Excessive monthly electricity usage

irnbru_2

bulchy wrote:

I just switch it on when I get up at 7ish, so usually the water is only heating up for half an hour in the morning. The boost goes on at 3pm, and I just leave the water on to heat up for the duration of the 2 hour boost.

I'll take a wild stab in the dark but I think your water heater is on all day, everyday.

Between 15.12.05 and 07.03.06 you averaged nearly 60 units/day on the cheap rate whilst, at the same time, consuming 37.3 on the day rate. Nigh on a hundred units a day.

bulchy

Hi there thanx for your advice

Heres an update of with the last three metre readings from Saturday

Night Day Heat Day
Sat 3/06/06 45935 64985 24494 47238 (Dummy reading never changes)
Sun 4/06/06 45935 65005 24502 47238 (As Above)
Mon 5/06/06 45935 65025 24508 47238 (As Above)

another 20 units for the day time exactly the same as the day before the OH
has done around five loads of washing today in that. The water heater was only on for the two hours in the afternoon and used 6 units of electricity at 4.10p per unit.

After doing a survey on energy saving trust they say our yearly energy consuption should be around £607 but with our bills at the moment its more like three times more than that.

irnbru_2

bulchy wrote:

After doing a survey on energy saving trust they say our yearly energy consuption should be around £607 but with our bills at the moment its more like three times more than that.

Electricty usage does vary between households but 20 units on the standard rate does seem excessive. That's about 1 KW per hour.

Unfortunately, it's a case of keeping a diary of what's on and the readings you get.

Still convinced the water heater is your problem.

bulchy

Hi, the water is only heating up for about 2 hours a day, I will leave it switched off tomorrow to see what difference it makes, we only use hot water for washing dishes, a few kettles boiled shouldnt make too much difference. By then we will have 4 readings with it switched on, so it'll give us an idea of how much its costing to run.
Sue

bulchy

Hi there thanx for your advice

Heres an update of with the last four metre readings from Saturday

Night Day Heat Day
Sat 3/06/06 45935 64985 24494 47238 (Dummy reading never changes)
Sun 4/06/06 45935 65005 24502 47238 (As Above)
Mon 5/06/06 45935 65025 24508 47238 (As Above)
Tue 6/06/06 45935 65041 24514 47238 (As Above)

Ok From todays readings we have used 16 units of day time electricity down from the usual 20 units but thats just for today lets see how the rest of the week pans out.

I've also worked out that it costs me 24.6p a day to heat my water up on the day time boost of two hours we only use the water to wash the dishes would it be cheaper boiling a kettle.

Also i have someone coming out from metre plus a week tomorrow as ive noticed a loose wire from my Radio Teleswitch Supertarrif Domestic box to my day night metre box. Would this have an effect of my metre readings.

Im going to the energy watch office in Newcastle tomorrow as ive noticed a few discrepancies with my bills.

One thing for sure it makes you take notice on how much electric you use

One last question how much electricity does a telly use when left on standby? and gerneral other electrical items when on standby?

Sue

Cardew

bulchy wrote:

One last question how much electricity does a telly use when left on standby? and gerneral other electrical items when on standby?

Sue

Depends how hold the TV is as well as the model.

Modern(last 10 years or so) use very little.

If you leave it on standby 24/7(ie all the time) it will use approx 50 pence per year. The latest TVs even less.

There is a lot of absolute rubbish talked about the cost of leaving TVs on standby - as well as other devices.

Ditto - fire risk.

purplepixi

We've had the same sort of problem but with our gas.

They estimated our total yearly use on the winter quarter (they did the same with my mum). And obviously winter being the time when we use more gas and elecrtic, I though this was unfair.

They put our DD from £30 to £79 per month. I phoned up and moaned and they said I could have it dropped to £69, but as the gas and electricity prices had gone up, that was the best they could do.

However - there is a way around this. My dad has an internet account for his gas and electric, and he was paying £120 per month DD. However, he found if he took readings every day and entered them into the system on line, it automatically reduced his DD, as this meant the system had more upto date information, rather than being estimated on the previous quarters usage.

If you have an online account it might be worth trying.

bulchy

We will look into an online account this evening purplepixie, thanks for that.
Sue

irnbru_2

bulchy wrote:

Ok From todays readings we have used 16 units of day time electricity down from the usual 20 units but thats just for today lets see how the rest of the week pans out.

So have you worked out where your usage is comming from and why you're using more than your neighbours?

bulchy

Hi irnbru

We are still using around 20 units of day time energy a day which still
confuses me worked out that it costs me 24.6p to heat up the water
for the two hours in the after noon as well. find below the readings for the past week.

Night Day Heat Day
03/06/2006 45935 64985 24494 47238
04/06/2006 45935 65005 24502 47238
05/06/2006 43935 65025 25508 47238
06/06/2006 45935 65041 24514 47238
07/06/2006 45935 65060 24514 47238
08/06/2006 45935 65077 24519 47238
09/06/2006 45935 65097 24526 47238
10/06/2006 45935 65115 24531 47238
11/06/2006 45395 65134 24532 47238
12/06/2006 45935 65154 24532 47238
13/06/2006 45935 65173 24532 47238

what i have noticed is there a loose wire going to the night day reading
and we have a guy coming out from metre plus to check it out thats
probably why the night time reading has'nt changed at all

Cheers Edd