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High bills - what happens if we find a fault

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  • Talldave
    Talldave Posts: 2,002 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I think your problem must be your tariff.  What are your unit rates? I'm paying 2.4p/kWh gas and 11.5p/kWh electricity. 
  • poppellerant
    poppellerant Posts: 1,963 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Robin9 said:

    2 possibilities with your gas
    1) It's a 4 digit meter and the systems tend to expect 5 digits
    2) It's an imperial meter ft3. Look at you bill does it say ft3 or m3 ?
    This is also my thought too - I would bet the supplier don't realise the OP has an old cubic feet meter and billing her in cubic meters.

    Using the OP's meter readings provided above (8029 and 8673), I have inputted 644 into an online calculator (here), and here are the results showing the difference between m3 and ft3 readings


    It is very easy to see how such a confusion can be expensive.  This is why it is important for the OP to check their bill, particularly the gas section.
  • Gerry1
    Gerry1 Posts: 10,848 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 29 July 2020 at 6:34PM
    As the OP has an imperial meter, if they've been mistakenly billed as if it were metric then the correct bill will be massively higher !
  • raddougall
    raddougall Posts: 17 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 10 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 29 July 2020 at 7:47PM
    Robin9 said:

    2 possibilities with your gas
    1) It's a 4 digit meter and the systems tend to expect 5 digits
    2) It's an imperial meter ft3. Look at you bill does it say ft3 or m3 ?
    Bills don't specifically say ft3 but do show the conversion table from 'meter units' to KWh where as a metric meter I believe should just show the straight up KWh.
    Both Bulb and EDF show this type of conversion table on the bill.

    This m3 / ft3 difference was also one of my thoughts but I'm not certain this is an issue or really how I can check it other than calling them?

  • Talldave
    Talldave Posts: 2,002 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    The billing is correct.  Your consumption doesn't surprise me. All looks OK apart from the costs you were quoting.  Please tell us your tariff costs?
  • raddougall
    raddougall Posts: 17 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 10 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Talldave said:
    The billing is correct.  Your consumption doesn't surprise me. All looks OK apart from the costs you were quoting.  Please tell us your tariff costs?
    Thanks @Talldave
    Just seemed very high to me, especially in those first weeks when we had no gas appliances for part of it, but I did come from a 2 bed terrace to a 4 bed detached. However, when I compare to my brother with a 3 bed detached house with a thatch roof, our usage appears to be something like 3x his. I could appreciate a bit more, but 3x is a lot.

    Bulb tariff is/was ...
    Electricity 19.66p per day plus 13.50p per KWh
    Gas 19.47p per day plus 2.78p per KWh
  • Dragonfly1
    Dragonfly1 Posts: 120 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 29 July 2020 at 8:09PM
    Talldave said:
    The billing is correct.  Your consumption doesn't surprise me. All looks OK apart from the costs you were quoting.  Please tell us your tariff costs?
    Thanks @Talldave
    Just seemed very high to me, especially in those first weeks when we had no gas appliances for part of it, but I did come from a 2 bed terrace to a 4 bed detached. However, when I compare to my brother with a 3 bed detached house with a thatch roof, our usage appears to be something like 3x his. I could appreciate a bit more, but 3x is a lot.

    Bulb tariff is/was ...
    Electricity 19.66p per day plus 13.50p per KWh
    Gas 19.47p per day plus 2.78p per KWh

    Gas price for your tariff in particular is very high.
    Your gas costs should be at least 10% lower, ideally 20% depending on exactly where you live. Some people here will pay under 2.00p per kWh.
    What City/Area do you live in
  • Gerry1
    Gerry1 Posts: 10,848 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Bills don't specifically say ft3 but do show the conversion table from 'meter units' to KWh whereas a metric meter I believe should just show the straight up KWh.
    This m3 / ft3 difference was also one of my thoughts but I'm not certain this is an issue or really how I can check it other than calling them?

    No gas meters measure directly in kWh.  They measure volume, which has to be number crunched according to how 'dilute' or 'concentrated' the gas is, and how much it was 'squashed' by atmospheric pressure.  Only then can the kWh figure be obtained.
    Your meter is imperial because your bill shows that 25 hundred cubic feet has been converted to 70.75 cubic metres.
  • MWT
    MWT Posts: 10,209 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fifth Anniversary Name Dropper
    The difference on Bulb bills and a few others is rather than work only with the ft3 figure, they convert to m3 first with the 'Volume conversion factor' of 2.83.
    It can look a little confusing as the bills then show both ft3 and m3, but the maths is solid.
  • RelievedSheff
    RelievedSheff Posts: 12,691 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Sixth Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic
    Talldave said:
    The billing is correct.  Your consumption doesn't surprise me. All looks OK apart from the costs you were quoting.  Please tell us your tariff costs?
    Thanks @Talldave
    Just seemed very high to me, especially in those first weeks when we had no gas appliances for part of it, but I did come from a 2 bed terrace to a 4 bed detached. However, when I compare to my brother with a 3 bed detached house with a thatch roof, our usage appears to be something like 3x his. I could appreciate a bit more, but 3x is a lot.

    Bulb tariff is/was ...
    Electricity 19.66p per day plus 13.50p per KWh
    Gas 19.47p per day plus 2.78p per KWh
    It is useless comparing your house against your brothers. All houses are different. Our 3 bed detached house used 6500kWh of gas last year and 2500kWh of electric. Doesn't mean all 3 bed detached houses will use that amount.

    Your tariff appears to be a little on the high side for both gas and electric. When you are using the amount of energy you are even a small difference in price can make a big difference to your bills.

    The hot tub is one way you can cut our bills. Get rid of the thing. All of our friends who have them reckon they cost around £1 per day just to keep them to temperature. That's circa £365 you can save a year.
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