Formula for calculating estimated meter readings?

Sukie_2

We are having problems with EDF and our electricty readings. Can anybody tell me what is the actual formula they use to "estimate" the readings please? We can no sensible answers from them and nothing ever seems to be correct.:mad:

We live in a 2 bed bungalow, just 2 of us, have the usual things, washing machine, dishwasher, tv, 2 computers, 2 freezers and so on. The bungalow is cavity filled, loft insulated, totally double glazed and use energy eff. bulbs. We have a gas boiler for the radiators and water and use gas to cook with, we are at home a lot of the time, but the place is light so don't have lights on during the day. We lived in a 3 bed house before and never had these bills and had all the same equiptment, plus, so how come our bills are now tripled?

Any thoughts anybody please, these bills are horrific

espresso

Why not simply supply them with actual readings? Do the simple calculations for yourself to check that your payments cover your usage.

mikeopvc

Make a note of the number on the meter, compare it to the number on the bill, if your number is lower than their number give them a call and read out the number to them over the phone.

Cardew

Sukie wrote: »

Can anybody tell me what is the actual formula they use to "estimate" the readings please?

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skylight

Yep. I knew that forumla.

The answer is 42.














(he he he he he)

weegie.geek

mikeopvc wrote: »

Make a note of the number on the meter, compare it to the number on the bill, if your number is lower than their number give them a call and read out the number to them over the phone.

If your number's higher than their number call them anyway, so that you're not eventually hit with a massive bill when they DO use a proper reading.


But yeah, the way they work it out is to take a year's usage, and divide it by the number of bills you pay over the year. If you pay it quarterly, they'll divide it by 4, and if you pay it by monthly DD they'll divide it by 12.

They can only work it out from the data they've got though, so if they haven't had a proper reading (either by sending out a meter reader or by you calling them with readings) they'll be estimating it from older readings which might not tie in with your current usage patterns.

Electricity costs have risen but it shouldn't be 3x the normal bill. If the estimation is WAY out they might've mixed your meter up with someone else's.

In an ideal world their estimation will be much more than your actual reading, because then they might owe you money.

AmIdone4?

Sukie wrote: »

We are having problems with EDF and our electricty readings. Can anybody tell me what is the actual formula they use to "estimate" the readings please? We can no sensible answers from them and nothing ever seems to be correct.:mad:

We live in a 2 bed bungalow, just 2 of us, have the usual things, washing machine, dishwasher, tv, 2 computers, 2 freezers and so on. The bungalow is cavity filled, loft insulated, totally double glazed and use energy eff. bulbs. We have a gas boiler for the radiators and water and use gas to cook with, we are at home a lot of the time, but the place is light so don't have lights on during the day. We lived in a 3 bed house before and never had these bills and had all the same equiptment, plus, so how come our bills are now tripled?

Any thoughts anybody please, these bills are horrific

Hi Sukie:),

Do you mean how do you work out the average consumption for your bungalow? Irrespective of what your meter reads... and therefore wondering if your meter is reading incorrectly??:think:

Cheers

Sukie_2

Hi, thanks Cardew, not sure which is more of a problem the formulation or EDF!!
Yes we have told them we think there is a problem with the meter, but they don't seem to want to do anything about it. Our meter seems to use much more overnight when very little is running, so we asked for a check meter. No luck. Have turned everything off, so nothing going to earth. It's a real mess and all we get are estimates on what we think is a dodgey meter. Hence how do they calculate. This has been going on for 18 months, since we've lived here!! It was British Gas before and we know the reading they gave EDF was wrong on change over and told them, have also pushed this over to Energy Watch, they're not getting answers either!!Would also like to know how to work out what we should be using if poss.
Many thanks

Cardew

Sukie,
Being more serious the algorithim that is used to calculate estimated readings is probably not at fault, or everyone would have wrong estimates.

The problem is the 'Rubbish in, Rubbish out' syndrome that afflicts all computer systems. Often this is caused by a rejection of a set of data like a meter reading that it 'thinks' is a mistake; this should be reviewed by a real live human - but usually isn't. Once the Computer gets into a loop of silly estimates it won't be sorted without human intervention.

I am not clear however what your problem is regarding "estimates". You can clear up any problem, as stated in post #2, by phoning in meter readings.

It seems your problem is more to do with high consumption - particularly at night??
Could it be that you have an immersion heater switched on that you don't know about?
Other suspects for heavy consumption at night are your two freezers and fridge. A fault on one of these can cause the compressor to run far more than it should.

I suggest you buy one of the cheap power measuring meters(from Maplins) and start tracking down the culprits.

AmIdone4?

Hi Sukie,

Just a couple of things that may help. I think cardew's idea on the power measuring meter is a good one, I didn't even know that they sold them, but definitely worth doing, you could check the power usage of your appliances and compare the reading to your meter!:T

Just a thought...
You could try checking how much power you use, with everything turned off bar your essentials. A couple of weeks ago I did a few little checks to see how much household items and use of them was costing me, just by checking the meter every hour and checking the overnight reading (im eco 7).

1) It worked out that with only my fridge freezer (and it's old prob cat. 'E' efficiency!) and power to my combi-boiler on (everything else turned off) I used = 0.1Kwh
*Easily checked for me as I'm economy 7 (12.30-07.30) and when I checked the next morning I'd used 0.7Kwh overnight, but just as simple if you're not just check meter when you go to bed and then when you wake up!:)

2) A 3 minute microwave and a boil of a kettle (quarter full) = Less than 0.1Kwh (ie. the meter hadn't changed)

3) A 10 minute hoover round = about 0.1 Kwh

4) A 10 minute warm to hot shower (normal triton shower) with economy bulb bathroom light on = about 1.4 Kwh

Now after I'd done these tests I looked for some comparative information (ie averages you were asking about) , but couldn't find any...which made my checks... ABSOLUTELY POINTLESS:o. But if you wanted to do your own check(s), overnight check would be a sinch, you could compare them to these as a rough idea, it may give you an idea on where you stand. Not the most scientific way, but better than nothing, and at least you've got some comparative data of sorts...:)

Hope this helps.

Edit: Change hoover reading to 0.1Kwh!! & Just spotted this link for averages on board, this should help.http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=803267 Can't you tell I'm new to this board!!:o

Cardew

The power measuring meters are sold in Aldi/Lidl from time to Time for about £7 and in Maplins all the time(sometimes on offer for £10)

Essentially you plug the meter into the 13 Amp socket and then the appliance to be measured into the meter.

It measures several parameters, but the most important is for kWh. For instance you plug in your freezer and leave it as long as you like - several days. It then displays exactly how many kWhs the freezer has used in that time. Obviously you can do the same for kettle, TV, Computers, W Machine, dishwashers, dryers etc etc.

AmIdone4
I would love to see a hoover that used 1 kWh in 10 minutes - that will be a mighty powerful machine!!! it would use about 25amps so a 13 Amp plug would melt(well the fuse would blow)