Massive increase in electricity bills out of nowhere

Gerry1

As well as sorting out your billing problems, you need to switch to a far more competitive tariff.  Currently you're paying 15.0675p per kWh plus a daily charge of 20.3175p including VAT.  Previously you were paying horrendous rates of 19.026p per kWh plus a daily charge of 28.938p including VAT. 

With Neon Reef, I'm paying only 12.11343p per kWh plus a daily charge of 13.2825p including VAT. 

Start comparing using Citizens Advice and 'Switch with Which?'.  You may also find other Octopus tariffs are worth investigating, e.g. Agile and Tracker.

Unfortunately, daytime electricity is about the most expensive heating fuel you can get, so if you're renting it might be worth considering moving to a property with gas central heating.

theoretica

Gerry1 said:

Unfortunately, daytime electricity is about the most expensive heating fuel you can get, so if you're renting it might be worth considering moving to a property with gas central heating.

It seems either the OP is renting a very well insulated modern flat, or they are a penguin and impervious to cold, so not using much heating.  So changing to not use much gas wouldn't be a great advantage if they can get their billing back to where it was.

Robin9

riblem said:

.  It went down a bit to around 0.08kwh for that session, however when I went to bed and did the same thing it showed an average of 0.32kwh for 5 hours when only the wifi and fridge were on.  I don't understand the increase as I didn't even turn the 4 ceiling lights on. 

Was the immersion heater on ?  Is it on a timer ?

What a mess.

Gerry1

riblem said:

when I went to bed and did the same thing it showed an average of 0.32kwh for 5 hours when only the wifi and fridge were on.

You seem a bit muddled here.  Do you mean that it used a total of 0.32kWh during that period?  That's an exact value, it can't be an average.  That corresponds to average consumption of only 64 watts, which seems absolutely fine for a fridge (and freezer?) in the cool of the night, not to mention all the standby items, e.g. microwave, cordless phone, TV, doorbell, etc)

Or do you mean that it averaged 320 watts during those five hours?  That's fairly normal at the times when the fridge / freezer motors are both working, but slightly high if it's maintained indefinitely.

riblem

yes i will look into switching up the energy provider after i sort this mess out. 
I will clarify i am currently in newcastle upon tyne renting a fairly new ( 10 years ) 2 bedroom penthouse flat which to my understanding is quite well insulated.  My heating is using a 3kwh immersion heater which i have been told to keep on, however there is no timer for me to use.  

so during my small 30 min experiment i turn off all the outlets and unplugged everything, only my fridge freezer, 4 led lights as the wifi router, which resulted in a 0.08 kwh usage in that 30 mins.  Then from the time of 6:00am to 11:0am when im asleep i again did the same thing turned off all mains and just left the wifi and fridge freezer with no standby items the usage was as follows. 
6:00am - 11:00am = 3kwh in total. 

riblem

this was my usage for yesterday which i tried to use as little electrical items as possible. ps i woke up at 3:30pm so i dont understand the high usage from around 1:30pm to around 3:30pm.  i did use my around (400w load ) pc from the times of 12am to 4am.  this day was a lot less than normal (20kwh) when it normally ranges from 24-35 kwh a day. 

Gerry1

riblem said:

My heating is using a 3kwh immersion heater which i have been told to keep on, however there is no timer for me to use.

That doesn't sound right:an immersion heater just gives you a tank of hot water.  What keeps the rooms warm?  Radiators on the wall?  Underfloor heating?

riblem

oh well i have one panel heater on the wall which i use over 3 months a year from november to around feb.  i dont use it often around 30mins a day sometimes not at all since im in uni most the time. i have underfloor heating however this has never been used. 

Robin9

Write to Octopus - don't phone -  headed COMPLAINT and ask them to explain the readings and where that silly £6000 + came from.

I was was Flow, ie Coop, and got transferred to Octopus like you. It took months for them to be able to send and eal info.

Lessons for the future - read your meter at least every month and NEVER rely on anyone else do it future and ensure you have access to the meter at all times.

Talldave

Turn the immersion heater off for 24hrs and compare graphs?