electric bill doubled

[colliefish]

hi there,

my quarterly bill for electricity is usually around £120, this quarter it has gone up to £266.

Our usage is the same if not less than the prevouse 2 quarters, my question is does anyone know of similar situation. could it be a faulty meter, which was only installed in october.

my bills are done on meter readings so are accurate, i have checked my meter readings and i am using about 18 units a day, british gas told me average is about 7 to 14.

 

[breezer]

clicky

 

[big-all]

heeelllooo colliefish and welcome


if all readings are accurate without estimates and you agree with the readings then and all quarters are simmilar!!!
then i dont see how you think the meter is faulty !!!

or are you saying the reading are accurate and you havent worked out your daily average for the higher bill!!!

 

[JohnD]

££ on your bill are no real guide. Prices have gone up and we don't know if some or all of your bills were on estimated readings.

Have a look at your past meter readings and list them out, see what your rolling 12-month usage (actual not estimated) is in kWh.

If you are with BG you may be able to look up your meter reading history (it will say by customer or meter reader) on
http://www.britishgas.co.uk/
you will have to register.

If you feel like it you can record your meter readings on there yourself every month or so.

It also displays "average daily usage since previous reading" which you can use to compare previous years at the same time.

Also look at prices this time, and what they were a year ago, and see how much of the increase is due to price changes

 

[colliefish]

hi guys and gals,
thanks for your replies.

just to clarify the situation.

i have had the meter since october 07,

the reading on march 11 08 was 2101 (this is for five months usage)

the reading on june 17, 08 was 4331 (this is for 3 months usage)

as you can see, in 3 months i used well over the same units i used for the five months before that.

cost for the previouse quarter was £120 ish

cost for this quarter is £266.

i appreciated that bills are rising , but this is by over 120 percent. which is a little excessive.

british gas have said that can take the meter for checking but if it isn't faulty i will have to pay a charge of around £250

all bills are based on meter readings and not estimates.

due to lighter evenings and all of us working full time, we are using the same, if not less than before. i just cant work it out and this is much more expensive than my old key meter.

thanks again for your help

 

[disinfo]

You could try one of these

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Eco-Eye-Ecoey...s=72:12|39:1|65:12&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14.l1308

 

[JohnD]

Have you got your old bills?

We really need to see actual quarterly readings for a period of at least a year, so we can compare the usage over the same quarter in two years.

Have you got a tumble drier?

Have you got an immersion heater?

Have you got an electric shower?

Have you got anyone in the house who likes hot baths, or likes to use an electric heater or grow-lights?

edited:
What price are they charging you? If you are on Direct Debit, and have Internet Access, you can get Click Energy 5, for which prices are about (varies by region): I am guessing you are in the SWALEC region

British Gas Click Energy 5 domestic single rate electricity charges pence per kWh, with effect from 08 February, 2008
Excluding vat @ 5%
Single Rate (i.e. not Economy 7 etc)

Tier 1 pence per kWh
Swalec 20.544
Eastern 22.510
Southern 22.541
Scottish Hydro 22.607

Tier 2 pence per kWh
Swalec 9.102
Eastern 6.924
Southern 7.869
Scottish Hydro 8.099

Notes:
1. For single rate credit meters, Tier 1 rate applies to the first 125 kWh per quarter and all subsequent consumption is charged at Tier 2.
2. For two rate meters, Tier 1 day rate applies to the first 125 kWh per quarter of day consumption and all subsequent consumption is charged at Tier 2. Night means a period, or periods, determined by us (and as may be varied from time to time), totalling 7 hours (at present between 22:00 hours and 08:00 hours) and the night rate
applies accordingly.
3. Monthly Direct Debit / Quarterly Cash/Cheque prices also apply to customers paying by Standing Order, Quarterly Variable Direct Debit, Magnetic Payment Card & Quarterly Equal Payments.
4. The dual fuel discount is £15 (inc VAT @ 5%) per annum – it is pro-rated and applied daily and appears on the electricity bill.
5. The dual fuel discount is given where British Gas supplies both gas and electricity to the same property (and the accounts are in the same names). Only one dual fuel discount per property.
6 Electricity customers paying by Monthly Direct Debit or Standing Order will receive a discount off their quarterly consumption charges of 4 8% up to a maximum of £5 20 (including VAT) per quarter

 

[colliefish]

afraid i have only had the meter for 5 months,

readings are as above, just really suprised at the huge price increase on last quarter when we have not changed our lifestile,.

i know prices are going up but i say again, last quarter £120. this quarter £266. with no difference in usage.

my price plan is 20.662p for the first 136 kw/h and then 10.97p for following kw/h.

i know i can take steps to use less electricity but the point is the huge rise in units used when i am not doing anything different to usual.
cheers
mark

 

[JohnD]

Have you got a tumble drier?

How often do yoiu use teh washing machine?

Have you got an immersion heater?

Have you got an electric shower?

Have you got anyone in the house who likes hot baths, or likes to use an electric heater or grow-lights?

 

[colliefish]

we have a tumble dryer, but hardly use.

electric shower, only use it the same as last quarter.

gas central heating and hot water.

all other appliences are used the same as before so i cant explain the sudden increase in units used.

 

[JohnD]

appliances with heating elemnents use the most, especially tumble driers.

Heaters in sheds, greenhuses, lofts carvans or ponds re often forgotten and left on., so are immersion heaters.

Go and have a look at the meter and see how fast it flashes or turns.

Switch off any outbuilding or loft supplies, immersion heater if any, watch to see if they make a perceptible difference.

If you have aconsumer unit wiuth MCBs you can switch them off one at a time and see what happens.

Young people with fan heaters or long showers can use a lot.

Ordinary lamps use very little. 300W uplighters or external floods use a lot more. Downlighters are expensive to run.

You are getting through about 25 kWh per day which is nothing unusual. i use nearly that, mostly tumble drier and washing machine, with electric heater in bedroom on winter nights.

If you have an old wiring installetion it is possible you have a fault which is causing power to run to earth

 

[colliefish]

but if our usage habits havn't changed then why the huge increase in units used.

bg have said that if i am using over 14 units a day there could be a problem and i have to read the meter at weekly intervals and if it averages more than 14 units a day to call them back,

there are only 3 adults in the house, all work full time and we are energy conciouse.

like i have said all too many times and i fear i am just repeating myself but our habits have not changed.

 

[breezer]

this is going to sound daft, but check the meter every 2 hours, and just before you go to bed then when you get up

 

[17thman]

is someone growing cannabis in the loft?