Absurd heating bill

danco

I live in a recently built flat with an unusual heating system. Heat (and cooling) is supplied communally but controlled by a programmer/thermostat in the flat and charged through individual meters. This is separate from my standard electricity supply. Switch2 run the metering and billing. They recently sent me their first bill, which covered ten months' usage, and looked high. They have since sent me a bill for December, which is simply absurd, and I am wondering what to do next. Changes in energy costs are not relevant, as I am looking at the claimed use in kWh.

I told them I felt  the original bill was high. They disagreed, but promised to investigate. However, the bill for December claims that I have used more energy for heating than the Energy Performance Certificate estimates for a full year!! I have told them that their figure is absurd, that I am not willing to pay the bill currently, and that I regard myself as in dispute with them. Is there anything else I should do at this stage? I understand that an engineer will be coming at some point, particularly as other residents are also complaining. But is there any independent advice we could take?

Things are made more complicated as Switch2 provide the metering and billing, but are not the suppliers of the energy. They are acting on behalf of the managing agents, who in turn are responsible to the freeholders/developers. So there are three firms involved. And none of the residents in the block know where the meters are or if they are accessible to us. It's all a mess, though would be fine if everything seemed ok.

Astria

It's fairly well known that they can give completely inaccurate bills and that the customer service is worse than dreadful. Also, as they are not an energy company you can't complain to the regulators, nor can you switch suppliers. However, you have an engineer scheduled which are typically pretty good at sorting things out so I'd wait to see what he has to say personally.

Gerry1

Building / District Heating schemes are a nightmare because there's very little regulation.

Search on Guide to Heat Networks (Metering and Billing) Regulations Amendments.

amcc1

For a recent build, I would expect to find a ‘heat’ meter somewhere inside the flat (recording kWh used for heating/hot water). This would allow readings to be noted at the same time for a couple of days for sanity checking.

MWT

danco said:

I live in a recently built flat with an unusual heating system. Heat (and cooling) is supplied communally but controlled by a programmer/thermostat in the flat and charged through individual meters. This is separate from my standard electricity supply. Switch2 run the metering and billing. They recently sent me their first bill, which covered ten months' usage, and looked high. They have since sent me a bill for December, which is simply absurd, and I am wondering what to do next. Changes in energy costs are not relevant, as I am looking at the claimed use in kWh.

How many kWh are they saying you used on the two bills?

danco

December bill was for 2200kWh, while my EPC estimates 2190 for a year. Because this is a communal heating system, comparisons with normal gas or electric heating may not work. The EPC lists most items as Very Good, with a couple just as good.

Anyway, the freeholders have agreed to call in a consultant to look at the situation, as many of the residents are complainin that their bills seem too high. The division of responsibilities between the freeholders, the managing agents, and Swtich2 makes life complicated.

QrizB

danco said:

December bill was for 2200kWh, while my EPC estimates 2190 for a year. Because this is a communal heating system, comparisons with normal gas or electric heating may not work.

Heat is heat and how it's delivered is unlikely to make a difference. Boiler, storage heater, heat pump or district heating system, the number of effective kWh needed to keep a property warm will be similar.

2200kWh is a huge amount for one month's heating in a recently-built flat unless it's some sort of 16-bedroom luxury penthouse, but by the same measure 2190kWh for the year is unusually low.

MWT

QrizB said:

2200kWh is a huge amount for one month's heating in a recently-built flat unless it's some sort of 16-bedroom luxury penthouse, but by the same measure 2190kWh for the year is unusually low.

Agreed, both of those numbers look suspect.

danco said:

I live in a recently built flat with an unusual heating system. Heat (and cooling) is supplied communally but controlled by a programmer/thermostat in the flat and charged through individual meters.

If cooling is also part of the same system then it is hard to imagine that 2190kWh for a full year is even remotely achievable.

So both look wrong, but I certainly wouldn't be using 2190kWh as a base for setting expectations.

GingerTim

Not sure whether this is useful for comparison, but I also live in a new-build supplied by a communal heating system with an individual meter - we don't have a cooling system, however.

These are my usage figures for the last twelve months (mine is a one-bed). It's really well-insulated so doesn't require much heating, and it's essentially never needed from early March until late October. Your bill seems to just be wrong, surely?

December 2020	236kwh
January 2021	244kwh
February	208kwh
March	132kwh
April	116kwh
May	87kwh
June	70kwh
July	69kwh
August	77kwh
September	74kwh
October	115kwh
November	229kwh

Total                   1657kwh

jimjames

So based on those numbers there may be a decimal point in the wrong place (220 rather than 2200)

MWT

GingerTim said:

Not sure whether this is useful for comparison, but I also live in a new-build supplied by a communal heating system with an individual meter - we don't have a cooling system, however.

That is helpful, if the OP has a similar sized flat then even with cooling it does mean that the EPC estimate isn't completely crazy.

Whereas the Dec bill is just unbelievable.