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Original poster

To be on the verge of tears at our monster electricity bill

111 replies

pollyspantry · 07/01/2013 14:17

I was only saying to DH last night, "I expect that we'll get an electricity bill soon as we've been paying estimated bills since we moved into new house with new provider"

It just arrived.

  • We provided a reading when we moved in in May 2012
  • The reading that this new bill was based on was taken at the very end of Nov 2012, so this is for 7 months of electricity mostly over the summer
  • The house is heated by gas, and we don't have any pricey electric heaters or anything

I think we've been paying around £80 a month estimated and I expected an outstanding bill to reach £300ish, maybe a little more.

The bill is £1000 - £1200 with VAT. For 7 mths. Not including the estimated bills already paid.

I want to cry. I'm on maternity leave and not due back at work until May (not that I'll earn anything at all as I'll be paying entire salary into childcare)

Can this be right??? I have a horrible feeling it must be, as they don't often get it wrong, do they?

Is this really how much it costs to run 1 x TV, 1 x dishwasher, 1 x washing machine, charging phones & laptops and light for 8 hours a day in a 4-bed house? (but the bedroom lights must only be on for about 3 hours a day!?!)

OP posts:
MooseyMoo · 07/01/2013 17:03

Have you double checked they have the correct start reading for the date you moved in? When we moved house they charged us from when the house was built (3 years). I was mortified at ££££ bill then realised they had in putted the first reading amount. Then I got annoyed. Luckily I had made a note of when I rang them and what the reading was.

SundaeGirl · 07/01/2013 17:10

I clicked on this thread sure the OP was going to be my tenant. I have explained gently and then a bit more assertively about the cost of electricity and yet every time I've been over (4 times in three months) they've got an electric heater running and the wood burning stove off. They're going to have a horrible shock over the bill.

Jins · 07/01/2013 17:11

MooseyMoo good advice but the OP doesn't have a start reading as it wasn't taken when she moved in. All she has is one from a week earlier

LIZS · 07/01/2013 17:14

Our gas system can heat the water tank without the heating also being on but won't run the central heating without the water. Have cold fill washing machine and mainly use an electric shower . An immersion is like running a kettle constantly , but for a larger volume of water. unless your regularly drain the hot water tank you should be able to manage it with it only on a couple of hours am and evening, allowing it time to reheat after dc's baths. Also often the thermostat is set very high so you could turn it down (look for a dial among the tank lagging) Can you get the boiler serviced and ask the engineer to demonstrate the controls ?

50shadesofpink · 07/01/2013 17:14

This happened to us a few years ago, a huge bill of £1400 for electricity! I was mortified!! Anyway I have the company a call and told them it can no way be as much as they are saying and had to go through this telephone interview. I was asked questions like 'have you installed a jacuzzi?' I wish I said, but no!

A reader was then sent around to take a reading and it transpired that there was a digit wrong in the previous reading and ofcourse the bill was ALOT higher than it should have been!

DifferentNow · 07/01/2013 17:25

Ha, I too have spent the day stressing about bastard energy suppliers. Firstly, I would say to you that I switch suppliers every 18 months or so and without fail, each time there has been a fuck up which has been nothing to do with me but has resulted in me having to spend months pursuing it and complaining to get a resolution. So as others have said, don't assume that this bill is correct and piece as much of it together with the information you have to hand before you challenge them.

I switched to npower a little over a year ago and have been paying £125 a month for gas and electricity for our small 3 bed semi since then. I logged in to my online account with them a few days ago to see what our usage has been as I am reviewing our utility providers again but oddly there was no information for the past year so I submitted readings to try and generate a bill. This had still not been updated today so I phoned up to query it and the fuckers have never billed us, asked for readings or reviewed our payments. They've basically just switched us over, taken our monthly payments and forgotten about us and allowed more than £400 in debt effectively to accumulate! Have written a fiery email and will be pursuing it as far as I can.

Bastards the lot if them.

DifferentNow · 07/01/2013 17:27
  • if = of
Hobbitation · 07/01/2013 17:39

NPower are absolutely awful at billing you. They had been good at a previous house so I switched to them when we moved in. They didn't bill us for 7 months and it was £650, I had put money aside as was expecting the bill at some point. I had also rung them several times in the 7 months and then did nothing.

Eon I've found tons better, regular billing, good communication and helpful when I've been in touch. We pay £116 a month for dual fuel for a 1950s 4 bed semi. I'd say the OP's bill is well out.

Recently we could have got a massive bill - meter reader misread a digit! Instead of sending a massive bill Eon got in touch and asked me to check the reading- which then generated a normal sized bill! While I was on the phone they also arranged to put us on a cheaper tarriff.

Hobbitation · 07/01/2013 17:39

They did nothing I meant, sorry

Original poster
pollyspantry · 07/01/2013 17:46

Immerison heater is off but I have no clue about the timer. DH due home at 630pm so at least not long to wait for him now.

Verge of tears gave way to an hour of sobbing, and the kids joined in. Big fail, should have tried harder to cry after bedtime instead, and with wine. I also ate a milky bar from toddlers christmas selection box. I'm a shoddy mother this afternoon :(

OP posts:
Original poster
pollyspantry · 07/01/2013 17:47

Immersion* even

OP posts:
IShallWearMidnight · 07/01/2013 17:54

British Gas were trying to bill our office for 1. standing charge when there was no gas supply, 2. gas used based on a reading from a meter which doesn't exist AND 3. gas used actually used but on two accounts - one domestic and one business. Meanwhile were paying UW for the gas we were using. Took months to get it sorted out, complicated by the fact that the business helpline people can't talk to the domestic helpline people, and we had to pass messages from one to the other. Thankfully it was 0800 numbers, but even so Shock.

DifferentNow · 07/01/2013 17:57

It's not worth tears Polly. Chin up and try not to worry. Even if it turns out to be correct, they will offer to spread it out over a long time and just adjust your payments. npower offered me this option today - I told them to ram it.

MummytoMog · 07/01/2013 17:58

Oh love, don't cry :( It's horrible, but there are ways to sort it. You definitely need to call them up again and talk to them about it, it sounds absolutely mad. When we had a similar problem, they sent a chap round to look at the meter and then he looked round the house to see what our consumption should be like. He pointed out a couple of things which were munching electricity, checked our heater (which turned out to be faulty) but also checked our meter. With us it was partly the meter being faulty (we were paying for the upstairs flat's usage!) and partly the thermostat having gone on our electric heater. We arranged to pay an extra £30 a month and paid it off that way.

I ate all my kids' selection boxes. I'm saving their little teeth from needing fillings. I don't feel bad.

peacefuleasyfeeling · 07/01/2013 18:15

My sister just came through the other end of a very similar episode, where it turned out it was a little bit of everything going wrong, the main culprits being a gross miscalculation on the energy provider's behalf, an immersion heater constantly on, and a completely inappropriate tariff. She badgered them and they were very apologetic for their error and sent someone to help her sort out the settings on the heater. I hope it is resolved smoothly for you. You ought to be able to pay any outstanding money in installments over a long period, which might ease the sting. But hopefully it won't come to that. Good luck, and please dry your tears.

TwllBach · 07/01/2013 18:19

We got a massive bill about two years ago and it was terrifying. We ended up paying it back at£200 a month, which nearly killed us.

I have nothing helpful to add, but I just wanted to offer OP a manly pat on the back Sad

Jins · 07/01/2013 18:22

Don't cry Polly. I really can't see how you've used that much electricity in 6 weeks even with the radiator and the immersion heater being on. I'd ask for your meter to be checked as a starting point

TwllBach · 07/01/2013 18:22

Oh crap, sorry, you hadn't posted about your tears when I started my post.

Don't cry OP, there'll be a way that you'll be ok, even if they giv you a repayment plan. It'll be fine! And you'll know for the future now as well.

SillyBlueHat · 07/01/2013 18:31

When we moved in we didn't realise that the previous tenant had left the immersion on. The electric bill was similar to yours till we realised

JingleUpTheHighway · 07/01/2013 18:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TrazzleMISTLEtoes · 07/01/2013 18:47

My immersion tank is set at 60 - is this unnecessarily high? What's yours at?

JingleUpTheHighway · 07/01/2013 18:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

McNewPants2013 · 07/01/2013 18:48

The worst that can happen is you come up with a repayment plan and have your meter switched to a payg one.

Try not to worry about it

JingleUpTheHighway · 07/01/2013 18:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

luvmybrood · 03/06/2014 20:46

Just got my bill for £3000 and they want to change my direct debit from £110 to around £600???? Just because they've been sending me estimated bills for the last year and a half. Not fair at all!!!