Sse electric bill for shop excessively high?

pochase

It is very unusual that there would be debt collectors already at this stage. There are a lot of open questions here.

When did you receive the bill for the £7500?
For what time is the bill? Just for a few month (since July) or is it a catchup bill for a long time?
Did you give them regular meter readings?
Does the end reading on the bill match your meter reading you gave/is it in line with todays meter reading?

rowdy75

Well, I really need to check the bill, but as far as I’m aware it is from July until now.
We opened last November, and received an estimated bill after 3 months for £9500. After contacting them and checking meter readings this was reduced to about £800. Still high at the time for the electric we were using, but whatever. Set up a direct debit for approx £350 a month.

It was agreed that something wasn’t right and an engineer came out and fitted a smart meter, so they should have the correct reading but I have my doubts as they have been nothing but useless along the way with regard to taking payments, for instance taking £350 for months dd then doing the same two days later sending account overdrawn, refusing to believe me or my wife when I have told them three times my wife has permission to speak to them on the phone, engineers not turning up for appointments and massive overcharging.

They are meant to have sent an engineer out again to check and to see why they think we are using the amount of electricity they claim we are but they haven’t. They kept asking why the old night time meter wasn’t registering any use despite being told on numerous occasions it is shut from 5pm until 10am so there is no electric being used at night.

MikeJXE

A sad time for lots of individuals and businesses 

Jyana

rowdy75 said:

Well, I really need to check the bill, but as far as I’m aware it is from July until now.
We opened last November, and received an estimated bill after 3 months for £9500. After contacting them and checking meter readings this was reduced to about £800. Still high at the time for the electric we were using, but whatever. Set up a direct debit for approx £350 a month.

It was agreed that something wasn’t right and an engineer came out and fitted a smart meter, so they should have the correct reading but I have my doubts as they have been nothing but useless along the way with regard to taking payments, for instance taking £350 for months dd then doing the same two days later sending account overdrawn, refusing to believe me or my wife when I have told them three times my wife has permission to speak to them on the phone, engineers not turning up for appointments and massive overcharging.

They are meant to have sent an engineer out again to check and to see why they think we are using the amount of electricity they claim we are but they haven’t. They kept asking why the old night time meter wasn’t registering any use despite being told on numerous occasions it is shut from 5pm until 10am so there is no electric being used at night.

There's a big difference between £800 and £9500, what changed on the bills to cause that difference? Was it units used before you took ownership of the shop, or something else?

If they have genuinely taken a direct debit twice in one month, then this would be covered by the DD Guarantee and you get your bank to claim the second one back. But, this is only if it is a genuine mistake as it will be contested otherwise.

I must admit to not being as familiar with business tariff's as I am residential ones, but with those usually a night time rate is cheaper as the expense of paying more for your day time one, is that not the case with business tariffs? If so, could you have got a cheaper single rate tariff instead?

rowdy75

I don’t know. All I know is at home I’ve just recieved a letter from British Gas with my annual electric bill forecast at £1800 for the next year (gas heating and water) and sse want what would amount to £22500pa for what is basically just LED lighting.

Jyana

You cannot compare your domestic bill for your home with a business one for the shop, esp when just using ££ rather than kWh. They are very different things, not least due to the fact that domestic energy bills have a cap on them at present.

ariarnia

has anyone suggested a sanity check? 

i'm guessing your opening days are mon-sat. so on sat when everything is turned off take a meter reading for both sides of the shop. then monday morning first thing before anything is turned on take another one. have the numbers changed? if so then maybe your meter also picks up use from the flat upstairs.

then second test. monday at 5pm when everything is turned off. check the meters arent still clicking over (other than maybe very slowly for a light). then turn on one high energy item in the salon like a hairdryer. check the meters and see if the salon meter is going up/faster. then turn it off. double check all has stopped again. then turn on one high energy item in the card shop (like the heater). again check if the shop meter is clicking over faster. that can help see if the meters are crossed somewhere. 

RobM99

rowdy75 said:

RobM99 said:

Local garage has had their electricity go from £300 to £2,000 a month. I don't have their consumption figures but the owner assured me there was no extra useage.

I’m guessing they have a lot more heavy duty, power sapping equipment in their garage and also a lot more space than a small gift shop that only use lighting and card machine and only open 6 to 7 hours a day five days a week.

I don't doubt it but it's still a ~7-fold increase. That's my point.

Robin9

rowdy75 said:

The hairdressers tariff was fixed before the prices went mental. I’ll have to look at the tariff but I think it was around 28p per unit plus the daily charge (gift shop not hairdressers)
We do have a tenant that rents the upstairs flat from us, he is a friend of ours and also happens to be an electrician and thinks they have got something very wrong with the charges.

How is the tenant metered ?


As others have said time for a sanity switch 

At the meter position open the main switch -  which property (or properties) go  off  - which meter stops.

At the other meter position repeat

chris1973

In our factory our Electric Bill has gone from £19k to almost £100k a year. I don't think people realise how bad this is for businesses, until their local pubs and chip shop close, or their employer starts making redundancies.........