First e-on bill horrendous - please help

doublekite

My daughter moved into her new studio flat in October. The building was converted into studios, one two and three bedroom flats from its previous use an Aviva office block in Norwich.
The studio has a floor area of 30.7 sq m (330.5 sq ft) and consists of a combined bedroom/lounge/kitchen, and separate bathroom.
My daughter works full time and is thus out of the studio from 0830 - 1800 Mon - Sat.
The heating is provided by two Adax wall mounted electric heaters which are used as required. I am investigating their ratings to ascertain running costs.
Her first full quarterly bill for electricity (there is no gas) has just come in at £429.80 plus VAT, made up of 2425 units plus standing charges, this is on the e-on Energy Plan. Now we understand this is not a fixed rate tariff and there are better deals but its what all the flats came with and we thought there is no point in shopping round until she had settled in.


The bill, in our opinion is massive for such a small, basically one room property, and others in the building are paying much less....for example one family with a two bed flat only pay £60 a month, and another guy in a one bed flat only pays £40 a month and leaves his heating on 24/7!
My daughter has called e-on Customer Services to explain she feels she is being overcharged, possible due to a faulty Smart Meter or because she is being charged someone else's power too (lets face it, wiring does get mixed up sometimes). E-on told her there was a £70 charge to check a meter, refundable if a fault is found, but this in itself is outrageous and lack customer sympathy. This is my daughters first step into the bad old world on her own and this is really worrying her.


Can someone give advice on what we can do?


At present we have asked the concierge for daily meter readings to see if this throws up excessive use, but we would ideally like to get the meter checked without charge. She does not have one of those smart devices in the flat to monitor usage, and the meter is not accessible to her as all meters for each floor are in a locked cupboard.


The meter is a Elster AS300P if that helps.


Any help appreciated, I would like to PM this to Malc, the E-on guy on the forum but can't see how to do this so hope he sees this post.

Robin9

The first question is are the readings on the bill Estimated or Actual.

She, not the concierge, should be reading the meters . Read the meter ASAP and give them to Eon and get a revised bill.

What happened when she moved in ? Did she ring the existing supplier and give them readings ? Did she then swop to another supplier ?

Neil_Jones

Firstly what other people do is immaterial, what they pay and what they use is irrelevant.

£430 for three months during the coldest time of the year is £143 ish a month, or about £12 a week. For an all electricity flat this is not actually all that bad but what are your figures with standing charges and VAT?

It sounds like you're on storage heaters, have you checked to ensure you are on a Eco 7 tariff? Eco 7 provides cheaper electricity for seven hours a day, typically midnight to 7am and this would apply to all electric items, heaters, washing machines, fires, etc. On these tariffs if you can shift the bulk of your heavy usage to the off peak period you can save a bit of money, the other side of this particular coin is higher unit rates for the other 17hrs a day.

Also note we're in the coldest period of the year. You will use more now in the last two months than you probably will right up until October.

Robin9

Unless the Smart meter was installed by Eon at her request it will not be working in Smart mode. She must read the meter yourself.

mmmmikey

Hi - that level of usage sounds about right to me, bearing in mind that it covers the winter months. Possibly on the high-ish side but not enough to make it sound like a faulty meter to me. The summer bill will be much, much lower so by the end of the first full year things will have evened themselves out to a more comfortable level. Unfortunately, I think what you're finding is that instaneous electric panel heaters are an expensive form of heating. An option you have is to move to a monthly direct debit option whereby you pay the same amount each month - if you speak to EON customer services they will explain how this works.


p.s. agree with comments above re: checking readings are actual not estimates

nigelbb

Neil_Jones wrote: »

Firstly what other people do is immaterial, what they pay and what they use is irrelevant.

£430 for three months during the coldest time of the year is £143 ish a month, or about £12 a week.

It’s actually about £33 a week.

Neil_Jones

£33.07, yeah. Where the hell did I get £12 from?

dogshome

Had a look at Adex heaters online and they do not look like storage heaters - Just slimline panels you turn on and off as needed.
So how is the hot water produced ? - Are there timer controls to regulate it's hours of use, if so what is it set at ?


You are right, incorrect meter allocation in flats is all too common
The way to check is with mobile phones - Turn everything off and have one person stand by the meter whilst another switches the kettle On and Off to order, the meter should clock the power use in exact synch to the orders - If it doesn't it's the wrong meter

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

doublekite wrote: »

My daughter moved into her new studio flat in October. The building was converted into studios, one two and three bedroom flats from its previous use an Aviva office block in Norwich.
The studio has a floor area of 30.7 sq m (330.5 sq ft) and consists of a combined bedroom/lounge/kitchen, and separate bathroom.
My daughter works full time and is thus out of the studio from 0830 - 1800 Mon - Sat.
The heating is provided by two Adax wall mounted electric heaters which are used as required. I am investigating their ratings to ascertain running costs.
Her first full quarterly bill for electricity (there is no gas) has just come in at £429.80 plus VAT, made up of 2425 units plus standing charges, this is on the e-on Energy Plan. Now we understand this is not a fixed rate tariff and there are better deals but its what all the flats came with and we thought there is no point in shopping round until she had settled in.


The bill, in our opinion is massive for such a small, basically one room property, and others in the building are paying much less....for example one family with a two bed flat only pay £60 a month, and another guy in a one bed flat only pays £40 a month and leaves his heating on 24/7!
My daughter has called e-on Customer Services to explain she feels she is being overcharged, possible due to a faulty Smart Meter or because she is being charged someone else's power too (lets face it, wiring does get mixed up sometimes). E-on told her there was a £70 charge to check a meter, refundable if a fault is found, but this in itself is outrageous and lack customer sympathy. This is my daughters first step into the bad old world on her own and this is really worrying her.


Can someone give advice on what we can do?


At present we have asked the concierge for daily meter readings to see if this throws up excessive use, but we would ideally like to get the meter checked without charge. She does not have one of those smart devices in the flat to monitor usage, and the meter is not accessible to her as all meters for each floor are in a locked cupboard.


The meter is a Elster AS300P if that helps.


Any help appreciated, I would like to PM this to Malc, the E-on guy on the forum but can't see how to do this so hope he sees this post.

Hello doublekite and already some great advice on here - thanks all.

Totally understand the anxiety of moving in to a new home for the first time. Things like energy bills can seem confusing to those not used to them. I'll try to build on some of the comments on here.

As others have said, make sure your daughter's bill is based on actual meter readings and not estimates. If we installed the smart meter, I suspect actual readings have been used. If not, please let us have up to date readings. We'll be happy to rebill to these.

As Robin9 asks, did your daughter contact us when she moved in to let us have details including opening meter readings? If she did, have we started the account from these? Again, if incorrect details have been used, we'll be happy to amend the account/bill once we've the right information.

The Energy Plan tariff is our most expensive. As you say, this is a variable tariff with no tie-ins leaving your daughter free to change supplier without penalty. I'd pop details on to the Price Comparison sites. These will show what's available with both us and the other suppliers.

As mmmmikey mentions, there are lower daily standing charges for paying with a Direct Debit. This would reduce future bills a little.

Following dogshome's advice will help check if there are any mix-ups with the meters. Previous tests have shown approximately 1 in 200 meter checks come back as faulty. As a result, we do charge to test a meter. As our advisor explained, this fee is refundable in full should the meter turn out to be faulty.

Electric heating can be expensive. How does your daughter heat her water? As Neil Jones asks, is the meter one or two rate (Economy 7/10)? If two rate, there'll be a number of hours at cheaper off peak rates. It'll help if your daughter can take advantage of these cheaper prices, not only for her heating but other usage too. There are more energy saving tips on our website.

Even given her anxiety over the electric, I hope your daughter is enjoying her new home.

Malc

PS/ MSE don't allow company reps to use PMs.

doublekite

Thanks for all the quick replies, and sorry I didn't make everything clear!
The meter readings are both actual as taken by e-on, not supplied by us.She had one initial bill after a month, then they went quarterly. The initial reading was supplied by us to e-on.
The meters for all the flats are in locked cupboards on each floor, homeowners do not have access, they have to ask the concierge to take the reading or wait till he is able to do it with them.
E-On were given the meter reading when my daughter moved in, there were no previous owners as the studio is termed a new build and was converted from offices owned by Aviva.
The heaters are not storage heaters but panel heaters, so economy 7 would be no help.
Hot water is by electric emersion heater on a timer.
We have asked the concierge to take a daily reading and for my daughter to keep a daily diary of use for one week to see if the readings are excessive.
Regarding changing supplier, this would still result (I assume) in the same meter being used so any problem with the equipment will remain?

Most comments here seem to think its not a faulty meter, and I am sorry to disagree with Neil Jones but I consider it fair to compare properties usage, a two bed flat with use all day and with 3 occupants MUST be more expensive than a one room studio only occupied in the evenings. I do accept that electric heating is expensive though.

Keep the comments coming please.

doublekite

Robin9 wrote: »

Unless the Smart meter was installed by Eon at her request it will not be working in Smart mode. She must read the meter yourself.

The properties in the building are all classed as new build so I assume e-on installed the meters. How to we check they are in smart mode? Also how do we get hold of one of those devices to have in the home to show live usage and any given time, together with costs?