Can anyone help me understand these bills?

SPlatten

We switched to Pure Planet and since the switch I really don't understand what our bills are telling us, here is the summary from each for the last 3 months:

For the period 18 Oct 2020 to 17 Dec 2020

Balance at your last statement £0.00

Payment received on 19 Oct 2020 CR £174.10

Payment received on 18 Nov 2020 CR £174.10

Payment received on 18 Dec 2020 CR £174.10

Balance before spend CR £522.30

Total new spend this period £785.97

Account Balance DR £263.67

 

For the period 18 Dec 2020 to 17 Jan 2021

Balance at your last statement £263.67

Payment received on 18 Jan 2021 CR £174.10

Balance before spend £89.57

Total new spend this period £475.84

Account Balance DR £565.41

 

For the period 18 Jan 2021 to 17 Feb 2021

Balance at your last statement £565.41

Payment received on 18 Feb 2021 CR £174.10

Balance before spend £391.31

Total new spend this period £440.58

Account Balance DR £831.89

Since switching to Pure Planet our Direct Debit is higher and it appears that our usage is also higher, I would live to be able to contact Pure Planet to discuss these bills with them, but I cannot find a way of contacting Pure Planet, for this reason alone I wished we had never switched to Pure Planet, I need to be able to talk to someone.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

have you been supplying regular readings or are bills estimated?

Robin9

Certainly every bill is showing you are owing more than the DD's you have made and this is growing with every bill.

Are these bills based on ACTUAL meter readings that you have been giving PP ?   Or do the readings have E for Estimated against them - if you have been waiting for a meter reader to come you will have a long wait -  or are you assuming SMART meters are still communicating ?

Is your's a big house - ?

Gerry1

Sounds like you may have been misreading a meter.  Is gas or electricity the culprit?  If it's gas, make sure you haven't been sending a reading in kWh rather than m3.

Please post pics of the meters and the readings you think are applicable. 

SPlatten

@Robin9, the last two readings are from our smart meter, which Pure Planet said they were unable to access, then magically they are now able to access it.  Our meter readings with previous supplies have never been anything close to this high.  Its a detached house, yes its large, but nothing explains what now appears to be 4 x increase in the bills.  Again the worse thing is not being able to telephone Pure Planet and discuss this with anyone.

@Gerry1, I haven't been reading the meter at all.  The last two bills are from the smart meter.  We only have electric.

Robin9

Give us those readings please .

SPlatten

Date	kWh	Price p/kWh	Money
18-Oct-20	8357.7
18-Nov-20	11076.0
18-Dec-20	13913.0
Energy Used	5555.3	0.1320	£733.30
Membership fee			£15.24
Subtotal of charges before VAT			£748.54
VAT @ 5%			£37.43
Total Charges for this bill			£785.97
18-Dec-20	13913.0
18-Jan-21	17093.5
Energy Used	3180.5	0.1401	£445.56
Membership fee			£7.62
Subtotal of charges before VAT			£453.18
VAT @ 5%			£22.66
Total Charges for this bill			£475.84
18-Jan-21	17093.5
18-Feb-21	20034.3
Energy Used	2940.8	0.1401	£411.98
Membership fee			£7.62
Subtotal of charges before VAT			£419.60
VAT @ 5%			£20.98
Total Charges for this bill			£440.58

Robin9

So your heating is either with a great big boiler supplying wet radiators, panel heaters, magic dust heaters, underfloor ?

All of which are guaranteed to give you large bills.   On the good side they will be lower in the summer perhaps that accounts for your 4 x 

It looks like the meter is comparatively new  - perhaps August/September last year.

SPlatten

The installation was completely new, all new radiators were installed by the same company that installed the Air Source Heat Pump.  

Robin9

Give us a bit of a background please  - you changed your heating from what to what . when ?

Gerry1

Do a meter sanity check.  Switch everything off at the consumer unit and watch the 1000 Imp/kWh LED for a few minutes and make sure it doesn't flash.  If it passes, note the meter reading and leave everything off for a few hours, preferably overnight and make sure the reading is exactly the same.

If the meter seems not to be faulty, switch on one circuit at a time and check the consumption by counting the number of flashes per minute and doing the sums.  You should then be able to establish what's using so much electricity.

Also do a check by connecting only a known high power device such as a 3kW kettle or fan heater and making sure the consumption indicated by the flashing LED  is similar to that shown on the rating plate.