EDF bill for £1600 for one quarter but smart meter shows £327 useage

MsFletcher

Hi, I'm desperate for advice please. We have a smart meter and were moved to EDF after supplier went bust. They have now sent us a bill for £1600 for the first quarter of 2023 when our smart meter is showing £327.  EDF customer service says the smart meter is not 100% accurate but I thought the meter was correct???  These numbers just don't make sense to us as they are way out of synch with our energy useage for years.  We've sent photos of the meter to the complaints line.  What else can we do?  We're really worried about this now.  

Spoonie_Turtle

Are you thinking of the little display unit (the IHD) rather than the actual meter?  The meter itself (or meters, if you have gas) should be accurate but the IHD £ showing is often not because the tariff info is not always updated.

Looking at the bill you've been sent, is it based on actual meter readings or estimates?

If actual readings, compared with previous bills are the reasons plausible or is there an impossibly massive jump anywhere?

CSI_Yorkshire

The readings on the meter are almost always correct.

They're not in £ though, so I think you're not looking at them.

Look at actual readings on the actual meter.

QrizB

The smart meter measures energy use in kWh of electricity or cubic metres of gas. The kWh or cubic metre numbers are 100% accurate when displayed on the smart meter or on the in-home device (IHD, the little gadget you are given for your mantelpiece).

The smart meter also contains a price for each kWh of electricity or gas, and an average value for the number of kWh in a cubic metre of gas. It uses these numbers to gove you an indication of the cost in pounds and pence. However the accuracy of these numbers depends on your supplier sending the correct price information to your meter. This can go awry, meaning the price displayed on the meter or IHD can be completely bogus.

The best way to track your energy use is in terms of kWh and cubic metres.

What meter readings have EDF used to calculate your £1600 bill? Are they actual smart readings or have they been estimated? If you can share them here, we can explain how to check them.

Robin9

Give us the readings from a couple of bills please (the last one and one about 12 months ago) please - include the letters A C E S or our read/your read  -  and also read your meter today

MsFletcher

Hello, Thanks so much for your time and advice which is reassuring. It's estimated.  I think we've found the issue looking at our account online which is their inaccurate estimate when they took over the account in December. Their estimated reading was over £2000 (we have no idea what they've based this on but it's not on our historic usage or the meter) which is wildly inaccurate compared to the actual smart meter reading (I'm working on the cost in £ rather than the kw). We've got proof of this in our online account so we're trying their customer service again. I hope we can get this resolved.  When you say read the meter today, do you mean the smart meter or the old meter? 

Robin9

Read the Smart which is in the garage or outdoor meter box . Please ignore £ - its kWh that's important.

What happened in December - did you give the supplier meter readings ?



PS Just because it was Smart once it doesn't mean it is now - the fact that the reading is estimated suggest that it's no longer Smart

CSI_Yorkshire

MsFletcher said:

 When you say read the meter today, do you mean the smart meter or the old meter? 

You shouldn't still have an old meter if it was replaced with a smart meter.

Ayr_Rage

@MsFletcher PLEASE forget about reading anything in ££s from your IHD.

You need to check ACTUAL readings from the meter(s) and if those are appearing on your bills or estimates have been used.

Robin9

CSI_Yorkshire said:

MsFletcher said:

 When you say read the meter today, do you mean the smart meter or the old meter? 

You shouldn't still have an old meter if it was replaced with a smart meter.

Blame the TV adverts who describe the IHD as the Smart meter. (it isn't)

dunstonh

They have now sent us a bill for £1600 for the first quarter of 2023 when our smart meter is showing £327.

What you pay and what you use can be two different things.  For example, if your use is showing as xxxx units over yyy period then you multiple the units by the cost to get your cost figure.

However, that only shows you what you used in that period.   It doesnt include what you may be in arrears for over previous periods.  i.e. if your monthly direct debit is insufficient to cover your actual use.

EDF customer service says the smart meter is not 100% accurate but I thought the meter was correct???

The smart meter should be correct in terms of units used.  However, the tariff data shown on the IHD may not be (usually is but some people have found the tariff data is not updated or sluggish to be updated).      The unit count is accurate.   

 These numbers just don't make sense to us as they are way out of synch with our energy useage for years.

Have you been measuring your yearly use by pound or by units?    If you are measuring by money then the cost increases mean that you would expect them to be out of sync with previous years.   if you are measuring them by units used then you generally find similarity bar any changes in use (e.g. buying an EV or PHEV will increase your electric use from previous years)

We've sent photos of the meter to the complaints line.  What else can we do?  We're really worried about this now.  

You need to understand your actual use.   And that means in units (kWh for electricity).     Until you know how many units you are using over the months of the year, then the monetary bit won't make any sense.

So, give us a breakdown of your meter readings over at least a year.  State whether they are actual readings or estimates.