Issues with So Energy since smart meter installation

MirandaP7

Hi, we have been with So energy for the last 3 or so years, our fixed contract is up come October this year. We started with EBS originally and I was mildly smug about having fixed before the big hike in prices... however..... Winter 2022-2023, we were lucky enough that the gov payouts covered our bills, with them not reaching monthly more than about £60, then summer 2023, they dropped as you would expect and our bills were around £40-50. We were given the usual story though at this point about the radio frequency switching off and we would have to go to a smart meter or our meter wouldn't work etc etc, The people I asked also seemed to think it was a for gone conclusion that we would have to switch, so I agreed to a smart meter (queue the guy jumping up and singing "MISTAKE!!!!") We had minimal cost rollover from pre smart meter as we were -£35 debit. Our first bill for a very hot August to september though was £176....which seemed odd. Bare in mind there are two working adults living in a two bed one level apartment, yes we have electric heaters, but have had for the past 8 years.. Our next bill was £350+... and subsequent bills over the winter have swung from £450 -£499. We, as you can imagine have queried this with So energy, who depending on who you talk to, either agree its weird, or basically claim because they are recieving readings from the meter, it must be fine.... We have ended up £1500 in debit because of the time it has been queried for. We went to the ombudsmen who agreed procedures hadn't been followed so the energy company should give us £170.. and send an engineer. I requested an engineer, but So energy said they could only refer the case to the engineers, not chase them, after 2 months of being told that they didn't have a 3 phase qualified engineer, I phoned them and got an appointment there and then. So energy have just cancelled that appointment, saying that because the the meter is transmitting, they can't replace it and that won't resolve the issue. I did not request a replacement... they have gone back to saying they will book the appointment.... Am I being messed about? I think so... How do we fight these guys beyond ombudsmen? How do companies think they can get away with this? How does two adults in a two bed one level apartment go from an estimated annual usage of just under 2000kWh to an estimated 11200kWh ?? I promise we are not a factory....

BarelySentientAI

You've got a 3-phase meter for a two bed apartment?

Have you done all the simple things first?

Check the meter number on the bill is the same as the one on the meter.
Check the meter readings on the bill match the ones you have taken from the meter.
Check the meter readings on the bill are marked as actual or smart.
Check that the meter is actually the one that supplies your apartment - turn something 'big' on (like a kettle or something) and watch for a little red flashing light to speed up.

MirandaP7

Yes we did all the above. It turned out the heaters in the place were dreadful and everything installed was just the worst efficiency you could imagine. Also So energy were charging us the highest amounts and had swapped the night and day readings but refused to agree to this. In the end it was impacting my mental health and I'd got a job out of the area. So me and my house mate paid it off, moved it to the landlord to find a new supplier and I moved out. Never living in an electric heated place ever again. 

EssexHebridean

Electric heating can be absolutely fine - I lived in a flat with storage heaters for 20 years and never had astronomical bills beyond the standard energy crisis increase we all faced. In your case though it sounds suspiciously like someone had either removed old storage heaters and replaced with panel heaters, but never changed the tariff from Economy 7 to single rate, or that the flat had been fitted out from the start with the panel heaters and somewhere along the line someone had assumed that it ought to be on E7 “because it’s all-electric”. 

Swapped day and night readings does happen, and surprisingly often with old traditional meters. I think it happened to us three times, although after the first time, we did spot it very fast and were able to get things righted quickly. The first occasion was more of a nightmare because we were with Scottish Power at the time and their terrible customer service team simply stuck their fingers in their ears and repeated “no that’s correct” on a loop! 😂