Scottish Power bill high (not first post about this)

dekaspace1

Ok so a few months back I wrote about how SP were billing me around £85 a month for just electricity, gas is with another company (and rarely used)

At the time I had dual meters but SP refused to change them to single meter saying as I had gas heating I wasn't affected by the teleswitch removal.

Then suddenly in July they were interested and switched me over.

My bills have gone UP since then, on top of a botched install that left me with no heating/hot water due to the electronics of those being wired into meter, had to wait for a 2nd engineer to attend who outright told me the 1st install was botched up and his own words "he shouldn't have a job" at the time my DD was locked out from being changed. and they put it up to £85 a month.

Got my first bill this week and an email informing me my meter isn't contacting them so they are estimating my bill, went to check meter and it shows 000000 on one of the screens. Found the plug in display in it's box still, that they are meant to give you to monitor usage and put it on for a few days whilst I think about my next steps.

Usage is strange, like at midnight it auto sets to 54p (likely the service charge) then when I wake in morning around 9.30am it goes up around 9p a hour regardless if I have my tv and pc on, or just pc, and about 6p if I use my laptop and nothing else and using a microwave for like 10 minutes doesn't seem to do much.

Having a shower of around 9 or 10 minutes is around 50 or 60p.

Around 10.30pm at night every night monitor looses connection to meter and when it comes back on the costs rise very quickly so by midnight around 60p is used in barely just over a hour.

Confused to why it's using so much that late at night very quickly and why the meter loses connection.

On top of that due to the estimated readings SP want to put up my monthly DD to £126!

As stated last time I run a wash once a week certain weeks a 15/20 minute quick wash as an extra, shower about 4 minutes a day on average, microwave most meals and if I do cook something it's the mini oven for about 15 minutes but on average that's around once per week, kettle i'd say once per day on average.

So I want to get this sorted and complain to SP about the twice botched meter install and how they are increasing my bills due to this.

FrugaiMacDugal

Instead of talking about £££s and pennies per hour have you any usage figures?

Are you getting any readings from the meter, you say one screen is 0?

Are you getting readings on the IHD, you should be able to change it from cost to kWh?

If so, you should've been left meter readings when new meter was installed, any readings now?

itsthelittlethings

Is it just you in the household? How many bedrooms?

Qyburn

We get these posts where people quote pounds and not kWh. A monthly DD of £126 might be correct, or it might be wrong we have no way of telling. 

How many kWh were you using before the meter was changed? Was this actual meter readings or estimates?

Put up a photo of your new meter and somebody will be able to tell you how to read it.

Qyburn

I notice you posted about this before, but didn't give any information about meter readings or kWh then either.

Robin9

dekaspace1 said:

............................................... and they put it up to £85 a month.......................................................

Usage is strange, like at midnight it auto sets to 54p (likely the service charge) then when I wake in morning around 9.30am it goes up around 9p a hour regardless if I have my tv and pc on, or just pc, and about 6p if I use my laptop and nothing else and using a microwave for like 10 minutes doesn't seem to do much.

....................

Having a shower of around 9 or 10 minutes is around 50 or 60p. ........................

Around 10.30pm at night every night monitor looses connection to meter and when it comes back on the costs rise very quickly so by midnight around 60p is used in barely just over a hour...............

Nothing strange with these figures.

£85 electric cost is typical for a gas heated property  ....    equates to about 3200 kWh - very average.

54p will be your daily standing charge.

TV's and PC's are generally small consumers ..........  9p is less than the cost 1/3 of a kWh.  Microwaves also.

Nothing else ?    Phone charger, lights, fridge, freezer, central heating pump, security ..................

Are you now able to read the meter?   When the meter was installed it would have a sticker on it- giving the old meter and new meter readings.  (the new would read 00000)  - what is the reading now ?

Were you in debt ? The new  DD suggests you were,  

As others have said please talk in terms of kWh not £

dekaspace1

Not sure how to change settings on the IHD, but not only was I not in debt when it changed over I was £70 in credit.

There is a sticker next to meter saying the reading when it changed.

The only reading I can get from meter directly is 00000 so something isn't working right.

I did think central heating somehow may play a part as I can hear a hum/vibration from the boiler cupboard even though I have heating turned off and set to hot water only and not to preheat water.

I have a fridge and freezer, charge phone once or twice a week, only other plugged in things are 3 alarm clocks which are low powered, 1 of them is USB powered.

I stay in a smallish 1 bedroom flat,

The IHD shows the current cost and how much I have used today, it can show previous days too. but not sure how to check current usage.

GingerTim

If you post a photograph of the IHD or tell us the model number someone should be able to show you how to change the settings.

What meter readings show on your bills?

Ectophile

The smart electricity meters have multiple registers that can record usage.  Normally an electricity supplier will only use one or two of them.  So it wouldn't be surprising if some of the registers still read 0.

Try to look for things that get hot in use.  Electric heaters. Anything that heats water (has someone left an immersion heater on?).  Don't worry about little things.  Phone chargers use hardly any power.  Energy efficient lamps (LED or compact fluorescent) also use hardly anything.  Old filament lights and halogens use far more power and should be swapped out.  Fridges and freezers can be modern and efficient or old and terribly inefficient.  Big American style ones are also power hungry.

Are you still on Economy 7.  If so, should you be?  It only makes sense if you use a lot of electricity overnight, and most people with gas heating don't.  E7 makes daytime electricity more expensive.

I did think central heating somehow may play a part as I can hear a hum/vibration from the boiler cupboard even though I have heating turned off and set to hot water only and not to preheat water.

My boiler hums to itself when the heating is off.  Sometimes loud enough to notice.  It's getting old and it's probably a transformer inside that's humming. Or maybe a motorised valve.  There is still power going to the boiler when it's off.

FrugaiMacDugal

dekaspace1 said:

Not sure how to change settings on the IHD, but not only was I not in debt when it changed over I was £70 in credit.

Here's a rough idea of how to change IHD settings.

Use the OK/Menu and Arrow buttons:

1. Press the "OK" or "MENU" button to access the menu.
2. Use the arrow buttons to navigate through the settings or different screens (like "Now" or "Today" tabs).
3. Look for an option related to "Units", "Display", or "Settings".
4. Press "OK" to select the option and cycle through to "kWh" (kilowatt-hours) or "kW" (kilowatts for real-time usage).
5. Press "OK" or "HOME" to save the setting or exit the menu. 

If you do manage also check tariff is same as on bills.

Who is your supplier as suppliers tend to use different IHDs?

dekaspace1

I'm with Scottish Power, and yes I think I am on a standard tariff and have day/night rates.

I never changed due to the system being buggy and since the home used to have electric heating it wouldn't met me change as there was 2 meters, now I have 1 meter it didn't let me change as had to wait for first bill it said.

Will check and see about getting the settings, I do know it says I have used 3.36 KWh today under the price amount.