Worryingly high electricity bill

Sweetcatatonia

Hi all,

I moved into a one-bedroom flat (electric only, no gas) with my partner on 21/12/18. An electricity bill dated 07/12 - 28/12 arrived for £48 which I passed to the letting agent. Got a revised bill from SSE for £37.35 (Standard tariff. No storage heaters, not economy 7 tariff) for 21/12 - 28/12 - 191kWh used. We were away so weren't even in the property for 2 of those days. From 28/12 - 16/01 we've used 504 kWh! I work full-time, my partner has been off work but hasn't had heating on at all, doesn't have the lights on during the day, we do 2 loads of laundry a week.

I rang SSE and they agreed it sounded unusually high consumption. I asked for average previous consumption from previous tenants - he said 500 kWh for a quarter - we've used that in 2.5 weeks...

What I don't understand is we've moved into a furnished flat, all the appliances, even the TV was already here. We haven't changed anything.

I tried turning off at the mains for 5 hours today, the meter didn't move so guessing there's no fault with the meter. I've turned the power back on, so all appliances, router back on, and have my laptop plugged in and a phone charger, meter hasn't changed in 2 hours.

The only thing I can think of is the water cylinder heater. Is it possible that if there's a fault with that it could rinse through such a crazy amount of electricity?

comeandgo

Do you have the water heater on all the time or on a timer?

grumpycrab

Sweetcatatonia wrote: »

(electric only) hasn't had heating on at all

Something, apart from body heat and heat conducted through the walls from other flats, must provide heat though?

dogshome

It seems that you did not give SSE a meter reading when you moved in, and the readings charged to you are 'guesswork' based on data from a bill covering more than the 10 days you had been in residence, but I'm afraid without that initial reading there's not a lot you can do


Check the Hot Water cylinder, there should be a timer on it so can cook up water for an hour or two at your convenience - Say just the morning showers - If it's left on 24/7, it eats money faster than you can print it


If the Shower is Electric, SHOWER as quickly as you can
These usually burn 7 Kwh or even 9 Kwh


SSE's quote of 500 Kwh a Quarter is probably correct, but only for the Winter period, in Summer this should drop dramatically


You have a bill and can see what the price per Kwh is and the Standing charge , Visit same comparision sites, ( I always include 'switchwith which' ) and find a better deal

ajbell

500 kwh in 2.5 weeks is perfectly normal for winter, it's only about £30 per week.

macman

Did you not register for an account with SSE as soon as you moved in? You are responsible for all usage from 21/12/18. If you didn't specify an account, then you will be on the default SVT: the most expensive.
Forget your laptop and TV/router: the vast majority of your usage will be heating and hot water. I too find it hard to believe that you have used no heating over Christmas and through January. What is the type of heating system installed? A usage of 500Kwh per quarter is insanely low if the property is all electric. I'd expect you to be spending at least £80 per month during the winter months-you are using barely 25kWh per day.