dx100 I'm starting that today and i am going to monitor the smart meter as well

Interesting just done another little test, my other half was in the shower, so i boiled the kettle and turned the oven on to get the meter turning (ouch expensive idea) Below are the meter readings and the smart readings: Starting: 40105 - 7.85 40106 - 8.69 Meter: +1 Smart: 0.84 40107 - 9.54 Meter: +1 Smart: 0.85 In 2 units i will have been charged for an extra 0.31. i.e. my bill is 15% more expensive than it should be. Now these results are under extreme loads over a few minutes, so i could easily imagine when running on low loads, if this is a timing issue, this could slip to being upto 30-40% of a loss, gonna keep experimenting and recording

I do the same, i go through phases of that can't be right and then do the readings and am assured all is ok. but to be honest, its not until now that i have hard core data on whats using what that i can comfortabley say...no this isn't right

Cool, well in that case i shall call British Gas tommorow, explain my concerns, explains that i intend to track my usage for the week by recording the meter and the smart energy meter and then report back. I just know there gonna assume the smart meter is wrong, but hopefully the kettle test will help my arguement. Thats not to say some freakish electrical interference occurs at random points in the day and the meter misses usage, but i can't see that being the case. Will post updates as i go for my record and incase anyone else runs into this

Yup definatley. Just checked the cupboard and its on the single core Live feed (tagged with an L) not N which i assume is Neutral, the cable its running on comes out of the meter and goes straight to the fuse box inside. Ii have also just run a little test, my kettle is rated 2500 - 3500W and when i hit it consumption goes from 0.87 kw with (lounge light, fridge, freezer, tv & pc (inc. router & other accessories)) to 3.46kw which suggests around 2.7 ish KW's So i take it that would suggest its setup alright?

Hi nohope I see what you mean, but...i don't have a tumble dryer etc...i am anal about lights being turned off etc... This is post watching the energy meter, optimizing my fridge / freezer temperature so that its at an absolute minimum whilst still safe. Reducing the amount of water i boil, even cooking in a more efficient ways, steaming veg so that i only use 1 device rather than 3 hobs (based on there usage) I can accept that 2 showers, 1 wash load and 1 meal will probably be £2.00 a day, and £1.50 for general usage (i.e. lights and computer) but even that is £3.50 a day so £106 a month. But I must be missing something, or the energy smart meter must be lying about how much i used yesterday by about 1/2!

I had it in my head it was only 1 year for some reason, or is that council tax

It says i used £2.60 yesterday. But its set at 16p per kWH however i am charged 23.68p for the first 670 a quarter and 10.948 thereafter so i picked 16p as a guide. Hence using kWH for comparison. Still, if i was only charged at the high rate, 23.68, that would be £117 a month based on a year of [email protected] kWH, (i.e. £10 more than i am presently paying) In other words, my bill is £77 more a month than that crazy scenario i just explained. Not sure if someone can check my math, but i think thats right

Shame, i shall finish off this weeks spreadsheet and send it next week recorded delivery. Do you know how far back you can reclaim if the meter is at fault? To be honest i'm more bothered about getting the recent bill confirmed than getting money back but its good to know as if i have been paying about double for some time, thats a whole lot of pennies!

It is British Gas! I am going to gather some more evidence this week, I have setup a spreadsheet today, to track the EnergySmart meter each day, i am also going to upload daily meter reads for them, so hopefully i will have an exact discrepancy. I know the EnergySmart meter has full signal so should be reasonable accurate, i just hope that it is the meter not the energy smart thing. Its quite worrying as £285 a quarter on top of £97 a month, especially as we are going nuts about turning everything off, seems a lot!

Hi; Over the last few days i have been monitoring my electricity usage as i have been receiving what i consider excessive bills. Since Wednesday PM - Sunday Morning we have apparently used 111 unit of electricity. According to my energy smart meter (it's British Gases version of the box that wraps around the electricity meter to allow you view consumption on the display inside) I used 16.27 KW hours yesterday (Saturday) Yesterday i was in all day, i used a lot of juice between PC's and Gaming, most days we use a lot less. If i had spent the last 4 days doing the same i would have used about 65 units. In reality i have used about 10 units a day during the week, as an absolute maximum. (based on what i have seen over the last couple of days. Our bill for the last quarter was £481. (thats electric only) My gut feeling is that £481 a quater or £160 a month is probably double what it should be, but before i kick up a stink, do the figures seem excessive to others also if the meter is faulty, how far back a rebate will i get? Bit of background info, i live in a small, gas heated, electric oven/shower house, there are 2 of us, the fridge freezer and the computer tend to stay on (the computer is on standby as it records tv for us, it uses about 50w an hour if not recording anything) There are 2 occupants in my house, we both work full time and are out the house from 7 - 5. Nothing extra is left on when we are out.

To be honest, my only issue with this is that they have magically added £160 when i was paying them as agreed by deciding that they wanted to go to court. £100+ was a bit out of no where. i am going to try phoning them as of Monday and see if i can sort something out as i have been unable to contact them all last week. I would just rather avoid a CCJ to be honest.

This loan agreement actually refers to 2 courses i signed up to, one for about £400 and another around £360. I recieved defaults for each seperately as they started seperately I recieved a court warning once ages ago when i was late with a payment but not since. We are talking months ago though. i have made payments since and they were fine with me being unemployed and the possible delay on the phone., since i made the last payment i haven't had anything but this summons. nb this was originally 2 debts that were combined by them a few months ago so for the purpose of the payment plan. the date they calm interest from is when the second debt defaulted, i can see it on my credit report and think they might have sent something, not sure. its the lack of info thats really screwing me up and hence why i wanted to do whatever is needed to get the info i need. As such i have no choice but to defend. you say you think the interest is not right? are you sure? if so should i put this on my initial defense?

That letter perfect, is it appropriate in a small claims case? If so I'm going to try speaking to them tomorow,see if i can sort it all out over the phone, if not will send it registered post the same day. I don't know what you mean by an embarrased defence though? help

POC: The claimants claimis under an agreement regulated by the consumer credit act 1974 terminated following the defendants default under which the defendant is required to pay the claimant course and related fee,full details of which have been supplied to the defendant prior to the commencement of this and the claimant claims: 1. #548.71 2. Statutory interest pursuant to section 69 of the County Courts Act (1984) at a rate of 8.000% per annum from04/05/10to 13/12/10 #26.82, and thereafter a daily rate of #0.12 to date of judgement or sooner payment. Invoice date:04/05/10 then on the right: Amount Claimed:575.53 Court Fee 55.00 Solicitors Cost 70.00 Total amount:700.53 I have typed up the POC word for word, but it seems like it has been cut off, but i got no warning this was coming and never received an invoice, they may have sent something back then but i was still fighting to get the grant paid and sadly didn't keep the paper work as i was under the impression that it was all going to get wiped out by my grant, like it always had. :S

I spoke to them last at the start of november when i made a payment and let them no i was on job seekers allowance so may not be able to make one but will try and get £40 over a month as i am on and off temp work. They said that was fine and to let them know if it changed the next thing i got was a court summons dated the 12th December. I have no paperwork relating to this loan because i had just followed the same procedure i had on other courses and hadn't paid that much attention to what i was doing as it all just sorted itself out, like it did for my now partner.... I tried ringing them today but got no answer. i'm really torn because i feel i shouldn't have been paying anyway as that was why i did the course! but if i have to pay then i don't want court costs and solicitors fee's because at the moment those costs are twice my weekly income (£120) the court summons says if you need more time send them a letter with the court summons completed saying you agree to the full amount, including fee's and costs, but i really don't want to do that. but i don't know what defense i could use, nor do i have a copy of any original documents because it was online and i don't have retrospective access. :S is there any way i can delay action and get a copy of everything from them, or do you think i should say i accept i owe the money but can't pay it immediately. I did hte math and if i hadn't managed to get a few days temp work i would have a net income of -£220 (minus) before food and after bills so i have definatley been giving them more than a court wood award them (in terms of payment terms)

I received a court summons this morning from Northampton court filed by Geoffrey Leaver Solicitors in respect of open uni course fee's. Long story short, as with all the other courses i was on, i assumed my grant would just pay / renew as it did for my partner and i wouldn't have to pay the fee's. Anyway after trying to object over and over i agreed to make payment, but only as i was trying to get the matter resolved with the body who issued grants as i was entitled to one and the ousba said that they intended to take me to court as i should pay them and then claim the money back once the grant hit, due to system issues i couldn't apply for the grant as i was in debt to the loan company!!! unfortunately by the time it was all resolved i had missed the cut off for financial aid, so have been stuck paying it off when i can, i have paid over £400 over the last 6 months i rang them late October and explained i had been made unemployed but would try and make £40 payments if i could each month, and obv i would contact them when i was back in full time employment. They said this would be fine, having just got back in to a temp job i was planing to call them up this week and make a payment but this morning received a court summons, no warning, no letter, nothing just a summons. The fee's and interest have add an extra £130 to the bill and i don't know what to do, i thought it was wrong that i was paying in the first place, but my outstanding balance is back to where it was, and i had no warning, are they legally meant to warn you. I will be grudgingly pay the outstanding balance as i have been doing, but £130?!??! can they jump straight to this? please advise. NB I have no remaining documentation in relation to the original grant or the credit agreement, should i put this as a defense whilst i obtain copies, it was all online.

When you are available, the original applicaiton for an ou course was online, i don't have any paper copies, what do i need to send, how fast do they have to reply, how much will it cost, what is out there to help me!

I received a court summons this morning from Northampton court filed by Geoffrey Leaver Solicitors in respect of open uni course fee's. Long story short, as with all the other courses i was on, i assumed my grant would just pay / renew and i wouldn't have to pay the fee's. Anyway after trying to object over and over i agreed to make payment, but only as they intended to take me to court and i hadn't made any leeway with the uni, unfortunately by the time it was resolved i had missed the cut off for financial aid, so have been stuck paying it off when i can, i have paid over £400 over the last 6 months i rang them late October and explained i had been made unemployed but would try and make £40 payments if i could each month, and obv i would contact them when i was back in full time employment. They said this would be fine, having just got back in to a temp job i was planing to call them up this week and make a payment but this morning received a court summons, no warning, no letter, nothing just a summons. The fee's and interest have add an extra £130 to the bill and i don't know what to do, i thought it was wrong that i was paying in the first place, but my outstanding balance is back to where it was, and i had no warning, are they legally meant to warn you. I will be grudgingly pay the outstanding balance as i have been doing, but £130?!??! can they jump straight to this? please advise. NB I have no remaining documentation in relation to the original grant or the credit agreement, should i put this as a defense whilst i obtain copies, it was all online.