Need help to reduce bill urgently

[worriedabouthealth]

We are having massive issues with our electric bill. I’m stressed and upset as have tried to reduce it to no avail

It was too high but kept creeping up so we started to make changes and tbh we weren’t using tons anyway.
We accepted a smart meter to try and help
I thought the tumble dryer was a problem so we got a double washing line and 2 airers but still the bill went up

We made sure we turned off all lights etc.
Checked how energy efficient appliances were
Got different light bulbs to be better

Still the bill went up.

In desperation we decided last October to switch as found out we were on an expensive standard tariff and not allowed to switch so we decided to change suppliers.
We have been blocked at every turn it was meant to switch in early Dec but the company kept saying they weren’t aware we wanted to switch (they were as wrote to us ‘sorry you’re thinking of leaving us’??? )

The bills kept going up and the smart meter no matter what changes we made wasn’t showing less. Then it was showing more ???
We were living in darkness it was ridiculous

FINALLY after lying what we thought was the final bill we switched this week and having been carrying on our efforts so hopefully it will help BUT

We got another final bill for an astronomical amount from old supplier. The letter stated ‘tariff change in 4 Dec’ and they’d put us in an even more expensive one ???
It also said the bill was estimated ?

I called them and they denied both saying it’s not estimated (why does it say that ?) and they haven’t changed any tariff (again why does it say that ?)

I don’t know to do I’m worried we aren’t doing enough to save energy but I’m turning everything off at night and I’m the day I’m here and it’s dark and I’m not using anything I even use a flask and make one lot of tea in the morning so not boiling kettle a lot etc

I dont see how they could change the tariff to a more expensive one as we were switching they said I was mistaken it was just a price change

I’m so angry. They won’t accept there’s anything wrong I don’t know who can help
Plus I don’t know if there’s anything else I can do to reduce the electric usage and I’d really appreciate some help
Thankyou

Definitely like the advice of waiting until your neighbours lights are on and shutting your power off to see!

3-bed semi here in Scotland (so cold, wet and windy often) dual fuel bills of £70 pcm.

I work from home

Keep temp around 18°C

No tumble dryer. Lots of gadgets to charge though.

GCH, electric oven, electric shower.

Your situation definitely needs investigating. How can you be using so much electricity?

And you can't "go straight to the ombudsman", you have to officially lodge a complaint and wait, I think it's six weeks, or get a deadlock letter from them.

I am currently in dispute with the much vaunted Bulb as they have not been billing me for nearly a year, ignoring my readings etc and my account is in a ton of credit and I have no idea how much of it is what I owe them, no idea how much energy I'm using etc. I've contacted them about it three times now. Tempted just to switch and see what happens!

(it's eight weeks after lodging a complaint that you can contact the ombudsman, and you can't circumvent it unless you're prepared to lie, they ask you the date of your complaint and then for a copy of it)

Rather than trying to research all the different tariffs yourself, I'd really recommend a service called 'flipper' - they research all the tariffs for you and switch you to the cheapest one up to 3 times a year, without you doing any of the admin. You pay £25 a year for the service but I think there is some sort of starting deal like you only pay once they've saved you £25 or something. They saved me something like £1,100 last year (we live in a big drafty house, for context). Get someone else to sort it out for you, basically!

@worriedabouthealth
Can't see anyone has asked so I'll check - have you got underfloor heating? After our building work a decade ago our electricity usage nearly doubled - I called Scottish Power and their first question was: Have you got a swimming pool?!! NO. Second question: Underfloor heating? Yes - that will be it they said and it was - we turned it down to just warm and the bill went down by 40%.

On a separate note I changed from SSE to Green Network Energy 9 months ago and my dual fuel dropped from £128pm to £89pm and I'm always in credit.(4 bed terrace over 4 floors with underfloor heating!)
Here's the link and if you switch you get £60 credit(I do too!)

join.greennetworkenergy.co.uk/?referee=GlNvEo2N0Q0I3m5k7i5M3m3-

I love them - call centres with nice people you can talk to and no automated rubbish.

No underfloor heating

Should the smart meter reading be the exact same as the actual meter ? Is there any relevance to a decimal point ?
Smart meter says 000866.3
Meter says 08593

Also the smart meter is showing an even higher price than my statements did for our tariff so I’m totally confused it was showing 18.8p and standing charge 28.2p so no idea what tariff they had us on ?

What does it say your current running cost is in pence per hour?

Damn @worried - I had hoped to have solved this for you.
No idea about smart meters but something else that we worked out cost a lot more than lamps is those ceiling spotlights so we have lamps on in the evening rather than the ceiling lights.

We’ve switched now so not sure how accurate the smart meter is now but at the moment it’s displaying something not sure how correct this is

Says £0.34 per hour

@Worriedabouthealth you need to look up British gas complaints humber that usage is very high, register a comaint about your final bill and discuss it with them also speak to you new supplier regarding your usage and request a check meter to be fitted, they are calibrated meters that attsch to ensure that your meter is reading the usage correctly, it's not often smart meters are incorrect but it does happen, they will also request for you to do a burns test, ie read the meter turn off every appliance, read the meter again to check the usage, also request a mpan check to ensure you are being charged for the correct meter details

Call them again and is you do not get any help go to the energy ombudsman and tell them you are doing do. They will be forced to then look at it.

At this stage I'd suggest you put the tariff issue to one side, you need to find out why you are using so much, it's not lights or playstations or washing machines, these can't be responsible for such large usage

You need to establish

• is the meter working correctly
• is it only recording what you are using in your own house

Never mind what other posters are telling you about how much they use, ignore that, you know you have a problem as your usage is ridiculous for your house, you need to be focused on sorting that out then look at getting the best tariff.

Have you started the onbudsman complaints procedure?

No idea about smart meters but something else that we worked out cost a lot more than lamps is those ceiling spotlights so we have lamps on in the evening rather than the ceiling lights

This really isn't about lights, the OP says she's being told she's using half the UK average annual amount of electricity in just over 2 months, there must be something more fundemental wrong

I think I can start a complaint online I’m going to do that once ds has his nap because I’m not sure I know what I’m doing and someone who knows what they’re doing needs to look into this

Make sure you dont leave your TV in standby mode when you arent watching it. Dont leave chargers plugged in when they arent charging. If you really want to be frugal turn off the microwave when not in use. Also empty space in a freezer requires more energy than full space so if you have empty drawers in the freezer apparently a brick wrapped in newspaper does the job.

As far a tariff is concerned the bill is made up of two parts - a daily standing charge and the actual usage. If the daily charge is high then it wont make a huge difference if you start using less electricity. Its always a case of give with one hand and take with the other - high standing charge low unit cost, low standing charge higher unit cost.

If you want to be technical about it then switch off everything and start things up room by room to see what causes a spike in the usage.

0.34 pence per hour should only be showing if you have washing machine, or tumble dryer or kettle or something high electric using on. That shouldn't be just 'ticking over and a couple of lights on'. Do you have an appliance or the oven on?

The tv was on
Oven not in use but plugged in and on but not cooking anything etc etc

If oven is just on regular - tell the time - that should be almost nothing. Try turning the TV off and see if it goes down to less than 10p per hour. That's still really high just for a TV.

Make sure you dont leave your TV in standby mode when you arent watching it

This might be good advice if the OP was absolutely totally skint but the issue here isn't the £1 a month at most it would cost to have the TV on standby, she's being asked to pay £230 a month plus

(Our last 2 TVs don't even have an 'off switch' - you turn them off and on by the remote - so technically they are permanently in standby. They cost an absolutely minuscule amount to run like that.)

There are only 3 avenues to explore.

1. Meter faulty
2. Thieving scumbags tapped into the supply.
3. A rogue appliance sucking up all the energy.

The only way to find out is to switch off and unplug everything, check meter to see if it is still ticking over/flashing. If it is then switch off the mains (big red switch), once the main red switch if off, the meter should stop ticking over/flashing. If it doesn't, it means either the meter is faulty or someone has tapped directly into your meter.
Then switch big red back on and go through all the other fuses, one after the other to see where the energy is being used, it will more than likely be one of the socket circuits.

This is really bugging me now, I want to know.

Switch the oven off completely and see if it goes down in cost, a tv is only about 100 watts so not much

Thats crazy high usage! I have lights, PS4, large TV, 2 freezers and gas heating on all evening and most of the weekends and I'm paying about £80pcm in total for a 2 bed midterrace.