Stupid Electricity Bills

gargans

I'm after some ideas/help.
A year ago, after undergoing some building work on the house, I invested in a new combi condensing boiler, new high efficiency fridge freezer, and just generally got smarter about energy use.
Prior to this I had a straight gas boiler and with hot water tank with emerison heater. In addition, I had a very forgetful wife and teenage son, who'd put the emersion on for a bath, and then 2 - 3 days later I would discover it. My electric bills were just stupid.
With the new boiler, and other efficient applicances, I managed to build up a considerable credit of £300 by continuing with the existing monthly payment which had been based on my inefficient past. Earlier this year, after winter, I decided to claim the credit and have my month bills based on current usage and reduced them from £90 per month, to a very acceptable £45 per month.

Six months later which was 3 months ago, I received an electricity bill from BG saying I was seriously in arrears, some £340. :eek: How could that have happened in so short a time. If I had not changed the amount of payment, and remained at £90, an amount which had been building a credit, that even would not have been enough to cover the monthly useage.

I was shocked, as asked BG. A clearly commision hungry call centre operator suggested i should take out Boiler insurance as it might have been that. After explaining it was less than 12 months old, he pressed on, and said a malfunctioning Gas boiler could indeed cause such ridiculously high bills!!:mad:

I increased my bill to £108, and thought over the summer months I would make up some ground. However, having just recieved my latest bill I find that even with summer, and acting like scrooge for every light left on or fridge door left open for more than a second, I still managed to have used £250 worth of electricity.

How can that be? I've added no new appliances, I've been on holiday for two of those weeks. I've not cooked up a storm in the kitchen. I'm really worried, I have winter coming up, surely it will go up further.

I have a 4 bedroom semi, what are you people paying per month for Electric (without causing debit or credit)?

Does anyone have any ideas of how I can identify whats causing the energy drain?

Cassa

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=250436

Hi Gargans this may help.

gargans

Thanks Cassa, thats a hell of a lot to go at. You don't mention a resolution there though, did you ever find out what was causing it?

I haven't thought of getting a power meter, in fact had never heard of them, but I guess I'm off to Maplins now. I also note the brief mention of a power drain from the wiring. I had never considered that, but now suspicious of it.
a). the building work included new wiring in the new extention (by a qualified electrician).
b). I ran a cable to a garden shed - (not a qualified electician) - also earlier this year:o

Does anyone have any evidence of faulty cabling causing such a drain?

Whilst I wait on that, I guess, if i run the type of test mentioned with my fridge freezer, and it runs high, I should then take the fuse out on my garden shed, and that way It rule both out.

One last point, I have been chatting with BG about this, they told me it would only be £60 if the test of the meter turned out not to be faulty, although the engineer hasn't been booked.

Cardew

I assume you used £250 of electricity in a quarter(3 months?) Depending on your tariff(and assuming your bills are not based on an estimated reading) that is about 2,500kWh(the average is supposed to be 3,300kWh per year)

Obviously that is very high particularly if you don't use the immersion heater.

Without a power monitor to check each appliance, you need to switch as much as you can off and watch the dial on the meter as you switch on individual appliances.

Faulty cabling will not cause large power loss, power has to be dissipated in heat and in that quantity you would notice!

I am afraid it is simply a case of detective work and eliminating all the causes.
It couldn't be something silly like the immersion heater left on could it?

gargans

No. Emersion heater and storage tank was thrown in the skip with much pomp and cermony during the extention build.

However, i have just checked my latest bill, I think I may have confused matters somewhat. The latest Bill said I had used 1652 kWh for which i was charged £172 from Jun 19 to Sept 11th, which is still high isn't it. I think the £250 is what I have left in debit.

I am pleased to here faulty cabling is unlikely, i may not be qualified, but i am competent. I will however be mindful of it as I check appliances. There's nothing more i can do until I do this though. Wish me luck.

calleyw

I would take a meter reading turn everything off an hour and then go back take another meter reading and see if you have used anything.

I take monthly meter readings. I live in a 3 bed house two adults with a A rated fridge freezer a medium sized A rating chest freezer. We use about 130(ish)Kwh a month.

We also use gas for heating and hot water.

The only things that are on constantly are the answer machine/fridge freezer/chest freezer/and combi boiler.

Everything else is turned off when not in use.

My last bill for electric for 3 months was £40.


Yours


Calley

gargans

Thanks Calley, you have given me something new to aspire to - £40 per month attaboy!:T

I think will give it a try now while every one is out, I am hoping my wireless Modem is not going to draw much power, that will be only thing I leave on. I still have to work, but my PC has pretty good battery life.

I should be able at least to rule out faulty cabling to the shed.

Cardew

1,652kWh is still high but not stupidly so as your thread title might indicate.

Wireless modems use very little power.

gargans

I have just had a 2 hour power off. During that period, the meter changed by only 8/100s of a kWh. Thats not worth worrying about is it? and I guess that rules out a power drain due to faulty cabling in the house or to the garden shed.

I've been out to buy a power meter, and so will begin to monitor the appliances, and check the meter to see if i am being charged properly.

Cardew

If you are measuring with your Power Monitor bear in mind that appliances on a thermostat need to be measured over a considerable time to get a true picture of their consumption.

e.g. a freezer might have quite heavy consumption when the compressor is running, but it will not be running for several hours at a time and thus using virtually no power.
This will apply to lots of appliances. Cooker, fridge, dishwasher and washing machine(measure a complete cycle on these) Iron, Microwave.

You might just measure your TVs on standby(just the TV and not DVDs etc) and post your results here - they use far less power than most people think.

gargans

Thanks for the guidance Cardew. Tomorrow I will test the mains meter, someone has suggested turning all else off and running something like a fan heater for a period of time, and comparing the main meter reading against that provided by the power meter.
After this, I will begin with other items.

I now feel like i am beginning to regain control, it may not be a faulty meter, but know i have the means to identify the cause.

Thank you all for your interest, help and guidance.

I will post my results in a week or so.

:j :T :T:T :j