Eyewatering electric bill

Ectophile

Deleted_User wrote: »

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.

If you turn off the lighting circuit(s) at your consumer unit (fusebox), does everything go dark upstairs? If so, that may be the answer.



If you have really turned everything off, your usage should be way below 4kWh in one night.

[Deleted User]

Thanks for your reply, do you think it's best if I move back to Shell? Sorry, I don't really understand electricity bills particularly which is probably why I'm in this mess.

Robin9

Deleted_User wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, do you think it's best if I move back to Shell? Sorry, I don't really understand electricity bills particularly which is probably why I'm in this mess.

It's not the electricity bill you need to understand - it's how you control the heating. Until you've got this sorted changing suppliers will only confuse you more.

Talldave

Deleted_User wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, do you think it's best if I move back to Shell? Sorry, I don't really understand electricity bills particularly which is probably why I'm in this mess.

Only if Shell is cheaper. The problem seems to be your high consumption. Are you really using that much? Detective work as already suggested is needed.

[Deleted User]

Just an update: 
They say bad news comes in threes and my hot water stopped working. 
I had to call a plumber out and he found the electrical wiring to my hot water tank had completely eroded, got this fixed and miraculously my bill is never above £45 now! 
So that's where the extortionate electric use was obviously coming from!

RelievedSheff

Don't be fooled by that. It has been fairly warm this year and you have been in the summer months. Your bills will take a hike again this winter when you start using the heating again.

Gerry1

If you're still running your storage heaters your immersion heater(s) on single rate electricity from an expensive supplier such as Bulb, then a massive winter bill is absolutely guaranteed.

Takmon

Deleted_User said:

Just an update: 
They say bad news comes in threes and my hot water stopped working. 
I had to call a plumber out and he found the electrical wiring to my hot water tank had completely eroded, got this fixed and miraculously my bill is never above £45 now! 
So that's where the extortionate electric use was obviously coming from!

No it wasn't, dodgy wires will not result in a massive increase in electricity usage.

The last time you posted was in February so you were looking at winter bills where you have had the heating on a lot. Now it's August where we have had many months of hot weather so you haven't had the heating on at all i bet. 
Surely you must know that electric heating costs as lot and the more you use it (when it's cold) the more it costs...

Petriix

Dodgy wiring can cause higher usage although it would more typically cause breakers to trip or start a fire. However, you should definitely switch to a cheaper supplier and switch over to an economy 7 tariff (assuming you're meter setup allows.

Ectophile

Deleted_User said:

Just an update: 
They say bad news comes in threes and my hot water stopped working. 
I had to call a plumber out and he found the electrical wiring to my hot water tank had completely eroded, got this fixed and miraculously my bill is never above £45 now! 
So that's where the extortionate electric use was obviously coming from!

That's because it's summer, it's been really hot, and you will have been using less electricity.