Electric 3 times higher in my flat

Larrissa

I have been complaining on and off for years about my electricity prices.  Ignoring the current rises I am paying 3 times the amount of other flats in my block.  We are a one bed electricity only flat with nothing out of the ordinary for usage.  Economy 7 with storage heaters off for over a month and my bill for the last 5 weeks was £164.  My neighbours pay around £55.  I've complained to the electric company but they say nothing is wrong and if they come out to check and there is nothing wrong they will bill us and it will be a lot.  I would like the electric being delivered to my flat to be checked to see that nothing else has been added on like the interior light for the block say.  Can I get somebody to check this or does it have to be the electricity company who check this.

jbuchanangb

Hopefully you have access to your meter and read it regularly and submit the reading to your energy provider. If so you can calculate whether you are being correctly charged for the metered electricity. On the question as to whether you are paying for any communal areas, you need to find your "fuse box" known as a consumer unit, and look at what circuits are connected to it. Is it the only thing connected from your meter or are there some other mysterious wires going somewhere else? Are the circuits in your fuse box the ones which you'd expect see for your flat or, again, is there some other unexplained connection?

pochase

Your neighbours may be still on a fixed tariff with much cheaper rates than you. You cannot compare based on bills without knowing the unit rates.

What was your energy use over the last 12 months, KWh for day and night?

Nothing that happens before your meter will be charged to you, so it would need to be wiring that goes not only to your flat but also to other places. Where is your meter located, next to your flat or somewhere in a central room?

Have you checked that the serial number on your meter matches the serial number  on the invoice?

Also you can do a sanity check as described here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78850409/#Comment_78850409

wild666

Larrissa said:

I have been complaining on and off for years about my electricity prices.  Ignoring the current rises I am paying 3 times the amount of other flats in my block.  We are a one bed electricity only flat with nothing out of the ordinary for usage.  Economy 7 with storage heaters off for over a month and my bill for the last 5 weeks was £164.  My neighbours pay around £55.  I've complained to the electric company but they say nothing is wrong and if they come out to check and there is nothing wrong they will bill us and it will be a lot.  I would like the electric being delivered to my flat to be checked to see that nothing else has been added on like the interior light for the block say.  Can I get somebody to check this or does it have to be the electricity company who check this.

Either your neighbour's are out most of the time and don't use the heating or they have other ways of keeping warm without using the heating

Robin9

Are you 100% that the meter they are billing is the one in your property ?  

There should be a consumer unit associated with it - switch it off -  do your lights and power go out?

Also check the serial number on the meter with your bill?

Also check that day and night are not reversed ?

I agree with @wild666 -   and add they may be paying £55 but are they building up a big debt.

EssexHebridean

wild666 said:

Larrissa said:

I have been complaining on and off for years about my electricity prices.  Ignoring the current rises I am paying 3 times the amount of other flats in my block.  We are a one bed electricity only flat with nothing out of the ordinary for usage.  Economy 7 with storage heaters off for over a month and my bill for the last 5 weeks was £164.  My neighbours pay around £55.  I've complained to the electric company but they say nothing is wrong and if they come out to check and there is nothing wrong they will bill us and it will be a lot.  I would like the electric being delivered to my flat to be checked to see that nothing else has been added on like the interior light for the block say.  Can I get somebody to check this or does it have to be the electricity company who check this.

Either your neighbour's are out most of the time and don't use the heating or they have other ways of keeping warm without using the heating

That doesn't necessarily mean that the OP's current bills are correct though! We're in a 2 bed, 1950's built property with solid walls, electric for everything aside from the cooker, and currently pay a lot closer to the neighbours amount than to the OP's! (And emerged from the winter in credit, too!)

Mstty

Looking at your other posts you have raised on the forums you don't tend to return to the to reply.

If you do there are some helpful people here that can help you get to he bottom of the issue.

Chrysalis

Very easy way to test, wait until evening, all other flat lights are on and communal area, then turn off the power on your fuse box to see if any of the lights go out.

Now if your fuse box is not close to your meter, this wont be 100%, as the wiring might go through those areas on route to you?  But its the first test I would do.

If you have a smart meter and IHD, another test would be to see when you turn everything off in your flat and to see if the IHD is still registering any usage.