First Utility - billing incorrect?

Rooster_Norwich

Ive been with F/U for a while now and yes, I've had my share of incorrect billing with them but I managed to get a rebate for the amount they owed me.

Im still with them on the following tarif: First Fixed April 2017 v7 Direct Debit ebill Ends 30th Apr 2017

Electricity 11.021p per kWh
Gas 2.198p per kWh
Standing charge of 15.79p per day Electricity
Standing charge 17.30p per day Gas

I have a 3 bedroom house, 2 of us, 2x teenage kids with all the associated electrical equipment, chargers, phones, laptops, consoles, TVs etc.

I switched my 82 yr old disabled father to F/U as well, same deal First Fixed April 2017 v7 Direct Debit ebill Ends 30th Apr 2017 but with a slightly different tariff

Electricity 10.806p per kWh
Gas 2.268p per kWh
Standing charge of 17.07p per day for Electricity
Standing charge 17.07p per day for Gas

He lives alone, he has a TV, a kettle, fridge freezer, microwave and thats it. He uses only 1x room upstairs and has gas central heating.

My query is this, I had him moved to F/U and also a Smart meter fitted ( which they only fitted to the Electricity and didnt install a Gas one) as he is partially sighted I asked for a smart meter so he didnt have to read the meter.

Im just checking up on his bills and for 2016 his Electricity charges ( rounded up) are as follows:
Oct - £38
Nov - £54
Dec - £43

Mine were as follows:
Oct -£46
Nov - £59
Dec - £58

He hardly uses any electricity compared to what we use here at home ( yes we do all have LED bulbs and switch lights off etc..) but his bills seem so high, especially the November one that is only £5 different from ours.

Ive spoken to F/U who say the bills are correct for the readings submitted. Personally I think there could be a problem but F/U say that if they send an engineer to check the meter and there is no fault found its a £140 charge to my father.

What more can I do?

When the April contract is up...is it time to switch? If we do switch, will the Smart Meter still submit readings to a new supplier?

Raxiel

Do you have access to any actual consumption figures to compare?
A very quick calc on those figures suggests your tariff is cheaper up to 2067kWh a year
November would be about 500kWh for him and 450kWh for you if everything is correct.

When you get to lower levels of usage/higher efficiency, even small things can make a difference.

Is your house occupied during the day? Is his? A few hours extra occupancy can really add up, even having GCH on more can add a bit if the electrical side of the boiler isn't particularly efficient.

You could try doing a kettle test on the meter if you think it may be faulty. Turn off everything else and take a reading (including the digits to the right of the decimal), then boil the kettle for 1 minute and take another reading, if you know how many kW the kettle is you should be able to calculate how much the meter should increase to compare.

Cardew

It is easy enough to check a meter's accuracy.

You can buy a meter like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Energenie-429-856UK-Power-Meter/dp/B003ELLGDC/ref=pd_lpo_60_bs_lp_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=PPYWBSJ871R271BH55TG

Switch off everything in the house - including fridges - and note house meter reading. Then plug in a fairly big load like an electric heater via the meter above. When it displays that it has consumed 1kWh, the house meter should have increased by 1 kWh.

The house meter will normally be more accurate than this plug in meter, but if there is a problem with the house meter it will show up.

D_M_E

Gas heating, but does he have an immersion heater or use electric fires?

Another possibility is that FU are allocating someone else's readings to his account - have you checked the readings on the bills match those on the meter or are somewhere near what the meter shows?

Have you checked the meter number matches that on the bill?

Have you checked they are applying the agreed tariff and not their standard tariff?