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Very High Electricity Bills
Alan_Cieslar
Posts: 6 Forumite
Hi,
I seem to be receiving unusually high electricity bills over the last few months. I live in a one bedroom flat with my girlfriend, the building itself I presume is quite old (it's one of those high rises, possibly from the 60/70s). We only pay for electricity (dual fuel) as there is no gas in the flat.
Anyway, we moved here at the end of August 2018. Before moving in, I set up an Economy 7 electricity plan with E-ON for £60/month which I thought was a perfectly normal amount. I received my first bill in late October and it was £120 which I was happy with. The next bill was in late November and it was £144! I was really shocked by this drastic amount and after some serious thinking I think that may have been down to the 3 heaters we used to heat up the flat during those cold days. The heaters we have are old, economy 7 ones and at first I had no idea how to use them. I would set the both output and input dials to maximum and so I presume all of the electricity was used that way. In the end I agreed with E-ON to pay a monthly debit of £120.
I've just received another bill from 22/11 to 26/02 for £496!
We were also away for 3 weeks in the XMAS/NYE period. After my direct debit payments there's still £280 outstanding. I'm very confused as to why this amount is so high. After that high November bill, I decided to do some proper research into the heaters and how they work. We now only use 2 heaters in the whole flat, and theyre set to 4 out 6 on input and 1 output during nighttime and then when we wake up we do the opposite, 4 output and 1 input.
Other ways we use electricity are computer and TV which are on about 7h a day (which is average) and fridge/freezer that's on constantly. We have had problems with our boiler, basically we tried to take advantage of the cheaper economy 7 rates with the boiler, so we would set it to heat water up between 5-10am however there would be insufficient temperature/amount of hot water by evening time when we actually wanted to have baths so we stopped using that. Instead, we have always used the boost function on the water heater which we have on for 2h before our baths. We also heat up 4/5 saucepans worth of water on the stove to add to the bath as the boiler only provides us with about 30cm deep hot water. Just to note, we probably have baths 4/5 times a week and we share the water after each other too...
What my ultimate question is, what could be the reason for our extreme bills? Could it be the heaters? Or the dodgy boiler and the need to use the boost function? Seeing as the bill was normal for August-October, I think it may be the heaters but tbh, I think I use them more efficiently now yet when I calculate the average monthly cost, it seems to have been higher in Nov-Feb than it was in November alone.
Thank you!
I seem to be receiving unusually high electricity bills over the last few months. I live in a one bedroom flat with my girlfriend, the building itself I presume is quite old (it's one of those high rises, possibly from the 60/70s). We only pay for electricity (dual fuel) as there is no gas in the flat.
Anyway, we moved here at the end of August 2018. Before moving in, I set up an Economy 7 electricity plan with E-ON for £60/month which I thought was a perfectly normal amount. I received my first bill in late October and it was £120 which I was happy with. The next bill was in late November and it was £144! I was really shocked by this drastic amount and after some serious thinking I think that may have been down to the 3 heaters we used to heat up the flat during those cold days. The heaters we have are old, economy 7 ones and at first I had no idea how to use them. I would set the both output and input dials to maximum and so I presume all of the electricity was used that way. In the end I agreed with E-ON to pay a monthly debit of £120.
I've just received another bill from 22/11 to 26/02 for £496!
We were also away for 3 weeks in the XMAS/NYE period. After my direct debit payments there's still £280 outstanding. I'm very confused as to why this amount is so high. After that high November bill, I decided to do some proper research into the heaters and how they work. We now only use 2 heaters in the whole flat, and theyre set to 4 out 6 on input and 1 output during nighttime and then when we wake up we do the opposite, 4 output and 1 input.
Other ways we use electricity are computer and TV which are on about 7h a day (which is average) and fridge/freezer that's on constantly. We have had problems with our boiler, basically we tried to take advantage of the cheaper economy 7 rates with the boiler, so we would set it to heat water up between 5-10am however there would be insufficient temperature/amount of hot water by evening time when we actually wanted to have baths so we stopped using that. Instead, we have always used the boost function on the water heater which we have on for 2h before our baths. We also heat up 4/5 saucepans worth of water on the stove to add to the bath as the boiler only provides us with about 30cm deep hot water. Just to note, we probably have baths 4/5 times a week and we share the water after each other too...
What my ultimate question is, what could be the reason for our extreme bills? Could it be the heaters? Or the dodgy boiler and the need to use the boost function? Seeing as the bill was normal for August-October, I think it may be the heaters but tbh, I think I use them more efficiently now yet when I calculate the average monthly cost, it seems to have been higher in Nov-Feb than it was in November alone.
Thank you!
0
Comments
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When did you last read your meters ?
(I presume you did the proper thing - read meters, give them to the existing supplier, go on a deemed contract, switch to a new supplier)
Please give the opening reads in Aug 2018 and todays.Never pay on an estimated bill. Always read and understand your bill0 -
Check that they are not billing the cheap night rate units at the pricey day rate. That is one of the main reasons for night storage users suddenly getting much higher bills.
Its called transposed billing, and could be caused by the meter reading company such as MDS who work for BG, EDF, Scot Power, Eon and many smaller suppliers.. They routinely read the day rate as night rate on digital Eco 7 meters.0 -
Hi,
Last time I read my meters was at the end of November when I gave them the reading and got back the £145 bill. The one I just got was an estimate, I've just sent them my actual readings as of today, hopefully that will decrease my outstanding amount.
This is what my latest statement says
Estimated use in the last 12 months
Day 4,769 kWh
Night 2,290 kWh
Total 7,059 kWh
21 Nov 18 to 28 Nov 18 D16W138007 00853 C 00939 E Day 86
21 Nov 18 to 28 Nov 18 D16W138007 00715 C 00777 E Night 62
28 Nov 18 to 17 Dec 18 D16W138007 00939 E 01174 A Day 235
28 Nov 18 to 17 Dec 18 D16W138007 00777 E 00946 A Night 169
17 Dec 18 to 1 Jan 19 D16W138007 01174 A 01555 E Day 381
17 Dec 18 to 1 Jan 19 D16W138007 00946 A 01085 E Night 139
1 Jan 19 to 26 Feb 19 D16W138007 01555 E 02978 E Day 1423
1 Jan 19 to 26 Feb 19 D16W138007 01085 E 01603 E Night 518
E.ON EnergyPlan
Usage charges £169.70
21 Nov 2018 to 01 Jan 2019 Day units used 702 at 19.21p each £134.85
21 Nov 2018 to 01 Jan 2019 Night units used 370 at 9.42p each £34.85
Standing charges £7.24
21 Nov 2018 to 27 Nov 2018 7 days at 27.39p £1.92
28 Nov 2018 to 31 Dec 2018 34 days at 15.64p £5.32
Usage charges £307.21
01 Jan 2019 to 26 Feb 2019 Day 1423 at 18.44p each £262.40
01 Jan 2019 to 26 Feb 2019 Night 518 at 8.65p each £44.81
Standing charges £11.46
01 Jan 2019 to 25 Feb 2019 56 days at 20.46p £11.46
Total charges
Total electricity charges (excluding any discounts and VAT) £495.61
My meter readings
07/03/2019 02332 Customer Low / Rate 2 / Rate 4
07/03/2019 01936 Customer Normal / Rate 1
17/12/2018 946 Special Low / Rate 2 / Rate 4
17/12/2018 1174 Special Normal / Rate 1
21/11/2018 715 Customer Low / Rate 2 / Rate 4
21/11/2018 853 Customer Normal / Rate 1
17/10/2018 280 Customer Low / Rate 2 / Rate 4
17/10/2018 459 Customer Normal / Rate 1
17/08/2018 93 Customer Low / Rate 2 / Rate 4
17/08/2018 32 Customer Normal / Rate 10 -
May be obvious to say but you have occupied your flat during the winter, and consumption is therefore higher. Consumption will fall through Spring and in Summer, so that your account will probably be in credit by August.
The input controls on your storage heaters only affects the consumption during the night storage period. So there is no need to change it during the day. In April / May you may be able to reduce it to 2. In summer the heaters can be switched off.
You refer to your boiler which I assume is a hot water cylinder with 2 immersion heaters. The off peak immersion should be on during the off peak period to give you a tank of hot water. (5am - 10am is largely in peak rate times). Check that the thermostats are set correctly ( 55 / 60 degC )
Take regular meter readings and calculate the consumption for peak and off peak times. This should allow you to see how effective any changes you make are, and also give you an annual consumption figure to check you tariff on a comparison site. (As has already been said we hope you selected a cheaper tariff than the standard variable EnergyPlan)0 -
If those are your readings for 07/03/19 then the bill will be amended to approx. £363. Unfortunately you are on the standard variable contract, which is more expensive than many other tariffs and is going up by at least 10% from 1 April. If you expect to stay for another year it would be worth starting to use a comparison site to see what alternative tariffs you have.
Use the 7059 kWh calculated by EON as your annual consumption, but use 50% day / 50% night to reflect your use over the 12 months from Aug18 - Aug19. Good luck0 -
I have been reading Eco 7 meters for nearly 20 years and virtually all Eco 7 users who use night storage heaters typically use more night units than day units annually. You have posted the opposite therefore I think you should examine your digital meter carefully to determine if you are actually getting billed the cheap rate for the correct 7 hrs period..Your meter could have three rates , 1, rate 2 and a T for total.. Rate 1 is normally, but not always, the day rate, rate 2 is night rate and the total is never used in billing0
-
Appears to me that for the period 17 Dec to 07 Mar that the consumption is 65% night, 35% day.
But checking to make sure rates are correct is sensible of course.0 -
Alan_Cieslar wrote: »Hi,
I seem to be receiving unusually high electricity bills over the last few months. I live in a one bedroom flat with my girlfriend, the building itself I presume is quite old (it's one of those high rises, possibly from the 60/70s). We only pay for electricity (dual fuel) as there is no gas in the flat.
Anyway, we moved here at the end of August 2018. Before moving in, I set up an Economy 7 electricity plan with E-ON for £60/month which I thought was a perfectly normal amount. I received my first bill in late October and it was £120 which I was happy with. The next bill was in late November and it was £144! I was really shocked by this drastic amount and after some serious thinking I think that may have been down to the 3 heaters we used to heat up the flat during those cold days. The heaters we have are old, economy 7 ones and at first I had no idea how to use them. I would set the both output and input dials to maximum and so I presume all of the electricity was used that way. In the end I agreed with E-ON to pay a monthly debit of £120.
I've just received another bill from 22/11 to 26/02 for £496!
We were also away for 3 weeks in the XMAS/NYE period. After my direct debit payments there's still £280 outstanding. I'm very confused as to why this amount is so high. After that high November bill, I decided to do some proper research into the heaters and how they work. We now only use 2 heaters in the whole flat, and theyre set to 4 out 6 on input and 1 output during nighttime and then when we wake up we do the opposite, 4 output and 1 input.
Other ways we use electricity are computer and TV which are on about 7h a day (which is average) and fridge/freezer that's on constantly. We have had problems with our boiler, basically we tried to take advantage of the cheaper economy 7 rates with the boiler, so we would set it to heat water up between 5-10am however there would be insufficient temperature/amount of hot water by evening time when we actually wanted to have baths so we stopped using that. Instead, we have always used the boost function on the water heater which we have on for 2h before our baths. We also heat up 4/5 saucepans worth of water on the stove to add to the bath as the boiler only provides us with about 30cm deep hot water. Just to note, we probably have baths 4/5 times a week and we share the water after each other too...
What my ultimate question is, what could be the reason for our extreme bills? Could it be the heaters? Or the dodgy boiler and the need to use the boost function? Seeing as the bill was normal for August-October, I think it may be the heaters but tbh, I think I use them more efficiently now yet when I calculate the average monthly cost, it seems to have been higher in Nov-Feb than it was in November alone.
Thank you!Alan_Cieslar wrote: »Hi,
Last time I read my meters was at the end of November when I gave them the reading and got back the £145 bill. The one I just got was an estimate, I've just sent them my actual readings as of today, hopefully that will decrease my outstanding amount.
This is what my latest statement says
Estimated use in the last 12 months
Day 4,769 kWh
Night 2,290 kWh
Total 7,059 kWh
21 Nov 18 to 28 Nov 18 D16W138007 00853 C 00939 E Day 86
21 Nov 18 to 28 Nov 18 D16W138007 00715 C 00777 E Night 62
28 Nov 18 to 17 Dec 18 D16W138007 00939 E 01174 A Day 235
28 Nov 18 to 17 Dec 18 D16W138007 00777 E 00946 A Night 169
17 Dec 18 to 1 Jan 19 D16W138007 01174 A 01555 E Day 381
17 Dec 18 to 1 Jan 19 D16W138007 00946 A 01085 E Night 139
1 Jan 19 to 26 Feb 19 D16W138007 01555 E 02978 E Day 1423
1 Jan 19 to 26 Feb 19 D16W138007 01085 E 01603 E Night 518
E.ON EnergyPlan
Usage charges £169.70
21 Nov 2018 to 01 Jan 2019 Day units used 702 at 19.21p each £134.85
21 Nov 2018 to 01 Jan 2019 Night units used 370 at 9.42p each £34.85
Standing charges £7.24
21 Nov 2018 to 27 Nov 2018 7 days at 27.39p £1.92
28 Nov 2018 to 31 Dec 2018 34 days at 15.64p £5.32
Usage charges £307.21
01 Jan 2019 to 26 Feb 2019 Day 1423 at 18.44p each £262.40
01 Jan 2019 to 26 Feb 2019 Night 518 at 8.65p each £44.81
Standing charges £11.46
01 Jan 2019 to 25 Feb 2019 56 days at 20.46p £11.46
Total charges
Total electricity charges (excluding any discounts and VAT) £495.61
My meter readings
07/03/2019 02332 Customer Low / Rate 2 / Rate 4
07/03/2019 01936 Customer Normal / Rate 1
17/12/2018 946 Special Low / Rate 2 / Rate 4
17/12/2018 1174 Special Normal / Rate 1
21/11/2018 715 Customer Low / Rate 2 / Rate 4
21/11/2018 853 Customer Normal / Rate 1
17/10/2018 280 Customer Low / Rate 2 / Rate 4
17/10/2018 459 Customer Normal / Rate 1
17/08/2018 93 Customer Low / Rate 2 / Rate 4
17/08/2018 32 Customer Normal / Rate 1
Hello Alan_Cieslar and welcome to the Forums.
Already a lot of good advice on here - thanks all. I'll try to add to it.
Thank you for letting us have meter readings. This will let us rebill accurately and review the monthly payments to help make sure they're covering what you're using. As PeterGr says, taking regular readings will help you keep on top of this usage. Smart meters might help as they send us readings remotely so you don't have. It's a way of avoiding estimated bills. Although, as you live in a flat, it might not be possible to have one of these meters yet. It depends on the circumstances.
Check out Houbara's advice and make sure we're billing the readings the right way around. Let us know if we're not and we'll arrange to rebill from the time we started charging the day readings at night rates or vice versa.
You're on our standard Energy Plan tariff. There are cheaper options both with us and with the other suppliers. I'd pop details on a Price Comparison site to see what's available.
With Economy 7, all electricity used during the off-peak period is charged at cheaper night rates. Try and use as much electricity as needed during these off-peak times. Particularly for heating/hot water. Totally understand, these aren't particularly sociable hours and timers might be of use here. You mention using the boost on the water heater. If this was during the day hours, the cost would be quite a bit more than if used at off-peak times.
Off-peak times vary depending on the region and metering set-up. Make sure you know when the off-peak rates are active. We can let you know this. If unsure, drop an email to the address in my Profile and I'll be happy to find the times for you.
When you've minute, have a look at the energy saving pages on our website. There are some useful tips to help you save money by saving energy.
Hope this gives you a few ideas Alan_Cieslar. Let me know if you need any more advice as happy to help.
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I am an official company representative of E.ON. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"0
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