any advice on my unbelievably high electricity bill

suzyb19

Hi,
Does anybody have an opinion on my problem, as I am at my wits end and not sure what to do next.

I am with e-on and I am convinced my electricity charges are wrong, but after speaking to e-on they basically do not want to know.

They admitted that our useage was very high, but could not offer any explination for this, apparently we are using over double the units of a average customer bill.

They said the meter could be checked, but instist that it is very unlikly to be wrong as it was only fitted in september last year, they say if we want it checked it will cost us £100, we simply do not have the money to pay for it,
as we seriously have money problems as well as the growing debt on our electricy bill.

Just an example* my mum and dad live in a 3 bedroom semi detached house, and their kilowat hours used for March, April, May was 700 kilowat hours used, we live in a one bedroomed bungalow and ours for the same period was 1765 kilowat hours used.

We have roughly the same electrical appliances, expect they have a electric shower,(which i beleive uses alot of power) we have one that runs from the gas combi boiler, we have a laptop and they dont.

My Mum and Dads electricity bill for that period was £95.00, whilst ours - wait for it - was £222.95.

I cannot believe we could have used all that, would it actually be possible, even if every appliance in the house was left on 24/7 for the whole time?

I have racked my brains to try and figure out were we could be using (or wasting) the electricity, but I have gone through everything in the house and I cannot come up with any answers.

I hope somebody has an opinion on this, or maybe even some suggestions, because basically I am at my wits end and it is making me ill.

Thank you for reading
Suzy

notbritishgas

Yes your usage is very high, your parents is more like, perhaps a little low for someone with an electric shower. The average yearly use is something like 3300kwh per year.
Are the readings at the start and end of this period actual readings or estimates?
If they are actuals you have either a faulty meter (unlikely?) or some heavy usage item left on. Heavy users are things that produce alot of heat eg radiators, tumble driers, immersion heaters (yours isn't left on is it?)

frugallass

make a list (on here) of your appliances and how often they get used.....lets see if we can see anything out of the ordinary.....

have you tried turning absolutely everything off and watching the meter?

bryanb

Do you have economy 7? Did you read the new meter when it was fitted?
Switch off everything in the house and check the meter is not turning, switch on something you know the wattage of (1kw h = 1000 watts) run it 1 hour and read meter again, this gives a rough meter check

squidge60

hi um we use £55 worth each month we dont have a electric shower (Just 1 run off taps )but we do cook by electric have a dishwasher ,3 laptops,and other usual stuff.we do have a low energy light on every night and in this weather have fans going quite a bit so i would say you have a problem some where definetly.we arent tight but have never used that much,hope thats of some use to you.

suzyb19

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions, it was an estimated reading, (our meter hasn't been read since 30th Jan) by e-on, but the reading on the meter is now 6500, the estimated reading on 9 May was 4742, so that means we have used 1758 between 9 May and 24 June, does that seem a lot?

The heavy usage items mentioned most dont apply as we have a gas combi boiler for the heating, shower. The tumble dryer hasn't been used for at least 4 months as I line dry outside or use a clothes airer. It may get used a couple of times a week in winter for about 30 mins at a time only.

We have a laptop, which is used everyday,
a computer which is used for about 1 hour a day,
3 tvs - 1 is on most of the day, and the other 2 are on for about 1 hour each day and I always switch them of standby,
a washer/dryer, I do a wash about 4 times a week,
a dishwasher,
a american fridge freezer,
kettle used 2 couple of times a day,
toaster used a couple of times a week, microwave hardly used,
hob and grill and oven, - hob used most days, grill used about twice a week, oven used about 5 times a week for about 1 hour at a time.

Thats it I think! oh and we use energy saving light bulbs in every light/lamp week can, which is all except 2.

I don't think we are a heavy user? what does anyone else think?

I think the next step will be the suggestion to switch everything off and watch the meter.

Bryanb, what did you mean about switching on something you know the wattage of (1kw h = 1000 watts) how would I know the wattage of something? - sorry to sound thick!

I agree its probably unlikely the meter is faulty as it was only fitted last year and is one of them new digital ones, but I suppose it can happen.

Any more suggestions or comments would be helpful, I will let you know when I have done the switching everything off test.

Thanks again Suzy

Cardew

suzyb19 wrote: »

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions, it was an estimated reading, (our meter hasn't been read since 30th Jan) by e-on, but the reading on the meter is now 6500, the estimated reading on 9 May was 4742, so that means we have used 1758 between 9 May and 24 June, does that seem a lot?

It doesn't mean you have used 1,758kWh - it means you are required to pay for that amount! The 9th May reading was probably an underestimate.

The only way to work out your consumption is look at the reading on 30th Jan and compare it with your present reading.

The size of your property doesn't matter as you don't heat with electricity.

suzyb19

Hi Cardew,
my reading on 30 Jan was 2689 my reading today is 6500 so I think that means I have used 3811 from Jan 30th to today. My problem though is the fact that my electricity bill for the last quarter was a masive £222.95.

When my parents was £95.00, they had used 700 kilowatt-hours used and we had 1765 kilowatt-hours used.

That is a massive difference, especially as we have mostly the same appliances, but they have a electric shower, we have a laptop and computer.

Thanks for your reply
suzy

frugallass

between 02.02.08 and 20.04.08 my useage was 935@11.79 = £110.32 - now that was when it was cold, I was using a halogen heater because the fire is electric and had the electric blankets on the bed. My cooker is electric too.

I have since tried to be more careful, ie not leaving lights switched on, changed to energy saving bulbs and wearing jumpers instead of putting the heating on. I will try to check the meter later to see if I've made much difference.

Yours is pretty high !

saveallmymoney

That American fridge freezer might be using a lot?

I think you need to get one of these household electric monitors.

suzyb19

Hi frugallass,

Everybody seems to say its higher, even E-on admited it was high when I rang them about it, I even spoke to a Manager and even he could not give me any reason why it was so high, (we went though a list of my appliances etc), to see if we were heavy users and he even admited that we didnt seem to be, but they would only come and check the meter if I paid £100 for the privledge! Basically E-on are a waste of space, as long as they are getting the money they don't care about their customers.
I'm gonna try the switching everything of test later, but if this doesn't show anything, I don't know what I can do next, I am at my wits end with this problem.