Ridiculous ESB Bill

pirelli

james finn wrote: »

I had a bill of 636euro with esb and i changed to airtricity online and the esb can only sign off if your bill is paid up, they made the mistake and signed off, now they cant turn me off and call me to pay and i say no you shouldnt have signed me off if i didnt pay.

Airtricity will charge you the oustandng with ESB. Your debit will show.
They are all arseholes from dublin at airtricity. I think Bord gais are the cheapest now and at least ypu can pay in installments at the post office, Airtricity are terrible when it come to taking payment and have levies and extra charges.

padair

F.Galway wrote: »

Just got my ESB bill this week and for the last two months it was estimated at €480! We took our own reading and submitted it and it came out at €400 even. Our apartment is quite large ( 3 dbl bed two ensuite with two sotarge heaters in living area and wall mounted heaters in rooms). All of our heaters and hot water are on timers and did majority of washing at night with little use of tumble dryer.
Did anybody else have as high a bill for the last two months?

Check to make sure that you timers on your meter are working correctly. If they are off you could be clocking Day units during the night and vice versa.

Plumella

pwd wrote: »

People bleeding off your meter - That does happen!
We found out our neighbour was connected to the same meter as us.

I had this problem too - a plug in the shared hallway was actually hooked to my meter. I notice an extension lead running from this plug in under my neighbours door, and a month later my ESB bill arrived and had doubled to 300e!

I was suspicious of the plug in the hall immediately once I got my bill and plugged in a light then flicked off all my switches in my mains box. Low and behold the light went out too!

Landlord was so embaressed though and paid the entire bill and cut off the electricity to the plug. Although he never mentioned it to my neighbours....!

How Strange

I got an electricity bill in Jan for Nov/Dec and it was €280 :eek:
I got one last week for Jan/Feb and it was €300 :eek::eek: That's the highest ever.

We have a 65sqm two bed apartment with storage heaters. Both bills had meter readings. However, we've had the coldest winter in 35 years or something. Usually in the winter our bills are around €180 with ESB before the reductions. We switched to Bord Gais.

This winter since Nov we've had all the storage heaters on constantly and we had to buy an oil filled electric radiator as well. Normally during the winter we might turn the storage heaters on for a week here or there when it gets cold otherwise we'd just have one on all the time.

Considering how consistently cold it was since Nov I wasn't too suprised although I did have mini heart attacks when I saw the bills first!

padair

How Strange wrote: »

I got an electricity bill in Jan for Nov/Dec and it was €280 :eek:
I got one last week for Jan/Feb and it was €300 :eek::eek: That's the highest ever.

We have a 65sqm two bed apartment with storage heaters. Both bills had meter readings. However, we've had the coldest winter in 35 years or something. Usually in the winter our bills are around €180 with ESB before the reductions. We switched to Bord Gais.

This winter since Nov we've had all the storage heaters on constantly and we had to buy an oil filled electric radiator as well. Normally during the winter we might turn the storage heaters on for a week here or there when it gets cold otherwise we'd just have one on all the time.

Considering how consistently cold it was since Nov I wasn't too suprised although I did have mini heart attacks when I saw the bills first!

If your bills are any was wrong quote the customer charter.

ESB Customer Supply is committed to offering you a quality service, and we adhere to the following commitments:
We will treat you with courtesy and respect as we ourselves would wish to be treated
We will try and understand what your needs are by carefully listening to what you have to say
We will act on our commitment as quickly as possible

Our customer charter
Billing accuracy

We are committed to calculating your bill accurately. If you do have a bill query, it can usually be answered over the phone.
However, if we need to make further enquiries, we will get back to you with a substantive response within 10 working days.
And, if we fail to meet this guarantee, we will pay you €40.
Understanding your bill

When it comes to receiving and paying your bill, you can depend on us for:
Detailed billing information to help you understand your electricity bill
A variety of ways and places to pay your bill
Fair and transparent collection policies and procedures if you have difficulty paying

And, if we fail to abide by our commitments, we will pay you €40.
Refunds guaranteed

If for any reason we offer you a refund, we guarantee to issue it within 10 working days.
If we don't, we will pay you €40.

http://www.esb.ie/esbcustomersupply/residential/new_customers/our_service_guarantees.jsp

Yawns

And I thought my bill was high with €130 after the xmas period? I think that was an overpaid estimate too as my recent bill was 60.

Tumble dryers are a no go

lucy2010

I remember years ago living in Wexford. We got a bill for €1100 for 2 months..... Keeled over while choking.... It turned out to be storage heaters & the immersion... Oh & a little bit of tumble dryer...

Last month I had changed to Bord gais. My bill normally about €180. Even with the discount it was €265. When I checked back over my bills - Esb have been estimating for the last 2 years.. No actual reading. I havent got the final bill from ESB as they havent bothered to send someone to do a read. Mine was the heating on constant over the winter, kiddies nightlights & the dryer. So TBH it was a big education & everything is turned off now....

D3PO

OP you can get little gadgets that will measure and track your energy usage. If your bills are that high I suggest you go to your local technology / diy store and pick one up. That way you can see what your energy usage is and try and figure out why its so high

Yawns

Lucy2010 it will still be an ESB employee who checks your meters for bord gais so if that's whats been going on you'll only get eistimates from bord gais too. I think it's every 3rd bill is an actual reading. Same guy comes round read our meter every 3 - 4 months

Fnergg

The bill has been adjusted to actual readings and the amount of units recorded on the meter has resulted in a balance due of €400.

High certainly but the OP has storage heaters and wall mounted heaters and the bill is for one of the coldest periods in living memory. I'm surprised that anyone is surprised by high bills this winter.

If the meter has recorded the usage then it is up to the customer to explain how it was used and to take steps to economise in future.

The chances of the meter being faulty or some internal fault that might have contributed to the high usage are remote in the extreme.

Regards,

Fnergg

Fnergg

james finn wrote: »

I had a bill of 636euro with esb and i changed to airtricity online and the esb can only sign off if your bill is paid up, they made the mistake and signed off, now they cant turn me off and call me to pay and i say no you shouldnt have signed me off if i didnt pay.

You can change supplier even if your current bill is unpaid so it is incorrect to state that the ESB made a mistake.

You got a final bill from the ESB for €636 for electricity that you used and you are now refusing to pay it. Charming. I call that theft.

You'd better keep your nose clean with Airtricty because they adopt a far more aggressive attidude to debt than the ESB. And if you fall foul of them and are forced to go back to ESB (it's happening on an increasingly regular basis) then the outstanding debt will have to be paid in full plus a €300 deposit. That's assuming the ESB hasn't recovered the debt by legal action in the meantime which will leave an indelible stain on your credit rating.

Regards,

Fnergg

I.K.Brunel

martyboy48 wrote: »

How many times can they estimate the bill before they actually check the meter??
Maybe 2-3 underestimated bills previous??
Anyone know ???

ESB Networks do all the meter reading and their target is to average 4 reads per customer per year. Obviously they can only read a meter if they can access it when doing the rounds (i.e. outside location or householder at home when the meter reader calls).
The supplier (ESB Customer Supply, Bord Gais, Aritricity) can only bill according to the metering information that's provided by ESB Networks.

It's amazing how some customers will never react and do something about their estimated bills (i.e. take a meter read and phone in it to get an up-to-date bill).

I.K.Brunel

james finn wrote: »

I had a bill of 636euro with esb and i changed to airtricity online and the esb can only sign off if your bill is paid up, they made the mistake and signed off, now they cant turn me off and call me to pay and i say no you shouldnt have signed me off if i didnt pay.

You're the one making a mistake, James!

Bad debts don't just fade away - €636 is not a small amount and if ESB don't send a debt collector in your direction shortly this could lie in wait for years and bite your ars* when you least expect it.
Or maybe you just intend to be a good credit customer of Airtricity for the rest of your life and never seek a loan or credit terms from any other organisations!

Yawns

I.K.Brunel wrote: »

Bad debts don't just fade away

Don't bad credit ratings clear after 5 or 6 years?

Ie after ESB send a debitor or w/e and let's say it runs it's full course, they don't get paid and give him a black mark next to his credit. 5 - 6 years AFTER that doesn't that go away?

I.K.Brunel

The Irish Credit Bureau is owned by mainly financial institutions (>80 members including banks, credit unions & local authorities) and is effectively a database of credit performance of arrangements between individuals and its members. It will retain a record for 5 years from the date a loan is closed off.
Individual organisations may have their own credit database records and don't necessarily remove records after 5 years.

BTW none of the electricity suppliers are members of the ICB.

Yawns

Wouldn't they have to remove them or notify you of the records and you can request it removed due to data protection act, if it is indeed their own personal records?

I.K.Brunel

Yawns wrote: »

Wouldn't they have to remove them or notify you of the records and you can request it removed due to data protection act, if it is indeed their own personal records?

Data Protection legislation does not stipulate a specific time period for data retention/deletion, but rather allows for personal data to be retained for as long as the purpose for which it was collected remains. When that purpose ceases the data should be deleted [or anonymised if it is being retained for another purpose e.g. statistical research].

"the data shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes"
- section 2(1)(c)(iv) of the Act.

Having said that, it would be best practice for an organisation to have a policy that ensures data files are regularly examined and purged so that personal information is not held any longer than is absolutely necessary.

aindriu80

I moved into a new 1 bed apartment in January, the weather was terribly cold since and I had 2 storage heaters (although I only used 1 most of the time). Hot shower every 2nd day, washing machine and electronics -tv, hifi, laptop.

Total bill in the post WITHOUT ANY readings was €123. Readings only bill inc vat worked out at €237.66. Thats pretty expensive for just 1 person not staying cold or smelly after sport.