Didn’t submit meter reading now have £8000 bill for two years- anything I can do?

QrizB

Mstty said:

It seems unlikely you have used (very approximately) 25000 kWh of electricity a year.
Do you know the start reading when you moved in and exactly how many kWh are EON next suggesting you have used?

Until the OP comes back with some details we don't have much to work on, but for an all-electric three-bed semi 25000kWh/yr is high but not impossible.

What we do know:

• It's an all-electric three-bed semi
  
• They were there for two years
• They were paying £93/month - that's £2232 over two years
• After 21 months, their bill was for £8000 - not clear if this is with or without the £2232 of payments
  

Ofgem's average dual-fuel account (your archetypal 3-bed semi) uses almost 15000kWh of energy a year. This is a more realistic number for a house than the Ofgem average single-fuel account of 4200kWh/yr.

The OP doesn't give any details of their tariff or their supplier, but they do say "a reading" so I'm going to assume they had single-rate electricity rather than E7 or whatnot. I'm also going to assume they were on a capped SVT since they don't seem to have taken any active interest in their energy supply for the duration of their tenancy.

Let's also say they moved in at the beginning of April 2020 and out at the end of March 2022. They will have had exactly 6 months on each of four capped tariffs. I'm going to split their 15000kWh/yr into 5000kWh for the summer cap and 10000kWh for the winter one.

• April to Oct 2020 - 5000kWh @ 17.8p/kWh plus 182 days @ 24.38 ppd = £934
• Oct 20 to Apr 2021 - 10000kWh @ 17.1p/kWh plus 183 days @ 24.38 ppd = £1799
• April to Oct 2021 - 5000kWh @ 18.9p/kWh plus 182 days @ 24.89 ppd = £1036
• Oct 21 to Apr 2022 - 10000kWh @ 20.8p/kWh plus 183 days @ 24.89 ppd = £2126

That's a total of £5895 for the period. Take off £2232 in payments leaves them owing £3663.

I realise this is entirely speculation but does show the magnitude of the bill that the OP could be facing.

Robin9

And all for the want of 15 mins a month reading meters, giving them online, opening bills, keeping your own records ......

Olinda99

Whatever the ins and outs of this, the OP is at least entitled to an understandable bill showing start meter read, end meter read, unit costs, standing charges, payments received etc etc so they can understand where the £8000 figure has come from.

Olinda99

Whatever the ins and outs of this, the OP is at least entitled to an understandable bill showing start meter read, end meter read, unit costs, standing charges, payments received etc etc so they can understand where the £8000 figure has come from.

wild666

If a person has access to the meters then if no key is provided to access the meters they should buy one. Years ago I bought 10 keys mainly because 1 key was £3 but 10 keys were £4 they were plastic but did the job. 

QrizB

Olinda99 said:

Whatever the ins and outs of this, the OP is at least entitled to an understandable bill showing start meter read, end meter read, unit costs, standing charges, payments received etc etc so they can understand where the £8000 figure has come from.

OP stated:

Then we put a reading in three months before we moved out and one at the end and it generated a bill of £8000 for the whole time. The last three months we worked out this would have been £500 a week!

They've had a bill, and one would expect it to include all the details you've mentioned. Sadly OP hasn't shared any of them with us.

Robin9

wild666 said:

If a person has access to the meters then if no key is provided to access the meters they should buy one. Years ago I bought 10 keys mainly because 1 key was £3 but 10 keys were £4 they were plastic but did the job. 

I appreciate that some flat dwellers have issues but there's no suggestion here that the OP doesn't have access to his meters -  he lived in a house.

giraffe69

The OP said "anything I can do" and has got around 16 helpful replies and has ignored all of them so far so perhaps it was just a vent.

Robin9

giraffe69 said:

The OP said "anything I can do" and has got around 16 helpful replies and has ignored all of them so far so perhaps it was just a vent.

@madrugada87  I will add a 17th to "anything  I can  do?"   - say Thankyou to all those who have tried to help you.  The benefits of these forums is how the problem/situation got solved - then others who may find themselves in similar situations can find answers or the direction in which to go.

k_man

It has only been just over a day.
The OP may have taken a scattergun approach, and asked in a number of places, and us now catching up.
Or is taking the weekend off from worrying about it.

Or is a '1 post and runner'...