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Re: Smart Meter showing incredibly high usage
Hi Victoria, yes I remember your case now, the very high kWh consumption of electricity in your flat. There is definitely something wrong and you have taken the right route to solve the problem. Good luck with getting SP to admit a problem and finding a solution. Your earlier comment that SP could not fit a check meter I still find evasive and amazing.
Re: Smart Meter showing incredibly high usage
Since my smart meter was installed in January within the first quarter my bill has gone from being totally always in credit to saying I owed them £800!!! That is nearly my years bill in one quarter!! I have tried arguing with them saying when new meter reading was transferred it MUST have been incorrect!! Myself and my partner work 12 hour shifts and we are out! Our heating is on no more than it would have been normally! This is outrageous and very stressful. I have never owed on gas and electricity. You can’t get anywhere with customer services they just say it’s right!! How can this possibly be. I have just checked my bank and they have now went from a payment of £110 to taking £224 this month without even notifying me of any changes. Anyone help or advise on best way to get this investigated! Totally disgusted with SP
Re: Smart Meter showing incredibly high usage
Get in touch with the ombudsmen. I had the same problem with SP customer service they take the stance that smart meters are correct even when there is an obvious problem. SP did not follow through with what the ombudsmen told them to do in my case. I have since written to the house of commons and my local MP has now written to the chief executive of SP to ask why nothing has been done despite the ombudsmen ruling in my favour. I'm going to BBC Watchdog next as SP are rogue
Re: Smart Meter showing incredibly high usage
Hi mazw, this is EXACTLY the same thing that’s happened to us. There’s just absolutely no way that our bills could have tripled!!!
I’ve been complaining since July but they just always say that they’re right, asked for a check meter (as advised by the extremely helpful Dave on this group) which SP have said they won’t do as ‘it would only be the same meter that we have got anyway’; so we have now reached deadlock. In order for me to go to Ombudsman I need a deadlock letter which they have said they’ll be sending for 3 weeks and still nothing....
Couldn’t agree more that this is a very stressful situation.
Faysis-can I ask what conclusion the Ombudsman came to in your case???
I’ve been complaining since July but they just always say that they’re right, asked for a check meter (as advised by the extremely helpful Dave on this group) which SP have said they won’t do as ‘it would only be the same meter that we have got anyway’; so we have now reached deadlock. In order for me to go to Ombudsman I need a deadlock letter which they have said they’ll be sending for 3 weeks and still nothing....
Couldn’t agree more that this is a very stressful situation.
Faysis-can I ask what conclusion the Ombudsman came to in your case???
Re: Smart Meter showing incredibly high usage
Do these look frequent and correct to you, Davc?
Re: Smart Meter showing incredibly high usage
Thanks for posting that, very erratic and unbelievable but I suppose it is from the App? The App is often reported with strange readings. Your only true measure of cost is from your bills, any other extract or summary is liable to have errors.
Re: Smart Meter showing incredibly high usage
The belt and braces way to check costs is to take a known actual reading, say 18 November = 2498, and the latest say 1 Feb = 4020. They must be actuals not estimates. Take the two readings away from each other = 1522 kWh. Multiply by your tariff rate, say 15p/unit = £228.30. Add standing charge 75 days at say 25p = £18.75. Total cost is £247.05. You would of course use the actual standing charge and kwh rate from your bill or tariff terms.
This is the calculation SP do to make up your bill. The App has clearly gone wrong and for the time being cannot be used.
Re: Smart Meter showing incredibly high usage
Hi Victoria the ruling by the ombudsmen after me providing 3 years of bills before the smart meter and 9 months with the meter in place was that there most definitely is a problem with the smart meter readings. SP were told to pay me £50 compensation, write me a letter if apology for the terrible customer service as I spent 15 hours on the phone trying to get them to understand there is a problem. They then had to recalculate all my bills since the smart meter was put in place based on my average daily use which was calculated using my bills before the smart meter. They appealed the decision and lost and after doing nothing nearly 2 months after the ruling they are now challenging it again. Because they are dishonest and running customers. The company that owns my solar panels is coming out to prove that the smart meter has been wired in wrong as it records what the panels do and not what I do. I can't wait to leave SP they are the worse of all the energy companies!
Re: Smart Meter showing incredibly high usage
Ah, problem solved, smart meters do not mix with solar panels. The meters were recording faithfully but adding the solar power instead of subtracting it, its a common error.
Re: Smart Meter showing incredibly high usage
That's not the problem the meter is wired in to my solar panels. When the sun is down or it's a rainy day my smart meter registers no electric use in my house. My total charge for electric from start of December to start of February is £19 yet for Summer months of June and July last year when we had the best wave I used over £100 and my house was empty for 2 weeks in those months. SP tell me it's perfectly normal to use loads of electric in Summer and hardly any in Winter. You may think this is to my advantage but it's not as my Solar panels produce 50% more electric in a year than what I use so I'm very much out of pocket
