Electricity Bill €5000!!!

Fuzzy Clam

Its the back dated reading that doesn't make sense to me.
The amount due though the underestimated bills shouldn't amount to more than 500/600 euro if I've done my sums correctly. Add that to the existing reading and it should still be no more than 1000 plus the fixed charges.

irishgeo

could this be causing it?

https://www.rte.ie/news/2016/1220/840106-esb-networks-electricity/

XsApollo

If they have estimated you at 65,734kWh in Sep 16 and you have paid that bill and are up to date with payments
Then you are paid to that Estimated usage.

The difference between the estimated usage and the actual reading you took in Jan 17 is just over 3000kWh which is between 500 to 600euro?
Ask them where the rest of the bill is coming from?
If you are paid up to your estimated usage in september then ask them where is the 5000euro coming from?

TheRiverman

I never pay estimated bills.When I get my estimated bill which is every second one throughout the year,I go to my meter get the actual reading and either ring it in to Electric Ireland or submit it on line.Within a few days a new bill is issued with a new due date.My last bill was an estimated one and it was €50 less that my actual usage,so just bothering to take a meter reading and submitting it keeps payments on track.

aisling86

Would consider our house to have very high electric usage, we have the prepay for this very reason yet for 62days we used 923 units....Your units seem to be double mine a day & I use the tumbler dryer everyday 2/3 times and I'm at home all day too. I know we had a freezer plugged in the utility & removed it after two weeks as it ate into the electric....Check your appliances asap & get a prepay meter.

cormie

Prepay meters are generally far more expensive than other deals you can get.

Fuzzy Clam

aisling86 wrote:

Would consider our house to have very high electric usage, we have the prepay for this very reason yet for 62days we used 923 units....Your units seem to be double mine a day & I use the tumbler dryer everyday 2/3 times and I'm at home all day too. I know we had a freezer plugged in the utility & removed it after two weeks as it ate into the electric....Check your appliances asap & get a prepay meter.

Prepay is usually dearer.

Best option is always to monitor your usage and don't waste electricity.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

What were your previous readings before NOV?

You say you've been paying 150 EUR every two months. Were you clearing the bill (each bill being fully paid), or did you just randomly pick a figure to pay ?

edit: what are the actual figures (estimates or actual reads) before the NOV estimate.

TheRiverman

Electric kettle,cooker,and heaters are very hard on units if used often,recently I have started to use a small gas cooker that I only previously used as backup during power outages and I know my next bill will be much lower as gas is more economic and it is faster to cook on etc.

Fuzzy Clam

TheRiverman wrote:

Electric kettle,cooker,and heaters are very hard on units if used often,recently I have started to use a small gas cooker that I only previously used as backup during power outages and I know my next bill will be much lower as gas is more economic and it is faster to cook on etc.

Its off topic but I agree. My hob is gas and I only use 2 cylinders a year. About 31.50 per cylinder.
Alas I use electric heating which chews electricity.

Fuzzy Clam

Harleigh Loud Widow wrote:

What were your previous readings before NOV?

If I understand it, previous readings were all estimated. So no actual readings.

loyatemu

The estimate from November was similar to the actual figure for January, so the estimate was not the issue. It looks like you haven't been paying the full amount due on each bill.

We'd need to see the reading, amount due, and amount paid from the last few bills.

Having said that, 1000kWh per month is a lot, our usage is closer to 350 units a month (averaged across the year).

TheRiverman

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

Its off topic but I agree. My hob is gas and I only use 2 cylinders a year. About 31.50 per cylinder.
Alas I use electric heating which chews electricity.

Off topic maybe,but if Aurora.D is using those electric appliances and others regularly and only paying estimated bills without bothering to check the meter,take actual readings and submit them then the a huge discrepancy can quickly accumulate.It does seem excessive,but I can still see that this could happen over a two year period.
€30 for a cylinder of gas where I get it.

exaisle

Unless you have electric heating, they're charging you about €246 per month which is ridiculously high. As an earlier poster says, switch off everything in the house and see if the meter stops. If it doesn't, you may be paying for somebody else's electricity too. You may have a neighbour tapping your supply.(It happens!)

goldenhoarde

Aurora. D wrote: »

HELP! I need some advise, I have been paying my bill based on estimate readings for the past 28 months, I have been paying on average €150 every two months. ESB took a metre reading on the 10.01.17. The reading isn't far off the estimated reading.
*****3194 24Hr 1 11-Jan-2017 22-Jan-2017 68,807 Customer Reading 356 kWh
*****3194 24Hr 1 08-Nov-2016 10-Jan-2017 68,451 Networks Reading 2,717 kWh
*****3194 24Hr 1 08-Sep-2016 07-Nov-2016 65,734 Estimated Reading 2,238 kWh

Myself and my husband and two small children live in a two bedroom terraced house, we have been hit with a bill of nearly €5000!! Is this possible? Any advice please

Okay so on the 10th Jan they were able to access the meter? How were they able to do this? Did they knock and gain entry or is the meter on the outside and freely accessible? If so then they should have been able to read it more than once in the two years ye have been there.

Are ye renting or owners? Did ye do a meter read when ye moved in.


Go through your records and see if ye can find any bills and check them out to see if any have an actual reading rather than an estimated one.

If you don't have them ask the ESB to reissue them for the past two years to see if you have been estimated for all bills over the past two years.

Also check the meter and see how fast it spins then turn off all things electric to see it stops spinning. Do you have storage heater s in the house (as per post above and previous posters)

Fuzzy Clam

loyatemu wrote:

We'd need to see the reading, amount due, and amount paid from the last few bills.

loyatemu wrote:

Having said that, 1000kWh per month is a lot, our usage is closer to 350 units a month (averaged across the year).

You can see the amended reading and the amount due in the first few posts.
They don't add up to me.

It does seem though that the op is a heavy user though.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

exaisle wrote: »

Unless you have electric heating, they're charging you about €246 per month which is ridiculously high. As an earlier poster says, switch off everything in the house and see if the meter stops. If it doesn't, you may be paying for somebody else's electricity too. You may have a neighbour tapping your supply.(It happens!)

While their usage is high and should be looked at, this does not address the kernel of the issue. The readings, be they estimates or actual, or the meter defective or not, do not explain the adjustment of €3800 if all previous bills were paid.

Fuzzy Clam

goldenhoarde wrote:

If you don't have them ask the ESB to reissue them for the past two years to see if you have been estimated for all bills over the past two years.

Read the opening post. Many of your questions are answered there.

Fuzzy Clam

Fuzzy Clam wrote:

Its off topic but I agree. My hob is gas and I only use 2 cylinders a year. About 31.50 per cylinder. Alas I use electric heating which chews electricity.

TheRiverman wrote:

Off topic maybe,but if Aurora.D is using those electric appliances and others regularly and only paying estimated bills without bothering to check the meter,take actual readings and submit them then the a huge discrepancy can quickly accumulate.It does seem excessive,but I can still see that this could happen over a two year period. €30 for a cylinder of gas where I get it.

No argument from me:-)
I've seen gas at 25 euros near me so will be investigating this next time I need a refill. Probably in July.

iarann

Hi,

You need some hard facts and clear tests here to get to the bottom of this.

1) Look at the meter and double check your MPRN and your current meter reading. Make sure they match the current bill.

2) Find the last actual meter reading. Simple, ask ESB for the last date the meter was read by the ESB and the reading on that date.

3) The difference between this previous actual ESB reading and your current can be calculated and the 28 monthly charges added. Find out if they are the same as your payments over this period or if the difference is equal to the ESB new bill.

4) Check if the bill is actually all yours! (a previous tenant may have "misread" the meter or in the time between last tenancy and yours there may have been high usage eg builders renovating/heaters left on etc)

If you are renting then when you moved in you and your landlordshould have taken a meter reading and recorded this on your lease.
Otherwise there would have been a meter reading when the bill was put in your name (when you rented or bought the premises) again this reading should have been done or checked by you. Any usage before you took over the bill is for the landlord or the ESB to sort.



If still nothing obvious then it is beginning to look like high usage recorded and you may need to start debugging.

a) Turn everything off. The meter should stop turning. Best way to be sure everything is off is to turn off the main fuse/trip switch. If the meter keeps recording there is something fishy going on between the meter and the main fuse. To check that out would be a job for an electrician (landlord issue if renting).

b) If meter stops, then using the trip switches bring back one fuse/trip switch at the time and switch on one bit of equipment at the time to see if any item of equipment is causing a lot of electricity to be used. (remember to turn off the equipment before moving to next bit of equipment)

If you want to know what a lot of electricity looks like on the meter turn on the oven the kettle and that should get it spinning. I would not expect any single item in the house to use more electricity than the Cooker on full blast.

c) Be honest with yourselves, is somebody in the house having 20 minute showers every day or frequent hot baths off the immersion. Are you up all night on Boards.ie with an oil radiator heater on?


If after all that you still haven't located the answer you need to (or the landlord needs to if renting) get in help from a person with proper test equipment to test the meter. The ESBs responsibility ends with the meter, but a friendly engineer may do a bit extra testing on the day. I suspect the €180 charge is refundable if there is a fault found on the meter.

If you are getting an electrician make sure they have proper test equipment, that they hold a qualification that the ESB will recognise and that they will provide a written report that you can supply to the ESB if they find an ESB problem.

BTW, if there is evidence of tampering on the meter, then the ESB may start asking questions.

Happy hunting and, in fairness to those who have posted suggestions, keep us all posted.

Fuzzy Clam

iarann wrote:

You need some hard facts and clear tests here to get to the bottom of this.

Have you actually read the opening post?

zipee

apologies in advance but I haven't read any replies!

But in my old house out of the blue I got a bill of €1500 in the summer! It took me nearly a year to sort it but meter was broken, removed, had to be sent to Germany for months to be assessed, and row after row before finally they gave in. They had direct debit on my bank and took the€1500 despite promising they wouldn't til it was resolved, Overdrew me big time. It was a nightmare.

Anyway even though I told them if I switched every single thing in house off that the meter was still spinning around.........it still took me a year to get a refund!

So switch everything in your house off - freezer, sky everything and check if it still goes around.

Apologies if already answered with this.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

iarann wrote: »

Hi,

You need some hard facts and clear tests here to get to the bottom of this....

.

All of that is moot as the meter readings from the bill don't explain the charge.

loyatemu

loyatemu wrote: »

The estimate from November was similar to the actual figure for January, so the estimate was not the issue. It looks like you haven't been paying the full amount due on each bill.

We'd need to see the reading, amount due, and amount paid from the last few bills.

Having said that, 1000kWh per month is a lot, our usage is closer to 350 units a month (averaged across the year).

yeah, having re-read post 10, I'm wrong. The relevant line is

Correction of previous reading (s) 02/08/14 to 07/11/16 3768.22

there's no explanation of what this correction represents, only the ESB can explain this. If it is correct they may allow you to pay it off over several years, but I'd still be looking into why your usage is so high - do you have electric heating? We're in a 4 bed house and our usage is about a third of yours.

fryup

OP how long are you living in that house? Has a meter man ever called to do a reading?

maybe this has accumulated for years?

red ears

I submit my readings online every month.

rolion

Sorry OP, for the troubles,i have been there myself ... but i cant stop asking myself if is this another "hiding in the attic / someone in the house" topic !?

B.A._Baracus

If the ESB say that's what you owe and no but's.
Then I would get an electrician around to check things out. See if there is a fault. Sounds crazy but you wouldn't be the first person to find out their neighbor was tapping into the electricity supply.

Because if it's not a mistake on ESB's end something or someone is eating it.

Colser

If it's correct and no-one is tapping in I would presume it's due to a plug in heater being used alot or immersion left on all the time.

Can you give us the actual reading from 28 months ago and today's reading?

ellejay

This thread is very interesting.
I'm in a two bed terraced house, can anyone tell me if my usage looks normal.
Screen Shot 2017-01-26 at 10.33.45.png
heating is gas
no electric heaters
no emersion
electric oven
2 x freezers