Electricity Bill Huge

[simonas]

I rented a 2 bed house last year after leaving my wife and got my final bill yesterday as Ive moved to a 3 bed. It was a 2 bed with 5 vivs and 7 fishtanks in the end but not that quantity for the full year. I worked full time all day and bar the tanks would not have used loads more

They estimated £22 a mth and did readings and last bill in feb 2012 said £11 owing yet the final bill from meter reading when I moved last week said £970 used from april 28 2011 to 31 March 2012 so I have a balance of £722 to pay. Im gutted and its clear that my electricity usage is high and mainly cos of pets I have

Is this unusually high or are some of you guys using much more? Im going to have to sell on a couple of fish tanks and a couple of vivs I think because I cant continue like this with momey being tight for me at the moment
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[ZoddyZod]

I don't get what's happened there - they did a 'last' bill in Feb saying only £11 to pay (confirmed by actual readings) then hit you with an enourmous bill a month later?

 

[andyg81]

id query it !! we pay £35 a month electric, and basically that is

1 fish tank, filter, heater, air pump on all day, lights in the evening

tv + virgin box on standby all day even when we are not in (set to record programmes etc)

internet router and modem on all day every day,
computer on 24/7 (running an online programme for a game I play)

we dont have a gas fire so use 2 x halogen heaters, one in the living room and one in the bedroom as the gas radiators are terrible.

obviously fridge freezer on 24/7,
various plugs left switched on and in standby mode

on top of this there is normally a light left on in the kitchen for the dog at least 3 hours a night 3 nights a week when we go out

this is all in a 2 bedroom house, obviously we could switch things off but just forget !!!

hope you dont have to get rid of any tanks, what electric company are you with ? I have just got one them meter things for free off mine that tells me what im using in £'s so I can see what I can and can't switch off and what it costs me.... may be worth getting on so you can see what makes the difference, ive noticed when the kettles boiling it jumps up massivly

 

[smokeyjo]

I'm on a pay as you go meter and I've got 3 tanks with lights filters and heaters except for my axolotl tank which has just got a filter. But I only spend about 10 a week on electric if that. That's a bit steep even with 12 tanks I would of thought

 

[sadguppy]

I almost had a heart attack when I got my last electricity bill. Since the beginning of the year we have acquired four tropical tanks and the bill for ONE QUARTER was £1058. I was about to start clove oil-ing the fish (bad taste joke there) when I thought 'I'll look into this' and found they had overestimated (even though i had provided spot on readings...muppets) the gas usage by £900+! They had also underestimated the electric slightly so the bill was £143.

Long story short, it is quite expensive, but not that expensive. Our new monthly payment for electricity and gas together (just the two of us in a two bed, both out working all day with four fish tanks!) is £59 per month.

 

[Xraymark]

That sucks balls. The marine tank is probably your biggest lecky user.

Beans and toast for a while.

 

[shelaghfishface]

when i was in Dundee i changed to pre payment for this very reason and have never looked back... i cant control what i use ( well the kids) but i do get to go ape when its costing me 40 a week! and thats only 2 tanks ( theres) and a UV and heat for the dragon...

have them check it and swap over.. i know you pay slighty more when its pre pay but honest if i was in your situation id be on the floor crying!

 

[coldcazzie]

I agree with Z, it sounds suspicious that they were using meter readings yet got it so wrong. If they were using meter readings appropriately they wouldn't have got it so wrong - something is amiss there. Even if they didn't use your own readings, they should be sending someone to read them once a quarter, minimum.

Also, might be worth looking at changing supplier - we just changed to a new supplier and halved our bills.

You're right though, they can be very expensive to run. One reason why I cut down on the number of tanks last year.

 

[BigbruiserAl]

You're right though, they can be very expensive to run. One reason why I cut down on the number of tanks last year.

I agree im getting rid of all my tanks apart from the 800L and 350L, i'm even thinking of doing the 350 just with some goldfish to skimp on the heater lol

 

[PJPJ]

They didn't ask you for any readings, they didn't send anyone around to do a reading for a whole year and only 'estimated' for you for that whole period. That's BAD. Very, very poor customer service.

Can you still get the readings, even as they are now to check they haven't made an error there?

Then call up distraught and crying. Tell them the circumstances and they may be able to help.

For future information, I use Scottish and they request readings every quarter and provide an instant update on the costs all online. You can of course call the customer services team of your supplier and give them a rundown on the equipment you have and they will provide a reasonable estimate of what it will cost to run. Of course the period the lights are on and the heater 'on' time will have an impact on this estimate but it will at least give you an idea. You will probably need the power ratings (Watts or KiloWatts) of all the equipment you have.

Good luck.

Regards

PJPJ

 

[lljdma06]

That's insane, Si. I'd call. That can't be right.

It's not the SW generating the power, it's Metal Halides that really use up juice and he doesn't have Metal Halides. More than likely its the stuff keeping the vivs warm that's eating some power. But even so, I've got two SW tanks with MH and multiple tanks and I only saw my electric bill go up about $10 a month from the usage. My tenant soaks up more keeping her light on at all hours and keeping her laptop constantly plugged in.

L

 

[m_attt]

do you know anyone with British gas for electric, ask to borrow thier energy monitor, it clips on your meter cable and gives you real time info on your pence per minuite etc, or can get them of ebay. Its surprising how much your actually using, and how easy it is to cut down.

I have 3 big eheims running, plus heaters etc with just the three tanks and fridge its 1p an hour.

 

[Tizer]

I don't think my electric has gone up a huge amount and i run 4 tanks in total, 435L , 90L and two 35Ls. The Wattage is pretty low all all the items used to run it. I did however find myself in a similar situation a few years ago when the electric company were working off estimated readings....then i sent them the true reading and they wacked me for £500. That was before i even started with my fish again though. But an important lesson none the less, if you dont wanna get stung, phone through your readings regularly.

 

[simonas]

well its certainly a learning curve just a tough one bearing in mind im paying two houses for now due to my split and the last thing i needed right now

 

[lljdma06]

well its certainly a learning curve just a tough one bearing in mind im paying two houses for now due to my split and the last thing i needed right now

I'm sorry, Si.

It's rough I imagine. I don't have two houses to pay for.