Ridiculous ESB Bill

F.Galway

Just got my ESB bill this week and for the last two months it was estimated at €480! We took our own reading and submitted it and it came out at €400 even. Our apartment is quite large ( 3 dbl bed two ensuite with two sotarge heaters in living area and wall mounted heaters in rooms). All of our heaters and hot water are on timers and did majority of washing at night with little use of tumble dryer.
Did anybody else have as high a bill for the last two months?

mikom

That's almost 4 times my bill for a bungalow.
Something is off.......... or on, as the case may be.

Jesus Wept

Are you sharing? Perhaps someone/s are switching their wall mounted heaters on (over riding the timers) often.

kraggy

Maybe what happened was that your last bill was estimated as well. But undervalued your bill for the time.

So you underpaid then, and are making up for it now. So it wouldn't be a true representation for the last 2 months like.

F.Galway

The previous bill was I think €320 ,I'll try find it again but I'm pretty sure that it was a reading not an estimate.We thought that would be the last of the high bill and this came bill came, at least we knocked almost a fifth off it but still its way to high.Forgot to mention that our oven was out of action three of those weeks, element had blown so was waiting on new part. We've had the heating knocked off for about two weeks now aswell...just gotta suck it up and pay it!

Andrea B.

We've just been through a very cold period. Electricity is your only heating? Timers or not, all your heaters (water incl) were using more energy to reach their setpoints.

It is however worth checking the stat positions on all heaters. That is that they go off at a temperature you are comfortable with.

kraggy

Turn every single thing off in your apartment/house and look at the meter. If the wheel is still spinning, you're leaking electricity or else someone is bleeding off you.

F.Galway

kraggy wrote: »

Turn every single thing off in your apartment/house and look at the meter. If the wheel is still spinning, you're leaking electricity or else someone is bleeding off you.

I'll do that in the morning hopefully that there is something going wrong. We had lived in the apartment beside the one we are living in now and any of our bills were half what they are in here.

gaeilgegrinds1

Heard of this a lot lately. Firstly, could be as last one was an estimate. Also, tumble driers are notorious, as are those dry heaters. My partner used to live in an apartment with 3 double rooms and it was always around the high 200 mark. So with the recent cold snap could indeed be that. Ours is very low as we never leave anything on standby. Makes a MASSIVE difference. And I never use the tumble drier, only for towels. I find it damages clothes and puts them out of shape.

F.Galway

the washing machine is a combi unit and find that it cant tumble for s**t so just leave clothes on clothes horse to dry instead.Housemate probably has a sneaky heater under the bed cranked up full all day and night! :P

amy85

we recieved our esb bill last week. was 365 euro.. thats the highest its ever been. my mouth nearly hit the floor when i seen it. there is 3 of us living in the apt. again we dont overuse any of the applicances in the apt etc.. putting washing machine and dish washer on at night and all that. our friend who lives in same estate got there bill the same week aswell,390euro so didnt feel too bad then :-/ it was a proper reading aswell,not estimated. we are living on beans and toast for the next while. haha..

joeKel73

Mite sounds like an odd question but do you have a fridge freezer with a broken freezer door by any chance?! Our freezer door cracked before and the fridge was going on full power the whole time to keep the freezer bit cold... the bill was big!

blond45

think there is somthing wrong with the bill , we live in the country (carnmore) we got our bill , it was high as in 180e. usual 150. did you have much xmas lights on ? tree lits, outside xmas lits , window lights. they all add up. as some one said it was xtra cold this year.we have no storage heaters, we have oil on timer, we light a fire and it heats up the water so hot.

Xiney

jesus christ - and here I nearly had a hissy fit over our 200 euro bill (highest it's ever been for us too)

I'd need a few valium if I ever got a bill for 480 euro (even if it came down to 400 later)

Elevator

that's weird, we paying our 2nd bill in 2 bed east Galway and the new bill is 334, 1st was 300+ too, does seem a bit steep but them if we were buying coal and oil it would be just as bad if not worse, we not bad but we don't really like the cold, will be investigations going on tomorrow after reading these messages

martyboy48

How many times can they estimate the bill before they actually check the meter??
Maybe 2-3 underestimated bills previous??
Anyone know ???

F.Galway

Elevator wrote: »

that's weird, we paying our 2nd bill in 2 bed east Galway and the new bill is 334, 1st was 300+ too, does seem a bit steep but them if we were buying coal and oil it would be just as bad if not worse, we not bad but we don't really like the cold, will be investigations going on tomorrow after reading these messages

I only wish I could have oil or coal at least then you could regulate the heat a bit better and amount you spend on it.Storage heaters are a pain at the best of times!:mad:

sam34

when i lived in an apt (2 bed) with storage heating, the bills were always 3 to 400, and i lived alone!

storage heating is v costly

amy85

foto joe wrote: »

Mite sounds like an odd question but do you have a fridge freezer with a broken freezer door by any chance?! Our freezer door cracked before and the fridge was going on full power the whole time to keep the freezer bit cold... the bill was big!

now that you say that,our freezer door is broken in the fridge. it broke while we were defrosting fridge. alot of ice had built up around it and we broke it trying to break ice away. woops! everytime we open fridge door,the little flap for the freezer falls open. its soo annoying. but i never thought that would have anything to do with it(thats if it does). thats interesting though,must look into it. cheers!

Cookie_Monster

use the tumble dryer much? these eat power.

pwd

Did ya try turning everything off, and checking the meter like suggested?
People bleeding off your meter - That does happen!
We found out our neighbour was connected to the same meter as us.
She had been told by the landlord that she had free electricity.
We also found out the reason he did this was because he only had planning permission to have 4 flats in the building, but he put in 5, with two running off the same meter.
He also hadn't registered the flat, and hadn't been paying tax on many years of dublin 4 rents.
Of course he constantly denied doing anything wrong, while we caught him out again and again, and he pretended to be a solicitor, tried to bully us etc etc.
Reported the thieving bastard to the council and also for not registering flat.
Have a feeling nothing was followed up on anyway - I know he got off with the planning permission violation anyway because it was there more than 7 years.
Should have gone to the guards about the thieving bastard as well. Extremely rich man owning hotels and property in d4 and he thieves from people with far less.

astrofool

Sounds about right if you've been using storage heating during the cold snap. It's v. pricey to use.

unknownlegend

Does anyone know at what time the cheaper nightly electricity rate comes on at? Makes sense to set the washing machine to come on when the power is cheaper, i'm with airtricity

james finn

unknownlegend wrote: »

Does anyone know at what time the cheaper nightly electricity rate comes on at? Makes sense to set the washing machine to come on when the power is cheaper, i'm with airtricity

I had a bill of 636euro with esb and i changed to airtricity online and the esb can only sign off if your bill is paid up, they made the mistake and signed off, now they cant turn me off and call me to pay and i say no you shouldnt have signed me off if i didnt pay.

emanresu

martyboy48 wrote: »

How many times can they estimate the bill before they actually check the meter??
Maybe 2-3 underestimated bills previous??
Anyone know ???

It could be 5 years according to this thread:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055828501
where the problem was not discovered until the person was moving out of the property.

But this poster didn't regularly phone in with customers readings.
(He did do so once in 2006 or 2007 but it was mistakenly assumed to be incorrect by the ESB and disregarded.)

dearg lady

That actually sounds about right, same as us, 3 double bed apt, storage heaters, we get bills around 450 in winter, but less now we've switched to Bord Gais.
ring in a reading if you think it's wrong.

F.Galway

I went down and checked the meter after turning everything off.The meter wasn't moving at all and then got a housemate to turn on the main appliances one by one to see what sped up the meter the most.The tv(along with ntl box, broadband, avr are all together) are heavy enough on the meter but after turning on the washing machine just to see what it was like and it was very bad, got to make sure we only use it at night.
So it looks like the bill is just going have to be paid and try cut down on the electricity.Woolie jumpers and tea-cosies instead of storage heaters.Hopefully the next bill will be considerably less.

loyatemu

I use gas for the heating and just got the highest bill I have ever had, despite the price of gas dropping during the period of the bill. We've just had the coldest winter in 30 years, not much you can do about it.

testicle

F.Galway wrote: »

The tv(along with ntl box, broadband, avr are all together) are heavy enough on the meter but after turning on the washing machine just to see what it was like and it was very bad, got to make sure we only use it at night.

Unless you have night-saver electricity (i.e. a second meter) running it at night won't matter! What energy rating is the washing machine and how old is it?

shoegirl

F.Galway wrote: »

two storage heaters in living area and wall mounted heaters in rooms). All of our heaters and hot water are on timers and did majority of washing at night with little use of tumble dryer.

I've got 2 storage heaters in my 1 room flat, and on average it works out as about 80 for 2 months per heater but mine have no thermostat except for whatever one stops the nighttime charge from overheating. The wall heaters may be a problem also given the exceptional cold snap.

Xiney

testicle wrote: »

Unless you have night-saver electricity (i.e. a second meter) running it at night won't matter! What energy rating is the washing machine and how old is it?

vast majority of apartments with storage heaters have the night meter. Otherwise, it defeats the purpose of storage heaters, which use electricity at night, store the heat, and release it during the day.

pirelli

james finn wrote: »

I had a bill of 636euro with esb and i changed to airtricity online and the esb can only sign off if your bill is paid up, they made the mistake and signed off, now they cant turn me off and call me to pay and i say no you shouldnt have signed me off if i didnt pay.

Airtricity will charge you the oustandng with ESB. Your debit will show.
They are all arseholes from dublin at airtricity. I think Bord gais are the cheapest now and at least ypu can pay in installments at the post office, Airtricity are terrible when it come to taking payment and have levies and extra charges.

padair

F.Galway wrote: »

Just got my ESB bill this week and for the last two months it was estimated at €480! We took our own reading and submitted it and it came out at €400 even. Our apartment is quite large ( 3 dbl bed two ensuite with two sotarge heaters in living area and wall mounted heaters in rooms). All of our heaters and hot water are on timers and did majority of washing at night with little use of tumble dryer.
Did anybody else have as high a bill for the last two months?

Check to make sure that you timers on your meter are working correctly. If they are off you could be clocking Day units during the night and vice versa.

Plumella

pwd wrote: »

People bleeding off your meter - That does happen!
We found out our neighbour was connected to the same meter as us.

I had this problem too - a plug in the shared hallway was actually hooked to my meter. I notice an extension lead running from this plug in under my neighbours door, and a month later my ESB bill arrived and had doubled to 300e!

I was suspicious of the plug in the hall immediately once I got my bill and plugged in a light then flicked off all my switches in my mains box. Low and behold the light went out too!

Landlord was so embaressed though and paid the entire bill and cut off the electricity to the plug. Although he never mentioned it to my neighbours....!

How Strange

I got an electricity bill in Jan for Nov/Dec and it was €280 :eek:
I got one last week for Jan/Feb and it was €300 :eek::eek: That's the highest ever.

We have a 65sqm two bed apartment with storage heaters. Both bills had meter readings. However, we've had the coldest winter in 35 years or something. Usually in the winter our bills are around €180 with ESB before the reductions. We switched to Bord Gais.

This winter since Nov we've had all the storage heaters on constantly and we had to buy an oil filled electric radiator as well. Normally during the winter we might turn the storage heaters on for a week here or there when it gets cold otherwise we'd just have one on all the time.

Considering how consistently cold it was since Nov I wasn't too suprised although I did have mini heart attacks when I saw the bills first!

padair

How Strange wrote: »

I got an electricity bill in Jan for Nov/Dec and it was €280 :eek:
I got one last week for Jan/Feb and it was €300 :eek::eek: That's the highest ever.

We have a 65sqm two bed apartment with storage heaters. Both bills had meter readings. However, we've had the coldest winter in 35 years or something. Usually in the winter our bills are around €180 with ESB before the reductions. We switched to Bord Gais.

This winter since Nov we've had all the storage heaters on constantly and we had to buy an oil filled electric radiator as well. Normally during the winter we might turn the storage heaters on for a week here or there when it gets cold otherwise we'd just have one on all the time.

Considering how consistently cold it was since Nov I wasn't too suprised although I did have mini heart attacks when I saw the bills first!

If your bills are any was wrong quote the customer charter.

ESB Customer Supply is committed to offering you a quality service, and we adhere to the following commitments:
We will treat you with courtesy and respect as we ourselves would wish to be treated
We will try and understand what your needs are by carefully listening to what you have to say
We will act on our commitment as quickly as possible

Our customer charter
Billing accuracy

We are committed to calculating your bill accurately. If you do have a bill query, it can usually be answered over the phone.
However, if we need to make further enquiries, we will get back to you with a substantive response within 10 working days.
And, if we fail to meet this guarantee, we will pay you €40.
Understanding your bill

When it comes to receiving and paying your bill, you can depend on us for:
Detailed billing information to help you understand your electricity bill
A variety of ways and places to pay your bill
Fair and transparent collection policies and procedures if you have difficulty paying

And, if we fail to abide by our commitments, we will pay you €40.
Refunds guaranteed

If for any reason we offer you a refund, we guarantee to issue it within 10 working days.
If we don't, we will pay you €40.

http://www.esb.ie/esbcustomersupply/residential/new_customers/our_service_guarantees.jsp

Yawns

And I thought my bill was high with €130 after the xmas period? I think that was an overpaid estimate too as my recent bill was 60.

Tumble dryers are a no go

lucy2010

I remember years ago living in Wexford. We got a bill for €1100 for 2 months..... Keeled over while choking.... It turned out to be storage heaters & the immersion... Oh & a little bit of tumble dryer...

Last month I had changed to Bord gais. My bill normally about €180. Even with the discount it was €265. When I checked back over my bills - Esb have been estimating for the last 2 years.. No actual reading. I havent got the final bill from ESB as they havent bothered to send someone to do a read. Mine was the heating on constant over the winter, kiddies nightlights & the dryer. So TBH it was a big education & everything is turned off now....

D3PO

OP you can get little gadgets that will measure and track your energy usage. If your bills are that high I suggest you go to your local technology / diy store and pick one up. That way you can see what your energy usage is and try and figure out why its so high

Yawns

Lucy2010 it will still be an ESB employee who checks your meters for bord gais so if that's whats been going on you'll only get eistimates from bord gais too. I think it's every 3rd bill is an actual reading. Same guy comes round read our meter every 3 - 4 months

Fnergg

The bill has been adjusted to actual readings and the amount of units recorded on the meter has resulted in a balance due of €400.

High certainly but the OP has storage heaters and wall mounted heaters and the bill is for one of the coldest periods in living memory. I'm surprised that anyone is surprised by high bills this winter.

If the meter has recorded the usage then it is up to the customer to explain how it was used and to take steps to economise in future.

The chances of the meter being faulty or some internal fault that might have contributed to the high usage are remote in the extreme.

Regards,

Fnergg

Fnergg

james finn wrote: »

I had a bill of 636euro with esb and i changed to airtricity online and the esb can only sign off if your bill is paid up, they made the mistake and signed off, now they cant turn me off and call me to pay and i say no you shouldnt have signed me off if i didnt pay.

You can change supplier even if your current bill is unpaid so it is incorrect to state that the ESB made a mistake.

You got a final bill from the ESB for €636 for electricity that you used and you are now refusing to pay it. Charming. I call that theft.

You'd better keep your nose clean with Airtricty because they adopt a far more aggressive attidude to debt than the ESB. And if you fall foul of them and are forced to go back to ESB (it's happening on an increasingly regular basis) then the outstanding debt will have to be paid in full plus a €300 deposit. That's assuming the ESB hasn't recovered the debt by legal action in the meantime which will leave an indelible stain on your credit rating.

Regards,

Fnergg

I.K.Brunel

martyboy48 wrote: »

How many times can they estimate the bill before they actually check the meter??
Maybe 2-3 underestimated bills previous??
Anyone know ???

ESB Networks do all the meter reading and their target is to average 4 reads per customer per year. Obviously they can only read a meter if they can access it when doing the rounds (i.e. outside location or householder at home when the meter reader calls).
The supplier (ESB Customer Supply, Bord Gais, Aritricity) can only bill according to the metering information that's provided by ESB Networks.

It's amazing how some customers will never react and do something about their estimated bills (i.e. take a meter read and phone in it to get an up-to-date bill).

I.K.Brunel

james finn wrote: »

I had a bill of 636euro with esb and i changed to airtricity online and the esb can only sign off if your bill is paid up, they made the mistake and signed off, now they cant turn me off and call me to pay and i say no you shouldnt have signed me off if i didnt pay.

You're the one making a mistake, James!

Bad debts don't just fade away - €636 is not a small amount and if ESB don't send a debt collector in your direction shortly this could lie in wait for years and bite your ars* when you least expect it.
Or maybe you just intend to be a good credit customer of Airtricity for the rest of your life and never seek a loan or credit terms from any other organisations!

Yawns

I.K.Brunel wrote: »

Bad debts don't just fade away

Don't bad credit ratings clear after 5 or 6 years?

Ie after ESB send a debitor or w/e and let's say it runs it's full course, they don't get paid and give him a black mark next to his credit. 5 - 6 years AFTER that doesn't that go away?

I.K.Brunel

The Irish Credit Bureau is owned by mainly financial institutions (>80 members including banks, credit unions & local authorities) and is effectively a database of credit performance of arrangements between individuals and its members. It will retain a record for 5 years from the date a loan is closed off.
Individual organisations may have their own credit database records and don't necessarily remove records after 5 years.

BTW none of the electricity suppliers are members of the ICB.

Yawns

Wouldn't they have to remove them or notify you of the records and you can request it removed due to data protection act, if it is indeed their own personal records?

I.K.Brunel

Yawns wrote: »

Wouldn't they have to remove them or notify you of the records and you can request it removed due to data protection act, if it is indeed their own personal records?

Data Protection legislation does not stipulate a specific time period for data retention/deletion, but rather allows for personal data to be retained for as long as the purpose for which it was collected remains. When that purpose ceases the data should be deleted [or anonymised if it is being retained for another purpose e.g. statistical research].

"the data shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes"
- section 2(1)(c)(iv) of the Act.

Having said that, it would be best practice for an organisation to have a policy that ensures data files are regularly examined and purged so that personal information is not held any longer than is absolutely necessary.

aindriu80

I moved into a new 1 bed apartment in January, the weather was terribly cold since and I had 2 storage heaters (although I only used 1 most of the time). Hot shower every 2nd day, washing machine and electronics -tv, hifi, laptop.

Total bill in the post WITHOUT ANY readings was €123. Readings only bill inc vat worked out at €237.66. Thats pretty expensive for just 1 person not staying cold or smelly after sport.