Electric: could there be a problem with the meter?

Sherbetlemon2017 · 19 March 2017 at 12:17PM

Hello, my husband and I had the meter in our home changed last October. Our whole home runs on electric, the heating, water, cooker etc. We are in the house I'd say 30% of the time maximum.

Since October we have 'used' almost 4k units. We are hardly ever in, we sit here freezing when we are because we can't afford the bill. We turn everything off standby that we can and rarely use lights during the day. Over the past 2 days we've used nearly 70 units, my husband is working the full weekend and in here on my own. Apart from the usual things like showering and drying my hair, I've had the dishwasher on once, the washing machine on once and the TV for about 2 hours last night. I think there's a problem, but how can we prove it if there is? Does this seen high?

We don't have gas so I take on board that we'll be paying slightly more, but with the latest reading we'll be over £1k in arrears, we just can't afford it!

Help please

System · 19 March 2017 at 12:24PM

Sherbetlemon2017 wrote: »

Hello, my husband and I had the meter in our home changed last October. Our whole home runs on electric, the heating, water, cooker etc. We are in the house I'd say 30% of the time maximum.

Since October we have 'used' almost 4k units. We are hardly ever in, we sit here freezing when we are because we can't afford the bill. We turn everything off standby that we can and rarely use lights during the day. Over the past 2 days we've used nearly 70 units, my husband is working the full weekend and in here on my own. Apart from the usual things like showering and drying my hair, I've had the dishwasher on once, the washing machine on once and the TV for about 2 hours last night. I think there's a problem, but how can we prove it if there is? Does this seen high?

We don't have gas so I take on board that we'll be paying slightly more, but with the latest reading we'll be over £1k in arrears, we just can't afford it!

Help please

Hi - welcome to the forum. You can ask your supplier to test your meter; however, if it is found to be fit for purpose then you will be charged for this test.

Try some simply checks by turning things off then on. Turn off the mains switch and see if the meter stops. Visit your library and see whether they have an energy saving monitoring kit that you could borrow.

Finally, make sure that your latest bill is based on an actual meter reading, and check that the bill has used the correct start meter reading from when it was installed. If you haven't given your supplier a reading, then they will have estimated your usage.

System · 19 March 2017 at 2:02PM

Good advice from Hengus, something does seem to be wrong here using that amount. Also you could try running something with a known kwrs rate , like a 1 kw bar on an electric heater for an hour, with everything else unplugged of course to see if it uses 1 unit on the meter. If you have a meter which records 10 ths of units you could run it for 30 mins to see if 5 tenths are used.
Digital meters have cropped up on here quite a few times with claims of over recording and of course we had the headlines a few weeks ago of smart meter monitors going bonkers, but not the meter itself which was recording correctly.

matelodave · 19 March 2017 at 2:27PM

You need to get methodical about monitoring what you use and when you use it.

We are all electric and expect to use around 7000kwh a year, 5000 between November and March/April and 2000 btween April and October, so your's doesn't sound outrageous.

You need to start reading your meter daily for several weeks to get a pattern of your consumption - set up a spreadsheet. Once you start recording it you'll see when you are making savings

Have you got E7, what sort of heating & hot water system have you got.

Do you make sure that the washer, dryer dishwasher etc are full when you use them, they cost just as much to run when they are half empty.

How long do you stand in the shower and how often - yu can get through a lot of hot water without actually realising how much. Try using the hairdryer a bit less.

Dont let hot water run down the sink when washing stuff - you can waste a lot of hot water by just running it it to get the hot come through as it leaves a couple of gallons sitting in the pipework to get cold so use cold water where possible.

Old fridges and freezers can use up a lot more than you think, as do Sky boxes, Playstations and other toys (includig printers, computers, surround sound systems etc) so shut them off at the wall when not in use - obviously the Sky box has to be left on but make sure that the energy saving mode is activated.

As said, try to borrow an energy monitor from the library, they can help pin-point stuff thats using leccy all the time. I was quite surprised how much the clock and standby functions on the cooker & hob used, so they get switched off at the wall as well.

LED bulbs can save a bit but dont get silly, just change the ones that use the most or get used the most - halogen downlighters in the kitchen are the first candidate, LEDs can save 90% of the energy used by halogens.

And finally make sure that you are on the best tariff

Electric: could there be a problem with the meter?

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