[Grant]

Just had a bombshell dropped on us. We pay our electric monthly on a 2 year deal and they have said we have went over by 30,000 kWh. 
 2 years ago we were paying £90 a month, then it jumped to £160.
We have 4 in the cottage, no electric heaters, tumble dryer or emerser. We have oil heating and everyone out during the day.
Scottish power have said they think we have a faulty meter!!!
I went on the net and apparently the average household up here is no more than £600 pa or about 4,000 kWh & we're over by 30,000
What's the chance of getting some redress, as we are paying far too much??
Any thoughts

[stufe35]

Check there hasn't been an error in the actual reading.

See if the meter can be tested....perhaps put another meter in series with it , then after a few months you will have a conversion factor that can be applied to your bill.

[doganjo]

Are they taking estimated or actual readings?  I have had problems with many power companies because of that, and recently told the one I'm with now that I wanted £600 back after sending in an actual reading.  i got it too.

[harmony]

They should come out and check your meter if they think it is faulty and obviously you do.  I think you are entitled to a smart meter  so you can see your usage.


You could switch all your electric items off and see if the meter is still going round.

[Womble]

We have a wee electricity monitor that clamps over the cables coming out of the main electricity meter. This transmits a signal via radio to a read-out display in the house. You can buy them fairly cheaply via Ebay etc. You could then use this to compare with the main meter, to indicate whether it's reading correctly or not.


When we moved in here, we couldn't work out why our bills suddenly rocketed compared with our old place. By turning things on and off and watching the electricity monitor, I managed to identify the problem as a leak to earth on the lighting circuit, and a dodgy earth connection from the house to ground (very dangerous because if it wasn't raining outside, it made the downstairs taps live at +220V when one of the lights was switched on!  ). Goodness knows how much the previous people paid out un-necessarily over the years though!

[Rupert the bear]

ask Scottish power to test the meter , they should install some test / recording  equipment as well. they are legally obliged to do so .

and " Check there hasn't been an error in the actual reading."  been there , meter reader in a hurry due to dogs entered wrong numbers twice !

[Izzy]

My Mum has had her meter replaced. She disputed the usage and compared with previous years. Company sent hers away for testing. It was faulty and she was reimbursed. My Mum's quite on the ball so it hadn't been going on for long.

[Victorian Farmer]

Remember 1 heat lamp on for a month is £10  So 4 £40 a month

[pharnorth]

Most power companies are pushing smart meters right now so suggest you ask for one, that gives you a clear idea on a daily basis what is using power in your house.  Also suggest you put in writing your concern that your meter is faulty, and describe as you have here what you would expect the reading to be and why.  They have huge amounts of information on typical useage so should be easily able to verify that.

I had a problem like this many years ago. The company agreed to replace the meter and check it. They said they would charge for the change of meter if it was accurate to within a couple of %.  it was actually well out so they refunded the difference to when I moved in to th house.

[Louise Gaunt]

Slightly off topic, but there is a problem with smart meters- to function correctly and transmit readings to your power supplier they need a good phone signal. For most of us in rural areas that is a problem. I have a friend in Totnes who had one fitted, and the fitted were a bit stumped when it came to the set up process as she has no decent mobile signal!

[sabrina]

Scottish Power had to payback £500 to a friend of mine. They also had to payback my mother but that took over a year to sort out. Lots of very angry phone calls by my brother on my 85 year old mothers behalf. Seems they have been given huge fines for all this.

[Calvadnack]

Send a formal letter of complaint and if you have no satisfactory resolution within 8weeks contact the energy ombudsman at www.ombudsman-services.org.  The process is on their website.  I would not change to a smartmeter until yours has been tested.  Be aware that if you make the request for your Meter to be tested they may threaten to charge you if no fault is found so let them make the decision to test it.

[Grant]

Thanks for all your replies, I will let you know the outcome and hopefully put the rebate to a shiny new toy. Haha