Can I continue paying estimated bills for my electricity?

CMB3

I have been receiving estimated electricity bills since I moved into a flat a year ago as the meter has not been read. The prices have been lower than I had anticipated. This could be because the landlord had installed new storage heaters in the flat before I moved in, however, the flat is not well insulated so I did expect higher bills. I am also aware that because I am on a low income, I have been receiving an energy discount of about £67 over the last few months, so that is also making the bill lower.

I wondered if I am "safe" continuing to pay the current (manageable) estimated bills and that I won't be suddenly forced into having my meter read and potentially getting a bill I cannot pay. Frankly, I don't want to get a meter reading because I cannot pay more than I am paying at this time. Any information about where I stand would be much appreciated.

GingerTim

Are you keeping track of your actual usage in kwh for peace of mind? If you post the figures here for the last twelve months, along with your tariff, someone here would be able to give you an idea of the monthly direct debit you would be paying.

The big thing to bear in mind could be the shock of a large bill if and when you move out and give your supplier a final meter reading.

Robin9

@CMB93

Meter Readers are very rare these days -   the  suppliers rely on you reading the meter . Do get into the habit of reading every month you may be pleasantly surprised.

PS Everyone got the £66/£67 not just low earners.

Yorkshire_Pud

You stand to owe them a lot of money when an actual meter read is used or they may owe you. Easy way to get an idea is read your meter yourself and compare it to most recent estimated bill meter read.

Estimates a re just a guess and a holding operation between actual readings. With all the tariff changes, if you have been underestimated they will put a larger amount of use into recent high tariff energy use, OR they ‘May’ use an algorithm to work out most likely use between actual reads.

Not worth burying your head in the sand they will charge you in the end unless you know something we don’t!

If you tell us your estimated last meter read 4 digits on the last bill and your meter read by you 4 digits it will indicate your position to others.

[Deleted User]

Yorkshire_Pud said:

You stand to owe them a lot of money when an actual meter read is used or they may owe you. Easy way to get an idea is read your meter yourself and compare it to most recent estimated bill meter read.

Estimates a re just a guess and a holding operation between actual readings. With all the tariff changes, if you have been underestimated they will put a larger amount of use into recent high tariff energy use, OR they ‘May’ use an algorithm to work out most likely use between actual reads.

Not worth burying your head in the sand they will charge you in the end unless you know something we don’t!

If you tell us your estimated last meter read 4 digits on the last bill and your meter read by you 4 digits it will indicate your position to others.

When an actual meter reading is provided all estimated readings are voided. The supplier (or more precisely it’s data collector/metering agent)  will use an industry-approved algorithm (similar I believe to that used for validating switching readings) which looks at past historical usage for the property to produce estimates - if necessary - for any tariff change dates. It doesn’t follow that if a low estimate is replaced with a higher actual reading that all the additional usage will be billed at the higher tariff rate.

prowla

I would suggest you check your actual usage against the estimates:

• If they are roughly aligned then you're probably OK.
• If the estimates are way below actual then you are building up to having to pay a huge bill at some point.
• If the estimates are way above actual then you are over-paying.

It's an idea to submit an actual reading from time to time.

Raxiel

It may be tempting to keep on with estimated reads, but it will get read eventually, and at that point you'll be expected to pay the balance (or get a fat refund if its an over estimate, don't rule that out until you've checked) even if you don't ever provide a read, and they never send a meter reader (although they're supposed to).

If & when you ever move out the next resident will be certain to give a read when they move in because they won't want to be liable for any of your usage.

Better to get ahead of it.

pallyman

I have had about 4 meter readers come round in the last 3yrs,They must not trust me,lol

imeach

Robin9 said:

@CMB93

Meter Readers are very rare these days -   the  suppliers rely on you reading the meter . Do get into the habit of reading every month you may be pleasantly surprised.

PS Everyone got the £66/£67 not just low earners.

Not that rare
1500 to 2000 at MDS
Maybe up to 1000 at Lowri Beck

imeach

pallyman said:

I have had about 4 meter readers come round in the last 3yrs,They must not trust me,lol

Some properties visited every 3 months, some never

Raxiel

imeach said:

Robin9 said:

@CMB93

Meter Readers are very rare these days -   the  suppliers rely on you reading the meter . Do get into the habit of reading every month you may be pleasantly surprised.

PS Everyone got the £66/£67 not just low earners.

Not that rare
1500 to 2000 at MDS
Maybe up to 1000 at Lowri Beck

28 million households though.

Used to see E.on every 3 months despite giving them manual readings every month. Unsurprisingly since Octopus took over in 2019 and reactivated the smart feature (and we had a pandemic) no one's come to look at it.