Moved into new (and tiny) 2-bed flat. After 49 days, been charged a whopping £750 for electricity!

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in Energy
I moved in just before Xmas to a tiny 2-bed electricity-only flat. Admittedly, we didn't know how to use anything as no manuals came with the place and I'd only ever had central heating/combi boiler. I have these German clay heaters here. Due to an issue with the shower, I could only shower a few times a week. I only do laundry once every week or so. I wasn't even cooking every day. I'm on economy 7.
I do use a few machines for health issues (air purifiers, dehumidifiers, CPAP) but even in my last place, these only cost around £4 a month to run each, so in total, I think they cost around £30 a month. I have no idea where this £750 could have come from.
I've now drastically cut things down as much as I can. Cook only a few times a week, other times I reheat in a microwave. No oven use. No heating at night when I'm asleep and heating only comes on during the day at around 17 or 18 degrees C. Still can't shower very regularly as it hasn't been fixed. It's saying my night use is consistently 4 or 5 units, even when I turned on the heating one night due to being too cold (I have Asthma that is triggered by the cold amongst other things). But during the day, it's regularly saying I'm using 17-20 units at a cost of over £10 a day!
I am disabled and housebound and work from home but on a computer. My electric costs in my last place (which was three times the size!) by comparison were around £50-80 a month (depending on time of year). How on Earth is it possible to rack up such a charge and what help can I get to figure this out?
I was with Scottish Power for two months, but they were impossible to get hold of, so I have now switched to Octopus, however, I have just been given a £650+ final bill from Scottish Power (I have already paid them £142.00). I've emailed them but haven't heard anything.
I have also emailed Octopus about my concerns but they have said they need more data from me to do anything (I have only been with them for a few weeks). I'm so nervous of running another massive bill with them too that I want to knock this issue on the head. If there's a problem with the metre or something else, I'd like to figure out what that is before I get hit with another crazy bill I can't afford! I am on a very low income and with the recent moving costs (I suffered a no-fault eviction as landlord wanted to sell the house I had lived in for 15 years) I am massively in debt and desperately need advice and help. I receive Working Tax Credit with the disability element and also PIP (highest components).
Can anyone advise on what I should do?
I do use a few machines for health issues (air purifiers, dehumidifiers, CPAP) but even in my last place, these only cost around £4 a month to run each, so in total, I think they cost around £30 a month. I have no idea where this £750 could have come from.
I've now drastically cut things down as much as I can. Cook only a few times a week, other times I reheat in a microwave. No oven use. No heating at night when I'm asleep and heating only comes on during the day at around 17 or 18 degrees C. Still can't shower very regularly as it hasn't been fixed. It's saying my night use is consistently 4 or 5 units, even when I turned on the heating one night due to being too cold (I have Asthma that is triggered by the cold amongst other things). But during the day, it's regularly saying I'm using 17-20 units at a cost of over £10 a day!
I am disabled and housebound and work from home but on a computer. My electric costs in my last place (which was three times the size!) by comparison were around £50-80 a month (depending on time of year). How on Earth is it possible to rack up such a charge and what help can I get to figure this out?
I was with Scottish Power for two months, but they were impossible to get hold of, so I have now switched to Octopus, however, I have just been given a £650+ final bill from Scottish Power (I have already paid them £142.00). I've emailed them but haven't heard anything.
I have also emailed Octopus about my concerns but they have said they need more data from me to do anything (I have only been with them for a few weeks). I'm so nervous of running another massive bill with them too that I want to knock this issue on the head. If there's a problem with the metre or something else, I'd like to figure out what that is before I get hit with another crazy bill I can't afford! I am on a very low income and with the recent moving costs (I suffered a no-fault eviction as landlord wanted to sell the house I had lived in for 15 years) I am massively in debt and desperately need advice and help. I receive Working Tax Credit with the disability element and also PIP (highest components).
Can anyone advise on what I should do?
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You definitely need to post the meter readings from when you moved in and now (and any others in between), if possible. Plus the unit rates, for considering the bill. Then people can advise you accurately.
You, or someone on your behalf needs to check the rating on each appliance that you didn't bring to the flat, and calculate how much it costs to use that item for a typical period (e.g. 10 minutes for the shower / 1hr for the clay heaters).
You or someone else needs to turn everything off in the flat, and check that the meter stops recording any usage. If it doesn't, you need to keep searching to find what is using the power.
You haven't mentioned how you are heating hot water for the taps. In an all electric flat, this is likely to be either an immersion heater or an instantaneous heater under a sink. Again, find the rating of the immersion heater/instantaneous heater, and make sure you understand the controls. If your cylinder isn't well insulated, an immersion heater is going to be more expensive to use than boiling a kettle that has just the amount of hot water you need. If the cylinder is well insulated (and few are), then the immersion heater shouldn't be too bad if you don't use too much hot water from the taps. If you use a lot of hot water, it will cost a lot in electricity to reheat fresh water as it is colder to start with in the winter.
Only clay radiators on during the day (when Economy 7 makes the electricity more expensive) seems to be a mistake, but the issue isn't when you heat, but how much you are paying for Economy 7. The clay heaters are not storage heaters and they are not designed to be used with Economy 7, but you can use them overnight to stop the flat getting too cold.
I think the optimal way to use them is to have them on throughout the Economy 7 period, set for say 18C. Then have them off at all other times, and just use a fan heater in the room you are in. You will probably have to have the clay heater in your bedroom on for an hour before you go to bed, but due to how long they take to start emitting useful amounts of heat, this hour might need to be a 8pm, rather than say 9pm. Used this way, I think it will still be beneficial to be on economy 7, but it will depend on the split between what you are using inside and outside of the Economy 7 hours, and whether you can make any changed to this, e.g. having the immersion heater only come on inside the Economy 7 hours.
Night 22368
Day 49101
25th Jan reads (last bill from Scottish Power):
Night 22831
Day 50490
We've seen several threads where people have had the wrong meter allocated to their flat and have been paying for someone else's energy. Turn absolutely everything off and make sure your meter stops too.
Solar PV 5.25kWp SW facing (14 x 375 Longi) Lux 3.6kw hybrid inverter and 4.8kw Pylontech battery storage installed March 22
Octopus Flux electric and Tracker gas
9th Dec reads from before I moved in:
Night 22368
Day 49101
25th Jan reads (last bill from Scottish Power):
Night 22831
Day 50490
Today's reads:
Night 22955
Day 51057
Unite Rates:
What's really strange is that I we used a lot more electricity during the first month of being here simply from not knowing how things work. Heating and immersion tank were on for much longer than they should have been. But in the last month, the water tank went from being heated 6 or so hours a day, to just 1 hour during the night/cheap rate. And the heating had previously come on during the night but now doesn't. But my day usage is still really high. Night usage seems to be consistently 4 units a night.
Solar PV 5.25kWp SW facing (14 x 375 Longi) Lux 3.6kw hybrid inverter and 4.8kw Pylontech battery storage installed March 22
Octopus Flux electric and Tracker gas