Horrifically high energy bills

Martyboy78

Help needed please! I have just discovered that my mother-in-law's direct debit to her energy supplier is £491 per month!!!

She does live in a large house (6 bedroom) and it is probably highly inefficient but it's only her and my sister-in-law that live there. It really shouldn't be anywhere near that high surely?

I have switched her to a lower tariff but even that is £320 a month. Even though this will save her £1900 a year I still think something is horribly wrong. Could it be the boiler or a fault with a meter? Units used (which I've taken off Scottish Power's website whilst logged in to her account) are listed below. Any help / advice greatly received:

Gas
Winter 17/18
14299 (90 days) - 158.8 units per day

Spring 18
23,833.90 (90 days) - 254.16 per day

Summer 18
13,651.90 (90 days) - 148.38 per day

Electricity
Winter 17/18
3100 (90 days) - 34.4 per day

Spring 18
422 (90 days) - 4.59 per day

Summer
1438 (90 days) - 15.63 per day)

Thanks

molerat

Those numbers mean little on their own. Have you got meter readings associated with those ? Are the meter readings actual or estimated ? How do those meter reads compare with a reading taken today ? Do the gas meter units converted to kWh tie up with the type of meter ? Have you got bills over a longer period ?

Martyboy78

Thanks. No I don't have meter readings although I did submit some at the weekend. I have no idea what type of meter it is or how to tie up kWh. I can see bills online from Jan 2018. It looks like some are estimated and some are actual. I have opened a few of them but to be honest they are so confusing I really don't know where to start. All I know is that it says high consumption is determined to be 46.5 kWh and my mother-in-law's house is 81 kWh.

matelodave

OK, it does sound a lot - but you need to do a lot more digging. getting hold of actual meter readings (not estimated ones) do a few sums.

And not the least ,checking how they are using their heating, hot water and everything else.

My MIL used to have the hall stat set to 30 degrees, the timer on 24 hrs and if she got too warm (which was very seldom) she'd open the windows or patio doors. On top of that she'd have a 2kw bar fire on in the lounge from the moment she got up to when she went to bed and she'd have two baths a day.Hot water would be run down the sink continuously as she washed the dishes etc. and the washing machine and dryer would get used nearly every day.

It didn't matter how much we tried to tell her that she was wasting energy - she was quite happy. In the end we just let her get on with it.

My Mum was the opposite, she would have been warmer in an Igloo. Even I had to keep my coat on in her house - it's not as though she was hard up she just didn't like to be warm.

Robin9

Take care when you read the Electric meters - mine is of the format 0001234.5 - its very easy to miss the decimal point. Its one of those Liberty secure 100's where you have to press 9 to get the reading.

Don't forget that when reading the gas that its units that appear on the screen not kwh. Its not unknown for when meters are changed from the old one which read in cu ft to the new in cu m. If the supplier has got it wrong then your bills could treble.

Look at the meter is it marked in cu ft or cu m. Note the serial number. Now compare it to the bill - are ther details the same.

D_M_E

If there's only 2 people living in a large 6 bedroom house - which sounds as if it has poor insulation - could they not sell up and buy a smaller place to live in, possibly ending up with no mortgage, and have vastly reduced energy bills the savings on which could pay for the costs of the move?

As pointed out by Robin9 you need to look at the gas meter - somewhere on it it will say something which will tell you whether it's measuring cubic feet or cubic meters and, if the meter is a metric one and the supplier is using cubic feet as the reading then the gas bill will be about 2.8 times what it should be.

Also check what tariff is being applied and check the meter serial numbers with what's on the bills.

EDIT - also check that it's a domestic supply being billed, not a commercial one.
Was the property ever used as something like a care home, for example?

wavelets

Martyboy78 wrote: »

Help needed please! I have just discovered that my mother-in-law's direct debit to her energy supplier is £491 per month!!!

She does live in a large house (6 bedroom) and it is probably highly inefficient but it's only her and my sister-in-law that live there. It really shouldn't be anywhere near that high surely?

I have switched her to a lower tariff but even that is £320 a month. Even though this will save her £1900 a year I still think something is horribly wrong. Could it be the boiler or a fault with a meter? Units used (which I've taken off Scottish Power's website whilst logged in to her account) are listed below. Any help / advice greatly received:

Gas
Winter 17/18
14299 (90 days) - 158.8 units per day

Spring 18
23,833.90 (90 days) - 254.16 per day

Summer 18
13,651.90 (90 days) - 148.38 per day

Electricity
Winter 17/18
3100 (90 days) - 34.4 per day

Spring 18
422 (90 days) - 4.59 per day

Summer
1438 (90 days) - 15.63 per day)

Thanks

Martyboy78 wrote: »

Thanks. No I don't have meter readings although I did submit some at the weekend. I have no idea what type of meter it is or how to tie up kWh. I can see bills online from Jan 2018. It looks like some are estimated and some are actual. I have opened a few of them but to be honest they are so confusing I really don't know where to start. All I know is that it says high consumption is determined to be 46.5 kWh and my mother-in-law's house is 81 kWh.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits/

Martyboy78

D_M_E wrote: »

If there's only 2 people living in a large 6 bedroom house - which sounds as if it has poor insulation - could they not sell up and buy a smaller place to live in, possibly ending up with no mortgage, and have vastly reduced energy bills the savings on which could pay for the costs of the move?

As pointed out by Robin9 you need to look at the gas meter - somewhere on it it will say something which will tell you whether it's measuring cubic feet or cubic meters and, if the meter is a metric one and the supplier is using cubic feet as the reading then the gas bill will be about 2.8 times what it should be.

Also check what tariff is being applied and check the meter serial numbers with what's on the bills.

EDIT - also check that it's a domestic supply being billed, not a commercial one.
Was the property ever used as something like a care home, for example?

Yes they know they need to move to a smaller place. The house has been on the market for over 6 months but until it sells they need to save some money.

PennineAcute

One thing that stood out to me was the Spring electricity usage.

That is is a massive drop, considering around an 80% increase in gas usage.

Carrot007

PennineAcute wrote: »

One thing that stood out to me was the Spring electricity usage.

That is is a massive drop, considering around an 80% increase in gas usage.

Probably an actual read after an over estimate.


OP. How is the house heated? I am assuming gas. if so the electric usage should be pretty much the same all year round.


What are the high usage electric items? (Shower,hot water, heating).

Raxiel

There may be only the two of them, but do they heat the whole house? Could they shut off the radiators in 4 of the bedrooms and any other rooms they don't use? Wouldn't eliminate the high usage, but it would help.