Smart Meter Showed total monthly energy bill would be £130 but was actually £210

amcn02

I'm with Sainsburys Energy powered by EON  and have a smart meter
Its hard enough trying to match a bill to the meter when the months don't coincide.
Just had a fixed rate deal expired early October and moved to variable rate,  obviously expected much larger bills.
Started to undertake more money saving exercises reducing the flow rates on the Combi, insulated curtains as expecting to get hammered over the next couple of quarters.
Meter showed the  monthly spend as £130  but the actual cost was £210.
It looks like the new rates haven't been applied since the fixed rate and will constantly be changing so makes the monetary value useless as a guide to how well you are doing in real terms.
Imagine lots of people will get caught out by this and I can no longer rely on the monetary values as accurate.

la531983

You mean the In House Display showed it would be £130?

Thats not the smart meter.

Just take the usage and do your own calculations. 

MultiFuelBurner

I have sympathy for you if you watched the smart meter ads which clearly show cost as the picture below.

However sadly they don't always update the price with the 3 monthly price cap.changes or when you fix.

It's best you track your own costs and usage.

ArbitraryRandom

It's been a while since I was with Sainsbury's (back when they were nPower), but if it's not changed, I think you can give a meter reading at any point in the month and they'll update your account to show what your bill will be. 

Honestly, I don't think it's very healthy for people to be constantly checking the display anyway... not only is it not reliable, I think it causes more anxiety and unhealthy behaviours when they're not strictly required (just based on observation from last winter). 

Ayr_Rage

Set your IHD to read in kWh, it should be 100% reliable in that mode.

Then learn your usual consumption from those figures.

I had a IHD that couldn't do its sums to calculate £s for quite a while but the actual amount of energy was always spot on.

EssexHebridean

I'll echo using the kWh display as being good practise - and it's surprising how fast you get used to seeing what it your "normal" too - and of course once you do, that's when it comes in really useful as you will immediately spot any deviation from that.

I agree with MFB that the TV ads can be very misleading as they never warn people that those figures they are showing might not in fact be accurate! 

QrizB

amcn02 said:

Meter showed the  monthly spend as £130  but the actual cost was £210.
It looks like the new rates haven't been applied since the fixed rate and will constantly be changing so makes the monetary value useless

Your supplier should send out new prices to your meter every time it changes. For the SVT that's once a quarter. If the last change was missed, it'll have another chance in January.

You should be able to check the tariff details on your IHD and see if they match your SVT.

victor2

As regular posters say, the IHD cannot be relied upon for accurate costs. For meter readings and kWh used, they are generally pretty good, although don't expect the gas kWh to match the bill exactly, but it should be close.

I changed tariffs twice since September (with the same supplier) and my IHD still shows the September rates. Could ask the supplier to sort it, but I keep my own records of usage and costs, which I reconcile against the bills and don't even bother looking at what the IHD says (other than for proving how useless it is ).

I do come across many people who state that their IHD says they've spent £xx in the day and it's hard to explain that their IHD isn't actually the smart meter and isn't used in any way for billing purposes.

Scot_39

Is the £210 based on last months usage - like the IHD - or is it say the new annualised DD rate - which will take higher rates into account - including future winter months.

Most IHD's will display the unit rate being charged - in a sub menu most likely - have they been updated to match your new plan rates ?

So I can see my SC and kWh rates for instance just by pressing one button - in my case the £ sign -  and cycling through the info.

If you can see them and they don't match - your supplier may be willing to push a price update to your device - some only take a few days even if iirc my own (EOn) say takes upto 10 days.

But Ive had issues in past - initially and more recently - from SC showing as zero and not included in totals, to rates being sent ex-VAT, now VAT inclusinve etc (and in Apr - EOn Next - who essentially are background for Sainsburys front iirc - managed to send my and many others - standard credit SC and unit rates - so again about 9% too high on daily cost).

Its far better therefore as above to get used to kWh usage for gas and electric - as that is what you will need to compare costs between deals and suppliers.  And more to point your household / device consumption - over massive price swings - like the near doubling to even EPG capped peak for thos enot on a well timed fix - over last 12-18 months