is my third attempt with the ombudsman, had a new meter put in, but what no one seems to understand is that I do not believe the meter is faulty, I truly,100% believe that we are paying for someone or something elses electricity. I have turned everything in the house off, unplugged it all, switched every switch off and only left the fridge/freezer on and our electricity meter spins like a top, never slows down and the daily usage is the same, nearly £10 per day!!

Lrimas

Buy yourself an electricity monitor (or see if your electricity company can install a smart meter for you).

We had one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B007W0SQ3Y/ref=pd_aw_sbs_60_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=EVP546ZRRE69SWHBDJ18

Extremely easy to install - you just clip it around the cables on your electricity meter.

Then go around the house and switch everything off (you can rope in the other household members and turn it into a bit of a game). You should be close to 0 or only have the "always on" appliances using a bit of power. Slowly start to switch things back on to find what is draining your power (for us it was our computer screens. I didn't realise that they don't go into standby mode and continuously draw full electricity).

Also keep the monitor with you and if it suddenly goes up find out who did what.

After a while you should have a good idea of what is draining your electricity. It can't leak and has to go somewhere.

After that, join the energy club AAT mse. They will help you switch to the cheapest supplier/tariff for your usage. Review this every time your contract expires.

Good luck! It can be beaten.