ESB: Effin Sh*te Board

Yank

Anyone else getting slammed by their ESB bills again? 340 euros is mine, for feb and march, for a two -bedroomed apartment. It was 380 for my previous bill. What are they playing at?

DMC

WTF?

What do you have plugged in there?

Yank

you'd think i was charging up a tanning bed for that cost. i've been in the same place for two years, and these are the highest two bills i've ever seen. the heating is crap in this place -- it could be zapping the electricity. but i think i'll have to get the landlord to check out what is happening here. no other apartment in the house is getting bills this high. and we're not doing anything radically different from what we did this time last year. :mad:

DMC

Yup, if its electric heating you have, get it checked. Look out for immersion heaters left on unnecessarily etc.. I'd be looking into that. I live in a 3 bed house, and the ESB never goes beyond €80. (OFCH)

Downtime

Have you checked the meter reading on the bill and compared it to your meter reading? The are probably over estimating the meter reading and therefore charging you more.

DMC

Yes, that too. Are they checking your meter or are they giving you an estimate reading? Also, compare the amount of units you used in your last "normal" bill.

Yank

It's an accurate reading. Tis a good idea to look into something wrong with the electric heating. the immersion is on a timer, same as it's been since we moved in, so I can't see that that is the problem.
The bill is 70 euros more than we paid this time last year.
I know we pay more than other people would because the heating is so crap -- blower heater in the sitting room (with a storage heater that doesn't do much to heat such a big room), individual electric radiators in each bedroom, that's it.

DMC

Well, the price of electricity has gone up around 12% in recent months.... since new years...

http://www.esb.ie/main/news_events/press_release258.jsp

forbairt

jez... uz...

ours was 180 .. I think ... and I know why ... we're used to oil heating and forgot to turn timers and stuff off ... so .. could probably knock another 30+ of that ... as we just moved in ...

a friends was up on the 280 mark ... due to washing machine and electric heaters on during the day ...

whats your blow heater wattage ... is it different from the one you were using last year .. these really eat electricity ...

someone hasn't been smart and drilled a hole in their wall to your supply have they ... ? through attic ... or other ... ? yes I know I'm leaping at straws here but 340s .. quite high ... even if you left the heaters on most of the time ..

do you have storage heaters .. and were they charging up overnight as opposed to using regular electricity ... during the day ... (not quite sure how these work yet as we've no manuals with them)

po0k

Yank wrote:

It's an accurate reading. Tis a good idea to look into something wrong with the electric heating. the immersion is on a timer, same as it's been since we moved in, so I can't see that that is the problem.
The bill is 70 euros more than we paid this time last year.
I know we pay more than other people would because the heating is so crap -- blower heater in the sitting room (with a storage heater that doesn't do much to heat such a big room), individual electric radiators in each bedroom, that's it.

Get your landlord to replace it. They have to provide working heating for you - this doesn't include paying for the running costs.

po0k

Also, anyone know the hours for daytime/evening/nightime and weekend rates?

Yank

I assume we're in "summertime" now since we already had the time change and everything, so the hours are midnight - 9 am for nightsaver charges. (In "winter" it's 11pm-8am). I don't know of any different rates for "evening" or weekends. Just if you use high electricity appliciances after midnight or before 9, it's almost a third of the cost, if your meters are set up for nightsaver usage.

I'll be on to the landlord about this. When we got the high bill last time, I shrugged it off to the longer billing period, the increased rates, the dead of winter, a faulty washing machine (that's been replaced for a while now), etc. But now that it's happened again, there must be something else going on. We do sometimes put the heat on during the day for a while, but we've always done that and haven't gotten bills like this.

Sponge Bob

TBH I reckon yiz are being fiddled somehow.

Knock off all the internal fuses sometime and go out to see if the meter is still spinning around. If it is you are being diddled.

I have known of Landlords not a million miles from Galway who got a tenant to pay for hall and outside lighting for the premises ....unknown to the tenant. If this is the case then you can ask the ESB to 'investigate' their meter in case you sue the landlord in future and need evidence . The ESB guys are great like that , they don't like scumbag landlords.