Help i think my meters dodgy

[jezzyjet]

Hi there

 

Im with southern electricity for my gas and ive noticed my bills are really high,im not very good at this but ive roughly estimated that 1 unit on the meter costs around 27p as we used 1060 units in a quarter and the bill was around £280.00 now i decided to see how much the cooker used in units per minute,rough results as follows

 

large wok burner 1 unit in approx one and a half minutes = 27p!

small ring 0.3 units in one minute

 

we used 30 units on sunday alone can this be right? according to my calcs if they are remotely correct cooking sunday lunch cost over eight quid!

 

any advise greatly accepted

 

 

jezzy

[Russjo]

Too complicated for me to even try to understand, so well done for trying. Have you tried phoning them to find out what the KWH price is? I did this when British Gas tried to get me to convert to them and they were telling me how cheap they were. I phoned up EDF and they gave me a complete breakdown of what everything costs me. However, all I was doing was comparing prices so I'm not sure how to work out value for money

[jezzyjet]

hi there,yes i will do that,they have been trying to get round to change the meter which makes me suspicious,ive told the wife not to let them till its checked! just seems that if im right which im sure im fairly close,it costs me a couple of quid or more to cook a pan of spuds!

[Russjo]

I know I shouldn't, but that made me chuckle, £8 to cook Sunday lunch . However all jokes aside, if that is the case, that is incredibly expensive. I pay £50 per month on a key meter and I've got a washing machine and tumble dryer on the go constantly, plus numerous electrical items that the occupants of this household insist on using and then leaving on. Stick to your guns, only question is, how are you going to get it checked?

[rarelydarely]

Flipping heck, I put £30 a week in electric meter and I live alone,

don't have a tumble dryer and wash clothes once a week and

Scottish Power say my tariff is correct. I've demanded they come

back out and change it as I was only using £10 a week until last

meter reading. (Nope, don't owe them money either).

[Russjo]

How much???????? Cripes I would confine my lot to a cupboard if I used that much electric

[Anne26]

It does appear as though you're using too much. I take it that you ensure that all other gas appliances were turned off when you did your check.

 

Your supplier will have a department that deal with consumption disputes. I work for Powergen and we come across these queries, we usually ask the customer to take readings at the same time every day for a seven day period, we can then work out your average daily usage. I suggest that you do this and then call your supplier.

 

You can ask for yur meter to be checked, however the transporter (usually Transco) will charge for this job. Suppliers will normally only pay for this if your meter IS faulty, if it's not you will then have to hold the charge. So probably do this as a last resort as meters are rarely faulty...the problem usually lies with a faulty appliance.

[uriel]

There will be a multiplication factor involved in your gas bill, I think with SSE its x1.5 to convert units to Kwh with a kwh costing 3.11p for the first 1143kwh the price then drops to 2.75pkwh. Although you should be able to check this for yourself by ringing them on one of their 0800 numbers.

[jezzyjet]

many thanks for the info chaps still looking into it all jezzy

[emmajnich]

I would also do the 7 day test, but make sure you read it the same time each day.

 

You can have the meter tested, its called a DOTI test (department of Trade and Industry). It is independent but costs £85.

 

If the meter is found to be faulty Southern Elec will refund the fee. British Gas will refund if it more than 2% difference either way.

 

9 out of 10 times there is nothing wrong with the meter it's the appliances. Same for Gas and Elec. I would check them!

 

 

For ways of working out your bills, look on the back and read all the small print, all the way through.Don't go through to the call centres and ask them to explain it! - They are just there to sell you more! and invariably don't know how to manually work out a bill!

[rockhag]

Your supplier will have a department that deal with consumption disputes. I work for Powergen and we come across these queries, we usually ask the customer to take readings at the same time every day for a seven day period, we can then work out your average daily usage. I suggest that you do this and then call your supplier.

 

I work for an energy supplier that isn't powergen too and we normally ask customers to do the 7 day reading thingy too before we can take things further.

[mree]

Well hello Ms Rockhag, fancy meeting you here!

[rockhag]

Well hello Ms Rockhag, fancy meeting you here!

 

Well I never!

[mrJengles]

I have got a Gas meter through British Gas and on several occasions i have called British gas as feel the meter is dodgy or the tarrif is too high as can have £10 gas on and have the heating on a couple of hours and a bath and then its off again there is no money owed coming off that so they said that our meter would have to be checked they were supoosed to be doing this months ago and each time i chase it get fobbed off. does anyone know what i should do as know people that have meters and have their heating on a lot and £10 lasts them a week not just a day or two

[rockhag]

It depends on a lot of things chick. Like how much you have your heating on, how many kwh your heating appliances run at, if you always borrow the emergency credit, if you had debt loaded onto the meter when it was installed etc. etc.

[uriel]

I have got a Gas meter through British Gas and on several occasions i have called British gas as feel the meter is dodgy or the tarrif is too high as can have £10 gas on and have the heating on a couple of hours and a bath and then its off again there is no money owed coming off that so they said that our meter would have to be checked they were supoosed to be doing this months ago and each time i chase it get fobbed off. does anyone know what i should do as know people that have meters and have their heating on a lot and £10 lasts them a week not just a day or two

 

On a PPm meter you Pay a standing charge per day, everyday, I believe Bg PPm standing charge is 19p per day, Are you using a quantum meter? You should be able to check the unit rate you have by pressing the blue button until it shows you the Kwh rate, from that menu you should also be able to see what your weekly standing charge is.

I was with a customer last week with no debt on their meter who was paying £8.50 a week standing charge.

Easy answer is to get off the ppm meter and take advantage of the lowered unit rates compared to a ppm.