Faulty Meter/ Excessive usage ?

cado1

Hi 
I had my energy supplied by Octopus in may last 2 rented properties, I was on a fixed tariff and always in credit even in winter / lock down. My last house was 2 bed I had a lodger and was working from home since lock down started the place also had no double glazing and limited natural sunlight so overall I found it quite cold and had the heating on a lot . At the start of December I moved to a new smaller 1 bedroom flat for just me it's much more modern e.g double glazing. Ahead of my move I told octopus I was moving and wanted them to continue to supply me at my new place. The current supply at my new place was with Ecotricity and they blocked the switch several times, customer service has been abysmal with several phone calls and emails I managed to move the electricity over on 30 December and paid about £35 to them for the period they supplied this. Switching the Gas has proved to be an absolute nightmare but I am finally on track to switch on 26 March. However the charge for the period from 30 November to 5th March from them is £318.34 based on usage of 5,930kWh (96 days) I have already paid some towards this and they have given me a £50 credit due to the customer service failings but they I will still have to pay £137.50.

I have gone through the 11 months of usage on my bills from Octopus in my previous 2 bed and in 11 months my Gas usage was 5,383kWh I just cannot fathom the usage in 96 days being higher than the previous 11 months and not sure where to go next. From research I have done  annual usage of circa 6,000kWh is average for a 1 bed with one person 

Any ideas welcome 

Thanks 

JGB1955

What meter readings did you give Ecotricity when you moved in, and what were they on 5 March?  What tariff were/are you on (it's likely to be a deemed/expensive tariff)?

MWT

The biggest issue would seem to be the rate you were paying per kWh for that gas rather than the gas usage itself.

An average of 60kWh per day is on the high side, but not completely crazy.

Check the bill to make sure that actual meter readings were used for the start and end.

It sounds like you didn't properly register with the existing supplier and open an account before switching back to Octopus which is where a lot of your problems came from, but hopefully you did take a meter reading the day you moved in...

bagand96

Is the bill based on estimates or actual Meter readings?

Did you give Ecotricity meter readings in the day you became responsible for the property? And have you given regular readings since?

MWT

Also check to see that the meter readings and the bill are both using the same units, probably m3, because if the meter is metric, but the bill assumes an old imperial meter the total used will be multiplied by 2.83...

This winter was extremely cold and your bill covers the vast majority of that very cold period so I'd expect it to be high, but hopefully the answer is in the the use of estimated meter readings which will be shown on the bill with an 'E'...