Electric Bill

[Dave]

My Mother was on a pre pay electricity meter from NPower. She then changed to a quaterly bill. Her first quater was £ 150.00 pound this quater her bill is £375.00 !!! this is a huge jump she has complained to NPower about a possible faulty meter they have told her to keep a daily log of readings from her digital meter. She has hardly any eletrical items, she has a two bedroomed house. And a part from lights and normal appliances such tv's dvd , fridge freezer washer and tumble dryer which she uses infrequently. The only high comsumpsion items are the imersion heater on timer and a 2kw oil filled radiator. she has been keeping daily readings and the usage is as follows : Mon -Tue =

51 units Tue- Wed = 53 units. Is this normal domestic use or could it be a faulty meter???? Thanks in anticipation.

[Gary Cavie]

Using 51 units in a 24 hour period implies that the radiator and=20 immersion heater are on an awful lot - assuming 5kw for the two together,= =20 that means they're both active for 10 hours (OK, assuming that there is=20 sod-all draw from the rest of the house). If it is a dual rate meter,=20 have you checked that the immersion timer is set for overnight only, and=20 that the time on the timer is correct? There's probably not a lot you can= =20 do about the radiator - after all, if she's cold, she needs it on.=20

For our house, the average quarterly bill is about =A3300, which includes= =20 washing machine and tumble dryer which seem to be going 24/7, dishwasher,= =20 heater in shed (on 24/7), TV on all the bloody time, lights left on all=20 over the damn place, grrr, grumble, mumble. That's for two adults and 3=20 kids. Sounds as though there may be something awry round your mum's.

Just my first thoughts on reading this - no doubt there are other=20 explanations!

[Colin Wilson]

While it *may* be a faulty meter, it may well be faulty billing.

Was her meter changed when she went from pre-payment to quarterly ? - it=20 may something as simple as they haven`t recorded the meter change=20 correctly.

It may also be a case of meter reader error (i`ve known readings to bear=20 absolutely no resemblance to actual), so if possible, try to figure out=20 from previous bills what the usage *really* is.

You may also find that as a pre-payment customer she may have already=20 overpaid what was used* as many meters are set to collect at a rate=20 higher than the true cost per unit - its well worth getting out as large=20 a heap of old bills as possible and working them out.

*they also have a daily fee recovery setting to cover the standing=20 charge, which will rack up even if the property is empty

--=20 Please add "[newsgroup]" in the subject of any personal replies via email

--- My new email address has "ngspamtrap" & @btinternet.com in it ;-) ---

[Dave Jones]

Might be a faulty thermostat in the immersion, check the water temp, if boiling change thermostat.

[Dave Liquorice]

50+units a day is rather high thats an *average* consumption of 2kW. We don't do any space or bulk water heating by electricty but do cook by it and someone is home with lights and 'puters everyday. We use just over 20units/day...

Others have already posted what it might be worth checking, but if that heater is on for say 14hrs (0800 to 2200) thats 28 units assuming it doesn't have a thermosat or the thermostat is working or hasn't been wound flat out (quite likely).

Not sure how much a immersion would take couple of hours at 3kW so 6 more = 34 so still 20 to go. Around 10 could be allocated to fridges, freezers, TV, lights etc, maybe it is a real consumption figure... B-(

Of course this is a winter quarter so the bills will be higher but double does seem a rather big jump. Not sure what benefits are available for the eldery to help with heating, it's not be cold enough long enough to trigger the winter payout but I think there are benefits available for those on low incomes that don't require a long cold spell.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I spent 600 quid a querter barely keeping an old cottage warm using storage heaters.

[bigcat]

complained

lights

tumble

While something might be wrong, in nearly all cases it is simply a mismatch between consumer expcetation and real consumption.

NT

[Gary Cavie]

Ouch!