Extreme electric bill after giving meter reading

You need to go right back to when you had a ACTUAL reading, which looks like it was when you first started with them nearly a year ago.

Take those readings away from the present ACTUAL readings and it should give you the total number of day and night kwh you've used since you started with them .

Multiply the number of units by either the day or night tariff to get the cost of the energy that you've used. Work out the number of days standing charge that the period covers and multiply it by your standing charge. That will give you the total cost.(don't forget to add the 5% VAT)

Subtract what you've already paid which looks like its £20+£40+£47 = £107 and you'll end up with a very large number which is what you owe.

Most people would expect to pay around £1000/yr or more for their energy (some more and some a bit less) so even being a bit generous you'd still owe them around £900.

Unfortunately as you haven't been checking your bills against meter readings and getting them corrected at the time you've got a lot of catching up to do.

You may be able to negotiate a payment plan with the energy co but you'll still end up with a payment of around £100-£120 a month to get the arrears paid off as well as another £100-£120 a month or so for your ongoing consumption - total £200 - £240 a month until the arrears are paid.

You do really need to get on top of your consumption by reading the meters more often, at least once a month and making sure that you give these readings to your supplier and make sure that your bills and statements are correct and up to date.

I'm afraid that you are just one of many thousands who come onto this forum with the same problem of getting a horrendous bill because they haven't been reading their meters and checking their bills.

You should also put some effort into reducing your consumption and seeing if you can get onto a better tariff although you'll find it difficult to swap suppliers with arrears of that magnitude - see if your present supplier can offer you a better deal.

The fact that you've only got a small apartment makes no difference if you don't keep an eye on what you are using and making sure that you aren't wasting it

As the bill was based on a previous estimate then it's of no use.

The OP need to find an old bill that has actual readings and work from that.

I'm assuming that he's got his original ACTUAL meter readings from when he moved in and set up his account so he can subtract those from the current ACTUAL readings to find out how much he's used and then calculate what the bill should really be.

It's a classic case of only checking the bills/meters when the ginormous one comes in. Being on a Standard rate doesn't help either as he's paying top prices for his energy as well.

Do you have NSH's and an immersion heater? If not, then get off E7 onto a single rate tariff. If you do, then use them and not the oil filled rad. It's that that is costing you a fortune, as is obvious from the bill.

frugalmacdugal wrote: »

Hi,
did you honestly think that £20 and £40 over the first two quarters (winter months) was correct, or just happy to bung the oil filled rad on all day at the more expensive day rate?

Oil radiators tend to be rated at 1 or 2 KWH or even more

so if its 2KWH thats 1420KW night and 2840KW day, so £123.12 for night and £529.09 for day. So the oil heater alone could be over £650 cost - obviously even if they are on all the time they switch off once reached temperature so the cost will be far less. When I used to rent an electric only flat with a prepay meter, the cost was about £40pm in the summer and £200pm in winter as we had oil heaters due to poorly working storage heaters.

The hard lesson is not to rely on estimates, lots of time people assume the plan they are on covers what they use and end up with a big bill when they move or a meter reader calls round. I suppose this is one reason for smart meter roll out.