Southern Electric Problems ????

[ADavies]

Hi Everyone I was wondering if anyone else has had a problem with high elctric bills this year from Southern Electric ?? Me and my partner moved into our new house on 6th December 2007, and in February we received our first bill from the date we moved in until end of feb/beginning of march, this was in the sum of £120.00 for 3 months, but we have just been sent through our new bill from March to May and it is near on £400 !!! I called them straight away and of course they were not helpful at all ... I spoke to 2 diffrent people who just said we used that amount, which I said was stupid, we only live in a 2 bed terrace and not there apart from evenings and weekends we are not living in a 6 bed mansion !! I was told to take the meter readings for the next 5-7 days which I am still doing and the meter is hardly moving, using about 5 units of day and night a day, they are saying we are using 2000 odd in 1 month !! Please help me as I am currently stuck paying this over a 7 month period, as I had to show willing !! Thanks

[Clare_L]

Hi

First of check their readings are not estimated and take regular readings as you are doing. Also, check that they have you on the right tariff ie im assuming you have E7 so make sure you are on an E7 tariff, check that you start read is correct (im assuming you gave them a reading when you moved into the property). Did they not think your bill was unusually high and question it themselves? Also check that they have your day and night reads the right way round and that they have not been transposed. You can check this yourself by doing a simple test, take a reading during the day, then another a couple of hours later and make sure that the "day" reading has moved forward. If everything works out that the bill is "correct" so to speak, then call them back and go through with them all the appliances you are using etc and let them know you are not happy with the "well you've used it" comment, you want to have this investigated.

[ADavies]

Hi ClareL

Thanks for your response with regards to my dilemma on my Southern Electric bill, since posting this I have been in communications with them and also been taking readings again ... I hope to do this for a whole month and then they can see what we have used in a month. Yes we are on E7 and I have checked with them if this is correct and according to our records it is right (at least they have one thing right !!)

No they did not think that the bill was high at all, the lady on the phone said that she would re-calculate it for us and guess what all they took off was £16.00 !!!! The bill is still in the sum of £360, which I have to pay over 7 months but in another 2 months time we will receive another bill and we are hoping that it wont be the same or we will both be in huge debt with them !!! any advice ???

[Conniff]

There is a very cheap means of checking your consumption. A meter that you plug into the wall and then plug the appliance etc into that, is will show exactly how much you are using and if you take it in turn with everything that is plugged into a wall socket then you can get a very accurate reading to compare with any bill.

They are available on the highstreet from Maplins and maybe other places.

Maplin > Plug-in Electricity Cost and Usage Calculator

I've just noticed they are on special offer at the moment as well.

[Clare_L]

So if your readings are not transposed then its a consumption issue. Clearly your consumption will have gone down now anyway as I doubt you still have storage heaters on (assuming thats how you heat your property) so their recalcuation wont be anywhere near accurate. I work for Eon and not on here to promote their products at all, but something you can buy and not sure if you can get these anywhere else (may be worth checking on Ebay as these were being given away free to customers) but have seen these and they are good at checking your consumption https://www.eonshop.co.uk/ProductDet...ACK&Category=5 .

I would suggest you ask them to put the account in dispute and not pay anything other than, I would say for an all electric 2 bed property, £50 a month until this is resolved.

[Clare_L]

Just checked on Ebay, type in Electrisave and they have them on there, much cheaper.

[ADavies]

Hiya

Well yet another night of being on the phone to Southern Electric (for 1 hour 3 mins !!) nothing has been resolved. I was on hold for pretty half the call and they were asking me about when I moved in etc and what appliances I had ... they said that there is nothing wrong with the actual meter, but we have to keep a regular check on what usage we are using. She said that over the next 2-3 months we should be noting down what we are actually using and then call them with it, I am sure that this is not going to work but in the meantime we are still having to pay the near on £400 bill !!!

[ADavies]

Thanks for the help with this .. hoping to get this resolved, I asked if I could have the bill frozen until we get to the bottom of it and guess what I had a NO !!! I will keep on and thanks for the help, will keep u updated !!