Utility point.

Mariepep

I live in a one bedroom flat on my own. It is electric only. Iv lived here for almost 4 years and always have massive electricity bills. Iv had many arguments with different utility companies. I have a smart meter which is owned by Scottish power and have asked them to check the meter several times . I send monthly meter readings and have been paying £61 a month which is going up to £78 this month . I don’t  have a tumble dryer , I only put my oven on once or twice a week. I only put my hot water on once a week if necessary. I just don’t understand why I always get such massive bills which are twice as much as my neighbors.  . Utility point told me my usage was the same as a 3 bed family home. 

Any help or advice would be gratefully received . 

Thank you 

NSG666

You might want to change your heading as people might think this post is about the demise of Utility Point rather than about high electricity usage.

Are you on storage heaters / economy 7? I used to work in flats with E7 and the timer had often been tampered with so the storage heaters / overnight hot water immersion were being supplied during peak hours (student flats)

Fuel consumption an vary due to many factors but you might want to give more info about your heating and hot water etc

Gerry1

Welcome to the forum.

Is the meter inside your flat?  If it's in an external cupboard or a meter room it could be supplying someone else's flat.

Do you have gas?  If you use electricity for room heating it will always be expensive, especially if you use daytime electricity as opposed to Night Storage Heaters.

What are the prices per kWh and the daily charge?  If you're on an expensive tariff then the bills will always be needlessly high.

You need to think in kWh not ££, but if you're all electric those figures aren't surprising.

Shedman

is the £61 a month your direct debit amount as that might have been based on whole year estimated usage divided equally by 12?

An all electric flat (especially with panel radiators rather than night storage, an electric shower and an immersion heater) could well get up to £700 a year especially if you live in the colder parts of UK and the flat isnt well insulated, doesn't have double glazing and the lightbulbs aren't LEDs.   Is it a purpose built flat or a large house converted into flats as that could also explain higher usage.   

Are you able to post up say the last 3 or 4 months meter readings plus price per KwH tariff and daily Standing charge you are paying and then we would ha e better idea of actual costs during the summer period.  I would have expected around £20-30 a month in the summer.

You say your neighbours bill is half your bills but are they also all electric...or maybe they've just been underpaying and are in for a big shock!   To give some comparatives my stepdaughter's bills for a previous one bed all electric flat (but with night storage heaters) located on South Coast were around £550 a year (2 years ago) and her current all electric 2 bed flat with panel radiators but well insulated and double glazed and on a very good tariff from Neon Reef of just over 12p a KwH has been around £500 over last 12 months

t0rt0ise

I'd worry that you are paying for someone else's electricity. Have you checked which meter is really yours?

Mariepep

Iv checked with all my neighbors. We all have our own meters. 

I’d like to get a new meter fitted once I can switch to a new company but not sure how that works 

t0rt0ise

So is the meter actually in your flat?

Mariepep

No it’s in an outside cupboard. Each flat has their own. 

NSG666

Mariepep said:

No it’s in an outside cupboard. Each flat has their own. 

Might be worthwhile doing a simple check. Turn everything off in your flat (main fusebox if it won't set any alarms going) then check that 'you' meter is not moving. Make sure 'yours' is turning before you start.

Are you on Economy 7?

Robin9

Mariepep said:

Iv checked with all my neighbors. We all have our own meters. 

I’d like to get a new meter fitted once I can switch to a new company but not sure how that works 

You don't need a new meter to change suppliers - the only requirement to change is that you are not in debt with a supplier.

Your existing supplier may not be smart when you switch but you are used to reading your meter.

As others have said £60 - £80 is par for the course for an all electric flat.  The way prices are going this Autumn that even sounds cheap.

[Deleted User]

When a property is built, it will be allocated a plot number; MPAN and a meter serial number. Sadly, it is often the case, that the property is incorrectly registered in the National Database. For example, plot 6 gets registered as number 6 when you actually live at number 11.

As suggested above, you need to identify which meter is actually supplying your property. The easiest way of doing this is by turning on the immersion heater and a kettle and look to see which meter has a rapidly flashing LED. You can then confirm that it is your meter by turning off the immersion heater; kettle etc. 

Take down the meter serial number and check whether it is the same as that shown on your statement. If not there has been a mis-registration. Sadly, you cannot just switch the meter to your property. You need to get your supplier to check the meter serial number against the database, the supplier can then apply to the DNO to have the MPAN address changed to your postal address. The meter will follow with the MPAN.

The complication is that these things do not happen in isolation so if there is an issue then it is possible that all your neighbours’ meters have also been mis-registered. This happened to me three years ago. Plot numbers were lodged as addresses for 14 properties. We got the bills for number 5; number 6 was getting bills for our usage etc. it took the various suppliers and the DNO 6 months to unravel the Gordian knot.

If our World-beating Government followed the example of Germany, this problem would never happen. Builds in Germany are allocated a barcode and all utilities are registered against the barcode. This avoids the plot number/postal address confusion factor.

Edit: Typo. Thanks to  @Gerry1 who has kindly become my proof reader.