Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Sep 20, 2012 7:57 pm Hi, we have just received an electricity bill from the power company of $500 for our new build for the period 2 April to 28 June. The house was unoccupied during the whole of this time - we didn't get our occupancy permit until July. The builder had basically finished work by the end of May so this $500 would effectively be for two months worth of building. I've tried asking the energy company if this bill actually covers electricity usage since power was connected (we agreed to pay for power during building so this doesn't bother me) but they insist that it only reflects usage for the period April to June and it is from an actual read. Their figures don't tally up with what is on the meter but they say that we can't read our meter because we need a special code. Has anyone else had a similar bill? Re: Does this electricity bill seem right? 3Sep 20, 2012 8:03 pm Yes, as I said - the figure on the meter doesn't reflect what is on the bill but Truenergy are telling me that I can't read my meter and that you need a special code to do this. I'm really surprised that we would be given a meter we can't read! Re: Does this electricity bill seem right? 5Sep 20, 2012 8:15 pm Our builder made it a condition of the contract that we pay for all services. But I'm really astounded that in two months there could be such high electricity usage. We didn't even run that kind of bill up in our old house in three months with four people living in it. It is the lack of an adequate explanation that is bothering me. Re: Does this electricity bill seem right? 7Sep 20, 2012 9:18 pm that is wrong for sure.... that does not reflect usage....electricity companies do make mistakes and sometimes things on there side get entered incorrectly... get them to bring someone out to read your meter.... Re: Does this electricity bill seem right? 8Sep 20, 2012 9:48 pm I agree, they need to come out and read the actual meter...be persistent with them. Re: Does this electricity bill seem right? 9Sep 20, 2012 10:46 pm That sounds like total bs, a meter you need a code to read? It displays the kWh right there on the meter! Just remember it may be across more than one band! Ie 500kWh peak and 100kWh off peak, but should be there on the meter! Not that I know much about meters as a humble electrician! Happy to be wrong, but it sounds sus! 2 Re: Does this electricity bill seem right? 10Sep 20, 2012 10:51 pm There is no way that your bill can be correct. Think about the main appliances that use up energy in your house when you live in it. Heating and cooling, lighting, fridges, oven, televisions etc etc. How many of them are functional during the build........Zero! All your builder could use is power tools, perhaps some temporary lighting. There is no way they could consure $500 worth of power. Do not give this up without a fight. Who has a meter that they can read themselves................? Building in Blackwood Park 2012/13 Land settled 8/8/12 Contract signed 6/11/12 Encumbrance approval 24/12/12 Development Approval 24/4/13 Slab Poured 8/7/13 Re: Does this electricity bill seem right? 11Sep 21, 2012 12:07 am Hi,get them to check it out,it may NOT have been read at all. We just paid our bill at our new house build,only approx 6wks till its all ours,our bill was under $60. What a load of @@@##### about needing a special code to read your meter,we now read our own meter at this house because of our fenced in yard,dog & distance from the road to the meter. Find out who you can complain to first about this sortta thing,tell the power company you will make a complaint,see what they come up with,i betcha they will read it. Block bought 1st RBC X! 2nd Ventrua,Keeper! Pstart 18/7/11 Ethwks jan 2012 Slab Bricks- finished 7/6 Roof Trusses 15/6-cbond 21/7 viewtopic.php?f=31&t=41185 Re: Does this electricity bill seem right? 12Sep 21, 2012 8:03 am Thanks for all the replies folks. This has been very helpful in confirming for me that I should take this matter further. I'll talk to the power company one more time and then I might contact the Electricity Ombudsman. I'll also question them again as to why we can't read our own meter. Re: Does this electricity bill seem right? 13Oct 17, 2012 11:16 am I ended up going to the Ombudsman and have just had another discussion with the power company. They insist that their figures are correct - in fact, they are saying that the builder's previous bill was $400 and this one is in line with that. So that means that in 6 months of building he used $800 worth of electricity. I'm really puzzled to put it nicely. Firstly, because the builder told me that he had never received a bill from them and secondly, because my bill shows just as much usage off-peak as peak which means that power was being used in the evenings and on weekends when I know for a fact that nobody was here. The power company are telling me that the meters were switched over on the 28th June and this reading comes from the old meter which was destroyed but they have the data. How can a house with no appliances and nobody even working here be using up electricity? Is there any way the builder can tamper with the meter and run his own house off it? Re: Does this electricity bill seem right? 14Oct 17, 2012 6:34 pm Sounds like you have a smart meter. If this is the case you can ask for an audit that shows when exactly all the power was used. If you have smart meter then they put a probe in to read it but the meter itself will still show accumulative consumption since is was installed. You could also get an electrician out to find out what is running all the time if everything with the account is correct.. MDJ Homes - Bordeaux 14 + now with improvements Re: Does this electricity bill seem right? 15Oct 17, 2012 6:39 pm We have a smart meter now. I don't know what they used during the build but that meter, according to the power company was destroyed though they say they have the data. In the last three months we have only used 500 kw of power so I really don't understand how in the three months preceding that, when the house was unoccupied and had no appliances in it, it could have chewed through 2,000 kw of electricity. As I said, half of the consumption was after hours when the builder wasn't even here. It is just too baffling. But the power company just stick to their guns. Re: Does this electricity bill seem right? 16Nov 21, 2012 11:49 am How are you going with this Our now house bill was getting crazy,i rang power company approx 5 times about it,it had gone from approx $280 to $600 & the next was $1,017 They kept telling me it was right i would just have to pay,i just couldn't work out what the heck was going on. 2 days ago i recieved an official letter saying we had been over charged on our account,recieved a credit of $917, bloomin knew it!!!! Block bought 1st RBC X! 2nd Ventrua,Keeper! Pstart 18/7/11 Ethwks jan 2012 Slab Bricks- finished 7/6 Roof Trusses 15/6-cbond 21/7 viewtopic.php?f=31&t=41185 Re: Does this electricity bill seem right? 17Nov 21, 2012 2:14 pm Hi Kerry-Ann, I ended up going to the Ombudsman but even then Truenergy were not budging. They said that the builder had paid $500 between January and April so they weren't surprised at a $500 bill from April to June. I said half of the consumption is after hours when the builder was not here -I know because my husband was here in the afternoons and on the weekends painting and he didn't use any electricity. They said the data was from a temporary meter that had been destroyed so they couldn't check it but they knew the data was correct. In the end they offered to halve the bill and I paid up but I really wish I had just stuck to my guns and gone back to the Ombudsman because no way did it make sense. Mind you, we are now in November and I still haven't received a bill for July to September! God knows what they are hatching. At least this time I've kept a track of what is on my meter. Oh and I've changed power provider. Re: Does this electricity bill seem right? 19Nov 23, 2012 11:07 am Yes well done We have just recieved our latest & last for during the build $20.35 Block bought 1st RBC X! 2nd Ventrua,Keeper! Pstart 18/7/11 Ethwks jan 2012 Slab Bricks- finished 7/6 Roof Trusses 15/6-cbond 21/7 viewtopic.php?f=31&t=41185 They using concrete or timber sleepers? Timber or steel uprights? Any drainage behind sleeper? 3 6142 I'm putting a new floor in my kitchen, slate flagging on a standard concrete slab. I have allowed for a bed thickness of up to 20mm to accommodate the different… 0 17659 Thanks for that, the PVC pipe is still about 40cm below ground level and it sticks out of the sand with no end cap or anything on it just open pipe, is this the finished… 2 10543 |