v high electricity bill - anyway to get someone to check usage independently?

ukphd

Hi

We have extremely high electricity bills - we're averaging £500 per quarter and we're in a small 1 - 2 bedroom (i.e. 1 bedroom and a tiny box room!) semi-detached house in surrey.

We are with atlantic and I know we can probably switch to save money (and will certainly look into this again) but we're currently in debt to atlantic so if we switch do we have to clear that bill first?

We did look at switching in the past but no cheaper options came up, but I will look again.


In more general terms I just can't understand how we are using some much power. We're pretty careful about what we use and when and have been cutting back on using appliances etc. I was wondering whether there are any organisations (preferably low cost) that can come and check that everything is ok. I guess I'm thinking along the lines of the meter not reading correctly or some sort of drain somewhere in the system? or something we're doing wrong?

I always phone in meter readings so the bills are correct as far as the meter goes.
thanks

spiro

Forget £s, how many kwh are you using? Do you have GSH? What level of insulation?

You can do a simple test of the meter by switching EVRYTHING off, then turning on a kettle full of hot water to boil and watch the meter especially it its an older one with the spinning disc.

ukphd

Thanks - The bill says "standard units 2412" - I'm trying to find out what the standard unit means - is that KWH?

Sorry what is GSH

We have insulation in the accessible bits of the roof cavity. There is one bit of the house that doesn't (a later extension with a flat roof) but we keep those doors closed.

ETA - we have gas central heating, not electric so presumably insulation wouldn't be a factor?

penrhyn

Elecricity 1 Unit = 1Kwh.

If you have used 2400 units thats 2400Kwh, is that your annual figure?

ukphd

Thanks

No, that's the last quarter

penrhyn

Assuming its level over the year thats 9600 per annum which as you say is very high.
Do you use any electrical heaters, have an immersion heater?

Try switching everything off and check the meter stops spinning.
Then try one appliance of a known load, say a 1Kw heater and put it on for an hour and check the result against the meter reading.

grahamc2003

ukphd wrote: »

Thanks - The bill says "standard units 2412" - I'm trying to find out what the standard unit means - is that KWH?

Sorry what is GSH

We have insulation in the accessible bits of the roof cavity. There is one bit of the house that doesn't (a later extension with a flat roof) but we keep those doors closed.

ETA - we have gas central heating, not electric so presumably insulation wouldn't be a factor?

2412 kwh should cost around £240. I don't lknow of any tariff charging 20p/kwh (for tier 2 units) necessary for your usage to cost £500 per quarter - so you are misunderstanding something somewhere.

Even so, £240 pq in a house your size with gch (gas ch) is still a mega bill. Do you supplement the gas heating with electric heating some of the time? Or leave your immersion heater on constantly (controlled by the thermostat) on an unlagged tank? Or keep snakes requiring constant high heat? Have a load of low voltage (but high power) bulbs in your kitchen, as is, or used to be, the fashion? Any othere unusual electricity usage?

macman

Start by going back over your last year's bills and work out exactly what your kWh consumption is by totalling the units or deducting a year old reading from the current one. Or phone Atlantic and they will tell you. Until you know your actual usage, you can't begin to address the problem.
What Atlantic tariff are you on that costs 20p a kWh? It should be around half that cost! I think that your bill of £500 must surely include a debt of around £250? What we need to know is your actual ongoing consumption, the cost can then be calculated from that.
Suggest you post your bill details so more advice can be given.

ukphd

penrhyn wrote: »

Assuming its level over the year thats 9600 per annum which as you say is very high.
Do you use any electrical heaters, have an immersion heater?

Try switching everything off and check the meter stops spinning.
Then try one appliance of a known load, say a 1Kw heater and put it on for an hour and check the result against the meter reading.

Thanks - no I don't have any electrical heaters or an immersion heater. I don't have a heater to try to test the meter - is there any other sort of appliance I could use to test (sorry if I'm being a bit dim!)

grahamc2003 wrote: »

2412 kwh should cost around £240. I don't lknow of any tariff charging 20p/kwh (for tier 2 units) necessary for your usage to cost £500 per quarter - so you are misunderstanding something somewhere.

Even so, £240 pq in a house your size with gch (gas ch) is still a mega bill. Do you supplement the gas heating with electric heating some of the time? Or leave your immersion heater on constantly (controlled by the thermostat) on an unlagged tank? Or keep snakes requiring constant high heat? Have a load of low voltage (but high power) bulbs in your kitchen, as is, or used to be, the fashion? Any othere unusual electricity usage?

Thanks. Ok I think I have made a mistake. I just called them and the £500 is because we are underpaying on the direct debit so it's the total owed over the past 6 months (sorry!) so the actual quarterly figure is £281.98 (including the standing charge).

We don't have any electric heaters. We have tortoises which have a 60 watt heat lamp on during the day but that's all. 90% of our bulbs are the low energy ones (the ones that aren't we are changing over when they go but they're just normal bulbs, nothing high power)

macman wrote: »

Start by going back over your last year's bills and work out exactly what your kWh consumption is by totalling the units or deducting a year old reading from the current one. Or phone Atlantic and they will tell you. Until you know your actual usage, you can't begin to address the problem.
What Atlantic tariff are you on that costs 20p a kWh? It should be around half that cost! I think that your bill of £500 must surely include a debt of around £250? What we need to know is your actual ongoing consumption, the cost can then be calculated from that.
Suggest you post your bill details so more advice can be given.

Sorry - did make a mistake (I hate the atlantic bill - hard to understand).

Total usage over the year is 7158 units according to atlantic.

We are on the "domestic standard" tariff and we also get our gas from them (though unclear if we get a discount for that as I can't find any info stating that we do at the moment).

penrhyn

Still huge amount, well over the average of around 5000 units, you are not engaged in exotic horticulture?
I'd suggest regular meter readings and turning stuff off to see what the effect is.
You could get a electricity monitor from your supplier, buy one , or sometimes they are available to loan at libraries.

ukphd

penrhyn wrote: »

Still huge amount, well over the average of around 5000 units, you are not engaged in exotic horticulture?
I'd suggest regular meter readings and turning stuff off to see what the effect is.
You could get a electricity monitor from your supplier, buy one , or sometimes they are available to loan at libraries.

Ha! no - no horticulture going on here!

I just updated the meter reading and it increased the bill! argh! only by £30 ... still better to be accurrate. I have an energy monitor. Right now it's telling me we're using 8.7 pence an hour (0.821 KW) which is basic background usage I guess i.e. the tortoise heater and this laptop. Nothing else is on. Does that seem likely?