First ESB Bill

Wheelsonthebus

Hi Guys,

We just moved into a new apartment a few months back and just got landed with our first electricity bill. Despite assurances when we were viewing the flat that the electricity "didn't cost that much" we were landed with a bill for €350.

I suppose the first thing to mention is that we have the dreaded storage heaters here. Now from the very start we were extremely concious of using too much and only ever had 2 heaters (1 big, 1 small) working in our main living room. I even rang the ESB when we moved in to ensure we had the input/output set correctly so we wouldn't get a shock come bill paying time.

We were always wary of using too much, always turned off lights in rooms we weren't using and only had our main room heated. Everything else was just normal stuff- watching tv, cooking etc. We have one convection heater in our bedroom which might be on for an hour in the evening and an hour or two in the morning.

We dont even use the emersion.

Now even when these heaters were on- it could hardly be described as balmy conditions in the apartment. It was neutral more than warm. So then we get lumped with a bill for €350 quid. This seems pretty outrageous to me. I wouldn't mind if the place had been roasting and we were going around in shorts and t-shirts but the place was just about warm.

Half of the bill was on the night time rate when all we have on is two storage heaters and nothing else.

I rang the ESB and they told me to check the meter and then turn everything off. So I rang the management company and have been getting a load of hassle. Basically I cant have access to the meter unless one of them is there with me (they initially wanted just to give me the readings themselves without me being there) I said that I'd need time to turn everything off etc and see what happens with the disc on the meter/compare etc. I eventually met with one of them, cos apparently they dont meet you outside of office hours and he said that he didn't have time to wait around with us to check the meter- we said fine leave the key with us and he said we cant access the room with the meters alone for insurance reasons. He basically said that it was the ESB's problem and that if they want to come and check it that they'd have access to the room.

Not sure what to do now. I've been advised that maybe I've also had the previous bill (before I lived here) lumped on to mine. That the landlord could have given an incorrect meter reading to the ESB so I'd pay extra.
I compared a bill to my colleague at work who is in the exact same conditions as myself- 2 bedroomed apartment with storage heaters but her bill is €120.

Can anyone advise? Sorry for being so long winded!

bassey

Is this the first time you've had a contract between yourself and ESB:CS? Any chance that it could it be that a deposit was included in the bill?

Electric Ireland: Pat

Hi Wheelsonthebus, I think the easiest thing would be if you could PM me your account details,and we take it from there. Once we have the details we can go through them one by one
Regards

Pat

Wheelsonthebus

PM sent. Thanks Guys.

RoundyMooney

Previous readings aside, this is management companies acting the langer yet again.

Yes, they can't leave you alone in the switchroom, fair enough, but I assume they're getting a tidy sum from you or your landlord.

A quarter of an hour wouldn't kill 'em.

edited to add; you did take a starting reading when you took over the account?

Wheelsonthebus

RoundyMooney wrote: »

Previous readings aside, this is management companies acting the langer yet again.

Yes, they can't leave you alone in the switchroom, fair enough, but I assume they're getting a tidy sum from you or your landlord.

A quarter of an hour wouldn't kill 'em.

edited to add; you did take a starting reading when you took over the account?

Ya true, that's what we said. Surely we're allowed access to our own meter.
No management company took care of it all. I didn't think anything of it at the time.

RoundyMooney

No guarantee that they handled the matter, then. ESBCS will be able to go through the history first, but you need an up to date reading.

For reference to others, management companies are mostly sh1te in my experience, the continent have apartment living and rental to a tee, but we can't quite manage it here. The lesson is to make certain you have closing readings from your last account if any, and starting readings for your new one.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

How many weeks did the bill cover. 1st bill can be longer than the usual 2 months. Also, any electric heating Dec Jan last would have a major influence on the account. 350 may not be that bad including heating.