47,475 KWH in 3 months.. according to Scottish Power

[LondonOx]

So Scottish Power reckon that we have used 47,475 KWH since November, at a cost of around £1,750. This sounds completely outlandish as it would give us a daily usage of around 400KWH. We have used 257units of gas in this period which I think is only around 8100 KWH does anyone know how to check this. I have emailed Scottish Power to tell them but they have not yet responded. AIBU to think this is rediuclous?

[mrsminiverscharlady]

Unless you are running a cannabis factory YANBU.

[LondonOx]

I mean that our gas meter used to read 1745 and now reads 2002, I gave them 1745 when we moved in and gave them 2002 today. I have looked on a bill and if I am reading it right this equates to around 8100KWH. Am I getting something totally wrong? Slightly panicking..

[HollyMiamiFLA]

If it's gas, there's a complex calculation involving volume and other factors.

[MoreBeta]

Hang on a minute.

Have you had the kilowatt amount given to you by Scottish Power or are you working it out yourself?

[Binkyridesagain]

If its a paper bill there should be a how to calculate your bill on the back. If its an online bill there should be something on Scottish powers website explaining how to do it.

[jacks365]

Is your meter imperial or metric. If imperial it will be about 8100 if metric about 2700. Check your bill for the start reading and the finish one and then the calculation on the bill. It should show how they got to the error but with Scottish Power I couldn't guarantee it. I do find them good at sorting errors out.

[MoreBeta]

How big is your boiler in kilowatt capacity?

Ours is 40 kw which is a big one for a house but how big is your house.

A 30 kilowatt boiler at full capacity in winter is doing probably doing close to 400 kw in a day if you have a big house. Add in a has cooker and you might get closer still.

[SquigglePigs]

That's definitely not right. Carry on pushing it with them. They must have transposed a reading or something. 13.5 kWh is the average annual consumption of gas in the UK so they think you've used 3x that in 3 months - madness!

[Flossyfloof]

I had a similar situation with Sainsburys Energy (British Gas) a while ago. I phoned them and asked if my bill of £1399.16 was correct. immediately he said no, got me to re-read the meter and send the reading by email along with a photo. Do you have an old-style dial meter? He said there was an error as they are so hard to read. One would think, though, that meter-readers would be trained to do the job and be capable of doing so properly. It didn't bother me that much as I was pretty certain it was incorrect - but it might really have upset someone of a more delicate nature or someone who had no way in hell of finding that kind of money.

[CouthyMow]

Right. I'm on a key meter, so paying extortionate standing charges each day. I got through £250 electricity in that same 3 month period. In a house with 5 people in, using my tumble dryer for at least 2 loads every day, I have 4 lights that are left on 24/7, medical equipment that runs on electricity, no energy saving bulbs as they affect my epilepsy, DC's that think my house is Blackpool illuminations...

Something isn't quite right there...

£250 as compared to over £1,000.

Nope, my only conclusions are either a) You are running a cannabis factory, b) Your Christmas lights were visible from Mars, c) You have a neighbour tapping your electricity supply, or d) your electricity company have massively fucked up...

[munchkinmaster]

I had an issue with crazy meter readings a while back. In my case the problem was a subcontractor for the electricity company had changed my meter to a new one and failed to tell me or the parent company. Took about a year to figure out and then all of a sudden they realised. Is your meter outside your house - mine was hence the problem.

[MoreBeta]

Its gas she is using - still measured in kWh

[TheBigJessie]

Couthy I may have said this before

[LondonOx]

We haven't had a paper bill issued yet because I only imputed the figures today. They had previously confirmed by email that the starting figure they would use for the gas would be 1745. Today I inputed the new figure of 2002. Their website generated that we had consumed 47,475 KWH. Our gas meter is imperial and when I used the gas unit figures by themselves to work out how many KWH we used I got about 8100 like jacks said.
It is a terraced student house, the boilers only on for a couple of hours a day and often the other students go into college for dinner. Over Christmas everyone was away for about a month so the boiler was turned down to the very minimum and all the raidiators were turned down just so the pipes wouldn't freeze (was in our lease). Logically I know that the 8100 figure is correct and the 47475 figure must just be a mistake but I just wanted some reassurance this is something that can be fixed. Sorry for not being particularly clear, but I was worried because we just wouldn't have the money to cover this huge bill.

[MoreBeta]

I strongly suspect that if you have an Imperial meter that measures in cubic feet you have actually been charged at the rate applicable to a metric meter.

Give them a ring.

[jacks365]

Morebeta if it was charged at metric in error it would have been lower not higher.

To get that usage assuming the correct starting figures the end reading would be roughly 3500 which makes no sense for a mistype or anything like that. Ring them tomorrow and talk it through, make use of their call back facility if offered as I've always found it good.

[LondonOx]

Thanks Jacks, you've been really reassuring, will call them tomorow.

[CouthyMow]

Gas does my heating and hot water, is on for 2-4 hrs every day this quarter, and I've used just £70 on a key meter in that time with Eon.

Dafuq can ANYONE use £1,000+ worth of gas in 3 months?!

Last Winter was far colder, I was with Southern Electric for my gas, I know wasn't on a key meter in the old house, had gas on almost 24/7 as bloody freezing last year, and STILL only spent £180 in the same quarter.

Southern Electric is actually Scottish and Southern, so same supplier as OP. Dearer than I'm paying on a key meter with Eon, despite being quarterly billed, but not THAT expensive FFS!

[CouthyMow]

I'll look into Ebico, but I'm just happy I'm paying less than I was with Southern tbh! It's been far more manageable - I'm actually paying far less on electric here than I was in the old house, despite having two extra bedrooms!

[CouthyMow]

One thing I've found with SSE (Scottish and Southern Electric) is that as soon as your fixed rate term ends, the cost per KWH jumps MASSIVELY, to become one of the dearest on the market. I wish I'd known that before signing up, and had been more careful about when my term ended, and switching away from them when it did.

My gas and electric have just gone up with Eon, but I've worked out that's it's an extra £10 a YEAR gas, and around £35 extra a year electric. And will STILL be cheaper than I was paying SSE after my fixed rate term ended...

[jacks365]

Londonox I put on another thread that I seem to use Scottish Power as a savings scheme. I've not long since had my annual refund from them, someone managed to input figures twice when moving from one it system to another this time last year my gas meter was faulty so overcharged but I have never had an issue with them sorting things out.

[deakymom]

what they did to me was they ignored my previous meter reading and assumed my meter was at zero charging me over £5000 pounds this was obviously not right and i rang up told them and we worked it out on the phone

have they done the same to you?

[LondonOx]

Just spoke to Scottish Power on the phone, somewhere in the mess of our switch over from (the dreaded) Spark Energy who objected to the transfer originally on the basis that they estimated we owed them £86 (though we only owed them £3.60) the start value that has been agree at around 400 units. This is despite the email I had from SP in Novemeber confirming that we would be starting on 1745....

How this was arrived upon I shall never know given that I have a bill from Spark Energy in which I have paid for the £3.60 to take us to 1745 units of gas. I do wonder how such incompetence is possible!! Complaint to Spark Energy here I come.