Very very high electricity bill.

tom_greaves

Hi, I am a student living in a shared house with 7 people, and we have had fairly consistent gas and electricity bills. We live in a oldish house (high ceilings and a few single glazed windows) We spent £389 on gas and electricity during between 2nd February - 28th of April, which is a reasonable considering many people leave lights on, tv's etc. I gave E.on a reading on the 28th of April which this bill was corresponded to (not a estimated bill.) Our central heating is a gas combi-boiler also.

Now on the 5th April our electricity reading read by myself was 22472 (and previously 3rd Dec was 21978, which means in the space of 4 months we'd used 494 kwh) and today I have read it and its 25365 kwh, which means in the space of 49 days we've used 2893 kwh!!!!! which seems absolutely insane considering in 4 months previous we used 494!!!

I have been looking and asking what people have been doing differently, and the only thing is that we had a tumble dryer installed, now I am probably answering my own question in this but could it really use that much energy. Two of my house mate have been absolutely stupid and on one occasion left it on for 5 hours straight in one day because the washing machine was blocked leaving clothes drenched, (which I again had to fix) and then putting them straight into tumble and wondering why it wouldn't dry. I even had to wring them out once. Myself and the other house mates have probably used it 1-2 times each in the month.

Our bill from 28th April - today is £337. Also the Tumble dry rating is 3.69 kwh =O, this is high, but could it really use up 2800 kwh.
So my question is could it really rack up that much, or could I there be another explanation???

Thanks.

More stress in the middle of my exams...

Stompa

494kWh in 4 months is roughly 4.1kWh per day, so assuming similar usage you'd expect to use around 200kWh in 49 days. This leaves you with an 'extra' 2693kWh, which equates to 55kWh per day. You'd need the tumble drier to be running flat out for around 15 hours every single day to consume that amount, which doesn't sound very plausible.

moonrakerz

What ever your problem is it isn't your tumble drier - more like a misread meter somewhere along the line.

If you are trying to account for 2800 units and your tumbler is rated at 3.69kW , that means your drier would have to have been running for a total of 31 days NON STOP (it would actually be more than that as the heater will switch on and off during the drying cycle).

4 months usage of 494 units seems VERY VERY low for a house with 7 people in it............ that cannot be correct ...........

[Deleted User]

Hi,

moonrakerz wrote: »

4 months usage of 494 units seems VERY VERY low for a house with 7 people in it............ that cannot be correct ...........

does seem kinda low, is the meter the dial type, easy to misread.

If you go back to 3 Dec 10, reading 21978, and today, 25365, that's 3387 units in 172 days, so nearly 20 units a day, plus the tumble dryer will have added a bit.

tom_greaves

Thanks for the quick replies, there was a meter reading error, because in February it had already reached 23102. So now we have to pay the outstanding balance, but the tumble dryer will still remain off!!!

Thanks.

grahamc2003

Looks to me like you have transposed a couple of digits on your 5 apr read. I'd guess the 22472 reading was actually 24272. That then averages the daily usage to 19 units per day from dec to apr, and 22 units per day for mar and apr. You'd usually expect the former period to use more, but if you've recently had the tumble drier fitted, that could explain the greater use in the spring over the winter. Tumble dirers are guzzlers of energy, especially if you like drying very wet clothes in them.

moonrakerz

grahamc2003 wrote: »

Tumble dirers are guzzlers of energy, especially if you like drying very wet clothes in them.

They are - and they aren't.............. 40 - 50p a load is better than wet washing hanging all over the house