My electricity bill has just tripled: how about yours? Alternative suppliers?
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CH1
"Red Guard"(NLYL)
I did mention up thread that energy suppliers are of the opinion that they can charge £40 per fuel per year extra if you're not on DD.So, now I've received an e-mail from OVO that my bank has informed them that I've cancelled my DD and threatening me with higher rates, this is just taking the piss...
Manage my account? I doubt they can even manage to find their own arseholes, my reply -
Seems as OVO has ignored every phone call I've had with your staff, totalling almost 2 hours wasted, and every e-mail I've sent you, since 26th January, and that's why the matter in now in the hands of the energy ombudsman, my gut response to this nonsense is basically two words, can you guess what they are?
Clue, the second word is 'off'.
Maybe you should consider a supplier that charges on the actual reading rather than maintain your trench war with Ovo - for which I have every sympathy, having been through it myself. Funnily enough SSE used to allow a variable DD based on quarterly meter readings, but I can't see any such option for Ovo.
As I commented before Shell do variable direct debits - based on monthly meter readings. I loive in a medium large house built in 1867 so you may find my bill shocking.
My last monthly bill was £203.75 for April PLUS an arear carried forward of £72.52 = £276.27 which was debited on 18th May, 15 days after the date of the bill.
Obviously I'm expecting a lower bill this month, but if you think about it the companies are taking a lot on trust if they think people are going to cough up £400 each month - or more - for December and January.
I would imagine that the option of British Gas or EDF must still remain? But the penalty for default would be a key meter?
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
I don't expect to pay more, I've already updated my complaint to the ombudsman and asked that any extra charges between the DD being cancelled & the matter being resolved are included in the settlement.
When it is resolved I'll set-up a new DD and get smart meters installed, which will prevent further estimated meter reading problems.
I can't switch suppliers until the matter is resolved, because they think my account is in debit, rather than credit, so I would have to settle that before switching. Also, they are the best deal, according to the money saving expert site, I should be paying £126 pm, the next cheapest are both e-on & Sainsburys at £131 pm, so £60 more per year.
For ref a that’s like 15 old electric 100W lightbulbs - the ones which burn your fingers.
platinumsage
HaveMyPassword123
Also it’s like boiling a kettle continuously for half an hour, or leaving an LED bulb on for 10 days.
prunus
Tick tock.
On for one hour, or one on for 15 hours. Or a 60w incandescent bulb on for 24 hours. Check cellar, attic?
Kevbad the Bad
Amiable Bowel Syndrome
You say "all day", but were you at home in the evening?
Every hour.
As someone said up thread - this is either a bad old appliance or a heater.
For ref - on the new electric rates it’s now costing you something like 45p per hour - that’s more than a tenner a day. This doesn’t sound right as it means your electricity bill is huge.
AnnaKarpik
Queen of all she surveys
I've just checked my data and we use 3.2 kwh when the house is empty - that is just the fridge freezer!
And no, nothing left on, and no, not an old appliance. Or not very, 2017.
And no, nothing left on, and no, not an old appliance. Or not very, 2017.
CH1
"Red Guard"(NLYL)
My fridge does use quite a lot. You can see on the OWL meter when it cuts in and out. At least doubled consumption of electricity when it's on.
CH1
"Red Guard"(NLYL)
From my o-level physics (SI units by the way in 1970!) 1.5 kWh could be 1.5 kW for a hour or 150W for 10 hours. They said for a day, which could be 24 hours - ie more like 60w for 24 hours.
Surely the formula we are commenting on is kWh = V × I × t
High Voltage
In the top 97% of Urban's most interesting posters
Well, surprise, surprise, I've amassed a LOT of data and I've put it in a spread sheet so I can play around with daily usage and I'm fairly happy with the numbers I've got in there, they work and allow me to fairly accurately predict usage, certainly to within .5KW in a 24hr period
Single biggest daily usage is the fridge freezer and that uses "about" 1KW / day (24 hr period) - there's nothing I can do about that, that's just a thing
BUT
A week or so ago, me and Mrs Voltz were out for most of the day, I went round before we went out and checked that all the "stand by" plugs were off at the wall, so proper off . . . our daily (24hr) usage was 2KW, which included the fridge freezer so there's "about" an additional 1KW being used in the house
I've measured pretty much everything around the house using plug in meters and I know that tea and toaster (2 slices) uses .23KW
The router etc uses .12KW per day
We have a cat water drinking fountain and 2 auto cat feeders and they use, combined, .2KW
We have "some" plugs which are left on . . . because they are, and they use, combined AND rounded up, .5KW
That gives me our daily usage of, as near as dammit, 2KW - which could be reduced to an absolute rock bottom of 1.5KW'ish if push really did come to shove
MrCurry
right after this urgent rest
1.5kWh in a day isn’t so excessive IMHO. Our house seems to get thru 3kWh per day when we are away on holiday with everything allegedly “switched off”. There are some things hard wired into mains supply which you can’t switch off and if you pull the main fuse then the house alarm would stop working once its battery runs down. Plus we have some outdoor lighting / PIR security lamps which I wouldn’t want to be off all night, so I guess their consumption is part of that figure.
Quiescent consumption always seems to add up to more than you expect IME.
Quiescent consumption always seems to add up to more than you expect IME.
High Voltage
In the top 97% of Urban's most interesting posters
It's bloody hard to track down usage, tbh. I freely admit to driving Mrs Voltz to drink (she's yet to thank me for that by the way) trying to find where the usage was going.
The combined use of:-
- Owl meter (actually over reads by "about" 1.5KW / day so 50KW / month but for a quick and dirty figure it's good enough)
- Plug in meters
- Actually checking, daily, the consumer unit reading, that's what the bill is based on, so that's the one that matters in the end
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Cat Fan
Cats and stats
No, away for the weekend
Cat Fan
Cats and stats
1.5kWh used for the whole day, not per hour
Kevbad the Bad
Amiable Bowel Syndrome
We were away for a fortnight in April. Heating and water turned off. The only things left on were fridge and freezer, router for the internet and TV on standby (recording stuff). Smart meters, landline phone and stuff like that. Nothing else we can think of. We used between 1.3 and 1.7 KWh. So very similar to you.
Cat Fan
Cats and stats
Cool, that's reassuring. We had router on and TV on standby as well. Maybe next time I'll experiment by turning the router off and see if it helps.
That 1.5 minimum equals 77p (including standing charge). So £23 a month before switching anything on.
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
WouldBe
Dislicksick
But what would the cost be timewise and hassle if you had to buy food fresh each day instead of keeping it in the fridge or freezer?Cool, that's reassuring. We had router on and TV on standby as well. Maybe next time I'll experiment by turning the router off and see if it helps.
That 1.5 minimum equals 77p (including standing charge). So £23 a month before switching anything on.
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
So, I've sent a total of 6 e-mails to OVO, the first on 21st March, every time I get an auto-reply saying they are taking longer than usual to respond and it'll will take 5-days, yet never has there been a response, until today.
So finally after 10 bloody weeks someone has read my e-mails, and actually apologised, but somewhat pointless as it's with the ombudsman now.
Then to add insult to injury, a 'how did we do?' e-mail arrives, unbelievable, at least I had some fun with that!
So finally after 10 bloody weeks someone has read my e-mails, and actually apologised, but somewhat pointless as it's with the ombudsman now.
Then to add insult to injury, a 'how did we do?' e-mail arrives, unbelievable, at least I had some fun with that!
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
Jesus, they didn't want to set it right and then let the ombudsman know it's been settled?
TBF as it's been escalated by the ombudsman I assume it's now being dealt with by someone far higher up than a 'Customer Service Advisor', and there's also probably rules in place that OVO has to deal with the ombudsman once they are involved, so I am not that surprised.
It's the fact that it's taken over 10 weeks, rather than 5 days, to even read my e-mails that pisses me off.
CH1
"Red Guard"(NLYL)
I too felt as though I was knocking my head against a brick wall - but the icing on the cake what when they blocked a change to another supplier unless I supplied a photo of my meters to prove my meter readings were correct.
And that was BEFORE these price increases!
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