Deliberate Low Meter Readings

jimjames

It would be worth making sure you are on the Priority services register as a result of having someone with dementia at home. If you inform the supplier there may be action they can take to help.

Mstty

ELUH1508 said:

Mstty said:

OK so let's try and come up with a plan.

You need to give some thought about how you can repay the outstanding electricity.

Firstly have you worked out what your actual usage is each year and what your new payment will be on the new price cap? If not please provide your actual usage for the year for elec and gas and I and others can help you come up with the figures of what you will pay from April 1st. If you know what you pay now per kWh that will also be handy.

When the energy company contact you you need to come up with a repayment plan something that you can afford but also something that does eat away at the debt. Hence why it's best to set out what your monthly bill should be from 1st April and how much extra you can pay to eat away at this debt.

Lastly who is your energy supplier? 

Hi, thanks for your reply.

So, we are soon to be in the best position financially than we ever have been so the money will be disposable income.
Last month, we used 400kwh of electricity and 110kwh of gas.

Ok, I'll look into that and see what we can afford realistically every month.

We are with Bulb at the moment 

That doesn't quite make sense your last month's usage of 400KwH of electricity.

You have stated that you have mis reported your energy usage by 28000 KwH over the last 2.5 years which is 30 months which is under reporting 933 KwH of electricity each month yet you say last month you used 400 KwH? Did you mean a different figure or have you already drastically reduced your energy use?

Edited

Sorry been pointed out they have moved out so let's calculate it

Based on a Feb monthly reading and trying to guess what the yearly use would be now.


Roughly 4800 kWh elec and 1350kWh of gas

At the new 1st April rates £200 SC for the year £1350 elec and £94.50 for gas

Monthly DD payment from 1st April £137 (very rough figure)

What could you offer the supplier over and above this each month to start paying off the debt?

Gerry1

jimjames said:

It would be worth making sure you are on the Priority services register as a result of having someone with dementia at home. If you inform the supplier there may be action they can take to help.

Mstty said:

That doesn't quite make sense your last month's usage of 400KwH of electricity.

You have stated that you have mis reported your energy usage by 28000 KwH over the last 2.5 years which is 30 months which is under reporting 933 KwH of electricity each month yet you say last month you used 400 KwH? Did you mean a different figure or have you already drastically reduced your energy use?

In the first post the OP stated 'as the parent has been moved to a home now so our usage will return to a more average usage'.

Mstty

Gerry1 said:

jimjames said:

It would be worth making sure you are on the Priority services register as a result of having someone with dementia at home. If you inform the supplier there may be action they can take to help.

Mstty said:

That doesn't quite make sense your last month's usage of 400KwH of electricity.

You have stated that you have mis reported your energy usage by 28000 KwH over the last 2.5 years which is 30 months which is under reporting 933 KwH of electricity each month yet you say last month you used 400 KwH? Did you mean a different figure or have you already drastically reduced your energy use?

In the first post the OP stated 'as the parent has been moved to a home now so our usage will return to a more average usage'.

Cheers edited my response

Petriix

It is probably far more complicated than just paying to catch up at current rates. The majority of the excess usage will have been at a lower price - the cap was much lower last year. So there is mileage in attempting to have the back bill prorated at the appropriate rates; you will likely save £hundreds by doing that. I suggest that you send them an email explaining that you were misreading the meter and asking for your previous bills to be recalculated based on higher usage.

Ironically, with prices trending upwards, you'd save money by overestimating your readings and paying more upfront at the lower price. Underestimating can only cost you more.

ELUH1508

pochase said:

ELUH1508 said:
Last month, we used 400kwh of electricity and 110kwh of gas.

110KWh of gas sounds very low, is that really 110KWh or maybe 110m3, which would be ~1200KwH and more in line with normal use.

 400KWh electricity is well above average. Is that already the "reduced" usage?

Yes it is m3 🤦🏻‍♀️ thanks for clearing it up.

Yes that's the reduced usage, I work from home so I don't know if that plays a role in pushing it up? 

ELUH1508

@Mstty

Thanks for the calculations, it makes it less scary when thinking of a payment plan. 
I can pay around £300 a month towards the debt now

ELUH1508

@Petriix

Thanks for your reply, it's definitely worth a go isn't it. I'm too daft to think of clever things like that 

pochase

Were you maybe on a fixed tariff? That would reduce your debt quite a bit.

ELUH1508

pochase said:

Were you maybe on a fixed tariff? That would reduce your debt quite a bit.

Thanks for your reply, I think, up until recently, there was only ever one tariff for bulb so I'm unsure if it was fixed or not?