Electric meter... wtf?!

[Eifla]

One person living alone in a one bed flat.

Pre-payment card meter, no gas at the property.

Work 8-5 Mon-Fri so not even home all that much! No tumble dryer, no bath, no dish washer, nothing left on stand-by but do run two oil filled radiators for a couple of hours in the evening.

Meter check and no fault, no debt on it.

Currently putting £45 week (about £180 / mth) in the meter and E-On tell me this is considered an average / reasonable amount.

AIBU to think that’s bullshit?! Can’t keep up with how hungry the bloody meter is!!!

tefal unlikely as every supply has an MPAN ( meter point administration number) and these are separately detailed on ecoes (electricity central on line) which is the database that shows all supplies on the national grid. The MPAN is the defining number for the supply to each grid cable. stairway, dwelling, all are separate.

Super helpful thank you @RosaRosaRosa

Urgh this is such a PITA!

Ok so I haven't RTFT but your unit price isn't much more than mine (I'm on 14.06p per kWh BUT we are three (sometimes 4 if DD is home) people in a four bedroom house and we pay £90 per month on gas AND electric.

Sounds to me like something is going wrong for OP.

Could you ask your neighbours how much electricity they use, how much they pay, and whether they are on a prepayment meter or billed quarterly?

That should give you an indication of whether yours is way over the top or similar for others in the building.

It is an utter PITA! And it can be bewildering! So many offers and incentives out there! Once you get the hang of it tho, it can lead you to cheaper rates and a fair bill. You will always pay for the energy you use, but make sure to shop for the best rate. Beware of comparison sites that sign you up. Shop around yourself, talk to the supplier direct. Get your annual kWh from E-on and get competitiors to quote on that. Switch when you get a better deal and keep switching. It's your right as a consumer.

DH works for an energy company - he thinks you are paying way too much - our gas and electric costs us £85 per month and we live in a 200 yr old house with little insulation but with double glazing and run the heating at about 19 degrees evenings and mornings. He says you need to switch and if you have a dual rate meter then use the storage heaters as you pay more for day rate than those on single rate meters (say 12p per kwh day rate but ecomony 7 day rate is 18p but the night rate is 5p). Please switch, you may even end up staying with your existing supplier but you are on a crappy standard tariff (he thinks). My Mum lives in a small semi bungalow and has storage heaters and a dual rate meter with an electric immersion heater - her bill is £50 per month (I know as I manage her bill). Come off your prepay meter if at all possible but if you are a tennent you may be tied to this but you will always pay more for prepay meter.

We have 5 beds and 100yr old house. Me , DH, baby and 3yr old plus two cats who like to be warm. Baths every day. Washer on every day and tumble drier- in winter. Two fridge freezers and dishwasher. Electric oven used daily. I am at home all day. Gas heating, combi boiler and hob. We pay £40 a month electricity and £55 gas. Also have a woodburner which I use if it is just me and DD and we light almost every night in the winter.
Our gas bill used to be extortionate (£140 a month) but we have Hive and it has reduced dramatically by me managing the heating more efficiently.

Thanks again everyone. I can definitely speak to a couple of the neighbours and see what they’re payable but I’m not sure how comparable it’d really be as most are home all day/retired etc, but a good starting point.

Thanks again all

Good luck Eifla, I am sure if you investigate you can get something less than your current payment, and switching is really easy and there are much better deals than 'the big six' offer (big six being British Gas, Eon, NPower, Scottish Power, EDF, SSE). Hubby says Utility Warehouse has a good offer out there for prepayment meters (he doesn't work for them - his company doesn't deal with prepayments so he doesn't have a vested interest in the info I am passing to you). Hopefully you will soon have reduced bills that you can spend your hard earned cash on more interesting things like wine....

One last piece of advice.
There are national average figures compiled from Ofgem statistics.
Low user 1900 kWh, medium user 3100, high user 4600.
Energy companies are within their rights to quote on these if you are unable to provide your actual usage. (which is why I said get E- on to give you your actual annual kWh usage).
To anyone looking for quotes, you pay for what you use. Never mind what they quoted you.
These stats are guideline estimates and allowed for quotation purposes only if your supplier has made reasonable steps to ask you to provide your actual consumption.
Them's the rules.
If they don't do that, it's mis-selling.
Punishable by the regulator, Ofgem.

eifla you're so right! Two identical households can have totally different usage. Never compare to another consumer, just get (using the mumsnet phrase) your own ducks in a row, and get your quotes in. Good luck! Less money on the key ahead.

That unit rate isn't bad but lots more info needed. That bill is too high.

What is the standing charge?
Are you on a single tariff or eco 7? Do you have a dual meter?
You don't need a smart meter, useless
Do the turn it all off test. Next doors cannabis farm plugged in?
Storage heaters can be set to release heat in the evening ( the bleat of ' they are crap' is people who don't know how to use them and yes I have lived with them)
You need to speak to an organ grinder at the supplier and find out your actual tariff.

£110a month gas and electric. combined. However I am here 24/7 and due to ill health I feel the cold, so heating is always between 22-27 degrees. So yours really is wrong!

Turn everything off at the fuse box so no electric coming in. And leave if for a good few hours, ours doesn't take of a penny at a time, more like 20p at a time so leave it a good while

The Money Saving Expert is always, quite rightly, banging on about how expensive pre payment meters are. I can well understand why landlords like them, but you need to ask your landlord (if you have one) whether he/she would be willing to agree to you having the meter changed.
If it’s any help I live in an all electric house and am on an economy 7 tariff. Our Emersion heater is timed to heat up during the hours of cheaper electric, i time my washing machine to come on so it finishes just before the cheap rate ends but the tumble dryer, currently used everyday, is only put on when someone is up., so is always using the highe rate tariff. . We have storage heaters in the main rooms, including the bathroom and OH and I always shower rather than have a bath. We have panel heaters in the bedrooms by choice, which we have timed to come on so the bedrooms are warm when we go to bed and set to go off after an hour. We don’t need extra heat in the morning as the bathroom is warm and the heater on the landing takes the chill off the. bedrooms. The children can’t yet be regularly persuaded to have showers in the morning so have baths everday. I boost the immersion heater if needed, and also use the bathroom wall heater so the bathroom is warm for them. The bathroom storage heater is the least efficient in the house. We never have the need for additional heating downstairs for some reason which is a surprise as we have 2 full length windows. We do have top quality double glazing, a new roof which is well insulated and cavity wall insulation. I’m with Scottish Power at the moment and am currently paying £60.00 month less than you. Being honest we decided this year to not reduce our direct debit during the summer months so have built up quite a lot of credit, but we certainly won’t have used it all up before summer comes.
Friends think my bill is expensive but I don’t agree. I have no need for a regular boiler service and worries about the boiler breaking down.
Sorry for the essay, I know long posts are tedious to read, but I would say you are definitely paying far to much for very little.

You don't actually need to ask your landlord about changing your meter.

Your contract with you energy provider is nothing to do with your landlord.

If it's in your contact then it's unenforceable. It's your bill. They also can't hold part of your deposit until they have 'proof' all bills are paid - it's just two things some LL's think they are entitled to do.

LL's cannot dictate which provider you use, which tariff you have and that includes changing from pre-payment to another meter.

I live on my own in a 2/3 bedroomed house with gas ch, use a tumble dryer, dishwasher, washing m/c, have wi-fi, TV, iphone, ipad etc. My usage is 2600 to 2800 kw hours electric and 9500 kw hours for gas. I have double glazing and low ceilings, also 2' thick walls. My estimated annual cost is £800 on my current plan and my usage is less than average.

You say your charge is 14.15p per kw hour, does this include VAT at 5%? You will also be paying a standing charge in addition, you say you have storage heaters so have you checked if you have an offpeak meter and are paying a standing charge for that?

In addition to checking usage of individual appliances I would be keeping a record of the meter readings twice daily, quite simply take a photo on your camera phone every morning and evening of the meter, that will help you discover if there is any overnight use of electricity. Then once a week enter the readings in a notebook or on a spreadsheet to see if you can see a pattern of usage between weekends and evenings as opposed to days when you are out.

You think you are paying £180 per calendar month for electricity, is that just in the winter? If we assumed £15 was your standing charge monthly that would leave £165 for electric usage. Assuming 5% VAT is not included in your 14.15p kw hour charge then the charge including VAT is approximately 14.86p per kw hour so if you divide £165 by .£0.1486 it equals 1110 kw hours a month. To be honest that is higher than I would expect for a one bedroomed flat. Good luck with sorting this out.

You may find it is cheaper to use the storage heaters - used correctly they can be very efficient but you do need to read up on how to use them. You need to set the input and output so you are ‘storing’ The heat for when you need it. And pp are correct. You will be paying more on the day rate (until about midnight ish) as it is much cheaper at night

That does sound like an awful lot. I am in a draughty 2 bed terrace with 2 kids - someone is in most of the time and I do a fair bit of laundry/using dishwasher. Kids always have their gadgets on/charging and my over is electric. I do have gas central heating on some rooms but use an electric heater in the bathroom for prob half an hour a day and in the kitchen for about the same amount of time - more at weekends.

I am on prepayment and have £4 a week in debt taken off the meter. I currently use between £15 - £20 a week in electric, including debt and standing charge.

The difference between my usage and yours is mostly the immersion heater and shower, I imagine. Can you check the meter, not use the immersion at all for 24 hours, then see what the usage has been during that time? If that doesn't give you an answer, do the same with the plug in heaters? You definitely need to check if there is a cheaper tariff - I pay 13.2p per Kwh.

Just noticed you said the immersion is on for a couple of hours every day to heat up - does it actually take this long to get the water hot enough? If so, could it be faulty? I had one in my last house and it heated the water from cold in about 30 minutes normally. Is it lagged properly too?

I used to help people who were struggling with energy bills. A lady had something very similar. We did everything mentioned by everyone above. Meter checked etc etc ... turned out it was an old sky box using shedloads of electricity. Good luck to you finding the answer!

What is your landlord like? Would it be worth explaining you love the flat and are a reliable and long term tenant but the cost of heating is making you feel forced to move out. Would they install central heating? The worst they can say is no? It would be a big expense for them but storage heaters are a bit out dated now. I know it put me off renting a couple of properties when I was looking for somewhere 10 yes ago. So it might be worth it for the landlord in terms of keeping/finding tenants. Of course they might do it then put the rent up!

My brother lived in a housing association flat with key meters for both gas and electric. I had them changed for him, which was very easy to arrange (he has major health problems, so unable to organise it himself). Key meters are a rip off, as you pay more. His bills did drop (plus he was never left in the dark or without heat). The landlords have no say in what sort of meter you have.

That is v expensive Op....my last bill was £122 for the quarter...i pay £52 a month and have built up lots of credit....im in a 3 bed reasonable sized 200 year old cottage...2 of us here term time...and 4 when my teens come back from uni in the holidays.

It really does sound like you're on an economy 7 tariff. Do you have two readings on your meter?