What is the cause of my high electricity bills

Garz

Lorian wrote: »

I'd missread, I changed it.

No prob Lorian :beer:

Back OT, mike that does seem rather high. I would be tempted to both investigate units your racking up per day and get a plug in device to find the higher consuming devices in your abode.

Lorian

BallandChain wrote: »

Just curious Lorian and completely off topic but what does the Japanese writing in your avatar mean?

"Lorian" in Chinese. A friend I had years ago did it for me. I'm not Chinese and its only my nickname.

To stay on topic this guy's bill is three times + what I spend in a bigger property.

MammaCas

Hiya

I have come across cases with flats where even though the meter is labelled, and you appear to be being billed for the correct meter, the meter labelled as flat 1 is actually connected to flat 7 etc..

It is worth getting this checked, 63 units is an awful lot if the flat is empty all day. I've not read the other replies but I would also turn off all appliances, turn them back on one at a time for an hour, and check if any are using excessive amounts of units.

HTH

MC x

Dealwithit

anything with a light on turn it off instead of leaving on standby

HJS86

Mike,

My boyfriend and I are in an identical position to you!

We moved into our brand new build last at the end of Nov, and our bill for Dec was £135 for that month.

Its a one bed flat, very tiny.

We have 4 electric radiators - one in the lounge, one in the bedroom, one in the hall and one in the kitchen.
A TV, PC, boiler and hob/oven.

Following Dec's staggering bill, we reduced everything hugely.

We turned the kitchen radiator off altogether and leave the door to it shut - as you're only in there when you're cooking anyways and then there will be heat off the oven/hob.

The bedroom radiator comes on one hour in the morning and one at night. Only 2 hours per day.

The radiators in the lounge and hall come on for 3 hours in the night. Between 5 -6, 7-8 and 9-10. Inbetween these hours its gets quite cold lol. We light (no joke) around 22 different candles/tea lights in the lounge to try and maintain the heat.

We turned the boiler off over night; it now comes on for just 2 hours a day, right before we shower/bath - so if we dont shower at the right time there is no hot water.

The flat is completely empty between 8.30am and 5.15pm - nothing is on barring the fridge and the fish tank.

With all the candles we only need one lamp on in the evening and the TV will be on for around 3 hours. All lamps and lights are fitted with energy bulbs.

Yet even after all these cuts (its miserable having to rely on candles to be warm!) this month's bill is still £85.

There is literally nothing else we can do to cut back.

When I tell people how much our bill is they are shocked.

I insisted that our electricity provider come out and check the meter - they came on Friday and we are waiting to hear from them; however, the guy was adament that new build meters are not wrong.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated )

HJ x

travellady

Crikey thats an awful lot ur paying for, I live in a 3 bed home with 4 of us 2ad 2ch and I work from home. TV and computers are on all day! And with my kids the lights are constantly left on around the house! washer & dryer is on an awfukl lot too.. we pay £75pm for electricity...

I would also look at who ur using for ur electricity and try another supplier - I always check who is best to use as there can be huge differences..

HJS86

Hi Travel Lady

E-on is high and we are looking to change supplier.

Whats worrying us is the amount of units were are using.

On average 1000 per month.

Our neighbour use the same roughly - as we are able to view their meters too.

As its a new build we thought maybe something was wired up wrong.

E-On weren't very helpful on the phone and said that it was us basically even though were sitting in the cold.

I have also been advised that the electric radiators are hugely non-energy efficient??

xx

Gorgeous_George

If the heaters are 3kW when on full power and you have three of them on for six hours per day at 10p per unit that would be £5.40 per day.

You really need night storage heaters and big jumpers.

Changing supplier will not solve the problem and that little light on standby will not save you more than about 5p over a year.

GG

Sirbendy

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

Changing supplier will not solve the problem and that little light on standby will not save you more than about 5p over a year.

GG

Your maths is wrong, my friend. I have a plug in meter - on "soft off", even my washer uses 9 watts - that's more than 5p/year on an A rated washer! The TV/AV stack...I'll check, but 5p a year - get yourself a meter and see for yourself - it's a LOT more than that.

I leave NOTHING on standby, it all goes off at the plug.

However, it shouldn't amass a bill like that either...

I have a few big bills in my electric only flat...I bought a £20 plug in consumption meter and kept a running tally of what everything cost to run, per hour. It calculates it for me as long as I tell it my unit cost.

By doing that and basic maths, I got the figures together and then had a nice chat to NPower..and they sent someone out to check things over and sorted it.

If I was you, i'd do similar...no figures are more reliable than the ones you find yourself through "real" testing.

Garz

Sadly what GG has said is probably the bulk of it. Your biggest savings will be switching to a supplier (saved me about £200 last year) offering a better tarrif and reduce your electric heaters usage. Seems odd as in new builds usually the insulation is good enough to only require heavy heating during the colder snaps.

Storage heater setups will only pay-off if you can use (roughly) over 12%+ your energy in the off peak hours. Adding the outlay of buying/installing them prob wouldnt bother unless your living there for a long time.