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Original poster

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

288 replies

floridapalmtree · 12/03/2022 10:33

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?

OP posts:
EvilPea · 12/03/2022 11:17

My old house would be similar under the new costs.

I am sorry Flowers. Your going to have to talk to them. Is it worth a chat with citizens advice first? There’s also a fuel poverty charity that may be useful to let you know what your rights are.

Moving forward have you seen the small electric heaters you can get to replace immersions and water tanks? They look very effective and not expensive to purchase (unsure of running costs, but it’s got to be cheaper than constantly heating a tank of water).

junglejane66 · 12/03/2022 11:22

@Jedsnewstar

£10,000 if you were using this much electricity is a small house you would have been reported and had the police checking you were not running a drug den!
They would generally bypass the meter on a cannabis farm so it doesnt arouse suspicion, so I am lead to believe
DefaultParent · 12/03/2022 11:22

You can't have an emersion on all the time OP unless you can afford bigger bills. We used to boost ours for baths/showers when needed once or twice a day.

Hellocatshome · 12/03/2022 11:26

They would generally bypass the meter on a cannabis farm so it doesnt arouse suspicion, so I am lead to believe

Yes those that know what they are doing but there are an incredibly large amount of incredibly stupid criminals out there.

MaizeAmaze · 12/03/2022 11:32

Prices arent going to go down in the near future.

AnnaMagnani · 12/03/2022 11:37

Hope bills will come down - this is not going to happen. Bills are already set to go up twice this year and for the forseeable future.

The immersion heater needs to be switched off, and put on a timer for twice a day for an hour. Check your tank to make sure it has sufficient insulation on and that should do.

Train your family that showers are not on demand, get a shower timer to limit them to 6 minutes and that should be plenty of hot water.

We only have an immersion for hot water - it's news to people staying that there is a concept of hot water running out, but it's not hard to get used to.

BowlofNothing · 12/03/2022 11:41

Are you 100% sure you are reading the meter correctly? Can you tell me what the last reading you provided was, the last estimated read your supplier used and what the reading is today. 30,000kwh is roughly 10x what the average household uses in a year.

I would submit a read now before the price cap increases on 1st April as you could end up paying for units used in the past at the higher rates.

TabithaTittlemouse · 12/03/2022 11:43

A friend had a really high reading and had someone come around to see what was happening. I assume from the electric company but I’m not sure.
There’s was right unfortunately.

j89vsd · 12/03/2022 11:45

Apologies for jumping on the OPs thread but I have a family friend in a very similar situation, although in their case they might owe more than £10k. Their electric meter is in an awkward location and they told me recently they've not checked it for years. About 10 years ago someone came out to read the meter (and complained it was difficult to access - friend has a very cluttered home) but no one's been since and she's paid the estimated bill. This came out when discussing energy prices recently and she said hers was just estimated and always has been. Her gas meter is external but they haven't read that for about 8 years for some reason and she's not checked that either. She uses a lot of electricity/ gas because of having a lot of electrical equipment, underfloor heating, central heating on all the time in winter, aircon units in summer so the bills will certainly be out.

She is very head in the sand about things so I don't know what to tell her, but I feel worried on her behalf if that is a thing.

Are they likely to write it off if there's £1000s owing and it goes back years? I know the OPs situation seems more recent than that so that might be different.

mrsbyers · 12/03/2022 11:48

You’ve included the numbers after the decimal point is my guess

nearlyspringyay · 12/03/2022 11:49

Seems extreme but why would you have the immersion on all day?

LIZS · 12/03/2022 11:50

Was the previous reading registered correct and have you read it correctly now? How long is it since it was last read independently? What period are you looking at?

UnbeatenMum · 12/03/2022 11:50

You should give the reading now before the price goes up. If you really do owe that much you should be able to work out a payment plan with the company.

NippyWoowoo · 12/03/2022 12:10

Waiting for the drip feed that you live in a 30 room mansion.

Philisophigal · 12/03/2022 12:13

This reply has been deleted

This has been withdrawn at the user's request.

LakieLady · 12/03/2022 12:14

@Ohsugarhoneyicetea

Flag it with them now that you think your meter is faulty. They are supposed to do a physical check at least every two years, so figure out when this last was as they have obligations too. And they cannot back bill you for more than a year, so if the under charging has been going on years and they havent checked the meter they are to blame too and wont get all that money back. Also there could be a fault. Get the problem sorted now. The cost is going up hugely soon and you want whatever usage you have based on old prices not new ones.
I think the max of 12 months for backdating charges only applies if they haven't been charging you at all, not to under-estimates.

I had a client who'd been using gas for years, and never had a bill. We'd tried to get an account set up several times, but the MPAN service flatly denied that there was a gas supply to the property, even when we gave them the meter number. The CAB assured him that, because he had never had a bill, they could not ask him to pay for more than 1 year's consumption.

I suspect that you've not calculated the consumption correctly OP, that is a massive amount. Is it a digital meter or one of the old ones with round dials? If you post a pic of the meter with the readings, I'm sure someone on here will be able to work out what the actual reading is.

The amount you've quoted is more than I'd use in 25 years, based on my consumption for last month.

They will have to agree an arrangement with you where you pay the current charges plus a chunk towards the arrears each month, they can't possibly expect you to pay all that in one hit. I would also argue that they have a duty to check your meter now and again, so not entirely your fault, and that as a lot of that energy will have been used when prices were much lower, they should reduce the total cost to reflect that.

If your meter is in a place that's hard to access (mine is in a cupboard you have to crawl into) you could argue that it was unreasonable of them to expect you to read it yourself, although that may not wash if you're young and fit.

When did you last get a bill based on an actual reading?

VelvetChairGirl · 12/03/2022 12:15

@Jedsnewstar

£10,000 if you were using this much electricity is a small house you would have been reported and had the police checking you were not running a drug den!
this.

OP are you running a weed farm or something?

LittleOwl153 · 12/03/2022 12:24

Are you sure you have this correct?

£10,000 of elec at the current price cap would be 48,000 kWh.... the average UK house uses less than 4000kWh a year - you would have been using that EACH MONTH!!

Take photos of your meter readings particularly of you have the old dial meters, and recheck every week to see if there is a meter fault somewhere!

MurmuratingStarling · 12/03/2022 12:32

Are Blackpool illuminations tapping into your supply? Shock

Our electric is currently £50 a month, and £75 a month is the new price, £900 a year. (Sorry, not helpful.) Blush

As various posters have said, this is nowhere near normal.

Contact you energy supplier @floridapalmtree Ask them if they're taking the piss (or something slightly more polite...)

MurmuratingStarling · 12/03/2022 12:32

YOUR energy supplier. Grrrr edit button PLZ mumsnet!!!

AuditAngel · 12/03/2022 12:36

I am in a similar position. My recent bill told me I was in credit for electric which I didn’t believe for one minute, when I checked my estimate is that I owe £9,000

Our previous supplier went bust and we were transferred onto British Gas. I know we were previously on a fixed rate deal and the unit charges were a lot lower. I guess I need to find out when the meter was last read.

This is really worrying me. I can’t pay £9k, but I could make a significant payment and I’m hoping they would be willing to work with me. I also hope that as most of it is likely to be pre-British Gas era they will be more flexible,

DogInATent · 12/03/2022 12:40

Are you reading the meter correctly and ignoring the digits that should be ignored?

WhereYouLeftIt · 12/03/2022 12:45

When was the last 'official' meter reading (i.e. not by you)? How long has it taken to burn through 30k?

Could you be misreading the meter now?

PukkaP · 12/03/2022 12:47

Can you upload a picture of your meter reading and one of your previous bill.

AwayInMyMind · 12/03/2022 12:47

Bloody hell OP !