Shared electrical supply with neighbours

lobster123

Looking for some advice.

I have recently realised that I have a shared electrical supply with my neighbour in a semi-detached house. We have 2 kilmarnock fuses (not too sure if this is the correct term).

Once when the power went out in our house, the power went out next door also. Scottish Power had to access our home to sort the problem.

A new meter was subsequently fitted and my bills seemed to go up after this.

Sometimes in the morning, I hear a buzzing coming from our consumer unit, but we are using very little power. I think my meter readings are quite high: 500 units over 90 days and £55 per month with Atlantic Electric (soon to rise by 29% I believe). I have gas central heating and I'm out of the house all day from 8am to 6pm. Only 2 of us in the house.

Thanks in advance.

espresso

lobster123 wrote: »

I think my meter readings are quite high: 500 units over 90 days and £55 per month with Atlantic Electric

So how many units do you think is reasonable then? 500 / 90 = 5.5 units per day.

lobster123

espresso wrote: »

So how many units do you think is reasonable then? 500 / 90 = 5.5 units per day.

:rolleyes:

My mistake.............The last bill was estimated bill. Anyway, I've just had a look at my current useage which is averaging 16 or 17 units per day. Is this average?

iamesbo

16 or 17 sounds above average to me, but it depends on your usage, 5.5 units sounds more reasonable to me. If you are spending £1200 on electricity alone that is very high because that is more typical what people spend on electricity and gas combined.

Or typical of the electricity bill of two households

lobster123

iamesbo wrote: »

16 or 17 sounds above average to me, but it depends on your usage, 5.5 units sounds more reasonable to me. If you are spending £1200 on electricity alone that is very high because that is more typical what people spend on electricity and gas combined.

Or typical of the electricity bill of two households

Ok, so if I want to get my meter checked, who do I get in to do this. My current supplier????????

Cardew

iamesbo wrote: »

16 or 17 sounds above average to me, but it depends on your usage, 5.5 units sounds more reasonable to me. If you are spending £1200 on electricity alone that is very high because that is more typical what people spend on electricity and gas combined.

Or typical of the electricity bill of two households

Where do you get £1200 from? OP has a DD of £55 monthly.

The UK average is 3,300 kWh a year(9 a day approx) so 16 to 17 is high.

The OP can do a rough check himself.

Firstly switch everything off(unplug fridge/freezers etc) and check that the meter isn't moving.

Then put on a big known load like a 3 kW electric fire(make sure thermostat doesn't operate) and check it for, say, 10 minutes. It should have used 0.5 units(kWh)

iamesbo

Cardew wrote: »

Where do you get £1200 from? OP has a DD of £55 monthly.

The UK average is 3,300 kWh a year(9 a day approx) so 16 to 17 is high.

The OP can do a rough check himself.

Firstly switch everything off(unplug fridge/freezers etc) and check that the meter isn't moving.

Then put on a big known load like a 3 kW electric fire(make sure thermostat doesn't operate) and check it for, say, 10 minutes. It should have used 0.5 units(kWh)

Note I said if you are spending £1200 on electricity, if you do the sums he is spending £660, which is pretty close to the average I believe., indeed almost spot on for 2 bed semi.

iamesbo

lobster123 wrote: »

Ok, so if I want to get my meter checked, who do I get in to do this. My current supplier????????

Your bill seems about average apparently, however you can check your meter yourself
by for example turning off every electrical appliance in your home and then say turning on one 100watt bulb for say, 1 hour, and check that 0.1 kWh has been registered by the meter.

Pink_fluff

lobster123 wrote: »

Looking for some advice.

I have recently realised that I have a shared electrical supply with my neighbour in a semi-detached house. We have 2 kilmarnock fuses (not too sure if this is the correct term).

Once when the power went out in our house, the power went out next door also. Scottish Power had to access our home to sort the problem.

A new meter was subsequently fitted and my bills seemed to go up after this.

Sometimes in the morning, I hear a buzzing coming from our consumer unit, but we are using very little power. I think my meter readings are quite high: 500 units over 90 days and £55 per month with Atlantic Electric (soon to rise by 29% I believe). I have gas central heating and I'm out of the house all day from 8am to 6pm. Only 2 of us in the house.

Thanks in advance.

You say Scottish Power came round to your house when there was a power cut. Do you know what happened, was it your house without power or the neighbour? Do you know what they did to get the electrics back on? I doubt that would have anything to do with your bill. But depends what Scottish power did...