ESB

Kimono-Girl

I am hoping someone here can help me,

i am having an issue with the ESB regarding a December bill, i queryed it when i got it and i was basically told "pay it now and monitor your next few bills we'll correct it if it was wrong."

i haven't paid it because i know it was wrong, but i have been monitoring it since...

basically we live in a 1 bedroom apartment, at the time of the bill i was working full time and my OH was in college full time and my mother was minding our daughter, we left here at 7am every morning, and got back just after 7pm. we were meeting in my mothes at 6pm for dinner a chat and then home, when we got home we would light the christmas tree turn on the tv play with our daughter and run a halogen heater...now no more than 2 lightbulbs would be on, one heater and the fridge...etc i have used their online calculator and these come no where near...i should add we spent the days off in my mothers and grandmothers and his parents house so we still weren't home except to sleep have breakfast and leave.

our bills are usually about €50 - €100 every two months... usually €50 when the actual bill comes in with the estimation bill credited.

now ive been onto the ESB today and i was informed most unplesently that bills usually spike around 30% around christmas but ours has spiked 300%.and all she would say is that they can only "read the meter" and they have to do what the "meter" says, i suggested it was read wrong and i got threatened with disconnection if i don't pay and thats that. now i have no problem walking into the post office tomorrow and paying it only i'd like to know what caused the large bill to happen in the first place and i know as soon as its paid they will leave me alone in the hopes i get bored and back off...

at the moment we are both home all day, more electronics running laptops,wii, ps3, tv all day, radio, kettle, dryer (which we only used at night over christmas,and have been using since then on purpose to see if it spiked the bill it hasn't)washing machine, we're using the shower more with all this hot weater...etc and our bill was €50!!! i don't get it...


im also probally going to end up just paying it but i would like to know why, im like a dog with a bone at this stage i know, its just frustrating when we weren't here. and i'm now thinking of maybe moving to bord gais or airtricity. which of these is the best?

Bogger77

two words
halogen heater

These can be brutally excessive on power, some are rated at over 2.5Kw.
Running for 3 hours a day, 7.00 to 10.00pm for 5 days a week, plus what ever at weekends can soon clock up the units. even with that, I'd suggest someone was leaving stuff on, an immersion or the apartments built in heating system?

The fact that the bill is down so low, post the xmas cold snap, would suggest that the meter is working.

Kimono-Girl

Bogger77 wrote: »

two words
halogen heater

These can be brutally excessive on power, some are rated at over 2.5Kw.
Running for 3 hours a day, 7.00 to 10.00pm for 5 days a week, plus what ever at weekends can soon clock up the units. even with that, I'd suggest someone was leaving stuff on, an immersion or the apartments built in heating system?

The fact that the bill is down so low, post the xmas cold snap, would suggest that the meter is working.

to be honest i was thinking it was the halogen, so i ran it all day for 2 months straight (more than i did at christmas and the bill didnt hit a €100...nevermind the fact it wasnt on more than about 3 hour a day (we were never here at weekends)

the apartment was a house, which is converted into two apartments (upstairs downstairs) we're upstairs and as it heats and retains heat so easily we didnt really need heating (its a killer in the current climate )

no immersion was used by the two of us we used the electric shower which is being used more in the last bill than at christmas.

the built in heating system ran from midnight to 6 am on a timer we'd hear it click on and off, the night units went up by €50 (so i was expecting it to be around the €100 mark), but it was the day units that spiked it to the €300 mark! and it was storage heating but due to lack of space the baby's cot was up against the the rad in the bedroom so that was off, the one in the hall was on for only a month (by the time we started using it till the bill came) the bathroom doesnt have one, and the open plan living room/kitchen has one but it was off due to it emitting a weird odour when it was on for 5 minutes.

Cabaal

Was December's bill an actual reading perhaps and the previous bills estimated?

Kimono-Girl

Cabaal wrote: »

Was December's bill an actual reading perhaps and the previous bills estimated?

the two bills including the dec/january ones were all readings,

i also just read the meter readings for the day units and it turnsout the amount used in dec/jan matched the same units used from 27th january until now!

i don't understand how we could use 4 months worth of day units in the two months as outlined above...

foggy_lad

Maybe someone from downstairs was running an extension lead down to their flat when Ye were out over the Christmas period? Is there a socket in the hallway or on the stairs that uses your electricity?

roadrunnerz

have you checked to see if you have received an actual reading since then...If not and you have access you can check your meter and submit a reading to ESBhttps://www.esb.ie/esbcustomersupply/residential/your_account/how_to_read_your_meter.jsp

Kimono-Girl

foggy_lad wrote: »

Maybe someone from downstairs was running an extension lead down to their flat when Ye were out over the Christmas period? Is there a socket in the hallway or on the stairs that uses your electricity?

nope seperate enterances...

we've received an estmated readng then an actual reading since then the actual had a credit for the Obviously over estimated bll snce the high one...

but the dec/january is still the only high bill! i don't understand where it comes from.

ted1

was the bill previous to december co estimate? You probably have just had all the under estimations catch up on you. You should look all getting a owl meter to check your load. How many kwh are you being charged for? I do bill varifications for large users and its strange to see a mistake made.

Kimono-Girl

ted1 wrote: »

was the bill previous to december co estimate? You probably have just had all the under estimations catch up on you. You should look all getting a owl meter to check your load. How many kwh are you being charged for? I do bill varifications for large users and its strange to see a mistake made.

no weirdly enough between July was est, sep was actual, nov was actual and dec/january was actual...

wmpdd3

It really looks like something was going on while ye were out. Silly question, but were there Christmas lights on in your street, could they have taken the power from the top apartment?

Have you replaced any equipment since x-mas, kids toy etc that could ave been faulty and using too much power?

If not it has to be a neighbor.

MadMickeyMonk

Emm just check the number of days your bill is for.... Most bills are every 2 months but christmas bills are usually 2 1/2 months. Normally 1-2 weeks extra on a normal bill.

antocann

go on to the esb website you can check all your readings there , you can also enter them yourself instead of the man coming around reading them