@npowerhelp NPower fitted a new elec meter in December and now my 'useage' has increased by 13 times!

[kryspyg]

I received my recent bill from Npower for elec and gas this morning to be sickened by the fact i apparently owe them £318 even though i pay by d/d every month!

Sadly i'm not at home so can't check their meter readings from last week until tonight but on closer scrutiny I noticed that the elec meter was measuring 13.5 times more kwh each night than the old meter had!

 

Yes power prices have gone up but nothing has changed in my home to justify a new meter measuring that much more electricity being used each night (I have night/day measurements on my meter and did on the old one too).

 

Has anybody else experienced this? I have emailed them to highlight this issue and will await their reply before I take it any further of course. I can foresee no way of them justifying this happening though!

 

Anyway any thoughts let me know.

Thanks!

 

Krys

[silverfox1961]

Thread moved to utilities forum.

 

Welcome to CAG. Hopefully one of the guys will pop over and have a look for you.

[kryspyg]

so sorry for putting this in the wrong place - i only have a little bit of time at lunch so couldnt read and search through everything to get it right. doh!

Thanks!

 

k

[rebel11]

Hi kry

 

Don't forget that you've got old bills or you can easily obtain them to prove your case. Theres lots of tests that you can carry out to prove your case. It might be a faulty meter. You can obtain at least 6 years data from them. Have you got an Online Account,

that will hold quite a lot of information.

[kryspyg]

i only moved to them in may last year but this is my second bill. The change in useage is very clear though as they have put the date when the new meter was installed and started it from 0 on 17/12/10 and the bill goes back to last August. The old meter had a dial which went round and then the numbers which click round whereas the new one is digital - is this the imperial to metric problem that others seem to have had with gas meters on here?

Ta

 

K

[rebel11]

'The bill goes back to August'?

[kryspyg]

yes it's a bill from august to last week when the meter reading was taking. The new meter was fitted on 17/12 and so there was a meter reading from the old one before it was removed. For 130 days it measured 452kWh and then for the 49 days from 17/12 on the new meter it measured 2307 kWh!

[rebel11]

I think whats actually happened is they have converted pre December units used on the old meter into total units used onto the latest bill. So the Bill is actually from August to Feb.

 

 

yes it's a bill from august to last week when the meter reading was taking. The new meter was fitted on 17/12 and so there was a meter reading from the old one before it was removed. For 130 days it measured 452kWh and then for the 49 days from 17/12 on the new meter it measured 2307 kWh!

[kryspyg]

Not sure what you mean! Yes I know the bill runs from August to Feb but why has my average useage (which I calculated myself) multiplied by 13.5 times since the new meter was installed? They've broken down the bill for me so I can this clearly.

[rebel11]

So on the latest bill how much have they charged you for your pre December usage?

 

Not sure what you mean! Yes I know the bill runs from August to Feb but why has my average useage (which I calculated myself) multiplied by 13.5 times since the new meter was installed? They've broken down the bill for me so I can this clearly.

[kryspyg]

For the 130 days from 9/8 to 17/12 I've been charged £130.76 and then the 48 days from then to 2/2 I've been charged £157.29.

 

I wasnt concerning myself with the amount of money as much as the kWh the new meter is reading compared to the old one when nothing has changed in my house.

[Surfer01]

You can rasie a complaint and they cna nstall a check meter but you will be charged if no fault is found. The best way to do this is to do readings at the same tieme every day for a week or at least a minimum of 3 days. Then do the same but this time completely switch off all non essential items instead of them being on stand by. What is the size of your home and do you have a fish pond or similar with something running 24/7? Is your heating by gas as it seems youa re referring to an E7 meter.

[davehsug]

Was there a fault on your old meter? 452 night units in 130 days seems particularly low. Also are you sure your new meter was installed at 0? There should be a label or tag on the new meter with the installed details.

I also note that you are not at home, so this reading could be an estimate & your problem may be solved if the actual read is much lower. Lastly there is no imperial/metric problem on electric meters. All electric meters bill on kwh.

[Surfer01]

It is unusual to have E7 if using gas for heating and cooking. I would say that about 3 units is about right for the night rate between 12am and 8am but depends on size of property and numebr of occupants.

[2Grumpy]

I have E7 & gas ch (meter was there when we moved in) & we use about 3 units per night

[2Grumpy]

whats happened to the day usage - have they just got swapped over, or does the night usage exceed the day usage by approx 3 units per day (i was thinking that it might not stop measuring usage during the day)

[kryspyg]

Thanks for your advice everyone although before I'd caught up on the posts I found a piece of card tucked behind my new meter with the start readings on it which i had no idea was there! This has made everything clear as the start readings were 376 and 1855! I checked with lowri beck and they insisted they had sent these readings to npower and on speaking to npower today with all my facts straight they insisted lowri beck had done no such thing.

 

Anyway the upshot is that they are sorting out my account so I feel slightly sheepish for getting in such a flap on here! BUT I am really pleased it happened in some ways as it brought me to this site that i had no idea existed and i have learnt an awful lot about my power supply and bills that i wouldnt have otherwise. I am pretty clued up with finance and bills but this has taught me there is always more to learn!

Thanks again all!

[kryspyg]

do have E7 and gas for heating and cooking - didnt know it was unusual though. House is 2 bedroom with 3 occupants (2 before october) and I do have a pond filter running all the time but that has been in place since i bought the house in 2004 so not a new use of power.

[Surfer01]

Thanks for your advice everyone although before I'd caught up on the posts I found a piece of card tucked behind my new meter with the start readings on it which i had no idea was there! This has made everything clear as the start readings were 376 and 1855! I checked with lowri beck and they insisted they had sent these readings to npower and on speaking to npower today with all my facts straight they insisted lowri beck had done no such thing.

 

Anyway the upshot is that they are sorting out my account so I feel slightly sheepish for getting in such a flap on here! BUT I am really pleased it happened in some ways as it brought me to this site that i had no idea existed and i have learnt an awful lot about my power supply and bills that i wouldnt have otherwise. I am pretty clued up with finance and bills but this has taught me there is always more to learn!

Thanks again all!

Good outcome. Congratulations and thanks for the feedback. Goes to show that if you had rolled over like many people, you would be seriously out of pocket. Npower should have confirmed the opening and closing reads with you when you first raised the inquiry.

[davehsug]

If your night use is so low, you may well be better off on a single rate meter as well.

[kryspyg]

Really? Now that I didn't know! I have always thought that the night rate was cheaper and as my night consumption is 4 times my day consumption then that would work out better overall. Scrutinising my bill again it seems the day rate is cheaper indeed but I've grown up with the idea that economy 7 meant electricity used at night was cheaper. As I said earlier I'm pretty on the ball so now wonder how anyone who isn't gets by!

[Surfer01]

Really? Now that I didn't know! I have always thought that the night rate was cheaper and as my night consumption is 4 times my day consumption then that would work out better overall. Scrutinising my bill again it seems the day rate is cheaper indeed but I've grown up with the idea that economy 7 meant electricity used at night was cheaper. As I said earlier I'm pretty on the ball so now wonder how anyone who isn't gets by!

 

Something wrong here as your day rate is always higher than your night rate. Your night consumption between 12am and 8am is normally a lot lower than day usage unless of course you run the washing machine and tumble drier etc during 12am and 8am. Maybe you are getting mixed up between the day rate and the daily consumption. Day rate is the amount you pay per unit. Consumption being the number of units used. As heating etc is gas I am not sure why yoru night consumption is higher than your day consumption.

[kryspyg]

yes something is odd isn't it? Splitting my bills into old meter and new meter the units used are:

OLD

Day - 934

Night - 452

 

NEW

Day - 112

Night - 452

 

The unravelling never ends does it?! If attaching a copy of the bill helps let me know although of course the correct meter readings need to be minused at this stage until they send me an updated, correct one.

[Surfer01]

How come your night units for old and new are the same? Over what period of time is the bill for the new readings? Your night units should be a lot lower. I am assuming you have a new electronic meter and that (1) is the day rate and (2) is the night rate of consumption. If you are at home right now, you should only be able to see the reading for day units (1) unless you don't have a electronic meter.

[kryspyg]

it's a spooky coincidence!

Old meter was from 9/8 to 17/12 and then new digital one was from then to 2/2. Reading 1 is the day rate and Reading 2 is the night one.

Am not at home though so can't have a look at it right now but will hopefully remember to do so when I get back from work.

 

Looking at the amendments I've made to the wrong bill, I was incorrect earlier - the night rate is of course cheaper than the day one so I seem to have somehow been advantaged if this meter is measuring incorrectly! Mistake i made earlier was due to the fact they included the standing charge on my night costs. Night cost per kWh is 4.1p and day is now 10.82p.