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AIBU?

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Original poster

Ridiculous bill. Do we have a leg to stand on?

41 replies

TheNoiseHurts · 04/02/2020 07:34

We used to live in a flat (recently, in 2019) which had electric no gas, storage heaters large two bedroom that had 5 people in it.
Electric bills were £75 a month.

We did a lot of moving recently while we bought a house.

In that time we lived in a different two bedroom flat for 6 weeks.
It was minuscule, had 4 of us in and we didn't use the heaters at all.

We got a bill for £247 (that's down from £1,354!) for the 6 weeks we were there.

We have called them countless times, they have the initial meter reading and last Meyer reading. Yet I still think £247 is too much.

My husband has concluded that it was a bad tariff. I'm annoyed because we never agreed to a certain tariff the bill just came through the door.

To show this companies incompetence they also sent us a gas bill repeatedly. They told my husband that they can't stop sending them until we provide a gas meter reading, we asked them what we should do there because we don't have a gas meter what with not having gas to the flat. She just repeated that we would keep getting bills.

5 calls later and we fixed that.

Do we just have to suck up the £200+ bill? I'm so annoyed, we are so broke.

OP posts:
KnifeAngel · 04/02/2020 07:37

Contact the ombudsman. My Dad got a bill of £1000 wiped after British Gas made a mistake and refused to rectify it.

bobbiester · 04/02/2020 07:41

Remember if you normally pay £75 per month that's averaged over 12 months. Actual consumption in winter months would be much higher than summer months. E.g. in your old flat with electric heating your consumption could easily have been £115 per month in winter and £35 per month in summer.

Winter consumption + bad tariff could lead to a surprising bill for 6 weeks.

slipperywhensparticus · 04/02/2020 07:44

Did you sign a contract with them? Have they provided you with a costs breakdown?

GreyishDays · 04/02/2020 07:46

I’m afraid I would think that you need to actively put yourself on the right tarried, otherwise you’re on the standard, ie rubbish one.

Does the bill say what the tariff is? Can you check online to see if it’s actually correct?

Tunnocks34 · 04/02/2020 07:50

That doesn’t sound to bad to me to be honest? £75 would be per month averaged over 12 months, and we’ve just come out of the cold season where energy consumption is higher.

Shit about tariff though - explain you can’t pay upfront and they may set up a more mana level payment plan.

Tunnocks34 · 04/02/2020 07:50

Mana level = manageable

Original poster
TheNoiseHurts · 04/02/2020 07:52

I hadn't thought about that, more in the winter, less in the summer and averaging out.

I guess that could make the bill that we have.

Bugger.

OP posts:
CornishPorsche · 04/02/2020 07:59

Have you looked at the daily charges and the rate for the electricity use, then done the maths?

HisBetterHalf · 04/02/2020 08:00

Is it an actual reading or an estimate?

adaline · 04/02/2020 08:04

I think £75 a month when you have no gas sounds about right. A six week period of that over winter could easily be £247.

Like a PP said unless you actively seek to change tariff, they're always going to put you on the most expensive one!

897654321abcvrufhfgg · 04/02/2020 08:08

Our first bill for a poorly insulated house we moved into was £290 for 3 bed semi. I can believe it. If the electric heaters were terriblely inefficient

BarbaraofSeville · 04/02/2020 08:16

Is the £247 for just the six weeks in the second flat or does it include money due for the first flat?

If it is the former, then it's probably too much, as you say you didn't use the heating at all. If it includes monies owed from the first flat, then obviously it could be correct.

Have they sent a clear and correct bill?

You say you have the meter readings for the six weeks you were in the second flat. In that case, it should be easy to work out what you owe with a price per unit, plus a daily standing charge, which will be shown on the bill. What does this come to?

BarbaraofSeville · 04/02/2020 08:17

What were the hot water arrangements for the second flat? If an immersion heater has been used/left on, that costs a lot to run.

Andtwomakesix · 04/02/2020 08:34

Ours averages around £95 a month over the year but when we spoke to them recently we are currently averaging £200 ish for Nov / Dec so as someone suggested it can be quite different in the winter.

Blondeshavemorefun · 04/02/2020 08:38

As below. Our nov and Dec bill were over £200 a month 🙀🙀🙀

But we pay same monthly and evens out over summer

LifeSpectator · 04/02/2020 08:45

i think you were very lucky to manage to have all your heating, water , cooking, lights and other power needs for five people at 75 a month, you muct have had an especially low tarrif then, or didnt really use any appliances , did this change to second flat like washers dryers freezers etc, water heating could have been less efficient. It seems to me 6 weeks mid winter, the second bill though high is far more like we would have if you combined our electric and gas bills, if we were not averaging them out over a year.

Original poster
TheNoiseHurts · 04/02/2020 08:55

No it didn't change, we were lucky in the old flat in that we benefited from the heating from the flats above and below and we only needed one heater on during the winter (the was especially apparent when winter 2018 both flats were vacant, we were SO cold and put 3 heaters on).

We rented the expensive tiny flat in November and it wasn't especially cold to be honest. We didn't use the heaters. We didn't have driers etc
We benefited from the Lakeland airer as we did in our old place but that's about it.

No one home during the day either.

OP posts:
nannybeach · 04/02/2020 09:13

Worth checking, over the years, I had a electricity bill from British Gas which was 800 times larger than usual, yup, thats not a misprint, it turned out, they had actualy put the decimal point in the wrong place. Then we were receiving Gas bills from them, but DIDNT have gas, so of course, in the first place, I ignored them, then got the threatening debt collection letters, rang them, they came out and checked confirmed there was NO METER, aparently, I was then told it was for my business!! It was a 2 bedroom local authority house, I had just had a baby, NO BUSINESS, odly, enough, the first problems, I had also just had a baby. Then moved, new meter fitted, went BACKWARDS, where we are now, have ECOMONY 7, new meter fitted after a couple of years, EDF, man from Scottish Power put my readings, night and day, the wrong way round (in MY favour I might add, but didnt then want to receive a huge bill) it took them, are you sitting down, 9 months to sort out, after 3 I said I had had enough, was changing supplier, they froze and closed my account, so I couldnt. Last year my cheaper, supplier went under, Oftengem put me with SP, took, them 4 months to set up account. NO< people, I will NOT have a smart meter.But as folks have correctly said, you consumption is averaged out over 12 months, and some suppliers are crafty, you pay more for the first however many units, so you think you are saving, by not using heating cutting back, but are paying a higher rate at the outset.

Madcats · 04/02/2020 09:18

It could be so many things. Old spotlights/recessed downlighters can burn a lot of electricty. As can water heaters (if the thermostat was set a degree or two higher it would make a big difference). Maybe the washing machine and dishwasher weren't as energy efficient either?

More likely, you were on a "costs a bomb" tariff. Certainly a year or 2 ago there were massive variations for our consumption when we were researching a switch.

If you took meter readings and they are what you have been billed for, you are just going to have to pay it.

NachoNachoMan · 04/02/2020 09:20

Do you have a reading from when you moved in and another when you moved out? Do you have a copy of the bill stating price per KW and daily rate?

If so:
Sum 1 - take start figure away from end figure to get actual usage

Sum 2 - Times actual usage (sum 1) by unit price

Sum 3 - Then, times number of days in accommodation (6 weeks is 42) by daily charge.

Sum 4 - add sum 2 & sum 3 to get the charge for the period. Does it look right? Have you been charged for leaving midway through a fixed price contract?

Post the numbers if you need to double check with us 😊

NachoNachoMan · 04/02/2020 09:21

P.s I assume if you didnt switch during the time you were there you were just on the standard tariff with no exit fees

GameSetMatch · 04/02/2020 09:24

I’m really sorry but £247 is probably about right, we pay £230 a month for gas and electricity we don’t have it tropical either.

AJPTaylor · 04/02/2020 09:40

As pp. If they have the correct meter readings you have to suck it up!

forrandomposts · 04/02/2020 09:45

I’m really sorry but £247 is probably about right, we pay £230 a month for gas and electricity we don’t have it tropical either.

In contrast we are in a 2 bed flat and pay £50 a month so £246 seems mad!

chocorabbit · 04/02/2020 09:56

Do you have the initial meter readings? Are you sure you are not paying the last X years that the previous tenant hadn't? We did have such a problem and it took forever to sort it. DH has become an expert at dealing with them now and whenever they lower our monthly payments he phones and keeps them at the same level because he knows that when winter comes we can use the excess.

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