20 kWh daytime units a day on household bill....?!!

[andis]

Just had my first bill at a new address.

Previous addresses my bill has been from £35 to £55 a month dependant on season.

My bill for the first 28 days in my new house is £150!

Night time unit use seems ok and accounts for £20 of the bill but my daytime use is around 20kWh per day.

I have checked the meter twice a day and it does say I am using this amount.

Is this seriously wrong? I only cooked one meal and did one washing load yesterday and the meter says i used £21kWh of daytime electricity.

The previous resident had the provider check it and they installed a monitor on the meter but declared it accurate.

I appeared to use 5kWh in 4 hours last night by having one 60 Watt bulb and my TV turned on.....this cant be right

PS: I am not running a tanning salon or a welding school.

 

[JohnD]

Do you live in a separate house or a block of flats or converted maisonette?

How modern and professional does your electrical installation look?

Has your consumer unit "Fusebox" got actual fuses in in, or MCBs with a little switch for each circuit? Does it also have an RCD (which has a "test" button as well)?

Have you got an imersion heater?

Have you got electric heaters?

Have you got an electric cooker?

Have you got a tumble drier?

Does anyone else live there, and does their room seem pleasantly warm even with the windows open?

Have you had a look in the loft/shed/garage/garden and is there anything electrical in there?i



p.s. 5kWh is only about 40p so no big deal for an evening's use

 

[plugwash]

it sounds like there is either a fault or some high power equipment you don't know about (its quite possible someones stealing leccy from you).

you really need to track down where that powers going.

unfortunately its going to be hard to do this without proper test equipment.

you can also try turning off circuits to see if this stops the issue.

are there any cables leaving the house other than the incoming service cable? if so then you wan't to check where they go.

 

[andis]

Do you live in a separate house or a block of flats or converted maisonette? HOUSE TERRACED

How modern and professional does your electrical installation look? VERY MODERN

Has your consumer unit "Fusebox" got actual fuses in in, or MCBs with a little switch for each circuit? Does it also have an RCD (which has a "test" button as well)? MCBs

Have you got an imersion heater? YES. NOT BEEN ON

Have you got electric heaters? NIGHT STORAGE. NOT BEEN ON.

Have you got an electric cooker? YES. USED ONCE A DAY.

Have you got a tumble drier? YES. NOT BEEN ON.

Does anyone else live there, and does their room seem pleasantly warm even with the windows open? NO

Have you had a look in the loft/shed/garage/garden and is there anything electrical in there? LOOKED. NOTHING SWITCHED ON.

Starting to think either my meter is wrong or I am feeding to another property.

My supplier is powergen and looking at the amount of nightmares they are causing customers I wonder if I should move anyway.

I know 5kWh is only 40p but for just a tv and bulb?!!!! I am paying £5 a day for what seems like very light use.

 

[Jaymack]

Have you got sockets on a party wall with a neighbour, who has the blinds down all the time, with funny smells coming from their house?

 

[andis]

No

My neighbour is a sweet old lady who provides bags of herbal tea to all her friends no matter what the hour....bless her

 

[andis]

Think I shall start tomorrow by turning of my power at the box and making sure the consumption stops dead....and see if my neighbour comes running out complaining his shower has just gone off.

Then take it from there and get someone in to test the appliances I suppose?

 

[plugwash]

I'd still inspect any sockets on the party wall just in case.

if you wan't to find this problem yourself you could really do with getting a clamp meter. Start by hooking it on the live tail and then try switching off circuits.

Also did you bring your fridge and freezer with you? if not and the freezer is large and old then its possible its the source of the problem.

 

[andis]

Did wonder about the fridge that was here.

Its a huge american style phillips with Ice maker and water cooler...could it really use that much even if faulty then?

 

[ali68]

I had the same prob and eventually tracked it down to my fridge freezer and heated towel rail. Maplin do quite a handy little gadget Here

 

[JohnD]

As you have MCBs, go stand by the meter with a torch, turn off all the MCBs, see if the meter still goes round/continues flashing.

If not (it shouldn't!) then switch on the MCBs, one at a time only, with all the others switched off, and see if any of them makes an unexpected difference. (if not. e,g, it is your fridge which has an intermittent load, you may need to give it time).

As you do not have an RCD, it is possible that you have an electrical fault, but as your installation is modern and looks professional, not my immediate guess.

With luck, using the MCBs, you will be able to track it down to a single circuit, and then you can unplug all the appliances, then put them back one at a time and watch the meter.

 

[Adam_151]

if its the fridge costing a lot to run, then http://www.savawatt.com/productdetails.asp?id=2 might be a good idea

 

[plugwash]

it may make the compressor a bit more effciant by running it at a lower power. but it won't solve the underlying problems that cause a fridge/freezer to use insane ammounts of power (generally coolant loss or ****ed up thermostats)

 

[Steve]

Those savaplugs are a waste of time. And that website is full of carp:

Please Note,
The SavaPlug is not suitable for appliances with electronic controls. Please contact us to ensure your appliance is compatible before fitting the SavaPlug

Just below that, in the compatible list, is my fridge freezer, which has electronic controls.

HOW DOES IT WORK?
When the thermostat on the appliance switches on the motor to pump the refrigerant around the system full power is required to start the motor. However, once the motor is running full power is no longer needed.

The SavaPlug senses this and reduces the flow of electricity to match the actual requirements. When the red light glows savings are being made.

hmm yeah, how does it reduce the flow of electricity? I was under the impression that the compressor did this itself, by simply NOT USING full power all the time.