Joe Terrapin Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 On 03/10/2022 at 16:40, Joe Terrapin said: Anyone on here challenged their meter readings successfully? My mother stays alone in a 2 bed flat and is being charged £210 a month for her energy use. She only has electricity and has disabled the shitty storage heaters installed. She heats one room in her house(when she needs to) using an oil filled electric radiator and her other costs are 1 shower a day and one hot meal.She boils the kettle about 3 times a day. Her hot water is on a timer and comes on twice a day for an hour. I got an electrician out to check everything and it appears all in order. I'm convinced her meter is faulty but EDF her current supplier insist it isn't despite them not checking it physically. She is using twice as much energy as me and my wife despite us having gas a bigger house and more usage, I'm looking for a definitive way to check her meter readings are accurate. Spoke to EDF today and despite them getting accurate meter readings for the last 18 months they have been estimating her storage heater usage(different tarrif) despite them being told they have been disconnected. She is now due a rebate and her DD is being amended accordingly. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DA Baracus Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 23 minutes ago, Joe Terrapin said: Spoke to EDF today and despite them getting accurate meter readings for the last 18 months they have been estimating her storage heater usage(different tarrif) despite them being told they have been disconnected. She is now due a rebate and her DD is being amended accordingly. They were 100% at it. All these scumbag companies are. Will they also be refunding all of the interest they made from taking too much? I wouldn't be surprised if they have a certain 'cut off' in terms of age of customers where they try to scam them (more than other customers I mean). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 9 minutes ago, DA Baracus said: They were 100% at it. All these scumbag companies are. Will they also be refunding all of the interest they made from taking too much? They'd claim they kept it all under a very large mattress. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moses1924 Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 @Joe TerrapinI challeneged my meter readings on the basis the meter was faulty, took ages to prove including at one point turning the power to the house off and watching the meter continue to record usage, I got a second meter fitted and that proved the first one wasnt working and I eventually got about £600 back, I found mentioning the ombudsman moved things further up the chain of comand and got things moving 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Play Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 On 04/10/2022 at 13:56, oaksoft said: Our usage is considerably down on last September. Our old supplier went bust and we moved to Shell and they waited 4-5 months before sending a bill so I don't have the exact usage but the electricity usage numbers I'm submitting are somewhere around 25% down on what we were sending in last year. The gas usage in particular is down about 40-60% with almost all of that coming from not having each of our kids standing in the shower for 15-20 mins every day. Purely from an environmental point of view, there is some upside to now having to think very hard about how we're using energy as a family. So many people I know shout about how they worry about the environment but 1) Switch on the heating at the first sign of being slightly cold - until the recent increase in prices. 2) Fly out to several foreign holidays a year - until prices of holidays went up. 3) Regularly drive miles somewhere just for a coffee - that seemed to slow down when petrol prices peaked. Seems that as much as they say they care about the environment money seems to be a bigger motivator when it comes to changing their lifestyle. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeWhoWalksBehindTheRows Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 17 hours ago, oaksoft said: If that was my mate he'd be out the door that night. Mind you, being a people hater, I wouldn't be letting him stay over in the first place. There's a perfectly good Travelodge nearby. It's been a month and a half. I remember why I like my own place. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 (edited) On 05/10/2022 at 06:05, HeWhoWalksBehindTheRows said: or something plugged in fully charged. That's not going to make any difference to your bill if you have a fridge, freezer and boiler constantly switched on. Edited October 6, 2022 by Detournement 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottsdad Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 Came in to the office today with a jumper on, as it has been really cold here the last few days. Naturally, the heating has come on and it's like an oven in here. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Jean King Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 That's not going to make any difference to your bill if you have a fridge, freezer and boiler constantly switched on. Eh...yes it will as it would be in addition to those appliances running. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbykdy Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 Noticed my electricity use is about 10-15% up in winter compared with summer and took me a while to twig on where it was coming from. Finally figured out it is my gas boiler cause as well as using more gas naturally during cold months it also uses more electricity when heating is on rather than just being on standby. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbykdy Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 7 minutes ago, oaksoft said: Presumably you are also using your lights for longer? That'll have an impact too. Yeah I guess so, not sure what the split would be but I'd imagine the boiler is most of it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strichener Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 7 minutes ago, bobbykdy said: Yeah I guess so, not sure what the split would be but I'd imagine the boiler is most of it. The pump will use more electric than the boiler. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strichener Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 1 minute ago, oaksoft said: Each 60W bulb left on for 3 extra hours per day will be just over 5 kWh per month so I guess it depends on your bulb wattage, how many you have on and how long for. My kids used to leave lights on all evening in rooms they weren't in so for us it used to really add up. We could easily have 6 lights on at any one time which would be well over 10% of our monthly usage. Once they moved out and we replaced them with low energy bulbs (3-14W), all that usage disappeared overnight. I know you are anti-people in general but replacing your kids with light bulbs... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottsdad Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 2 hours ago, bobbykdy said: Noticed my electricity use is about 10-15% up in winter compared with summer and took me a while to twig on where it was coming from. Finally figured out it is my gas boiler cause as well as using more gas naturally during cold months it also uses more electricity when heating is on rather than just being on standby. Another thing that increases usage is that the water coming in to the house is a little colder in winter. So the shower, washing machine, etc. have to work a bit harder to bring it up to temperature. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottsdad Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 14 minutes ago, oaksoft said: Each 60W bulb left on for 3 extra hours per day will be just over 5 kWh per month so I guess it depends on your bulb wattage, how many you have on and how long for. My kids used to leave lights on all evening in rooms they weren't in so for us it used to really add up. We could easily have 6 lights on at any one time which would be well over 10% of our monthly usage. Once they moved out and we replaced them with low energy bulbs (3-14W), all that usage disappeared overnight. You should just take the bulbs out and fit anyone coming in to the house with one of these: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/oct/06/national-grid-warns-households-could-face-three-hour-power-cuts-this-winter Blackouts and as a predicted by a few people on the thread variable pricing dependent on the time of day. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 4 hours ago, Billy Jean King said: 5 hours ago, Detournement said: That's not going to make any difference to your bill if you have a fridge, freezer and boiler constantly switched on. Eh...yes it will as it would be in addition to those appliances running. You're not charging them though. They are just part of the circuit. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxRover Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 58 minutes ago, Detournement said: You're not charging them though. They are just part of the circuit. Incorrect. Most chargers are also transformers, which inherently consume power, even in standby or no load situations (usually 5-20% for rated wattage). The average low wattage cell phone charger draws around .05-.3 watts while idle…which jumps to 90% of charging consumption (varies depending on the charger wattage, read on the charger to check) for a fully charged device left plugged in. Current high wattage phone chargers are upwards of 30-35w while charging and 27-32w while plugged into a fully charged phone…and thus, like draw about 3w when idle! Don’t believe it, leave one plugged in and feel it after a while, it’s warm. Your TV, if it turns on when you press the power button on a remote, is consuming power all the time…probably about 0.01-0.03w. The same applies to everything else around the house. Vampire power consumption is a serious problem, so using a switched power strip for your electronics is a nice option. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 I didn't say they didn't use any power, more that it's a bit strange to be bothered by something which is costing pennies. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bairnardo Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 Think I need some help here, regarding whether I am overthinking, or considering committing fraud....Solar generation plus batteries traditionally benefits from a dual rate tariff. A dual rate tariff is only for those with smart meters, so I have one scheduled to be installed. However, with a smart meter, they can see every kW I import for which they will charge me say 30p. They can also see every kW I export for which they will pay me say 5p. With an old meter, all they ever see is the difference between last month and this. So if I use a lot one day, I only pay for them if I do not wind the meter back in the interim time with export. So despite not being paid for export currently, there is, weather depending, the potential to NOT pay for every kW imported, provided I put it back in.....The disadvantage is clear. My battery spends half the winter lying flat on its arse..... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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