1 bedroom flat - astronomical bill!

Katie-Kat-Kins

luckysue13 wrote: »

i am all electric 2 bedroomed house no extravagent uses of electric items all new appliances .just one of everything .2 people live in house 1 works days 1 nights so not a lot of electric on a lot of time my bill for first quarter was 747 pounds i had central heating in then so i took it out as i was not having big bills like that ,but after that my bills still have been really high my last one summer month was 296 pounds .am i paying to light up anywhere or my neighbours as my loft opening has not been bricked up so you can walk the length of 8 houses EDF is my supplier i have taken readings but not all day .can anyone help me is there any device what i can buy to test thanks sue

Your post is contradictory, you refer to being all electric and having a high electric bill but then talk about having central heating..... Can you clarify?

The best thing to do is to take daily readings at about the same time each day, do a few days with your normal usage, then if it is looking high try to work out what is using a lot.

Usual suspects are:
Electric immersion heaters, do you have it on for more than a couple of hours at a time? Do you use it during economy 7?
Electric Storage heaters, are they functioning correctly, are they on the correct meter and are you using the "boost" facility on them??
Other electric heaters - these are all really expensive and if you are using them alot they will be ramping up your bill.
Tumble dryers - these really gobble up electric, so try drying outdoors or on indoor airers when possible.
Electric Showers - long hot high pressure electric showers use a lot of power.
Leaving things switched on - make sure you are turning things off when you have finished using them. This includes turning your tv, pc and stereo off at the socket, and unplugging any rechargers when they aren't being used.
Lighting - turn your lights off whenever possible and use as few bulbs at a time as possible, for example use a lamp rather than ceiling lights with 3 bulbs per fitting.

x.sophie.x

Hi Brian,

Thank you for taking the time to reply in such a comprehensive manner. I will definately try and check the meter readings. The meter which we have is locked in our apartment block, and can only be accessed by the caretaker (however I did manage to find the code once, and I wrote it down somewhere... so I will have a little search for it.)

Because the meter room can only be accessed by the caretaker, EON arranged for the engineer to correspond with the caretaker to access the building and not me. So unfortunately I have no idea if a check meter was installed. I dont believe anyone came out more than once, so unless the results of a check meter can be gauged in one visit - it may not have been done (if indeed he/she did come out and my caretaker was about).

I do know that the meter was replaced around a year and a half ago as it was faulty! I also know that I spoke to an electrician who was working on the meters once and he said the wiring in the apartments was awful... so that does make me rather skeptical that we may be paying for someone elses electricity!

I will let you know how I get on with the energy monitoring.

Thank you for replying once again Brian.

E.ON_Company_Representative

Hi Sophie,

The meter change may be the issue, if you get access to this current meter, take down the serial number (located on the body of the meter).

Check this against the E.ON bills, the two should match. If not the meter exchange details may not have been updated by E.ON when the change took place a year and a half ago.

Let me know how you get on.

Brian

theleshollis

If you get high bills for no reason you can work out, apart from obvious inaccuracies on the part of the meter readers and supply companies, or obvious high draw appliances being left on, there are some kind of wiring faults that can start to show by drawing a large amount of electricity. It is worth getting the wiring checked because these faults can get worse and may be an indicator of a dangerous situation.
Les the sparky.

gmang

clarab wrote: »

5.5 units a day - what does that work out at?

As a very rough rule of thumb, something that consumes 1 watt of power and is on continuously costs about £1 per year in electricity. Think of it as £1 per year per watt. 5.5 units per day is equivalent to using about 230W continuously, so that will cost about £230 a year, or £19 a month.

Obviously different energy suppliers charge different amounts, but you'd be surprised how accurate this general rule is.

5.5 units per day is very good. I've been trying hard to get mine down from about 10 units per day, but 3 of those are my always-on desktop computer.

amtrakuk

clarab wrote: »

Hi Folks, Just had a really scary call with EON.

I live on my own, in a 1 bed flat. My Heating and cooking is done by gas, and my gas bills are currently under the estimate provided by EON.

However, the electricity is WAY above. In fact the (very helpful) woman I was just on the phone to was shocked by them. They say I'm using £100 of electricity a month... on my own!

I dont live a wild, energy rich life. I do work from home so require my laptop most of the day, but with the exception of this, there is only me, so theres a daily 5 minute shower and hairdrying, the light in whatever room I am in after 9pm (though a lot longer in winter I guess) and some occasional tv watching. I maybe do 2 loads of washing a week.

I of course have a fridge and ocasionionally have to iron something but that really is your lot.

Is this remotely feasible? I feel like someone somewhere is stealing my electricity or something! I can never afford the bills they want me to pay...

How is you're water heated? Is it gas with an electric emersion heater? If so make sure you're emersion heater isn't coming on when it shouldnt. Check to see if any timers aren't on constant or something stupid.

Make sure you're freezer and/or fridge isn't to high or needs defrosting. Another tip if tour fridge or freezer is empty or very little to freeze/chill, it will be clicking on and off more than normal.