Massive Electricity Bill!! What Can I Do - There Is No Way It Can Be Right.

[joko]

i was sent an electricity bill for 500 - which was backdated, which was fine, i knew it had built up - however i sent them a meter reading and they now say its £5000!!
How can that possibly be?
The last reading was something like 10294 about a year ago, this one was 44145 :O

What can i do?
I havent rang them yet, i want to know what to say to them, i dont want them to just start saying its right and i have to pay it...
there is not a chance in hell i can pay it, and nor am i going to.

thanks

[scorpiojo]

How much were your average quarterly bills before?

Electric cooker? Heating? Large house?

[scorpiojo]

https://www.uswitch.com/gas-electricity/guides/energy-back-billing/

[Jackdaw33]

I don't think the bill for Buckingham Palace comes anywhere near that.

[joko]

they were pretty low. i live alone, so really only use one or two rooms at a time, usual kinds of appliances, used averagely for a single person.
i have no central heating, but as i say, its always been low, so cant think what could have done it!
Could it possibly be an appliance that is faulty and is somehow using a ridiculous amount of power - yet showing no signs of any problem to me?
im worrying its my boiler, or fridge or something now :/

[david small]

Inform them of the obvious discrepancy and ask to have the meter checked and calibrated. Ours is a digital meter, it went wrong, the digits became unreadable. They replaced it. We are in credit by £300. Meter do malfunction, be firm but polite.

[ummmm]

Dispute it.

Who is your supplier? In my experience they will investigate and won't try and make you pay what you don't owe. It could be a simple admin error.

[Old_Geezer]

Reason with them first. There's always the ombudsman if they are uncooperative and you need an independent viewpoint.

[fiction-factory]

have you checked the meter reading yourself?

[Samjenko]

Is it possible a drug factory has latched onto your supply?

[chrissa1]

Good point, Samjenko.

[Peter Pedant]

ueah Sam
I was gonna suggest someone is abstracting ......
but there should be evidence

I think you go thro the usual channels for appeal

[Peter Pedant]

for the drug house WE had down the road
towards harvest time - you could smell it
( cannabis oil permeates brick under standard physics principles) and then the police came

[fiction-factory]

Have you checked your current reading to check you read it correctly at 44145.
When was the meter last read by someone other than yourself?

[DTCwordfan]

1 - check meter 2. Dig out old quarterly bills, they should be able to furnish those....and look at the meter reads and amount spent...use that as your ammunition.

[EDDIE51]

Can you turn everything off for say an hour? Then take a reading before and after the hour and see if the meter has registered any use of power at all.

[EDDIE51]

Go and check the meter again, as FF says the most likely explanation is that you have misread the figures. I just did a quick calculation and if your figures are correct you have used over £4000 worth. But that seems impossible. When you phone them ask them to come and read the meter and check it is working correctly, they will be happy to do that.

[Maydup]

Request a meter reading from them. If you read the meter and are comparing it to a year ago, when did they last read it for themselves?

They need to come out, verify the figures and take it from there.

[fiction-factory]

Let us know how you get on joko.
As an aside, I wonder why your tigger avatar doesn't appear here, joko, but does appear on your profile and other questions