Ecotricity HUGE bill

Mr.Wrong

Hi all, so to sum everything up quite quickly...
I moved into my 1 bedroom flat with my partner September 1st 2018, we were told to wait for an electricity provider to get in touch (we are electricity only, no gas)
4 months in I get a letter saying I owe £530, I contact Ecotricity and they claim they have been providing us for the four months and the bill is correct, I query it and they tell me they’ll get back to me on the matter.
Another 2 months down the line I get an email saying my up to date bill is online.
It’s now £728 for 6 months electricity.

Without going into details on appliances etc because we use hardly anything, the shower and oven seem to use quite a bit but shower is twice a day between us and oven for 30 mins once a day...

My questions are,
Can I dispute this bill because they took so long to get in touch with us then just expect us to pay it, they never offered any of their tariffs.
We haven’t been able to set up tarrifs with any other provider because we’ve been waiting for a bill.

I’t just doesn’t make sense and I’m so stressed because of it, im finally financially sound and then I get a £728 bill.
The average house is 10kwh and ours is 14kwh today alone with two showers, half hour oven and 2 hours radiator.

Ridiculous, we never got to choose who our provider was, reading reviews I would of never chose them as they have shocking reviews and high prices.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the rambling

elsien

You always have to go with the existing provider/tariff initially , then you switch once you're in.

It wasn't the wisest move to wait six months then wonder why you had a big bill - unless it's wrong of course you have to pay it. After all, you've used it.
Do you have a meter reading from when you moved in? Have you taken any meter readings since? Are the figures you are being charged based on estimated or actual readings?

HampshireH

Did you provide readings when you moved in?
And do the readings on your bill state actual and actually reflect those on your meter.

You cann refuae to pay before they didnt bill you for 4 months no.

You could have initiated a switch to another supplier & they would have calculated a final bill. Not sure why waiting for a bill stopped you from switching.

HampshireH

* You can't refuse that should say. Or indeed you can but they will pursuse you.

Mr.Wrong

This was the first time I’ve moved out (without parents)
I didn’t take any readings at first because I was told to wait for a provider to be in touch,
I got in touch with them after the bill,
They said it was an estimated bill.
I’m not entirely sure if this bill is estimated or not but I’ll find out tomorrow when I call.

My little smart meter that I plug in doesn’t have any data readings from before February which is odd as they were there last time I looked in December.

I didn’t look at other providers as when I first quiryed the £530, they told me not to worry as it’ll probably be wrong. Turns out it wasn’t wrong.

Obviously I’ve made a big mistake and will likely have to pay for it.

Plan for tomorrow is call other providers like bulb, if they quote a low price I’ll go from there.

elsien

Don't call other providers. They can pluck a monthly figure out of thin air with nothing else to go on and it won't neccessarily be accurate.
If you've taken any readings at all since you've moved in they might give you some idea of your actual usage, as opposed to what you're paying, then put the figures into a comparison site. You need to consider the standing charge as well as your usage.
Paying by monthly direct debit might also make it slightly cheaper.
If you have an online account you can look on there to see what opening reading Ecotricity used. They will have guessed it if you didn't provide one, unless they're using the end reading from the previous tenant.
You really need to start taking your own readings at least monthly and sending them to the provider.
And you won't be able to switch while you're in arrears.

Finchy2018

Do you rent? If so, was there a check in? Meter readings will be on your check in report.

HampshireH

Also as well as the above.

Your usage is high so i presume you are all electric heating/hot water.

You say radiator 2 hrs a day. Is this a panel heater? How many radiators? These can be expensive. Likewise if you leave your water on all day this will burn money for you.

Have a look at what you have on etc & start turning things off.

Have you actually looked at your ecotricity tariff? It may not actually be unreasonable comparatively.

Finally use comparison sites like Mse energy club or the other known sites. Do not just call bulb. For me bulb was very expensive option and not viable. Its just an example but if you are going to get savvy then you need to compare prices

Sanctioned_Parts_List

When a tenant moves out of the property, they will notify the utility companies of their leaving date and give final meter readings. Any energy used in the intervening period is the landlord's responsibility. There are a number of unscrupulous estate agents and landlords out there, who will attempt to foist a few months (or more) energy use on their next tenants, and, unfortunately, enough inexperienced tenants out there to fall for it.

Like me (mumble mumble) years ago , who got stuck for a very large number when the estate agent had said, "don't worry, I've already given the readings to the energy company."

Note, while it is possible to challenge a bill like this, and you can probably get a few months worth of standing charge removed, on the basis of the date of your tenancy agreement, unless you actually took meter readings, with evidence (photos) on the day you moved in, you'll struggle to get the bill recalculated. However, do talk to Ecotricity's customer services, too. It won't be the first such complaint they've had, and they should have an idea of what to do.

Anyway, lessons for the future:
- before you move in to a rented house, insist on knowing the utility suppliers and their reference numbers. Don't pay the deposit without this info
- when you move in, call the utility suppliers and give your meter readings. Also take photos of the meters and send copies to the estate agents. It's always nice to ruin their day.
- similarly, go through the inventory and damage reports with a fine-toothed comb. Photograph all prior damage from multiple angles and attach to the inventory.
- Also, if ever you have as shady an estate agent as mine was - it's the landlord that pays for repairs, not the tenant...

Robin9

Mr.Wrong wrote: »

.....................
4 months in I get a letter saying I owe £530, ..................'
It’s now £728 for 6 months electricity....................'

In an all electric property these sorts of bills are not unexpected.


The answer to accurate bills is accurate meter readings - do get into the habit of reading your meter at least monthly, give them to your supplier, keep your own records .

When did you last read your meter ? Read it again today and give us the readings - we want kwh not £

Mr.Wrong

All electric flat.
16p per kWh
Standing charge of either 41 or 51p

I’m new to this so not sure what a standing charge is.

What readings do I want to take?
I’ve taken some pictures of yesterday’s usage.