Billed £280 per month for electricity!

aleksandramcr

Hi, without the kettle on (we've the telly, PC, charger and the fridge on) it's on 98 kw. The total 4.51 kWh is measured since midnight (we turned the heating on at 11 pm) 

tim_p

98w! If it was 98kW the house would be glowing!

aleksandramcr

Sorry, this is what I meant - I don't know much about electricity as you can tell, but I'll proably learn the hard way. 

aleksandramcr

I also meant *we turned the heating OFF at 11 pm

aleksandramcr

matelodave said:

I dont think that you can blame all your ills on your landlord.
Your DD with BG was unfeasibly low and it appears that you didn't check your bills and statements until you got a ginormous bill. You then changed to an a inappropriate tariff with another supplier without appreciating the consequences. You also don't seem to have worked out where all your energy was being used by trying to understand how your heating and hot water system worked and optimising it to suit your lifestyle.
Checking your meters and consumption a bit more often would have helped you work out that you were using a lot, rather than just waiting for a bill and throwing your hands up in horror when you saw how large it was.

TBH used correctly the system might well be fit for purpose (and probably is) but an all electric dwelling is always going to be expensive to run but you need to understand how to use it properly to get the best out of it and make sure you are on the right tariff.

I agree I should have realised what my total balance was way earlier than October. When we first set up an account with British Gas, this was the amount they suggested I start with and then we can adjust it. It didn't change for the first three months, so I assumed everything was fine. I appreciate this is my fault. As soon as I realised i've a high bill, I asked the agency/landlord for some help/explanation as to what's causing such a high usage. They first blamed it on me using the electricity incorrectly, then apparently I "cracked a socket which would have caused the heating to perfom poorly" This is utter lies, we've never had a cracked socket. One day the electricity's just gone down in one room and the landlord said he'll come in with his contractor the next day. I really regret letting them in without supervision, I couldn't take the time off work. They concluded:

"1.            I attempted to turn on the Heatmat heating system and the circuit breaker did indeed switch the electricity in the flat off indicating a fault.

2.            Upon checking the fused spur’s in each room we have found that the one in the bedroom has been DAMAGED by the tenant.

3.            The fused spur will need to be replaced with new by my electrical contractor at the tenants cost

4.            This issue did NOT exist prior to them moving in.

5.            The damage to the fused spur will have..

a.            Caused the heating system in the bedroom to perform poorly

b.            Caused the circuit breaker to function

6.            An electrician will be at the flat at 8.30am tomorrow to install a new item.

7.            I have removed the fuse from the spur as a safety precaution."

They've also charged me £40 for the repair. 

As I've said, no matter what heating schedule/ tarriff/ supplier I use - the bill is exceptionaly high. 

I don't see how I should accept full blame for just not being aware of how things work. 

aleksandramcr

"The issue didn't exist prior to them moving in" - I don't see how he could know that, seeing that we're the first tenants in this property since the place had been converted from a pub to flats. 

Carrot007

Was the meter e7 when fitted by bgas. According to the national database the tarrif changed to single rate with the new supplier. (you address is also visible to people with access to this from the4 meter number so feel free to remove it if you like).

Could be standard practice for bulb to mess things up like this, would be nice to know what it was before.

aleksandramcr

The meter has never been changed, it's always been the one pictured above installed by British Gas. 
Before we switched to British Gas, I was on Home Energy Fix Green Nov 2020 tarriff with British Gas. 
Here's my January bill: 


And the total end of 

aleksandramcr

Whereas my first free bills were on temporary December 2020 tarrifff. 

bsms1147

You must have made the change yourself, to go from the temporary December tariff to the fixed one? - the fixed one was cheaper (both unit rate and standing order), so that meant all this has been cheaper than it would have been if you'd remained on the December tariff.

It's likely that you switched on the heating then between these two bills (between 15 September and 26 December) to account for the difference, going from 9 units a day to 33 units a day. So your load without the heating is likely close to 9 units a day.

90 watts at baseline sounds correct now, so this is pretty much all down to the heating, (water heater being negligible in the grand scheme of things if you've not changed anything to do with is, since it would have been operating just as it is now in the Aug-Sept billing period, give or take heating water from a slightly colder starting point)