i have used 313 KWH in 11 days any one know why

davebebbz

hi i have jsut had my meter changed from pre payment to direct debit on econamy 7. i was putting £20 - £30 a week in and thought i would save going on direct debit. i checked my meter today and it says i have used 313 kwh during the day and 63 at night. i checked n powers website and my rate should be 24.980 during the day and 5.3 at night. i worked that out at £101 used so far. am i working it out wrong because it makes no sense to me. me and my partner both work and no one is in the house between 10am and 6pm also we spend most of the weekend out. we have a tumble dryer that is used 3-4 times a week and a chest freezer on 24/7 and a fish tank running plus the standard utitlitys. for heating we have a gas effect fire which is on for about 3 hrs a night and maybe 5-6 hours at the weekend. but our usage has not increased since we changed meters. i just dont understand and am a bit worried no that i will get a massive electricity bill

Magentasue

Seems high for what you describe.

I wonder why you're on Economy 7 - you use far more electricity during the day. With E7, your daytime units are usually charged at an increased price compared to what you'd pay on a single tariff.

That aside, I'd say you should be using less than 12kwh a day unless you are using electric heaters. Do you use an immersion heater and, if so, when does it come on? Do you use an electric shower? A lot?

Don't know about fish tanks - I think they can be insignificant or fairly expensive to run depending on the set up.

Any new toys for Christmas? Big plasma TV?

deafpaul

we have had the same problem we have used 247 in two days? again same as u no one here in the day heating on for a few hours i have phone p my gas and electric company they told me to switch off the electric and if the metre stops it ok if not i have got a problem

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

You will only pay 24.98p for the first few kWhs in a quarter(225 I think) then your daytime rate will drop to around 15p.

So in 11 days only around 30 units will be at that 24p rate.

Using only 63 units at night of a total of 376 units(17%) it is unlikely that it makes financial sense to be on Economy 7 and you would be better off on a normal tariff.

davebebbz

i was thinking of ringing them up and changing to standard tariff. we do use electric heaters and both are 2kw but again they where being used before the meter was changed also we have an imersion heater that is jsut left on so it is constantly runnig

Magentasue

davebebbz wrote: »

i was thinking of ringing them up and changing to standard tariff. we do use electric heaters and both are 2kw but again they where being used before the meter was changed also we have an imersion heater that is jsut left on so it is constantly runnig

If you are hardly in, as you say, I'd suggest just having the immersion on for half an hour or an hour a day for the days you need hot water. If you have an electric shower, you may not need it on most days.

The heaters will clock up a fair bit when it's cold as they'll be drawing power constantly. You need to read your meters regularly and get an idea of daily kwh used.

Would definitely ditch E7.

tomthered

You don't say what you use the immersion heater for but if its just for washing the pots use a kettle, its cheaper. if its for baths I would consider an electric shower

davebebbz

i would but my g/f wont let me install one lol beign an electrician it would be very cheep but not talknig her round as we just had new carpet installed