Electric Ireland bill is costing me a small fortune

dea80

Hi All

was wondering if anyone has ever had the same issue I'm currently experiencing. Got my 2 monthly bill for Electric Ireland and it's over €250. That seems way too much for a 1 bed room apartment, which doesn't have electric storage heaters and we're hardly ever there. Both working Mon-Fri 9 to 5 and gone most weekends. My previous bill (the 1st one since I moved in) was also very high - €129 for 40 days.

Have checked the meter and on average we're clocking up somewhere between 25 - 30 units per day. Girl on the phone at Electric Ireland said the average for a 1 bedroom apartmetn was 8-11 units per day. They asked me to do a test by switching off all the appliances (trip switches on fuse board) and see if the red light on the digital meter box comes on as solid red light as opposed to it's normal intermittent blinking. I did this last night and the red light kept blinking which indicates there might be a problem with the meter - as all power to the apartment was switched off but the meter still seemed to be cosuming electricity. Electric Ireland have booked an engineer to go out but told me it could be 8-12 weeks before I hear back if the meter is faulty. At which point I'll have received another bill and if the engineer then decides that there is no fault with the meter I'll be liable to pay the full amount for the bills.

They also say it could be a faulty device within my apartment but how would I go about testing this? Obviously I'd like not to wait 8-12 weeks before they decide the problem is within my apartment.

What are other people paying on average for a 2 month electricity bill?

Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

Is it worth the hassle ringing Electric Ireland every day (who in fairness have been pleasant enough to deal with) or should I just look for a new place to live?

Electric Ireland: David

Hi dea80,

dea80 wrote:

I did this last night and the red light kept blinking which indicates there might be a problem with the meter - as all power to the apartment was switched off but the meter still seemed to be cosuming electricity.

Ideally, an independent electrical contractor should check the internal wiring for possible faults before the engineer from ESB Networks (who can only check for faults with the actual meter) comes out. In the majority of cases, the problem lies with the internal wiring, and it's best to have this possibility ruled out.

Did you check the meter before and after turning off the power? Was there any reduction in power consumption (i.e. did the frequency at which the red LED flashes decrease/slow down at all)? I ask because of the (albeit unlikely) possibility of cross-metering, where one apartment is wired to the meter of another.

Thanks,

David

dea80

Hi David

was thinking of getting an electrician to check the apartment but didn't know what they would check apart from the fuse box? Is there anyway for them to the electrical output from certain electric devices?

Also, if i've tripped all the power via the fuse box to the apartment is it still possible that faulty internal wiring could be consuming electricity somewhere?

As for cross metering - the meters are located in a secure room in the basement of the apartment block so I'm not sure anyone could have fiddled with the interal wiring etc. and linked another apartment to our meter.

Yes, i've monitored the meter before and after the power was turned off. To be honest I didn't see any noticeable difference in how often the red light blinked. Every 20 seconds or so as a rough guess.

thanks

dea80

EI: Una

dea80 wrote: »

was thinking of getting an electrician to check the apartment but didn't know what they would check apart from the fuse box? Is there anyway for them to the electrical output from certain electric devices?
Also, if i've tripped all the power via the fuse box to the apartment is it still possible that faulty internal wiring could be consuming electricity somewhere?

Hi again Dea80,

An electrician should be able to check devices and the wiring (to see whether there is a fault with the latter, causing excessive consumption) as they would have the tools to carry this out - we can only advise on this in a general sense though; the best thing to do would be to run all this by the electrician when contacting them before arranging a call-out.
It is possible for a faulty device to require extra "work" resulting in excessive energy consumption.

As for cross metering - the meters are located in a secure room in the basement of the apartment block so I'm not sure anyone could have fiddled with the interal wiring etc. and linked another apartment to our meter.

It could be a case though of an error being made at the start, when installation was taking place.

Yes, i've monitored the meter before and after the power was turned off. To be honest I didn't see any noticeable difference in how often the red light blinked. Every 20 seconds or so as a rough guess.

Once the power is off, the light should come to a complete standstill rather than any flashing.

Regards,
Una

dea80

I have to say that this is really starting to frustrate me now. A call has been logged with the ESB to send out an engineer at some stage and a report will come back to Electric Ireland within 12 weeks. When I ring Electric Ireland to see if there is an update to if I can expediate the process they tell me that I should contact the ESB myself. I don't understand as why their customer service cannot contact ESB on my behalf as they are the ones who initially logged the call with them.

So basically if you have a problem don't report it to Electic Ireland, just go straight to ESB networks. This is costing me 120 euro a month and I might not find an answer for another 3 months if there's a problem with my meter or not. Makes sense if you want to fleece your customer that you take so long to identify if there is an issue or not! Not impressed.

EI: Una

Hello Dea80,

dea80 wrote: »

I have to say that this is really starting to frustrate me now. A call has been logged with the ESB to send out an engineer at some stage and a report will come back to Electric Ireland within 12 weeks. When I ring Electric Ireland to see if there is an update to if I can expediate the process they tell me that I should contact the ESB myself. I don't understand as why their customer service cannot contact ESB on my behalf as they are the ones who initially logged the call with them.

When the query is account/usage related, Electric Ireland is the first port of call - this is why we log a query/call-out via computer with ESB Networks. After that, ESB Networks is the organisation to contact directly, as the query is moved to them.

So basically if you have a problem don't report it to Electic Ireland, just go straight to ESB networks.

This is only applicable to an issue that is being looked after by ESB Networks following escalation from Electric Ireland - technical/power lines related. Queries relating to balances, payments, moving address, price-plans/discounts etc are always dealt with by Electric Ireland.

This is costing me 120 euro a month

Just to clarify: Is this the amount you have been advised to pay to cover usage, based on previous averages?

and I might not find an answer for another 3 months if there's a problem with my meter or not. Makes sense if you want to fleece your customer that you take so long to identify if there is an issue or not! Not impressed.

Any overpayment would always be credited to your account to reduce subsequent bills.

Regards,
Una

dea80

Thanks Una

yes it's currently actually costing me 250 Euro on bi-monthly basis based on the actual meter readings which is being debited from my account.

My point is I can't wait for 3 months for an engineer to possibly determine that there is no fault at which point I'll have spent a small fortune. As I'm not the apartment owner I think i'll close my account and move because this is too much for a 1 bed apartment to pay

EI: Una

Hi again Dea80,

Unfortunately this may be the standard length of time it takes. All I can advise is to contact ESB Networks to query this duration and for updates - I do understand your frustration and how inconveniencing this is for you.

ESB Networks are the people to speak to though in relation to this type of issue if the customer is with any electricity provider.

Regards,
Una

Heroditas

dea80 wrote: »

As I'm not the apartment owner I think i'll close my account and move because this is too much for a 1 bed apartment to pay

Closing the account won't achieve anything. If there's an issue with the meter, the problem will persist with your new supplier.

You'll also still owe any outstanding amounts to your previous supplier.