How to switch please - lots of meters!

sashanut

Hi all

I recently posted my SOA & a lot of the advice I got was to head on over here to try & sort out my utility bills. I know that the costs are soaring for everyone so am mindful of that; but I have real difficulty doing a comparion using the websites. The reason is we have a big house which has 4 electricity meters which were installed I think in the 70s because of a lot of power used outside. What this means in practice is that we can't get a comparison as no-one can quote us as we have multiple meters. We are at present with EDF for both gas & electric; last 2 quarters have been electric £948.50, just had another bill for this quarter for £424.70 & gas was £539.81, this quarter is £219.02. There are only 3 of us living here BTW!

Hope someone can help please before we get to the winter quarters:eek:

Premier_2

It's very unusual to have more than 1 meter (well 1 electric plus 1 gas) for any given residential address.

I used to live in a large flat that had 2 electric meters fitted - but that was because it was originally 2 adjacent flats and the landlord decided to knock a hole through the adjoining wall. When we discussed the position with the electricity company (this was in the old days when everyone paid a standing charge, so we were annoyed at paying 2 standing charges), they were very keen to revise the installation as they said we should only have 1 meter. After discussion with the landlord who wanted to retain 2 meters so that he had the option of letting the flats as 2 individual units again, we only got the electricity company to calm down by insisting we had made a terrible mistake and it was actually 2 independent flats covered by 2 different addresses (flat A & flat both of which had it's own front door.

So the easiest way to avoid ongoing problems would be for you have the installation revised so that you only have the 1 meter for each. Unfortunately, that will probably be quite expensive. For gas, they'll probably charge a small fortune for any modification (recent posts suggest a minimum of about £1000). For electricity, if the meters are close enough together that the existing wiring can simply be moved so that it all goes through one meter, you might get away without any charge (that was the case we had with the flat), else I think a charge will apply there too.

Otherwise, if you keep the separate meters, I think the best you can do is to treat each meter (or pair of meters, 1 gas plus 1 electric) as a unique problem for use with comparison sites. Adding all the meters consumptions together won't work as each will have it's own tier 1 & tier 2 charges and/or standing charges to be accounted for.
Also you could only use the switching sites for comparison purposes - once you've opted for a supplier you'd need to contact them directly to explain the situation. I can't see why any supplier would refuse to take you on, but you'd need a good contact at the company as it's a bit unusual for the average CS call centre adviser to understand/handle so they would probably just dismiss the request as they are under time constraints to answer as many calls as possible rather than give a personalised service.

kazwookie

Do you now need all these meters, do you use a lot of outside stuff?

Ken68

Hi Sash...could it be a business account !!!!.

sashanut

Hi & thanks for the replies- very much appreciated i can tell you! I actually only have one meter for gas, so that isn't really the problem - we are all gas fired CH (not on the moment) & also for all cooking as we have a gas converted Aga. This is a biggish house & it was modernised in the 70s I would say when the previous owners had the meters put in I think. As we are not using the outside power very much, most of them don't register a change ie 0 units ATM. However, EDF sent us a bill based on all 4 meters (estimated) which was about £13,000!! After my DH nearly had a heart attack, went to the cellar & read the meters & phoned up to give them the actual readings. Eventually we received the bill for £948 & were so relieved it wasn't £13,000 we paid it....but it still seems a lot to me & having just had the most recent bill of £420 I checked in case I could phone them up with a revised reading but it was actually more units than they est so i think I better pay it. Although we are home all day I don't think we use too much electricity as all cooking/hot water/kettle etc is done on the Aga & no heating on of course as it is warm enough.

I think EDF are treating us as a business, it was ages before we even got a bill & then it came from somewhere like 'small business department' - I am sure this is because of the 4 meters. I can quote the amounts per unit etc if that helps for comparison purposes?

Premier_2

Ah, that gives you a few more options to investigate.

First of all, compare your current costs to what it would cost on the same suppliers domestic tariff - you can get unit costs either from the suppliers website or from a comparison site just by inserting your consumption figures. Choose any domestic tariff for this - e.g. standard tariff would be an easy place to start.

If domestic works out cheaper, the next thing to do is convince your electric (and gas for that matter) company to put you on a domestic supply tariff since you are a domestic customer.

With the way you use the meters, you have 3 options then.

(a) Leave all meters as they are - but make sure there there is no standing charge applied - this might still cause a problem in the future if you want to change supplier
(b) Arrange that all electricity goes through 1 meter and get others removed
(i.e. arrange for incoming supplies that currently go through the other meters to go through the main meter)
(c) Arrange for alternative electrical supplies to garden (i.e. spurs/extensions off circuits that already supplies through main house meter). Then you won't need the extra meters at all and ask if those supplies can just be disconnected.

nick74

Someone with more electrical knowledge than me may be able help here, but didn't/don't some 3 phase supplies have three seperate meters, one for each phase?

I'm wondering if you have a 3 phase supply to the outbuildings, then a seperate single phase supply for the house - hence the 4 meters in total.

Another thing to check is that if your supplier has you down as a business they may be needlessly charging a "Climate Change Levy" and 17.5% VAT on top of your bills, when you should only be paying 5% VAT as a domestic user.

Incisor

nick74 wrote: »

Someone with more electrical knowledge than me may be able help here, but didn't/don't some 3 phase supplies have three seperate meters, one for each phase?

I'm wondering if you have a 3 phase supply to the outbuildings, then a seperate single phase supply for the house - hence the 4 meters in total.

Sounds very possible. An electrician may be able to advise some wiring changes which put everything on the 1 meter, allowing the OP to discontinue the 3 phase supply.

Belnahua

Just a silly question I know, but are all the meters fed from the mains? I ask this, in case the previous owner in the 70's fitted his own meters to measure usage around the house, so you are paying for the same electric twice?

If it is as the previous posters say, a 3 phase commercial supply, you could get the electricity board in to re-wire and replace with one single phase meter and change it to domestic use?

Is there any chance of taking a photograph?

whatatwit

My 3 phase supply has just one meter.
Have you tried finding out what is run through which meter.

The house we are in now used to be 10 bedsits and that only has one meter, although it did have lots of sub meters in the bedsits.

sashanut

nick74 wrote: »

Someone with more electrical knowledge than me may be able help here, but didn't/don't some 3 phase supplies have three seperate meters, one for each phase?

I'm wondering if you have a 3 phase supply to the outbuildings, then a seperate single phase supply for the house - hence the 4 meters in total.

Another thing to check is that if your supplier has you down as a business they may be needlessly charging a "Climate Change Levy" and 17.5% VAT on top of your bills, when you should only be paying 5% VAT as a domestic user.

Thanks for this info - however I don't understand the phrase '3-phase supplies', there is definitely a separate supply for the outbuildings - possibly two meters although at least 2 of them have not registered any units recently. Sory to be so dim!! I've checked the VAT & it is 5%, & there is no levy that i can see. All the info I have is listed on 2 pages, first says:

Unit charge - single rate 0.133 - total units 61 amount: £8.11
Unit charge - single rate 0.0658 - total units 1608 amount: £105.81
This bill section covers the period 07 Mar to 31 Mar - 25 days

second says:

Unit charge - single rate 0.133 - total units 163 amount: £21.68
Unit charge - single rate 0.0658 - total units 4077 amount: £268.27
This bill section covers the period 01 Apr to 05 Jun - 66 days
I will take a photo tomorrow of the meters if you think that might help!