"high" pre pay usage despite nothing being used and trip switch off, why?

ryouga

Been here 2 months now and had quite a few issues with my meter, first was I set 4 storage heaters to run for like 15 minutes a day at the lowest setting, and this guzzled about 12 in 3 days despite me not being in the house during this time as went to parents to collect stuff to move in.

When I came back I used a laptop for on average 2-4 hours a day and lived off salads and bread so no cooking, used a portable tv for about 6 hours a week, was using about £5-£8 a week electric despite having no showers or no cooking or no heating.

I went away for 3 days and £1.50 vanished off meter despite everything being off except small fridge, then stayed at home for 2 nights then went away for another 4 days to find about £3 vanished from meter.

I dont get all the strange amounts each time but the current one was the weirdest, was away for 9 days and £4(and a few pence) had gone from meter despite everything being off and me putting the trip switch to off and even the water heating.

How can it use £4 when theres no power going into the flat and standing charge is £1.61 a week?

Edit this is all electric, no gas in property.

spiro

Away 9 days, £4 used - well 2 * £1.61 equals £3.22 so that could cover 75% of it.
Is there any debt on the meter?
The heating would normally be on a seperate curcuit to your household wiring so turning off the trip for the house will not turn the heating off. Do you have a 2nd fuse board?

DVardysShadow

Read the meter and tell us how many units are being used. Then we can see whether you are being charged a lot or you used a lot.

Why is it always the money? Always 'My meter took £££' or 'My direct debit is £££'. Always 'I don't cook or wash and I do everything with the lights off' but never 'my meter says'

Premier_2

spiro wrote: »

...The heating would normally be on a seperate curcuit to your household wiring so turning off the trip for the house will not turn the heating off. Do you have a 2nd fuse board?

I'm not sure what exactly the OP is referring to when they say the 'trip switch' but I think they probably mean the main isolation switch.

You are correct that storage heating is normally on a separate circuit, but there is usually a single isolation switch that isolates all incoming electricity. But it it's just a circuit breaker they've switched, then that only isoaltes that particular circuit.

Also am confused by the OP's comment "...I set 4 storage heaters to run for like 15 minutes a day...". That doesn't sound like storage heaters to me, but if they really are and they can be set for just 15mins a day, the OP is probably wasting their time (and money!). Storage heaters are designed to heat up overnight using 7 hours of cheap rate electricity; attempting to heat them up for just 15 minutes really will result in no noticeable output.

ryouga

Premier wrote: »

I'm not sure what exactly the OP is referring to when they say the 'trip switch' but I think they probably mean the main isolation switch.

You are correct that storage heating is normally on a separate circuit, but there is usually a single isolation switch that isolates all incoming electricity. But it it's just a circuit breaker they've switched, then that only isoaltes that particular circuit.

Also am confused by the OP's comment "...I set 4 storage heaters to run for like 15 minutes a day...". That doesn't sound like storage heaters to me, but if they really are and they can be set for just 15mins a day, the OP is probably wasting their time (and money!). Storage heaters are designed to heat up overnight using 7 hours of cheap rate electricity; attempting to heat them up for just 15 minutes really will result in no noticeable output.

Yeah I know what storage heaters are, parents had them for years and knew they wouldnt generate much if at all heating just wanted a tiny bit of heat a day so the flat wouldnt be freezing when I got back.

As for the wiring there is 3 tiny flats in the building, each I guess with own fusebox and at main entrance to building is the 3 meters with the fuse box for the house.

The main reason I was worried is that I am paying so much for so little, I managed to run a flat about 3 times the size last year with a plasma tv and at one point 2 plasmas, a desktop pc, games console a few hours a day, router and was paying for the lights in the hallway on each floor and still used £3-£5 each week and often ran normal electric heating for a few hours a day and never went above £7 a week when I did so somethings wrong.