Liberty Secure 112

RWrexham

I’m at my wits end with this and not sure which direction to go in.  I was renting an apartment which was electricity only, I then purchased an apartment in the same complex but l think there is something seriously wrong where l am paying too much.  The apartment l purchased were supplied by utility warehouse, when l moved in l switched to EON, when l was renting l was supplied by spark. I have storage heaters so understand l have a secure liberty 112 meter - but when l follow the instructions to read the meter I.e press 6, then press 6 a further 3 times, nothing comes up. It only comes up if l press 9. When l searched secure liberty 112 it came up as a single phase meter so l was wondering if that’s not economy 7? 

Can anyone help please. Sorry for waffling. 🤯

Gerry1

Domestic properties are usually single phase, so not a problem.  It may show only the relevant reading at the time, so try pressing 9 after the E7 cheap rate has kicked in.

RWrexham

With Spark and electricity only energy between 28/11/18 to 18/12/19 l used 3684 which cost £717.

In a like for like property, but with Eon from 31/12/20 to 26/04/20 the total is 4085.

I don’t know how l can use a years worth of electricity in 3 months? 

stewie_griffin

Are you sure they're storage heaters and that you've got economy 7. Do they only come on for 7 hours overnight?

Your usage seems fine as 4000 odd units over the closest months of the year is fairly low. Were the bills at your old home based an actual meter readings and did you have electrical heating there as well.

I live in a 1 bed house that has 2 storage heaters and my annual usage is around 8000kWh.

Gerry1

RWrexham said:

With Spark and electricity only energy between 28/11/18 to 18/12/19 l used 3684 which cost £717.

In a like for like property, but with Eon from 31/12/20 to 26/04/20 the total is 4085.

I don’t know how l can use a years worth of electricity in 3 months? 

Estimated readings, misread readings, rip off tariff, immersion heater and / or storage heaters operating on peak rate Economy 7 tariff, E7 registers transposed, paying off previous user's debt if key operated meter, etc, etc.

Do the usual meter checks: switch everything off, watch the meter for several minutes and make sure the red light never flashes.  Then plug in a known high power load such as a kettle or 3kW fan heater and count the number of flashes per minute.  The light will be labeled as how how many flashes (Impulses) correspond to a kWh so it's quite easy to work out the power being drawn.

Robin9

Are you sure you're on E7 ?   What does your bill say ?  Are there one or two rows of readings ?  Do  the readings have the letter E against them (or A) ?

As you only quote a consumption of 4085 kwh I suspect you don't have E7  and as Stewie say have you actually got storage heaters but perhaps simple panel heaters ?  (Hopefully not the magic dust type !)

PS From the Octopus site :

 

How do I read my Secure smart meter? To take a meter reading on a standard electricity tariff: Press 6 on the keypad four times. You'll see the letters “IMP R01” appear on the screen. Wait a moment – then eight digits will appear, followed by “kWh” towards the bottom right of the screen. Take the first 7 digits – this is your reading. To take a meter reading on an Economy 7 electricity tariff: Press 6 on the keypad four times. Wait a moment – your day/peak and night/ off-peak readings will show up on the screen one after the other, starting with off-peak. For your off-peak reading, you'll see “IMP R01” onscreen. A second later, you'll see your meter reading: eight digits, with “kWh” towards the bottom right of the screen. For your peak reading you'll see “IMP R02”. A second later, you'll see eight digits, with “kWh” towards the bottom right of the screen. You'll only need to take the first 7 digits when taking each of these readings (i.e. nothing after the decimal place).

matelodave

You need to check your electricity bill to check your tariff and make sure that you do have E7. I'm guessing that as you've only just got around to having a look you haven't been reading the meters, you haven't been sending in readings and you've just got an bill which is probably estimated and you are wondering what is going on.

If you haven't been sending in the readings then your supplier wont know how much you've been using so will have made a guess - shown by an E next to your meter reading on the bill. If you haven't bothered checking your account (usually ever so easy to do on-line) you might find that you've been on a standard tariff rather than an E7, In which case you'll end up paying significantly more for your energy than you needed to because you'll have been using peak rates for your heating during the coldest part of the year. 

You really need to check your meter readings and bills at least every month to make sure that everything is in order (tariff, readings, costs etc) and so you can sort it out quickly if it's not.

What readings did you give Eon when you changed supplier, have you retained that info somewhere, have you still got your final UW bill showing what they thought they were when you left. You need to find the previous info to try and sort it all out and see if or when it went wrong. All you can do now is try to get your tariff sorted out and check that your meter is actually recording both peak and off peak rates and that these reading are being used on your bills.

If not you need to contact Eon to get the meter sorted and your tariff changed. Hopefully you've got evidence that you signed up for an E7 tariff somewhere but you need to accept that you haven't been checking and should have noticed a lot earlier

RWrexham

Hi - thanks for the responses. I have attached a copy of my latest bill. I came over to EON in January 20, when l got my first bill as l pay by direct debit, the first bill was an estimate at the start which differed from my final bill with utility warehouse. I disputed this in March but I’m guessing due to COVID they haven’t done anything with it as when l contacted eon again last night they stated they are not dealing with any enquires at the present time.

RWrexham

Utility warehouse confirmed the reading when l left them on 31/12/19 was as follows -

D - 651
N - 2586

EON estimated that on 04/01/20 -

D - 4630
N - 3728

The reading l took this morning was - 

D - 1048
N - 6278

Gerry1

Sadly, you've made every mistake in the book and it's costing you a fortune.

• Buying a property without gas.

• Choosing a ridiculously expensive tariff (19.33p/kWh daytime !!  Mine is 12.11343p at all times and would still be cheaper)

• Not giving monthly meter readings (those four Es tell the sorry story)

The situation should correct itself when E.On realise that your day register hasn't been going backwards between 4 January and 27 April.

You MUST give monthly meter readings, and do a whole of the market comparison starting with Citizens Advice and 'Switch with Which?'.  Ignore all claimed savings and projections, just base everything on actual meter readings and doing the sums based on kWh rates and standing charges (don't forget VAT).  Obviously you'll have to guess your consumption at first, but you can refine it as you go along.

Robin9

Could you look again at your meter please as these readings do not make sense.

I would have expected the readings to look like 12345(decimal)6  - you should ignore the numbers after the decimal -  and while you are looking at the meter is it the same serial number as on the bill. 

How old is the flat ? Do you know when the meter went in - there may well be a card left with the meter. 
Even by your readings you have used nearly 4000 units at night and 400 at day 


PS There is a possibility of a meter mix up - not unknown in blocks of flats particularly when in communal meter cupboards. Do a test an switch off the consumer unit by the meter and check that you loose supply to your flat.