What to do Electricity bill could be £10,000?

[floridapalmtree]

I have read the meter and think we are over 30,000 kw's over. I have been asked for a meter reading and think it's going to come to around £10,000. What do I do give them an accurate reading now? Or wait a year or so to give the correct reading hoping prices will come down?

The reason it is so much over is my mil was living here and had electric radiators on all day in her room and didn't care about the cost as long as she was warm. Plus there is a problem with the boiler and we have had the emersion heater on often continuously to heat water.

I just don't know what to do, any advice?

Most suppliers ask their customers to submit monthly or quarterly readings and send someone every year or so to check the meter, although obviously that's probably lapsed during covid. But even in normal times, you'll probably go for years without someone seeing the meter if you're out or don't answer the door when they call.

As I said, seemingly complicated. Meters are regularly read here, most meters are outside the houses so easily accessed. When I lived in an old house with the meter inside the meter readers had a key so could let themselves in if no-one was at home. In my whole 60-odd years I can only remember having to submit a reading myself once.

@SquirrelG

Most suppliers ask their customers to submit monthly or quarterly readings and send someone every year or so to check the meter, although obviously that's probably lapsed during covid. But even in normal times, you'll probably go for years without someone seeing the meter if you're out or don't answer the door when they call.

As I said, seemingly complicated. Meters are regularly read here, most meters are outside the houses so easily accessed. When I lived in an old house with the meter inside the meter readers had a key so could let themselves in if no-one was at home. In my whole 60-odd years I can only remember having to submit a reading myself once.

It takes be 5 minutes once a month/quarter to submit a reading, hardly complicated.

I hate the thought of some random person having a key to my home. Does that mean if you change your locks then you have to have an extra key cut to send to the power company? Do you know when they're coming or do you arrive home to a note telling you that someone was in your house?

When I lived in an old house with the meter inside the meter readers had a key so could let themselves in if no-one was at home

You're not seriously saying that the electricity companies hold millions of keys to people's homes so they can go in, find the meter, probably buried under a load of clutter at the back of a cupboard, to take a reading.

That doesn't sound very workable at all, before all the concern about a stranger having access to your home like that. I know NZ has a much smaller population than the UK and I don't know what percentage of homes have inside meters, but I still can't see it working in the UK.

You're not seriously saying that the electricity companies hold millions of keys to people's homes so they can go in, find the meter, probably buried under a load of clutter at the back of a cupboard, to take a reading.

If you read my post properly you would have seen that MOST meters are outside the house! I have only lived in one where it was inside - so no, they don't hold keys to "millions" of houses. My meter was on the wall just inside the door, so they literally took two or three steps into the house. I've never heard of a meter buried under a load of clutter at the back of a cupboard!

I've never got all this angst about strangers coming into your house tbh (and yes, there are people here who feel like that). If someone is coming to my house to do work I am more than happy to give them my key. It really wouldn't be very sensible for them to abuse the privilege would it, given that I would know where they work.

It takes be 5 minutes once a month/quarter to submit a reading, hardly complicated.

I get that, but it's even less complicated to have the meter properly read on a regular basis. I literally do nothing - a monthly account is emailed to me, it's paid, job done. Relying on people to read their own meter and submit it sounds fine, in theory, but obviously there are people who don't do it properly, forget, etc.

Most English people are going to think your system is bizarre @SquirrelG because it's pretty incomprehensible. How it would work never mind the issue of giving someone you don't know the key to your home

We have indepemdentmeter reading companies mostly not a person from your supplier, do you always have the same person? Do they have some kind of key warehouse to keep them all safe?

What's to stop them being mugged and having all the keys for the day's work stolen? They must have address labels on, it sounds like a security nightmare

So many questions

I've never heard of a meter buried under a load of clutter at the back of a cupboard!
Our electric meter is in the hall cupboard behind a shelf full of assorted baking tins. Our gas meter is in the cupboard opposite wedged between the gas inlet pipe and a tumble dryer.

Most English people are going to think your system is bizarre @SquirrelG* because it's pretty incomprehensible. How it would work never mind the issue of giving someone you don't know the key to your home

Why are people incapable of reading posts correctly. I will say it again MOST meters are outside the house, so a key is not required. As to giving someone you don't know the key to your home, I frequently do, or rather did when I had a full-time job. If anyone needed to come to my house to do some kind of work I trusted them with my key, and nothing bad ever happened. I'm not alone in this, plenty of people hand over their keys. Are you telling me that people in England take time off work every time they have a plumber, or other tradesperson come to do a job??

We have indepemdentmeter reading companies mostly not a person from your supplier, do you always have the same person? Do they have some kind of key warehouse to keep them all safe?

Yes, we have independent meter reading companies here also. I have no idea if the same person comes each time, nor what system they use to keep the keys safe. As I said, I have only given a key once when I lived in an older house where the meter was inside. What part of "most of the meters are outside" do you not understand? Giving a key is the exception rather than the rule.

Are you telling me that people in England take time off work every time they have a plumber, or other tradesperson come to do a job??

Yes, that's totally the norm unless I've lived whole life in ignorance of the fact that people give randomers their keys and happily leave them to it. I have genuinely never heard of that.

Im not saying that people would never leave a trusted tradesman alone in the house but taking time off if you work full time would be normal. At least pre covid, things are very dfferent now with large numbers of people working from home.

I've never got all this angst about strangers coming into your house tbh (and yes, there are people here who feel like that). If someone is coming to my house to do work I am more than happy to give them my key. It really wouldn't be very sensible for them to abuse the privilege would it, given that I would know where they work

Most tradesman don’t have a separate place of work. There place of work is your house or someone else’s house.

You obviously don’t have pets and are very trusting.
I have left keys to an empty house twice before.
Once for a boiler fitter and once for a bathroom fitter.
Despite a big “BOILER HERE” “X MARKS THE SPOT” sign and a copy of the kitchen design where the boiler cupboard was going and measurements on the wall of where the bottom of the boiler was meant to go. I came back to find the boiler fitted to another wall.

The bathroom fitter said I only said I needed the bathroom plumbed in. I apparently didn’t mention to him that I needed things fitted to the wall.

I think it is strange when people let strangers go into their home. It isn’t even about stealing physical stuff. It’s more to do with the fact I have documents that have sensitive data on. I am not going to give someone free access to pry.

@SquirrelG

You're not seriously saying that the electricity companies hold millions of keys to people's homes so they can go in, find the meter, probably buried under a load of clutter at the back of a cupboard, to take a reading.

If you read my post properly you would have seen that MOST meters are outside the house! I have only lived in one where it was inside - so no, they don't hold keys to "millions" of houses. My meter was on the wall just inside the door, so they literally took two or three steps into the house. I've never heard of a meter buried under a load of clutter at the back of a cupboard!

I've never got all this angst about strangers coming into your house tbh (and yes, there are people here who feel like that). If someone is coming to my house to do work I am more than happy to give them my key. It really wouldn't be very sensible for them to abuse the privilege would it, given that I would know where they work.

You need to come with me on my daily round then. I find meters in the weirdest of places. Some even built in, requiring screwdriver to take off the front of a cupboard to access them.

Like this beauty, where the lid came off but the front face had counter sunk screws.

Wow @SamphiretheStickerist . Do you have a periscope to hand to read the numbers on ones like that

No! My phone couldn't focus on it the gap was so small. We tried 3 phones and my old fashioned camera. None could get a readable picture.

I left it for the tenant to deal with. My screwdriver was too small to gain purchase on the screws, the tenant was a painter/decorator and was happy to deal with it. I believe he has hinged the front panel now!

I just take a picture of the problem and send it back to the Agent/Landlord to deal with!