Bristol Energy, - On economy 10 but being charged economy 7?

[SolarStan]

 

 

I began on Bristol Energy at £40 per month.

This has steadily increased to £211 per month.

Bristol Energy have confirmed I am on an Economy 10 plan and I asked for and received the actual off peak times.

 

My home is all electric.

No gas or solid fuel etc.

I have night storage heaters.  

I have 2 immersion heaters in the hot water cylinder.

One on off peak, one on standard.

 

In order to check that I was receiving the correct 10 off peak hours as per the times Bristol Energy gave me, I wired a timer with a tell tale light into the off peak immersion heater. Before anyone jumps in, I did this purely to check that I was getting the 10 off peak hours at the stipulated times (not to use as a timer, which would not work anyway because the clock would keep stopping). In effect the tell tale light in the timer comes on during the off peak periods (of course, you have to turn on the off peak immersion immersion heater switch to check this) and goes off outside those periods.

 

According to the timer tell tale light, I am getting the 10 off peak hours at the stipulated times.

 

I have 2 concerns.

 

1) The amount I am paying seems far too high.

I live in a 2 bed bungalow, just myself and my partner.

 

We have 1 storage heater on during the winter months.

Hot water is just 1 hour every 2 days on the off peak immersion heater. (Standard immersion is never used).

We are mostly in the same room, so just 1 light.

Washing machine and shower used only in off peak times.

I can't see how we could use less electricity.

 

2) The Bristol Energy bills are stating Economy 7.

 

So I believe I am being charged 3 hours per day at standard rate that should be off peak rate.

I can see no other explanation.

 

I will be most grateful for people's thoughs and any advice on how I should proceed.

 

[BankFodder]

I think you need to start off by giving a proper independent report by a qualified electrician. This may cost you money but you will be able to reclaim it on the basis that you are correct.

Come back here when you have it

[dx100uk]

forget the cost for the minute

 

have you got all your meter readings the bills were made from ?

how long have you been with them?

 

 

[SolarStan]

@BankFodderThanks for response.

 

Can I use a common or garden electrician for this, or does it require an electrician with specialist equipment etc?

 

@dx100uk Many thanks for response.

 

I have been taking readings over the last 3 months or so, rather intermittently I admit.

I am now taking daily readings and keeping a record.

 

I have been with Bristol Energy about 1 year.

[BankFodder]

I don't know about specialist equipment but it will have to be an electrician who has some kind of certification.

I would imagine that a properly qualified electrician would have all of the equipment necessary.

The purpose of this this inspection is to produce a professional and independent report which confirms your own suspicions. Once you have that then you'll be able to move forward and take control of the situation in an assertive way.

if you incur a fee for this inspection and assuming that the findings confirm your own suspicions then this will be recoverable

 

once you commission the inspection then I would suggest it would also be a good idea to provide the inspector with all the relevant information so they are also able to give you a fully independent calculation of how much money you have lost.

 

By the way, how long do you think that this error has been going on for?

[dx100uk]

you need the readings they have been using to calculate what your usage was

have you got them?

how are they getting them?

 

is this a smart meter?

 

[SolarStan]

Bankfodder,

 

Thanks. I will start looking for a relevant electrician.

 

I have been with Bristol Energy since I moved into the property, one year, I was initially paying £40 per month. This has steadily increased to £211 now.

 

dx100uk

 

Bristol Energy seem to be reading the meter every second bill.

 

It is not a smart meter

[dx100uk]

so they came and got the meter readings for the bills? they have a regular meter reader that goes around?

where is the meter?

 

or does it say E by the readings on the bills that you think are wrong or tariff transposed?

 

you cant determine anything until you know the data they are using is correct.

[SolarStan]

How exactly do I find an electrician to give an independent report?

I have tried and can find no local electricians offering this service.

 

It seems you have to contact the supplier and demand they organize an independent report.

 

I am not happy about that because if I am right, there could be a few thousand pounds involved and I would rather have my own independent report before I contact the supplier.

 

Can anyone advise how I find an electrical contractor who will provide this service?

 

Thanks

[BankFodder]

Go on to the - NICEIC Approved‎- NICEIC Approved‎- NICEIC Approved‎- NICEIC Approved‎https://www.niceic.com/householder/find-a-contractor website and put in your post code and look up suitably qualified electricians in your area. I suggest that you speak to several of them and check their qualifications and tell them exactly what you're after and find out the price of it.

Maybe even phone around and call five or six of them. The more you talk to them the more you learn about it

Also, the last time you came onto the site was 5 May. If you want to drive this dispute forward, I think you need to keep a bit tighter contact with this thread and keep control of the dispute. You won't do that otherwise

[SolarStan]

OK Bank Fodder

 

Thanks

[ericsbrother]

£ you are currently paying £2400 a year for your fuel, do you live in a chateau?. A competent electrician should be able to check whther there is a leakage back to earth from neutral and check the consumption of your bigger items individually, for example is the thermostat on the immersion heater working or it it just heating water 24hrs/day?

All electricians must be qualified and registered so you need to search one of the authorised scheme lists

[BankFodder]

20 minutes ago, ericsbrother said:

 

All electricians must be qualified and registered so you need to search one of the authorised scheme lists

 

A bit like wot I said really

[SolarStan]

Apologies for not keeping this thread live. Other problems.

 

OK. Today, I did the most obvious thing.

 

I turned off the power. 2 mains switches. One for the NSH circuit and one for all the rest.

 

I then took the 2 readings. Left everything off for 1 hour. Then took the readings again.

 

They were both exactly the same.

 

It would have been to good to be true if the readings had increased I know.

 

Tomorrow, I will do an appliance test, starting with the immersion heater.

I will again turn off both mains switches.

Then turn off all the MCB switches. 

Take readings again.

Then turn on the mains switch controlling everything except the NSH's.

Then turn on the immersion heater MCB only and then turn on the actual immersion heater itself for 1 hour.

 

Then turn off the immersion heater and take readings again.

 

And then do the following:

 

Deduct the first reading from the second and compare it to the wattage of the appliance you turned on for one hour.

The difference between the two readings should equal the wattage on the label of your appliance if the meter is working accurately. Expect the answer to vary by plus or minus 5 percent. 

[SolarStan]

Thanks BankFodder,

 

Both the immersion heater (3Kw)  and the shower (7.5Kw) returned accurate readings.

 

I haven't got around to testing the oven/hob yet but will do so next week.

 

I understand I can also run a test on the meter with a multimeter. I often use a multimeter but I don't fancy connecting the leads to live terminals on the meter so will leave that to the electrician.

 

It seems it is not that easy to get an electrician for this particular problem I have. I have called several, but they basically didn't want to know.

 

I will persevere.

[dx100uk]

pers i'd be sending them an sar to get all their info on the account etc.

it also might pay you to sar you previous supplier? was there one before you switched to Bristol?

that way you should have a good history of monthly usage to gauge things against.

 

how long have you been in the property?

 

 

[ericsbrother]

my thought is that the immersion heater may be on permanently rather than on a timer.

[SolarStan]

I have been at the property for 4 years. 

I switched from EON a year ago.

 

The immersion heater is not used on a timer. The timer is merely used to see and check when the off peak periods kick in and out. (the tell tale light indicates this.)*  Only the off peak immersion heater is used. (for approximately 1 hour every 2 days.)

 

An electrician is attending today. I will post his opinion.

 

* It is indicating that the off peak periods are not accurate

 

[SolarStan]

The electrician attended and tested and found no fault with the meter (no leakage).

He highlighted the fact that a large NSH in the lounge was very old and that the controls no longer worked efficiently if at all.

This obviously contributes to the large bills, but of course, does not solve E7/E10 issue.

 

Having checked the bills, I am in fact, being charged for E7 when I should be charged for E10 (3 off peak hours per day difference), which was the agreed tariff.

 

All my calls, incoming and outgoing are recorded via the ACR app.

I revisited all my calls to and from Bristol Energy, particularly the call in which I explicitly asked for the breakdown of the exact of the off peak times. All these calls with the exception of two, were me calling them on their 0845 number.

Both sides of the conversations are crystal clear.

 

However, the most relevant one, in which they gave me the E10 times, is a callback from them to me.

Playing back this call, I can hear only myself and not the other party.

I don't know if this is a feature of the ACR app or something built in to Bristol Energy's system.

I will be grateful for opinions regarding this.

 

As that call appears to be the only evidence that I have in which Bristol Energy admit I should be on Economy 7, could I demand a transcript of that call, as I have the exact date, time and duration of it?

[dx100uk]

send eon an sar

send Bristol energy an sar.

 

 

[SolarStan]

Excuse my ignorance, dx 100uk,

 

an sar?

[honeybee13]

Hi.

 

Click on the letters SAR in any post and you'll go to another screen with information. It's a subject access request.

 

HB

[SolarStan]

Thanks honeybee13.

 

Is there a recommended template for the wording of the SAR?

[dx100uk]

Click sar

Read all the posts!!

[SolarStan]

OK.

 

I have read a great many of the posts relating to sars (not all of them, there's more 4000) and googled for information.

 

Phone call transcripts can be requested.

 

As I have stated the only evidence I have that I am supposed to be on E10 are two incoming calls from Bristol Energy in which this was confirmed  and the actual times of the 10 off peak hours stated (GMT and BST). And I have recorded and archived both calls, so I have the exact dates, times and durations of the calls. 

 

ButI have read that Banks, for instance, record all calls, but only keep the ones they are not archiving, for 6 months. Do power companies do the same?

 

My worry is that the two relevant calls were more than a year ago. So Bristol Energy may say they have been deleted (assuming they recorded the calls in the first place.)

 

Before anyone states the obvious i.e: The only way I will find out is by sending the sar. I fully intend to do that tomorrow, but in the meantime, anyone's thoughts, opinions?

Edited June 21, 2020 by SolarStan
missing letters