Electricity bill too high - help please!

brumrush

I switched electricity supplier from british gas to scottish power at the end of march and after entering my meter reading my bill has come in at £680!

I live alone and live in a 1 bed flat, my electricity bills normally come in at around £30 per month, also the last few months I've only been staying at home around 1 weekend every month with the rest of the time just staying here Monday to Thursday so I was actually expeting to see a reduction in my bill.

There is no way that I have used anywhere near this much electricity and also no way that I would be able to pay such a high bill so I am panicking now.I have double checked the meter reading that I rntered and it is correct.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

System

Hi - welcome to the forum. A few things to check:

1. Do the BG closing and SP opening meter reading agree?

2. Did you provide SP with an actual meter during the switching process?

The last point is important. If you haven't been providing BG with actual meter readings, then the reading used to close your BG account may have been estimated and what you are seeing now is effectively a 'catch up' bill. In other words, you have underpaid BG for some time. Up until Apr 16, BG only had to read your meter once every 5 years!

Electricity prices have risen by 30 to 40% in the past 12 months. What do you use electricity for as £30 per month is a very low usage figure?

brumrush

I submitted my meter reading to BG and SP when I switched and even had a £130 rebate from BG for overpaying on my estimated bills.

I've logged into my SP account however and it doesn't show what the reading entered was when I did the switch.

victor2

If SP have generated a bill for £680, they must have used some meter readings to do so, and should show these in the bill. The initial reading should match the one used by BG to close your account with them.

System

brumrush wrote: »

I submitted my meter reading to BG and SP when I switched and even had a £130 rebate from BG for overpaying on my estimated bills.

I've logged into my SP account however and it doesn't show what the reading entered was when I did the switch.

When you switch in future there is no need to provide your old supplier with a meter reading as they will ignore it. On switch, the gaining supplier manages the transfer and this includes asking you for a meter reading. This meter reading is then passed to an industry independent third-party for verification. Once verified the meter reading is then passed back to the two suppliers to close and open your accounts.

Was the bill from BG a Final Account or have they just refunded you what they believe to be the credit on your account? it is very important that the opening and closing meter readings are the same. If they are not, then raise the matter with the gaining supplier.

jessex1990

What type of tariff have you been moved to? You may have been on E7 before and so got cheaper electric at certain times, even if you did E7 to E7 they could have different cheap periods.

Check to make sure you haven't left your immersion heater boost on. That can add £100 per month to your bill.

Robin9

Is your SP bill an ACTUAL or ESTIMATED one ?

Also worth checking the monthly figures you have been giving SP - I assume you have been giving them regular readings - are correct. My meter reads 02194.5 - you should ignore everything after the decimal point but include any leading Zeros ie my reading is 02194 (not 21945)

Bigphil1474

Op are you saying you are being billed £680 since march 2017 - i.e. 3 months? If so, there must be a meter reading error somewhere. As others have said, check your bill and make sure they have the correct start reading, and the end reading is near to what it is now. Also check in case it is an old imperial meter or a metric one - if they have it the wrong way round, then the bill would be much higher than it should be (although unlikely, but not impossible). Might be worth double checking you have the right meter for your flat - if it's not actually in your flat.

victor2

Bigphil1474 wrote: »

..... Also check in case it is an old imperial meter or a metric one - if they have it the wrong way round, then the bill would be much higher than it should be (although unlikely, but not impossible)......

It is impossible with an electricity meter.

[Deleted User]

victor2 wrote: »

It is impossible with an electricity meter.

Mediaeval electricity meters used to indicate in poncelet scrupulums. (1kWh = 24.473 poncelet scrupulums)

House_Martin

There are still many electric dial meters around where both occupiers and meter readers will read them incorrectly. Digital meters get read wrong when the 4 and 9 are mis read..Also if on E7 suppliers will issue a strange electric bill if the day/night reads were transposed leading to a catch up bill.