Hi there,

I really hope someone can offer some useful advise on the problem ill outline below

We live in a small 2 bed flat and have recently been told we have over £1200 outstanding electricity bill (this is on top of the estimated usage we have been paying each month). The flat is heated by gas and hot water by gas, gas usage has remained as estimated.

This number comes from the electric metre readings, when we moved into the flat our agency transferred the account into our names and provided a metre reading (september), we have our own from january this year as well as one from April this year done by a EDF representative.

I will attempt to show break down of electric usage below:

21st of September reading: 39987kwh (from our agency, with a photo)

28th of January reading: 46160kwh (from us with a photo)

30th of April reading: 46863kwh (from us and EDF with photo)

So when we work it out, between 15th of september and 28th january we 'used' 6173 kwh, or over the 135 days that equals to 46kwh a day. From 28th of january to 30th of april we used 703 kwh, or over the 92 days 7.641 kwh a day.

Very little has changed in terms of behaviour in the flat in this time, as previously mentioned heating is gas and so a winter shouldn't effect this, furthermore the usage in the last 3 months is consistent with estimated usage for the flat.

We really believe that using 45kwh a day in a gas heated 2 bedroom flat is completely impossible for us and do not believe we have used this electricity.

I am posting this for advice as we do not know how to deal with this as we don't understand what we can do. As the last 3 months data appears to show normal usage it makes it very hard to prove if we wanted to investigate the meter being faulty or even someone stealing electricity.

based on the medium average usage: Electricity: 8.5 - 10 kWh per day. Gas - 33 - 38 kWh per day (higher in winter, lower in summer)

That's for a 3 bed house.

I would be checkig that your flat neighbours arnt linked into your supply and eleci.

Turn off all your rcd's ( little trip switches) and see if your meter isstill clocking up

Same with gas. Turn off boiler etc and see if It still clocks up

What type of meter do you have? Can you upload the picture of the initial reading for us to look at?

So are you saying that based on the reading that your estate agent gave you, up to January you apparently used a very high rate but as soon as you came into control of your own meter readings from January onwards, you seem to be using a more reasonable level of electricity?

If so, did you doublecheck the estate agents reading against what actually showed on the meter? Or did you just take their word for it

Thanks for the already quick responses:

sgtbush: We have tried this recently, and the dial wasn't turning when the everything was turned off, however we did not check during the period of very high usage. We also turned things on one by one and did not find anything that obviously had a fault/very high usage.

Tom and bank fodder: The agency has not answered any of our messages regarding initial reading however they did send a photo to EDF who then passed it on to us and has been attached. Yes the very high usage stems from this photo and once we have our own it is normal, which initially made me suspicious but I googled and checked the photo metadata which says it was taken on the right date.

----update---

I called EDF and after a conversation where they kept quoting 30kwh a day (average over the entire 7 months) being reasonable despite me asking for the usage to be dealt with as first 4 months (56kwh) and last 3 months (7.6kwh). The call has ended with them informing me that paperwork was being drafted and would be sent within 3-5 days for escalation process with an ombudsman.

There is literally no reason I can think of (and i have been thinking about everything) that could explain us actually using this ridiculously high first 4 month usage.

PS do i need a lawyer for ombudsman? Should I be worried that the information will be presented in the most favourable way to EDF considering they are escalating this?

 

 

PS do i need a lawyer for ombudsman? Should I be worried that the information will be presented in the most favourable way to EDF considering they are escalating this?

 

 

No

Are you absolutley sure that is your meter in the photo - do the serial numbers match? Would you know who the person who vacated the property before you moved in is?

Yes the serial numbers match and I am pretty sure it is our meter. I do not know the person who lived before us although we met once when he picked up some mail.

I'm just wondering if somehow you are being asked to pick up the tab for a previous tenant who left the property without settling up the bill.

As a follow-up to your question about the ombudsman – yes you should be concerned that the final response will be Couch in a way which may distort the complaint. You should look at it carefully and frankly you should have read our customer services guide and then gone over very carefully your conversation with the CSA from EDF and make sure that their screen notes exactly tallied with your complaint.

Read our customer services guide

Was there absolute proof as to when the photo was taken?

Is it possible it was taken long before September possibly even September 16?

test your consumption by turning everything off at ther main fuseboard isolator and take a meter reading.

Take another reading an hour later and note if the reading has changed.

If it has then it is faulty or not your meter at all but a neighbours.

If it hasnt turn the isolator back on and switch all of your equipment off so you are not consuming any electric via sockets etc.

If the meter reading has changed after everything has been off for a while then there is something else connected to your supply.

immersion heater perhaps?