Faulty electric meter?

Emsymarie

Just looking for a bit of advice please...
My nanny is 89, she lives alone in a small two bed bungalow. She only has electricity, no gas. She asked me last week to check her electricity bill as she was worried about how much it was and she is £500 in debt. She pays £160 per month direct debit and they wanted to up this to £220. Her usage is around 14,000kwh per year. This seems crazily high, she’s that war generation where they barely dare to have the oven on let alone be wasteful with energy. On investigation it transpires that her meter was changed in May and since then she’s used £140 of electricity. Much lower. I’ve spoken to the supplier at length. Their view at this point is that because the old meter is gone there aren’t any facts to prove it was faulty. I’ve asked them to apply some common sense, I just don’t think it’s possible one person in a small home can use that much energy, and her usage since May seems to back that up. They’re still investigating and will come back to me next week but does anyone have any advice for what we could do? I need to check bills but it looks like she’s been paying these high amounts for years. Thanks in advance.

[Deleted User]

The prime evidence has gone. Now most likely skipped never to be seen again.
I very much doubt that the electric meter was faulty but there are other reasons for incorrect billing
The meter would most likely be a Eco 7 meter with two readings, and she would have had storage heaters as her prime heating source.
At 89 your Nanny, I expect would want to keep warm through the winter months, and it is these months where the heating is on which would cost the most. In May to October the heating will not be used anywhere near as much as the colder months. If she is also using those 3 bar heaters or fan heaters as well as the storage heaters, then that is why 14000 kwh s a year could be used.
You are not going to be able to check until the colder months arrive to find out the billing is wrong. Please make sure she gets switched to the cheapest supplier for a start. Use a comp site such as UKpower.co.and enter her kwh yearly usage to find cheaper suppliers.

Gerry1

It's not a high usage figure considering there's no gas. Assuming she has storage heaters and Economy 7 (if not, it will cost her an arm and a leg at standard rates) she will be a Profile Class 2 user. For simplicity, assume she is a medium user (small house, one person but at home in the day) then the typical usage for dual fuel would be 12,000kWh gas and 4,200 electricity, total 16,200kWh.

So 14,000kWh for electricity only seems more than reasonable !

Forget any idea of overcharging, what is essential now is to make sure you have accurate meter readings for the last year (not estimated values) and to switch to the cheapest provider. Use the MSE's Cheap Energy club and the Citizen's Advice site because in its infinite wisdom, the dozy Ofgem has ruled that the commercial ones don't need to show all companies, only the ones that pay them the highest commission.

And is it possible to have mains gas or is she in a village miles from the grid? If available, that would be a very good investment.

Robin9

Your Nanny's consumption does sound quite reasonable - £140 in three summer months for someone who (I presume) is home all the time for her cooking, water heating etc.

Has she had monthly bills since then? Has she any old bills? Have a look at them and see what tariff she is one and see if you can work out her annual consumption and also how much of this as a % is at night (the comparison sites will ask for this %)

You can do all this online for your Nanny - (it's cheating a bit) but just pretend to be her. You could save her a lot of money.

While you are helping her also look at her house insurance - you might save her even more.

Emsymarie

Thanks for your help. I have switched her to a cheaper tariff but with the same supplier as she doesn’t have the funds to pay that £500 off to move. She believed she was guaranteed to be on the cheapest tariff because she had a letter telling her that her rate would always be capped - something to do with a government scheme, but that isn’t actually the case. It is capped but she was on their standard rate.

It’s good to hear the usage doesn’t sound ridiculous. She doesn’t have storage heaters, she has electric radiators and honestly she barely turns them on. Her house is always cold, she just wears extra layers! She can’t have gas installed, we looked into that previously.

I’ll keep an eye on her usage moving forward. Thanks for the tips.

Gerry1

Emsymarie wrote: »

She doesn’t have storage heaters, she has electric radiators

That's the BIG problem: peak rate electricity is about the most expensive heating you can have !:eek:
Have you checked she's getting every possible benefit? Many older people don't claim everything to which they are entitled so perhaps a nudge is needed there. If you haven't already done so, check out the Warm Home Discount and the Energy Company Obligation.

Are you really sure she can't switch to a different company? Is she genuinely in debt, or is it merely that her direct debit account shows a negative balance at the moment? In any case, the recent heatwave and the lower bills over the summer will mean that her electricity use will plummet, so moving away may soon become more realistic. Make sure you submit some meter readings soon so that the DD balance is accurate.

Even without storage radiators, Economy 7 might be worth investigating, especially if she does manage to switch to a new company. Some companies have break even points which don't require significant night time usage, so putting the immersion heater on a timer that switches on an hour or two before the end of the cheap rate might be worth it. In some areas you can extend the cheap rate to as late as 8:30am if you opt for the 2-hour peak rate in the middle of the night, so that might also allow the radiators to use the last hour of the cheap rate.

[Deleted User]

I agree with Gerry1. check out the comparison sites .eg cheapest Eco 7 rates in my area are with Symbio Energy..Day is 13.25 p/kwh. night is 8.8 p/kwh and daily standing charge is 15 p ..12 months fixed tariff with no early exit fees