Massive Electricity Bill

Bruthal

trad wrote: »

I had simular problems with my ESB bill and afrter a great deal of persuasion they came out and fitted a test meter in line with the existing one. Test went on for the better part of a month, there was a discrepancy of approx 12% -13% in my favour according to the test meter. My old meter was replaced by a new electronic meter and I'm satisfied enough with my bills since.

A year later I gets a cursory letter from the ESB saying my old meter is within operations tollerances and no adjustment is forthcoming. Despite requesting in writing the results of the 11 months of tests the ESB carried out on my meter they Have so far declined to release the test results to me. I reckon I have been overcharged for years and attempted to take a case to the Small Claims Court but it's not within their realm. I am now going down the route of the ESB'c customer Charter and from there to the Regulator.

Bottom line no matter who you are with your useage is recorded by an ESB meter. If you have the old spinning wheel type of meter it can be up to 40 years old. I don't know of any mechanical recording device that can remain accurate for that length of time without recalibration.

Its a good possibility the same problem is the case here as well. They would probably be billing you quick enough if it was in their favour.

kormak

trad wrote: »

I had simular problems with my ESB bill and afrter a great deal of persuasion they came out and fitted a test meter in line with the existing one. Test went on for the better part of a month, there was a discrepancy of approx 12% -13% in my favour according to the test meter. My old meter was replaced by a new electronic meter and I'm satisfied enough with my bills since.

A year later I gets a cursory letter from the ESB saying my old meter is within operations tollerances and no adjustment is forthcoming. Despite requesting in writing the results of the 11 months of tests the ESB carried out on my meter they Have so far declined to release the test results to me. I reckon I have been overcharged for years and attempted to take a case to the Small Claims Court but it's not within their realm. I am now going down the route of the ESB'c customer Charter and from there to the Regulator.

Bottom line no matter who you are with your useage is recorded by an ESB meter. If you have the old spinning wheel type of meter it can be up to 40 years old. I don't know of any mechanical recording device that can remain accurate for that length of time without recalibration.

Would it be worth my while then requesting one of these?
How much do they charge to intsall this?
We have since cancelled the engineer call out as we felt the meter appeared to be working fine.
The meter itself is installed on the newly built extesnion wall and it looks to be quite new in build, but it's still the old "spinning" one.

So far we'have been taking daily readings from the meter, keeping a close eye on the wireless meter and will be issuing Airtricity with ctual readings every month.
If the cost calculations are correct on the wireless efergy meter i simply Can not understand how a monthly bill could average at €280.

ps. for earlier questions:
we do have a deep borewell, the swich was gone on this last winter for a few weeks before I copped it, so it was continously on, giving a false reading for the pump.
This has been fixed now. (i'm sure this added to the units increase, even if it wasn't accurately displayed by the first estimated bill: 199 for 6 weeks)
Also, we don't have an immersion. And more strangley we decided against using the instant electric shower all winter as the water from the tank was good enough to use the other shower with.

trad

It took constant phone calls to the ESB to get them to agree to fit the test meter. The day they agreed I was on the phone for about an hour and had to be quite insistant.

The ESB's position is that their meters are accurate, could you imagine the outcry if it was found that they have been overcharging us for years.

kormak

trad wrote: »

It took constant phone calls to the ESB to get them to agree to fit the test meter. The day they agreed I was on the phone for about an hour and had to be quite insistant.

The ESB's position is that their meters are accurate, could you imagine the outcry if it was found that they have been overcharging us for years.

aye! imagine... well we'll keep a very close eye on things and report back.
we actually had someone from ESB networks who were "casually" callin around to read the meter anyway the other day.
we was trying not to be biased in any way, but she reckons she has heard a number of people who are disgruntled by these "so called savings" from Airtricity & Bord Gais.... and are actually turning back to ESB?!
any truth in this?

Conor.d2

I got a Wattson energy monitor a few months ago and it has really helped me understand my family's energy consumption at home. My bills have gone down each month now and I can even store the usage data and download it onto the free software, wittily named Holmes, every month.
I now have a detailed profile of all my electricit use since March, which I can break down into months, weeks, and even every 5 minutes!
Its pretty slick looking too so my wife's not embarrassed to have it in my living room and the kids have really learned from it too - the colour displays and cool design is a fun way to get them to understand whats going on. Now theyre gicing out to us when we leave lights on!!:D
Just thought Id share it with you guys anyway - we think its a great investment and reckon its already paid for it self
C

kormak

Just to add to this post... (which I've forgotten about!)
Our Airtricity bills have been approx. €40 each month so far, so it baffles me how they got so big.
I guess next winter will be the test, especially as we're getting used to the live meter in the house.

dingding

REgarding the small about of electricity you were using earlier, if you have 2 electric showers, there should be a device called a contactor which will use a small amount of electricity.

M cebee

dingding wrote: »

REgarding the small about of electricity you were using earlier, if you have 2 electric showers, there should be a device called a contactor which will use a small amount of electricity.

ya, Theres been a zillion questions on them shower controllers and i still forget .The 2 contactors are normally energized on a non -priority off the shelf unit.Think it was 11watts standby or was it?

RoundyMooney

Depends on both the sensing relay, and the control coil, but I'd imagine it's a good bit less than that:)

Most issues surrounding consumption stem from these factors:

-Blissful ignorance as to how much appliances consume-I'm guilty of that myself!

-Failure to submit an accurate start reading (almost certainly not the case here)

-Dodgy billing on the part of the supplier (Sorry to say, I see this every day with certain entrants to the market-they are getting their house in order, but slowly, and when I say dodgy, I mean failure to issue bills, over dependence on estimation etc.)

-Estimation on the part of Networks, this happens, and shouldn't, but a number of factors come into play, inaccessibility to the meter, (they should be read every quarter, but people are @ work etc., and on occasion access may be impossible due to safety concerns or other anomalies)

Electromechanical meters very rarely go astray, if they do, they tend to read slow rather than fast, and what the OP saw as a slowly moving disc was merely the disc finding equilibrium after the load was removed.

Basically my point is, that focusing on small loads is a waste of time. Rule out earth leakage first, with professional assistance if needed, and after that, with or without the help of an OWL (great bit of kit btw) or similiar, watch what you use.

OP, make sure if you can, of course that the readings correspond. I assume Airtricity give the readings on the bill, I know others do. Big bills are not nice at anytime, to say the least

Fuzzy Clam

Conor.d2 wrote: »

I got a Wattson energy monitor a few months ago and it has really helped me understand my family's energy consumption at home. My bills have gone down each month now and I can even store the usage data and download it onto the free software, wittily named Holmes, every month.
I now have a detailed profile of all my electricit use since March, which I can break down into months, weeks, and even every 5 minutes!
Its pretty slick looking too so my wife's not embarrassed to have it in my living room and the kids have really learned from it too - the colour displays and cool design is a fun way to get them to understand whats going on. Now theyre gicing out to us when we leave lights on!!:D
Just thought Id share it with you guys anyway - we think its a great investment and reckon its already paid for it self
C

An advertising agency couldn't have written that better

Fuzzy Clam

kormak wrote: »

Just to add to this post... (which I've forgotten about!)
Our Airtricity bills have been approx. €40 each month so far, so it baffles me how they got so big.
I guess next winter will be the test, especially as we're getting used to the live meter in the house.

Thats not bad at all.
My average with the ESB over the last year (as a single person) is 90 p/m. This includes winter of course and I also run some heavy equipment for a day or 2 each month.

Conor.d2

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

An advertising agency couldn't have written that better

Thanks FuzzyClam, do you think Im in the wrong profession?