Please advise...

We are currently on dual fuel deal with E-on. Our last bill came to £303 for gas, and £103 for electricity. is it normal to use so much more on gas than electric?

Also, can anyone explain why we use so much more electricity at night than in the day? Our consumption was - day 276kwh and night 1382kwh. Presuming that night is from, say, midnight to six, there is no way we use anything like this amount of power. Generally, any machines (dishwasher or washing machine) go on at about 7 or 8 am, and we're pretty much asleep without power from 12-7. Any ideas? Does the fact that we have a day and night reading automatically mean we have economy 7? I noticed a few posts saying this was an expensive option if not used properly...

See, very confused!! would really appreciate any help anyone can offer.

Thank a lot.

What type heating do you have?

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Circumstances alters cases!!

we've got a combi boiler... on from about 6am for a couple of hours, then 4.30pm till about 9.30. Thanks,.

If you have gas heating you should not have Economy 7 elec, that is basically for storage heaters. 2 readings on the bill is a definite sign that you are on E7. I would check this and cancel (or switch providers) Do you have a meter with 2 readings or 2 meters?

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Circumstances alters cases!!

It is normal to use more gas than elec as you have gas heating.

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Circumstances alters cases!!

Our meter has 2 readings. So does economy 7 increase price? Than ks for your help.

Economy 7 is expensive if you are not using a lot of electricity at night, as you pay a higher rate for the daytime electricity than you would if you had a single rate meter. However it is the tariff that you are on that decides how much you pay.

Check the bill to see if you are paying the same amount for both day & night usage, if you are then having a 2 rate meter doesn't matter.

If your reads are listed separately as day & night, with night charged at a lower rate, you are on a 2 rate tariff - you'll notice the day rate is quite high. Check which dial on the meter moves at which time of day & note it down. Contact E-on to make sure the reads are correct & confirm that you would rather be on a single rate tariff.

It does sound as if you are using a lot at night too, but perhaps Eon are using estimated reads? Sorry if that sounds patronising but I work for a utilities company and if you don't have night storage heaters that usage sounds really high!

Okay, so it looks like Eon have got our readings the wrong way around - so actually night readings should be the lower value, not the higher. if this turns out to be the case, which seems likely, are they now going to turn around and say w eowe them loads of money for our day usage? Since we pay 2p for night and as much as 29p for day, we could, in theory, owe them hundreds??? Surely they can't ask for this though, as they have done the readings, so their mistake. What do you think?

So, beyond this, we should ask for single rate tariff, which will bring day charges down too.

See, my nickname is very apt!!!

Hmm yes you've got me there! I don't want to give you any advice that may get you in trouble so it's up to you. You can possibly work this out for yourself whether you want to tell Eon or not that they have the reads the wrong way around. I'd look on their website & see how much the standard tariff is and work it out from there, adding day & night usage together & multiplying by the standard rate. If it's not that much different I'd probably ring them to ask that they change the tariff without mentioning the reads.

The supplier I work for does change the tariff rather than the meter, but another company may request that you have a meter exchange to change the meter from 2 to 1 rate. It's more expensive for a supplier to supply a two rate meter than a single rate meter - something to do with charges paid to the national electricity distributor to "rent" the meter from them so it's not in their interests for you to have a two rate meter on a single rate tariff.

You might feel that the status quo is the best solution and deal with any problems if you get them - do you want to draw attention to your account right now!? As a compromise if the worst occurred & they did "untwist" the reads resulting in a huge bill you could ask for the standard tariff to be backdated on the basis that some payment is better than none.

Don't forget energywatch gives guidance on their website also for any issues that may arise... they'd be my first point of contact if any problems arose.

Hope this makes sense - sorry so long & boring...*yawn*

Too late I'm afraid. I already told them (complete numpty moment - if I'd realised what had happened, i would have swapped suppliers!!!). Now waiting for new bill with what we 'owe' them. But will be arguing that it was their fault, so their 'burden'. I know this probably won't get us anywhere, but it's worth a try. We only swapped to E7 nine months ago, so think bill has only been wrong since then (am I right in thinking that if we're on single payment, it doesn't matter whether readings are the wrong way round, as we're charged for total usage, not when it's used???). We were also recommended to switch to E7 on basis of large night consumption, so in worst case scenario, I am definitley going to argue that what we owe them for last nine months should be on previous, lower, single rate basis. After all, we wouldn't have swapped without their recommendation, so I don't think we should have to pay extortionate costs for day use with E7.

Do you agree with this? Would really appreciate your opinion, particluarly as you're in the know job-wise.

Cheers. K.

Yep if you are on a single rate tariff it doesn't matter which way around the reads are on your bill as you are charged the same for day & night.

I totally agree, if you were advised by them to change based on the reads being the wrong way around but you were previously on a single rate tariff you could argue (as you say) that you were given false information and advice. You could then request that you are billed on the standard tariff from the date they changed your account over.

Anyone with any experience working in the industry would recognise that the reads were being "twisted" due to your very low "daytime" usage - 276 KWH for a quarter usage? Ridiculous. It would be almost impossible for anyone with the average amount of appliances (e.g. TV, fridge/freezer, washing machine etc) to use so little even if they rarely lived at the property!

Bringing it to their attention like this has shown that you are not trying to rip them off - after all you could have kept quiet about this! On that basis you should be able to negotiate with them. Threaten Energywatch if necessary.

Hope this helps

Tx

Thank you so much for your help. I really appreciate it. Gives me confidence in what I'm saying.

One last thing - when it comes down to a 'fight' am I better off writing or phoning?

Cheers. K

Now that I'm not sure about, it depends really - over the phone you can put someone on the spot and take their name, basically make their life a misery until the problem is resolved, but often explanations can come over better by letter!

I would phone them first see what response you get & get timescales for when it'll be resolved. You probably already know to get the persons name & note the time & date of every call - if it's anything like where I work the calls will probably be recorded. From there if you don't think they've sorted it you can ask for an address to complain to, and say that you'll send a copy to Energywatch too. I think it costs the company money everytime someone goes to Energywatch regardless of who is to blame but I'm not sure so don't quote me...!

I don't think they'll fight too hard really so don't worry - they shouldn't have told you to go on that tariff to be honest.

Hope this works keep me posted!

T x