1. #1

    Huge Electric Bill

    Hello im making this thread to ask if anyones been in this situation before and how the hell it happened

    Basically my girlfriend just got charged a £600 electric bill ($950, 740 euro)

    Were as i, living in a house with twice as many computers TVs and people get charged about £90 a month.

    - She doesnt leave anything on at night
    - She has her computer and TV on about 8 hours a day
    - Electric cooker etc
    - Lights are usually always off.

    So wtf? Shes planning on calling up her electric company, but i just wanted to ask has this happened to anyone before, or if anyone could possibly figure it out.

    Thanks

  2. #2
    Deleted
    Get a pay as you go meter installed, they cannot cheat you then.

  3. #3
    Probably accidentally charged for the entire past year. If she calls the electric company things will probably be sorted out. If not, and she can show that she's always paid her electric bill, she could get authorities involved.
    MY X/Y POKEMON FRIEND CODE: 1418-7279-9541 In Game Name: Michael__

  4. #4
    Maybe she's growing weed
    Quote Originally Posted by kasath
    is anyone in this group under 18? my parole officer says I'm not allowed to play wow with anyone under 18

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Pfeff View Post
    Maybe she's growing weed
    this... lol

  6. #6
    The Lightbringer Deadvolcanoes's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Connecticut, USA
    Posts
    3,597
    any outdoor elecrical sockets? maybe someone's stealing electricity.
    It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.

  7. #7
    Deleted
    Probably didn't pay enough the last time, or if she moved in the previous tenant reported invalid info.

  8. #8
    How good are the windows/insulation on the house? When I lived in upstate New York I regularly had electric/heating bills in the $800 dollar range. It was an old ass house and it would hit -50 F

  9. #9
    Is she living in a house or apartment? If it's a house, check and see if someone has tampered with the box outside. If it's an apartment, she might want to make sure she's not being charged for the other tenants around her. In one of the apartments I lived in when I was younger, they had a policy that your water bill was determined by the cluster of apartments you lived in. So if your neighbors used a TON of water, you paid more because of it.

  10. #10
    Fluffy Kitten Pendulous's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Treno
    Posts
    19,498
    It's most likely an error. It happens. An outdoor socket wouldn't be nearly enough to have a charge like that. I had that happen once, it didn't change that much, and even if was being used 24/7, there's no way it would add hundreds of dollars.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Lunaforge View Post
    How good are the windows/insulation on the house? When I lived in upstate New York I regularly had electric/heating bills in the $800 dollar range. It was an old ass house and it would hit -50 F
    $800?? Geez, and I thought it was bad paying $300 a month in the summer when I lived in Phoenix.

  12. #12
    Scarab Lord Stanton Biston's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Corvallis, Oregon
    Posts
    4,861
    Quote Originally Posted by Deadvolcanoes View Post
    any outdoor elecrical sockets? maybe someone's stealing electricity.
    Actually, in my experience the power company is normally pretty good about surges, at least here in the US. But do make sure to have her investigate because there are a number of ways to steal power that don't involve a socket.
    Quote Originally Posted by Callace View Post
    Considering you just linked a graph with no data plotted on it as factual evidence, I think Stanton can infer whatever the hell he wants.
    Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence - Sometimes I abbreviate this ECREE

  13. #13
    Do you have any oxygen thingies on for ponds or anything which run all the time?

    Either that, or someone is stealing your Electricity and/or growing weed.

  14. #14
    Deleted
    Yes, this has happened in my house before.

    Without naming names, <ENERGY COMPANY> was using estimates instead of manually coming to my house to accurately check the electricity usage.

    They would check once a year, and after investigating, would sometimes wait 2 years before checking the meter in person.

    I was then issued a bill for just under £900 to which I threatened to take them to court over.
    After long debate we settled at half of the requested amount and I changed my supplier.

    The 'amusing' thing is that all energy companies in the UK were doing the exact same thing leading to many people swapping suppliers unaware that the supplier they changed to was doing the exact same thing. (I found this out when I was talking to a member of EDF after a conversation with B.Gas)

  15. #15
    Merely a Setback PACOX's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    ██████
    Posts
    26,281
    Does she have old appliances ie washer, dryer, fridge. Does will demolish your bill as they get older they draw in more electricity to remain in working condition.

  16. #16
    Mechagnome Auralian's Avatar
    15+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Chicago,Ill
    Posts
    581
    Quote Originally Posted by Akoroth View Post
    Hello im making this thread to ask if anyones been in this situation before and how the hell it happened

    Basically my girlfriend just got charged a £600 electric bill ($950, 740 euro)

    Were as i, living in a house with twice as many computers TVs and people get charged about £90 a month.

    - She doesnt leave anything on at night
    - She has her computer and TV on about 8 hours a day
    - Electric cooker etc
    - Lights are usually always off.

    So wtf? Shes planning on calling up her electric company, but i just wanted to ask has this happened to anyone before, or if anyone could possibly figure it out.

    Thanks
    Happens here all the time, with the Gas and Electric. They speculate on usage over a period of months and then do a actually reading 3,4 months down the line. The only way to get around it is to provide your own readings, Most utility companies will Email you when a reading is about to be done or at least suppose to be done.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by pacox View Post
    Does she have old appliances ie washer, dryer, fridge. Does will demolish your bill as they get older they draw in more electricity to remain in working condition.
    I use to work for british gas... most likely the meter read is wrong or incorrectly inputted:

    Ie: you start at 222 you've entered 212 when they make the bill the system thinks you've gone around the clock: so it looks like this 222 + 777 + 212 ( say for eg the meter only goes to 999 ) = fuck off huge bill

    Failing that, a rather expensive way of doing things but might be in your interest: Take a meter read to day, then for the next 7 days, this is to test the meter itself to see if its faulty. A faulty meter will go shit bat crazy with its reading one day starting at 222 then 324 then 500 and so on and so forth.
    In that case you can call the company who will come and test the meter for you.

    £700 is like a years worth.. my bet its a incorrect meter read

  18. #18
    How much were you guys getting charged before?


    Should be a simple "look at my history" deal with the power company then.
    I remember it all too well

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •