Doubled Electricity Bill

emmmmagreen

Hey, I hope someone is able to give some help and advice - getting a little desperate!

I’ve lived in a rented two bedroom flat since August and have been using around £36 a month of electricity (with a monthly payment of £44) so we’ve been in credit. We’re really energy efficient, with little electricity used in any room except the living room/diner. Suddenly, in December our bills went through the roof to £306 and tripled our monthly payment to £135 a month, something I simply can’t afford. We don’t use any electric any more than before, if not less as my flat mate has moved out until February. We simply have an fridge freezer, oven, kettle, microwave, WiFi, a TV and of course, phone and laptop chargers when needed. Our flat is fitted with storage heaters, but I’m too scared to use them because of the previous bill, meaning I’m also sitting in a freezing cold flat.

We’ve been through lots of different tests. An electrician has been round to make sure everything is being used correctly, but even commented on that our bill is excessively high. Whilst I went home to my parents house I switched absolutely everything off and took pictures of my meter to make sure it wasn’t faulty or had a magnet on, but in the five days I was away, it didn’t move, ruling that out. Since then, we’ve been taking photos of the meter each day to track our usage - it’s around 22 units a day (about 16 per day 6 per night) which just does not make sense! I’m out and work most of the time, with everything on standby or switched off, so I just simply don’t understand why my meter readings are so high! I’m scared to use anything and I’m freezing in my own flat.

The issue is now, no one really wants to help me. I am a student who does not receive a student loan and these bills have pretty much broken me, meaning I pretty much have no other choice than to surrender my contract for my accommodation. I’m about to embark on a 6 month hospital placement with uncertainty about where I’m actually going to live!

Please help!
Emma x

Robin9

Have you got details of the ACTUAL meter readings that you have taken every month and sent to your supplier ? Could you post them here together with your tariff details.

I presume when you moved in you contacted the existing supplier and then swapped to a new supplier otherwise you would still be on the suppliers standard (ie expensive ) tariff.

22 units a day is quite low. The night/day breakdown of 6/16 is not usually good enough to merit being on E7

System

Hi Emma. Welcome to the forum. You have done well so far; however, you need to check that the bill for £306 is based on an actual or customer reading and not an estimate (usually annotated with an 'E'). Are you on an E7 or single fuel tariff? If it is E7, then you need to check that the day readings have not been billed as night, and vice versa. If it is single fuel, then using storage heaters could result in a large bill.

Twenty-two units a day is high if you are not using the storage heaters - particularly, if you are out all day. There MAY be something wrong with your meter; however, checking it will incur a charge if no fault is found. Before going down this route, if I was you, I would pop into my local library and see if they offer an energy saving kit. Kits usually contain a clamp monitor which should allow you to check your meter for accuracy. Moreover, by turning things off and on, you can see which appliances are drawing the most power.

Finally, I must make the point that monthly payments are nothing to do with billing per se. They are just payments made on account from which usage charges are deducted. Sadly, a number of struggling suppliers have been playing fast and loose with their future energy projections (known as the Estimated Annual Consumption). An increased EAC will lead to higher monthly payments. This is why it is important to check that all bills are based on actual or customer readings and are not estimated. If an estimate has been used, then contact your supplier with a reading and ask to be re-billed.

A_Nice_Englishman

How do you heat your water?

An immersion heater will use 3 units an hour while it's on, which could be a lot of the time if there's no time switch and the tank isn't well insulated.

FestiveJoy

emmmmagreen wrote: »

Hey, I hope someone is able to give some help and advice - getting a little desperate!

I’ve lived in a rented two bedroom flat since August and have been using around £36 a month of electricity (with a monthly payment of £44) so we’ve been in credit. We’re really energy efficient, with little electricity used in any room except the living room/diner. Suddenly, in December our bills went through the roof to £306 and tripled our monthly payment to £135 a month, something I simply can’t afford. ...

So how has this occurred?
e.g. has there been a threefold increase in your tariff?

emmmmagreen wrote: »

Since then, we’ve been taking photos of the meter each day to track our usage - it’s around 22 units a day (about 16 per day 6 per night) which just does not make sense! I’m out and work most of the time, with everything on standby or switched off, so I just simply don’t understand why my meter readings are so high!

Have you considered a smart meter? With that you can see what you are using real-time?

Or if that is an issue, you can get monitoring devices that can also show you similar data (but may not be quite so accurate)

emmmmagreen wrote: »

I’m scared to use anything and I’m freezing in my own flat.

Hang on. Are you suggesting you heat your flat by electricity?
Yet you don't use any more electricity irrespective of the weather conditions?
How does that work??? :huh:

emmmmagreen wrote: »

The issue is now, no one really wants to help me. I am a student who does not receive a student loan and these bills have pretty much broken me, meaning I pretty much have no other choice than to surrender my contract for my accommodation. I’m about to embark on a 6 month hospital placement with uncertainty about where I’m actually going to live!

Please help!
Emma x

You can't just surrender your contract.
You are in a contract
You presumably would have been aware that you were due to undertake a 6 month hospital placement before you entered into this year's rental agreement.
I'm not sure where you are studying, but where I studied they had an extremly large (and well known./respected) medical department, and I don't know anyone who had to move accommodation to undertake their hospital duties as part of their medical degree,

What are all the other medical students at your educational establishment doing?
Surely there is lots of advice from the educational establishment, if you are expected to move home during the year of your studies.

:xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::xmassign:

molerat

Are you reading the meter every month, submitting those readings and being billed to that read ?
Is the meter you are reading the one that is connected to your flat ? Doubling of the bill could point to you paying for someone who is actually using their heating.

D_M_E

When you turned everything off and went away for a few days, was there also another flat which was empty as well for the same period?

Have you checked that the meter is the actual one which is supplying you and not someone else?

To check: turn absolutely everything off, including any fridge/freezer, unplug everything including fridge/freezer or turn off at the pug if possible.

Now check the meter, it should not be moving or if it has a red light this should not be flashing.

While you are checking what you think is your meter, also look at the rest of them which are in close proximity to the one you think is yours.

If it's moving or the red light is flashing then you have the wrong meter and need to notify your supplier of a crossed meter as a matter of urgency.

Also check the rest to see if any other meter has a steady red light or is not moving.

Now go back to your flat and fill up a kettle and turn it on.

Next, go back to the meter and watch it while the kettle boils.

With the kettle boiling the meter may advance a unit or 2, no more, and if it has a red light it should now be flashing.

If you can, also look at the other meters and see if any of them show signs of life while your kettle is boiling.

Having done the test don't forget to turn on the fridge/freezer.

Robin9

emmmmagreen wrote: »

........................... have been using around £36 a month of electricity (with a monthly payment of £44) so we’ve been in credit. We’re really energy efficient, with little electricity used in any room except the living room/diner. Suddenly, in December our bills went through the roof to £306 and tripled our monthly payment to £135 a month, ......................

How was the £36 assessed - were these bills estimated or from your readings ?

It is quite possible that you have been underpaying and your supplier has reviewed your account following a actual read and the bill is a big catchup to put you back into credit.

Emmmmmmmmmmmmmm hope you can reply to some of the questions you have been asked. Then the forum can make constructive comments.

Graham1

16 units in 17 hours is an average of 941 watts
6 units in 7 hours is an average of 857 watts

Consumptions at these levels implies something with a medium power rating running constantly 24x7 or high power device(s) running intermittently.

The former should be obvious. For the latter look at appliances and devices which generate heat from electricity, they are the highest consumers. Most like kettle, toaster, microwave, oven, electric shower are only run for a few minutes at a time and cannot account for these figures.

An immersion heater has already been mentioned. If you have one check is it on a time switch to only run at night. Check if the tank is lagged. Turn it off and try going without hot water for a day (use a kettle instead) and see what difference this makes.

I assume you are not running plug in electric heaters as you mention it is freezing.

You could try checking the meter hourly to see if it is a constant power level or only a high consumption particular time(s) of the day. If you have a consumer unit with circuit breakers you could try turning off one breaker at a time and seeing what effect this has on the meter readings (your electrician should already have tried this if he was being thorough).

One possibility is that the meter is faulty. If a previous tenant used a powerful magnet to try to affect it's reading that can make the meter read higher than the true consumption after the magnet is removed.