Electric bill ridiculously high - what could it be ?

Question

I am with scottish power and my electric wit them seems to increase more and more with every bill , they are saying i have to pay £65 a month and that just electric not gas

i cant think of anything in my home that would increase my bill so much , ( iwas only being charged £30 a month about six months ago )

i have a laptop which uses a mains charger , i use a dryer every now and then when it is raining outside but always have done ,

does anyone know of any other high usage appliances it could eb or is it simply scottish power over charging me, or a fault on the meter

i am changing suppliers asap

Answer 1

its the economy its knackered my gas and electric are combined and have gone up £30 a month more than this time last year. The government are to blame they have wrecked the economy with careless spending and lending this is the outcome I'm afraid :)

Answer 2

depends on the size of your house to how much your using IE a 2 bedroom will use less have you an immersion heater or economy 7 they both run high on electric  we had a similar problem a while back and you could do the same ring EDF ENERGY UP FREEPHONE NUMBER IS 08000962240 and they will transfer you over to a key meter that way you will know how much your paying each week if you are already on a key meter ask somebody to check it for you but you will find a lot of people are going on prepaid meters now so they can keep an eye on there finances and you dont get a heavy bill every quarter  good luck .

Answer 3

I know exactly what you mean, my house bill for 1 quarter was £900!!!!

I spoke to Powergen at the time, they got some engineers to look into it and got the bill down to £200 - obviously they tried to rip me off! but still the bill was high. I had recently bought a new TV and sound system, and also some other electrical equipment.

Im not really one for turning them off so i left them on standby, i think this was what caused the problem cause when i turned them off everytime i finished using them, my bill halved! Worth a try....

Also, I heard that Scottish power have tried to scam people in the past, it was in the paper a few weeks ago. Worth just ringing them to get the bill checked, and also just watch them. Wherever they can have you they will!

Answer 4

You could have a dodgy compressor motor on your fridge.

Try a simple test if you have a spinning disk meter or a digital with low enough digits to notice.

Record the speed of change, then switch off all the breakers the speed should stop. now turn one breaker on note the speed and back off. do this to each breaker in turn to find the circuit drawing the most current. Now turn all the breakers back on (you don't want to defrost your freezer) and switch off each appliance on the offending circuit till you find the one with the most draw.

if the disk keeps spinning with no power to anywhere then the meter could be at fault.

A lot of adverts on The TV at the mo for energy meters that monitor where the power is going, you could try one of them.

Finally if you have economy 7 the switch over could be knackered so your always charged at the higher rate. i had this once in an old house.

Answer 5

Try these things first

1. First check the bill reading as it may be an estimate

2. Check the meter reading on your meter against the bill

3. If it is an Estimate just ring the Electric company and let them know the actual meter reading - they will send out a new bill

if this does not work then you change suppliers but you will have to pay the bill first

Answer 6

I would compare consumption, and not cost, to see if the fault is increased usage or increased price.  If consumption is way up, you need to find out why and stop it.  Do you live in a place where someone can tap into your system (rare but has been known to happen)?  New appliance?  Air conditioner on now compared to 6 months ago?

If consumption is about the same but the bills are way higher, not much you can do.  Price of energy has jumped.  I know it sucks, but that is what it is.  You gotta start cutting corners to save money in any way you can, is the only real solution.