First e-on bill horrendous - please help

doublekite

Malc
Many thanks for your comprehensive reply, as a 'mature' homeowner who changes supplier annually I am familiar with ways of reducing costs as you describe, with direct debits and better tariffs.
I assume reading marked A as 'actual' on the bill are taken remotely by E-on? Does this mean the meter is automatically in smart mode? Robin9 above says this may not be the case. Also, how would we get a display to have in the flat to monitor usage?

merchcon55

dogshome wrote: »

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

It is IMPERATIVE that you do exactly what has been suggested here. Find a time when the concierge can open the locked meter cupboard.
It is very possible that your meter, for example, is connected to the meter for the hall lighting or some other "common area" electricity use.

You need to rule out this possibility.

Is there any indication on your panel heaters how many KW they use? Or a model number that you can perhaps google and see what KW they use.

Say you used a stand alone heater that was 2KW, and you used it 6 hours a day, so that is 12KW @ 15p/KW (as example) = £1.80 per day. Over 90 days of winter use (quarterly bill) = £162

Now if each of those panel heaters is 2KW and BOTH are on for 6 hours a day, now you are looking at £324 for a quarterly bill.

This could easily explain the large bill - electric heating is VERY expensive !!


So you really want to check how many KW these panel heaters use.

doublekite

Thanks for the advice. There are no visible markings on the heaters but we are checking with the on site electrician so as to ascertain costs.
The heater model comes in various ratings as far as I can see online.

Robin9

doublekite wrote: »

.........
I assume reading marked A as 'actual' on the bill are taken remotely by E-on? ...............

Yes A for Actual is either Remotely read or meter reader read. C is consumer read. E is estimated.

As others have said check that the meter is really your daughters.

merchcon55

doublekite wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. There are no visible markings on the heaters but we are checking with the on site electrician so as to ascertain costs.
The heater model comes in various ratings as far as I can see online.

I am guessing that panel heaters will have "settings" - as example, 400w, 800w, 1200w, 2000w.

In my example I assumed that the heater was on FULL setting of 2000w continuously. Now on a really cold day, that is possible. But normally you would either, with a thermostat, not have the heater running at 2000w all the time. Or manually, you would turn it down to say 800w if the room were warm enough.

Experiment how warm the room is if you only use one heater, rather than 2 at the same time. Hard to judge this without really seeing the flat, but worth trying.

phillw

merchcon55 wrote: »

It is very possible that your meter, for example, is connected to the meter for the hall lighting or some other "common area" electricity use.

You need to rule out this possibility.

How exactly do you rule that out?

Robin9

With the concierge in tow and with the hall lights on - you stand in front of the meter you believe is yours and you switch off the consumer unit associated with it. See also now if all the lights and power has gone off in the daughter's flat (or if a neighbour shouts out)

Hall lights should come off a seperate landlords meter.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

doublekite wrote: »

I assume reading marked A as 'actual' on the bill are taken remotely by E-on? Does this mean the meter is automatically in smart mode? Robin9 above says this may not be the case. Also, how would we get a display to have in the flat to monitor usage?

An 'A' on a bill is 'actual' but taken by a meter reader, an 'S' signifies a smart reading.


If your meter is a smart meter then a usage/cost monitor should've been left in flat when meter was installed.


Are the panel heaters left on all day?

Raxiel

Back when I lived in a flat with all-electric panel heaters (and was a lot less energy Savvy) my quarterly bills (E.ON Energy plan) over the winter were about £370, that was 5 years ago too. £430 sounds plausible to me unfortunately.


You'd think new-build stuff would be 'cheap to run', but the reality is its just 'cheap to build' and who cares what it costs the resident once the builder gets their money. Particularly if it's flats that were only built because it was a requirement for planning permission of more lucrative houses elsewhere on the development (as it was in my case).

merchcon55

phillw wrote: »

How exactly do you rule that out?

Turn everything electrical off in the flat - even the refrigerator - for say 3 hours. There should be absolutely no KW used, no flashing red light - nothing.

If the meter does register anything then either - the meter she thinks is hers is not - OR - the meter is hers, but is registering other use, for example, common area lighting.

ADDED: The poster above makes a valid point - there should be a main OFF switch on the consumer unit. Once that is OFF, no power usage should be registered.