Shell Energy saying my daily usage went from 13 to 95 units per day!

jahiggins208

To try keep this brief:

I left British Gas in Nov 2020 and have picture evidence of my closing electric meter reading, which has been agreed. 

My new provider (Shell Energy) took their first smart meter reading 34 days later, which was massively higher and averaged 95 units a day. Up from 13-14 units per day (£400 over the 34 days). From their first smart meter reading future readings were back to average 13 units per day. 

It seems ridiculous that my readings for December 2020 jumped to 95 units per day yet my hands are tied as there is smart meter evidence and the Ombudsman can't do anything or investigate the meter for a fault in December 2020 as Shell replaced it with a new one in February 2021.

So now I'm left with a large bill for a huge unexplained spike in usage in December 2020 (a 3 bed terraced with no Xmas lights other than battery powered ones on the tree). Yet went back to 13ish units from Jan 2021 especially when I was working from home more often with lockdown. 

Has anyone seen this before and agree the huge spike sounds unreasonable? I'm stuck with where to turn to now so any advice is appreciated. 


Thanks, 

Neil_Jones

95 units per day over the whole month or just on specific days?   Is this an all-electric property or do you have gas as well?

Remember December is usually cold and unless you enjoy shivering you almost certainly would have had some heating on.  With gas properties its quite easy to burn through well over 300 electric units per month in the colder months.  All-electric at least twice more.

QrizB

There was a poster here recently who had a similar problem. They were with BG for electricity and had a smart meter. BG ran a "free electricity" promotion in 2017-ish where they used one of the other registers in the meter. When they switched this "free" electricity was charged for again by the new supplier.

Can you post your photo of your meter from Nov 2020? Did you also take a photo of your meter before Shell changed it, and if so can you post that one too?

Edit: see this thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6277550/eon-massive-bill

And this one: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6283496/smart-meter-actual-meter-mix-up

jahiggins208

Hi both,

The increase was average of 95 units per day. Yes, I would expect an increase in December for the winter period, but it seems odd that it is ONLY December then drops back down in January (when I was at home more during lockdown). It's Gas & Electric property on a combi boiler. The 95 units per day seems very unreasonable. 

Thanks @QrizB for signposting those threads. I've read through but I was only with BG for a couple of years and didn't have any free weekend promotions. The readings I've taken are the total readings.

Unfortunately I didn't take any readings from the actual meter myself when it transferred to Shell. All I've got is the picture of the BG closing read I had taken on 30/11/20 (4258) and the picture Shell had taken when they changed the meter on 08/02/21 (closing reading was 7854). Shell told me they were able to communicate with the meter on 02/01/21, which gave them a smart reading of 7354.  

Meaning it jumped from 4258 to 7354 in the space of 34 days (average of 95ish units per day) yet prior to November 2020 and from January 2021 my average daily usage has been 13-14 units per day. Just doesn't seem right to me.

milgo

Is it possible that something that uses a lot of power was left on by accident?

jahiggins208

milgo said:

Is it possible that something that uses a lot of power was left on by accident?

I've been racking my brains for months on this but can't think of anything that would cause such a jump.

QrizB

30/11/20 - 4258

02/01/21 - 7354 - 3096kWh in 33 days, 93.8 kWh/day

08/02/21 - 7854 - 500kWh in 38 days, 13.2 kWh/day

Have I got those numbers right?

Do you know why Shell changed the smart meter? It seems a bit unusual as they were able to read it?

Are you able to post the meter photos here? Someone might notice something that's been overlooked?

MWT

The photos may help to confirm that the reading were from the same register which although unhelpful for the OP does at least verify that this isn't a mix-up of registers...

On the other-hand even if one is from Reg01 and the other is the 'Total ACC' register it doesn't confirm that there was an error as for most people not on E7 or similar those registers will show the same reading...