High Electricity bills

iFunk

Hi there,

Wonder if anyone can give me some advice. I'm in the Uk and since living in the current property, we have been paying very high bills, and the lat one claimed I used 2,980kW/h in the last 3 months. 1196kW/h of those is Night Energy of which we don't have anything on but a router and a booster, a fridge, a TV on standby and a set top box. To my knowledge nothing else is used at night, we have not used the heating for over a year now.

The Electricity company say that is the use, so we have requested to get the meter calibrated, but I don't know what to do if this comes back ok. I now live here on my own, and during the day apart from the above devices, I run two laptops, with 3 monitors and a charging point for my phone.

I really don't understand what is going on. The landlord got the electrics checked out last year and claims they are fine, but it does seem like I am feeding another property's electrics. The next door neighbour in an identical flat pays only £60 per month and they have a kid and so of course much more electrical appliances are on, lights, (I turn all mine off and often walk around in the dark, because of the bill) they do have gas central heating, but as I've mentioned, I do not use the heating as I know the storage heaters use a lot.

I don't know what to do, if the price goes up, I will be paying close to £1200 a quarter for electric, I don't know what to do, I suspect I am going to be forced to move out because no one will take any responsibility for this inefficiency.

Does anyone know what I can do to address this, there is clearly something wrong, but no one will address this issue. I'm getting to the point where I want out of this property because of this problem as there does not seem to be a solution, it's as if I am paying for someone else electricity, but I now feel trapped as I if I move out, then the issue can't be resolved and I will be black listed as I can't pay this bill, I simply do not have the money to pay it. Any advice on how I can move forward would be much appreciated.  thanks in advance.

Robin9

Please don't try and compare with your neighbour - concentrate on your own property and bills

Are you reading your meters or are the readings on your bills all ESTIMATED - its quite possible that the supplier is guessing particularly for the last year or so.

Go back over your bills and let us know the readings please.

Ultrasonic

How is your property heated?

Does the meter serial number on your bill match the meter for your property?

theoretica

How is your water heated?

Robin9

Have you ditched those storage heaters and replaced them by panel heaters  - or how are you heating the property ?

iFunk

I have not heated the property this last year, I just wear 8 to 10 lays of cloths and blankets. When we were using the heaters, the bills were higher, but I did have a flatmate at the time. I insisted on bills based on meter readings, as the estimated bills were over £600 a month for a 2 bedroom flat, I reduced that to £220 per calendar month by taking meter readings, but I think with the electricity I use, they should be nearer £60 per month really. I use the washing machine just once a week and don't use hot water, just the shower which heats the water as it comes out. So the immersion heater is switched off now. 

coffeehound

Photos of the consumer unit (fuseboard) and meter would be useful to see what's going on

Robin9

And those meter readings form your bills for the last 12 months or more please 

and a photo of your meter if possible

[Deleted User]

Hi,

could you give today's reading and other readings back a year, please, and tariff details.

iFunk

Wow, yes, I will get on to all of these at lunch time, and post all you have requested thank you for your support

Gerry1

Don't get the meter checked unless you have good reason to believe it's faulty, which is actually quite rare.

Stop thinking in ££ and DD amounts, think instead in kWh from actual meter readings.

Start by doing a Meter Sanity Test.

If you still suspect a problem, ask whether they will agree to fit a check meter in series.  That may well be far cheaper than a formal meter removal and laboratory check, which would be quite expensive and very likely be a waste of money if it was found to have been accurate.