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

madrugada87

So we’ve been doing some more research. We lived in the property from September 2019 and in October 2020 submitted a meter reading. The reading resulted in EDF cutting our bill to about £93 per month. 

At some point between October 2020 and Dec 21 the Landlord upgraded all the electrics in the house as the wiring on the immersion heater kept burning out. So they replace the Boiler and immersion heater and put in two new fuse boxes. The electrician was there for about a day.

It’s around this point that I’m suspecting our bills started jumping. Interestingly we did a meter reading in December 2021 and our last in March 22. For the quarter I have calculated that we spent £1000 in electricity (using an online calculator).

I’m now going to plot out a timeline but I’m left wondering if the electrician damaged the digital e15 meter or introduced some that caused the problem.

Fundamentally I’m struggling to understand how we could possibly have spent anywhere near £1000 in the final quarter unless there is an issue with the meter or the electrics. 

pochase

madrugada87 said:

So we’ve been doing some more research. We lived in the property from September 2019 and in October 2020 submitted a meter reading. The reading resulted in EDF cutting our bill to about £93 per month. 

At some point between October 2020 and Dec 21 the Landlord upgraded all the electrics in the house as the wiring on the immersion heater kept burning out. So they replace the Boiler and immersion heater and put in two new fuse boxes. The electrician was there for about a day.

It’s around this point that I’m suspecting our bills started jumping. Interestingly we did a meter reading in December 2021 and our last in March 22. For the quarter I have calculated that we spent £1000 in electricity (using an online calculator).

I’m now going to plot out a timeline but I’m left wondering if the electrician damaged the digital e15 meter or introduced some that caused the problem.

Fundamentally I’m struggling to understand how we could possibly have spent anywhere near £1000 in the final quarter unless there is an issue with the meter or the electrics. 

So what was the reading in December, if you are saying you used 1000£ the last quarter and owe 8000, you must have used £7000 up to that point.

Also if you owe £8000 for 2 years, a £1000 in 3 month in winter is even low, as the average for 3 month would be £1000. Also in the opening post you stated it was £600 for the last 3 months (£500 per week).

Can you just go through the posts and answer the questions so it will be easier to follow what is going on?

Robin9

madrugada87 said:

At some point between October 2020 and Dec 21 the Landlord upgraded all the electrics in the house as the wiring on the immersion heater kept burning out. So they replace the Boiler and immersion heater and put in two new fuse boxes. The electrician was there for about a day.

What do you mean by "boiler"  -  typically you would have have a insulated cylinder in the airing cupboard; the immersion heater (or rather two immersion heaters) are part of this. At night the main (bottom) immersion heater heats the whole tank. If it necessary to get more water during the day the top element is switched on - at all other times it should be off.  Have the switches in the airing cupboard got neons on them ? As of now 9 pm neither should be lit. Come about 1 in the morning the bottom one should light up.

 A photo would help as would one of the meter and the distribution boards.

Still no excuses for you not reading reading the meters monthly 

madrugada87

I’ve just checked the timelines. And indeed the work to fix all the electrics was done around October 2020 which is exactly when the meter started spinning faster. I’m not sure where I stand now. I’m also wondering if the wiring was and is safe at that house.

Robin9

madrugada87 said:

I’ve just checked the timelines. And indeed the work to fix all the electrics was done around October 2020 which is exactly when the meter started spinning faster. I’m not sure where I stand now. I’m also wondering if the wiring was and is safe at that house.

You are never going to know -  faulty wiring doesn't cause those bills; wrong wiring can contribute. (eg if the two immersions are transposed)

pochase

Your other problem is that even if you correct that there is a problem with wrong wiring, that is no problem of your energy supplier and you still need to pay for the energy you used.

Maybe in this case you can claim it from whoever made a mistake, but you did not make anybody aware of the problem for almost two years, and you are no longer in the house, so it will be almost impossible to prove.

If I would be your landlord and you claim that because of something done by me/my electrician you have to pay £8000, I would get it checked  and if there is a problem get it fixed, and never acknowledge it to you.

madrugada87

pochase said:

madrugada87 said:

So we’ve been doing some more research. We lived in the property from September 2019 and in October 2020 submitted a meter reading. The reading resulted in EDF cutting our bill to about £93 per month. 

At some point between October 2020 and Dec 21 the Landlord upgraded all the electrics in the house as the wiring on the immersion heater kept burning out. So they replace the Boiler and immersion heater and put in two new fuse boxes. The electrician was there for about a day.

It’s around this point that I’m suspecting our bills started jumping. Interestingly we did a meter reading in December 2021 and our last in March 22. For the quarter I have calculated that we spent £1000 in electricity (using an online calculator).

I’m now going to plot out a timeline but I’m left wondering if the electrician damaged the digital e15 meter or introduced some that caused the problem.

Fundamentally I’m struggling to understand how we could possibly have spent anywhere near £1000 in the final quarter unless there is an issue with the meter or the electrics. 

So what was the reading in December, if you are saying you used 1000£ the last quarter and owe 8000, you must have used £7000 up to that point.

Also if you owe £8000 for 2 years, a £1000 in 3 month in winter is even low, as the average for 3 month would be £1000. Also in the opening post you stated it was £600 for the last 3 months (£500 per week).

Can you just go through the posts and answer the questions so it will be easier to follow what is going on?

So £1000 for 3 months in winter when we had 1 maybe 2 functioning storage heaters and an electric fire plus 1 tv, oven, hob in a small 3 bed semi is extreme. Also the 8k is for near 18 months.

pochase

In you your OP you said two years, now it is near 18 months.

Estimate was £93 per month and over the two years we were told we’d got a credit of nearly £1000.

Gerry1

If you left the boost immersion heater on the whole time you'd have been heating most or all of your water at the daytime E7 rate.  It could be more than twice the night E7 rate, and the daytime rate is always even more expensive than the single rate.

Did you keep using the storage heaters?  If the landlord took them out and installed a genuine electric boiler with wet radiators it would have been catastrophically expensive, even more so if you stayed on E7.

MWT

madrugada87 said:

So £1000 for 3 months in winter when we had 1 maybe 2 functioning storage heaters and an electric fire plus 1 tv, oven, hob in a small 3 bed semi is extreme. Also the 8k is for near 18 months.

Hard to tell now you have already left the property...

... but the last 3 months at £1,000 is not wildly impossible, especially with an electric fire running on day rates...

I assume you were on an E7 tariff?

If you've got the bills, can you at least confirm if the high use was on the day or night rate, or was it both?