Crazy high electricity usage with EDF

EDF_Victim

Hi Everyone

I have been with EDF for a few years now, since before the big price hikes due to the war in Ukraine. First issue I has was them trying to bill me for 12000KWH of usage in the first 24 hours of having an account with them, I complained but they ignored, the ombudsman then smashed them to bits within 24 hours of the complaint and I got £1000s back in a refund form the CEO team, good result but should never of happened. 

Fast forward to now, I haven't switched away from EDF since the prices went crazy, I have been looking into doing it now they are coming down a bit, but noticed I am back in debt with EDF, and they are claiming my annual estimated usage is 7570KWH which is 3 times higher than the national average.

I live in a 3 bed semi in the midlands, family of 4 but my 7 month old daughter wont be using much electricity and my son doesn't have things like a TV or games console in his room. I cannot find anything in my home which is anywhere near power hungry, heating has gas central heating, hobs are also gas, leaving my very modern Neff oven as the biggest electricity burner.

My question is, how common/bad is that kind of annual usage?

And is it worth having EDF investigate a faulty meter? If they have been over charging me for several years after the last successful ombudsman claim, i'm guessing they will get hung out to dry for this!

Any tips and advice would be great

Thanks

Brie

Only you will know for sure how accurate that use is.  Do you have a heated pool and flood lit tennis courts?  Or are you careful to turn everything off at every opportunity?  

Take a bill from a year back and the latest one and check what you've actually used.  And are all the reading actual readings or are they estimates?  Relying on estimates is the way a lot of bills get way out of whack.

Mark_d

For a 2 bed flat we use 4500 kWh Elec and 8000kWh of Gas.  I'm not sure what fuel your 7570kWh relates to but I don't think it's ridiculous.

molerat

but my 7 month old daughter wont be using much electricity

Not by herself she won't but babies can be the cause of high energy use.

Have you got 2 Actual (or Smart) meter reads 12 months apart ?   The first place to start.  If you are concerned about your use read the meter daily, maybe even a couple of times a day to see where that use is going.  The supplier estimated annual use can sometimes be way off track.  They won't listen to "that can't be right", you need to come up with actual hard use numbers.

BarelySentientAI

Why are they claiming an estimated usage.  Haven't you given them a reading?

EDF_Victim

Sorry guys, I wrote several paragraphs yet failed to mention what the 7570KWH was! 
Its electricity, to the right of my bill it states "annual estimate = 7570KWH

Its apparently from smart meter readings, every bill is split into 18 days and 12 days (2 chunks for each month just on electricity)  this months 30 day usage is 574KWH (which makes 7570KWH a year not far off)

Looking back to 2023, the bill for 17th of July to 30th of September was for 1012KWH - which is 400KWH every 30 day average. 

All my lights are A rated LEDs on smart switches/sensors, so auto off when we leave rooms, one TV in the whole house, 49" LED (modern), just seems crazy when I look at the UK average and its showing 2500KWH for electricity. 

Has their been cases of faulty meter readings over several years? EDF said for a long time they couldn't read our meter due to the "type installed" and would need it manually, then last 18 months they seem of of miraculously been able to read it again without coming in my home.

Finally, if I had flood lit tennis courts or a heated pool, I would be rich enough to not mind a 7570KWH annual bill lol!

Krakkkers

Do you use any form of electric heating? difficult to see how that usage could be right without some form of heating.
Immersion heater or underfloor heating left on?
Can you do hourly checks for a day or 2 to see what is happening?

badmemory

My annual usage is about the same but only 2 adults in a small house with no electric heating.  In my case the causes are a power shower, tumble drier, dishwasher, washing machine & a computer that has 2 cooling fans.  I've no immersion heater but I have seen a lot of cases on here where that is the guilty party.

Robin9

@EDF_Victim    

What were the meter readings in July and September 2023  - were they Estimated or Actual - and what is todays reading please. A photo of your meter will help ?  Some modern meters can be difficult to read -  watch out for the decimal point.



We've had some households on the Forum   who have had issues with fish tanks, lighting, stuck pond pumps -  and some which are naturally high users.

BarelySentientAI

EDF_Victim said:

EDF said for a long time they couldn't read our meter due to the "type installed" and would need it manually, then last 18 months they seem of of miraculously been able to read it again without coming in my home.

That's completely normal.

EDF_Victim said:

Has their been cases of faulty meter readings over several years? 

Yes, there have been occasional ones.  The vast majority of "my meter is faulty, I can't use that much" posts on here end up with the discovery that yes, actually you were using that much.

EDF_Victim said:

And is it worth having EDF investigate a faulty meter? If they have been over charging me for several years after the last successful ombudsman claim, i'm guessing they will get hung out to dry for this!

If you got them to fit a check meter and it was found that yours was faulty, they'd just correct the bill.  Nothing about "being hung out to dry", just a simple correction.  I mean, if you haven't been bothered about it for several years, why should they have known anything was wrong?

You can investigate quickly to see if it might be worth a meter test - turn everything off and see if the meter keeps counting up, and then do something where you know how much it uses (microwave at full power for X minutes, boil the kettle X times) and see if it counts up by the right amount.
  

Spoonie_Turtle

It may be helpful to do an audit of every single electrical appliance in your house, room by room, and how often they're used.  Then you can start to track down where the usage is coming from.  Smart gadgets can use a fair amount on standby if they have various functions switched on, such as voice activation.

Laundry with a baby may add up, electric showers if you have one will certainly add up, the type of fridge and freezer(s) - especially if you have an American-style one - how often you run the dishwasher, bottle warmer if applicable, etc.  All rhetorical, no need to comment on these unless you want to, but just some pointers for seemingly small things to start you on the way.