VERY high electric bills, Suspect faulty meter.......PLEASE HELP

t21972

Hello 
My annual usage is 44370 KWH yet an average 3 bed room house with 3-5 occupants is estimated at 2900 KWH, I live alone in a 3 bed house and work long hours, yet my usage is 1570 more than an average family in a 3 bed room house. My energy company just give impossible monitoring task to do that are impossible due to work commitments. Has anyone else had a similar problem or any ideas how I can get a meter tested or replaced ? I have suspected a faulty meter for a long time.     

QrizB

You will get more replies if you post in this section: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/energy

@Gerry1 has a script for situations like this, and is better at it than I am!

Gerry1

Presumably you meant 4370kWh not 44370kWh?  When investigating apparent overcharging it's important to get the numbers right !

What are your room and water heating arrangements?

Do you send meter readings every month or is your usage based on a projection or estimated bills?  It's very unlikely that an electricity meter would be so seriously inaccurate, so think VERY carefully before asking for it to be checked, otherwise you'll be hit with an even bigger bill.

Instead, do a meter sanity check. Make sure the meter serial number on the bill matches the one on the meter. Close down and unplug all computers and sensitive equipment and then switch off all the circuits at the consumer unit, ending with the main switch. Look at the red LED on the meter on the wall marked '1000 Imp/kWh' or similar and make sure it never flashes once or, if it’s an old meter, make sure the spinning disk never moves. Then switch on all the high power appliances (kettle, tumble dryer, hotplate, oven etc) and make sure the light is flashing rapidly or the disk is spinning. Finally, switch off everything except one high power item of known rating (e.g. a kettle) and count the number of flashes (impulses) or disk rotations per minute. If the light says '1000 Imp/kWh' then a 3kW kettle should make it flash about 50 times per minute. Not an exact test because the kettle's rating may be approximate and the power it draws will depend on the local voltage, but near enough.

dunstonh

My annual usage is 44370 KWH yet an average 3 bed room house with 3-5 occupants is estimated at 2900 KW

Average use is just that. Average.  It means most people will be either higher or lower than it.

Has anyone else had a similar problem or any ideas how I can get a meter tested or replaced ?

You can ask to get a smart meter installed.  Energy companies are falling over themselves to do that.   However, it will still need some effort on your part as its more likely you have devices pulling electricity that you do not realise.  Such as leaving an immersion heater on (possibly the most common cause).  Or perhaps your heating is electric (which would make your bill higher than someone else's that isn't electric.

Robin9

4370 kWh is not particularly high - mine is a little more.  Thats what averages are about - some high, some low, many in the middle. We hear of some very low users on this forum.

What's your lifestyle - our household is 2 OAP's and always someone at home, cook by electric ............


PS You haven't said what your heating is -  gas or electric in some form -  underfloor, panel heaters (I hope not the magic dust type.  Do you have an electric shower.?

Give us the meter readings (not the consumption) for the last 12 months please and include the letters A, C and E

What is your meter reading today ?