Electricity bill

EGidman

Hi i have recied a bill from octopus energy for £1000. I lived in a 1 bedroom flat and paid the bill every month but now they are saying their estimates were wrong so have billed me for this. But it says I have used 7000 kw in six months. This amount is equivalent of a business. There is no way I used that much electric. I just dont know what to do.

Robin9

Look back on your first bill from Octopus - what was the opening reading ?   Have there been any other A (for Actual) or C (for Consumer)  meter reads there since that bill - if you haven't been giving them to Octopus no-one else will.  

What is todays reading ?

dunstonh

But it says I have used 7000 kw in six months. This amount is equivalent of a business. 

7000 kWh over 6 months is not the equivalent of a business.   We use 20,000 kWh of electricity a year and that doesn't include heating.   True, we use more than most but you could see plenty of homes using 7000 kWh in 6 months.

However, what looks like has happened is that you haven't been giving them meter readings and they have been using estimates that are lower than your actual use.   An actual meter reading has been supplied and the latest bill includes the amount to catch up.  It doesn't mean you have used 7000 kWh in 6 months.  It means you were up to 7000 kWh behind in your readings.

Or another way of looking at is take the difference between the last two actual readings (not estimates) and average that over the timescale.   

What probably happens is that when you moved to octopus you didn't do it on an actual use basis (by saying how many kWh you use a year) but did it on the basis of an estimate of how much you thought it would be or by how much you were paying each month previously (an awful way to do it but many do and it nearly always ends up with you owing money).

If you go online and look at your past meter readings, how long was it between actual readings and not estimates?    What were those readings and dates (so we can see what your real usage is)

tim_p

Robin9 said:

Look back on your first bill from Octopus - what was the opening reading ?   Have there been any other A (for Actual) or C (for Consumer)  meter reads there since that bill - if you haven't been giving them to Octopus no-one else will.  

What is todays reading ?

As Robin says, what was the opening reading, what is it today, how much have you paid each month and what is the tariff (cost per kWh and standing charge). With that info it should be easy to see what you do or perhaps don’t owe.