Eyewatering electric bill

[Deleted User]

I moved into a two bed flat in May so I haven't experienced a winter with electric heating until now.
I switched from Shell Energy to Bulb at the end of December and have just been sent a bill for £200.49 from Bulb for the month.
I have no idea how I could be using that much electricity?!
I turned everything off overnight to see, and it showed that I used 4 units of energy on my meter.
I have a timer on my hot water tank for 4 hours, but that only just gets me a shower & enough to do the washing up every day. I'm going to look into changing the immersion on it, as it is a bit too short according to the plumber at work.
I had the heating on in just two of my rooms, the bedroom and the lounge and thats only a singular Dimplex Quantum heater in each but I did have them at 21/22 at times.
Whats the best way to work out why my consumption is so high? In the summer months my bill never went above £50 a month & bulb is definitely the best tarriff to be on.

Robin9

My first guess is Estimated bills.

Can you post the readings from your bills and note which have the letter E (estimated) A (actual) or C (consumer) against them.

You do read your meters at least monthly and give them to Bulb don't you? (and keep your own records)

comeandgo

In summer it is warm, no heating required. In winter it is cold, heating required. Heating costs money. Drop your thermostat a bit and wear more clothes.

[Deleted User]

Hi, Yes I give them monthly meter readings, so they're stating that the £200 is my usage.

Robin9

Deleted_User wrote: »

Hi, Yes I give them monthly meter readings, so they're stating that the £200 is my usage.

That's good - but what are the readings please.

Gerry1

Make sure the number on the meter is the same as that on the bill.

Turn everything off, watch what you believe is your meter for 10 minutes, make sure the red light never flashes. Turn on the tumble dryer, oven, hotplate, kettle and make sure the red light flashes like crazy.

Is your meter inside a communal cupboard? If so, it could be someone else's.

[Deleted User]

03rd September- 4489
28th December 19- 6854
29th January 20- 8250
3rd January 20- 8431

I have more readings but they're at home, rather than on my phone.
I switched from Shell to Bulb on the 31st December so not sure what my final bill with Shell is yet... which is terrifying.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

There is a red light flashing on my meter.
It's definitely mine, I've checked.
I'm going to sound ridiculous but in the last month the lights have started flickering in the lounge when they're doing work upstairs.
Could that in anyway be linked?
Thank you everyone for your help.

Robin9

From your meter readings it would appear that you've got a single rate tariff but your installation has off peak heating.

Gerry1

Deleted_User wrote: »

I turned everything off overnight to see, and it showed that I used 4 units of energy on my meter.

Sounds like some things were left on, e.g. storage heater, fridge, freezer, immersion heater? Repeat the exercise but switching everything off at the meter. You need to get to the root of this.

Deleted_User wrote: »

bulb is definitely the best tarriff to be on.

I doubt that Bulb are the cheapest credit tariff available. They might be the cheapest pre-payment tariff, or the cheapest that pay commission to your price comparison website, but I'd expect Neon Reef, Yorkshire Energy or Avro to beat them. You're choosing to be ripped off.

Penelopa.Pitstop

Usage between December and January reading is quite shocking. 1396kW, that's 46kW daily. Your heating must be using a lot of energy.