electric bill

[chimp57]

I am having big problems with scottish hydro electric concerning my electric bill. I am all electric with total control heating, I pay �145 a month direct debit towards my bill and now they are saying I owe �658 on top of what I have paid in direct debits since October last year.
They are saying my meter readings are correct etc and wont budge. Who can i turn to for help as I am going out of my mind with worry on how I am going to pay this and I cannot afford to pay any more for my direct debit. I live in Scotland and both me and my husband work so am not entitled to any help.
Any advice would be great. Thanking you all in advance.

[fenchel]

Don't worry,all the power companies have done this.Everyone I know-and I mean a LOT of people-just phone up the company concerned,say you can't pay the additional amount and-without exception-the companies have backed down without a whimper.They have all been trying it on and lots of customers have paid up without complaining but it's not a genuine rise,merely an attempt to cover additional costs incurred by the incompetence of big business.

[Wak]

All I can suggest is that you check that the last meter reading on their bill agrees approximately with the present reading on the actual meter and that the readings on the past bills are correct.
I've written to Scottish Hydro myself in the past as they were judging the whole years supply by what we were using in the Winter months and they didn't seem to allow for the low usage months in the Summer.
If their figures are correct, there's not a lot you can do apart from turn the thermostat either down or OFF to conserve electricity in the future months.
Also, check the previous bills and work out how much electric you used a year ago and calculate for the same amount of electric for this year using the present day cost.
If your figures differ from theirs, send them your figures and ask them to explain the difference, as the amount of electricity used each year should roughly be the same.
I hope this helps in some way.

[jamesnan]

My daughter had similar problems with her electric company, and after thorough investigation it was found that she had been charged the wrong tariff for her electric - ie she was being charged the daytime rate for her storage heaters instead of the night time cheap rate, and vice versa - this meant that the storage heaters were costing her a fortune. After the problem was resolved, the company owed her �400!

[chimp57]

thanks for getting back to me those who have, I spent nearly all afternoon on the phone with them today,giving meter readings etc. they say i am using roughly the same amount of electric that I have in past 4 years but prices have gone up since then. How can they say that from OCT to March my bill is �1059 then from March to this month my billm is �595, how could i possibly use that amount of electric in 5WEEKS!!!! they now say there was an error and my bill is �395 from march to now. Still impossible considering my husband is away all week and I go out to work. I wouldnt know where to start trying to work out my own readings, wish I could. Any more suggestions? thanks.

[factor-fiction]

I'm not convinced by fenchel's answer.

Putting conspiracy theories to one side, are you saying the correct meter readings have been used?

if they have used the wrong readings then you need to provide accurate ones.

If the meter has been read properly then either the bill is correct (maybe they have been uderestimating previously) or your meter is faulty.

Without knowing this we can't hreally help.

I must admit though, your direct debits do already seem high if it is for just electricity. Do you have to pay for gas too?