Electricity bill is HUGE could a heater have used that much electricity?

sparkleworld

You can hire an owl energy monitor free from your local library and it will measure the units you are using.
When we experienced unusually large fuel bills, I took a meter reading and immediately turned EVERYTHING OFF. I checked that no electricity was being used ( OH was convinced Next door had hooked up to our supply as the bill was so big!)I then turned each electrical appliance on one by one on the hour and took a meter reading to find out what was costing the electricity. Ours was the shower and an old fridge which we thought was economical.
When we installed the owl monitor I also found that the strip light in the kitchen and the garden security lights used a lot of power, things I hadn't even thought of!
They are a very useful way of making you mindful of your consumption- and put paid to the"discussions" every time the fuel bill came through. Hope you get it sorted.

jalexa

111222 wrote: »

I hope it's a mistake in the meter.

Before considering that very remote possibility you need to eliminate a reading/billing error. Daily readings (if you are able) would be a good start.

You don't happen to a have a "dial" meter by any chance?

111222

jalexa wrote: »

Before considering that very remote possibility you need to eliminate a reading/billing error. Daily readings (if you are able) would be a good start.

You don't happen to a have a "dial" meter by any chance?

No i have a digital meter and i cannot see how it can be a mistake, oh well looks like i am going to be paying this off of the next year, oh the joys.

HappyMJ

111222 wrote: »

No i have a digital meter and i cannot see how it can be a mistake, oh well looks like i am going to be paying this off of the next year, oh the joys.

Are you on an E7 tariff by any chance?

What was the bill the previous 12 months?

vectrex

My rule of thumb is heat from electricity = expensive :-( I do all the normal stuff to minimise this... only boil a small amount of water in the kettle etc etc.
My house has cheap night rate "Economy 7" so I try and set my washing machine and tumble dryer to come on over night. My dishwasher has an Economy mode... I fill it up during the day... then set that to come on over night as well... most modern devices have built in delay timers... before this I used to use a plug in timer I bought from homebase. If your on a night rate you should take full advantage :-)

Having said that... even if you dont have a night rate £2000 seems high to me!

macman

If you don't have E7, you might consider it, as it would suit your circumstances very well.

HalloweenJack

whats your pc like spec wise? some people here underestimate how much power a computer can actually use - a top of the line machine with dual video cards can draw quite alow of power from the wall - if your running , say GTX470 in sli , your pulling around 600w from the wall - and gaming you can lose your time , so say a 6 hour+ session of BF3 or MW3 , most days starts to add up (along with the heater)

psyjrobe

£2000 does seem like a lot but having an electric heater on all the time will be extremely expensive. Perhaps you are on a crap tariff and are paying over the odds per unit? One of the earlier replies to this thread has calculated usage based on 12p or 15p per unit but I'm currently paying 38p (!!!) per unit for my peak electricity with Npower (I'm in the processes of switching).

Even before I found myself on this stupid tarfiff I wouldn't dare leave any kind of electric heater on for more than about 5 hours per day. But you can see how much your tariff can make a difference because at 38p per unit, 10 units per day is nearly £4 per day - 10 units per day is nothing for winter if your heating is electric.

Daily metre readings are definitely a good idea. In fact, maybe take them about 3 times per day for a week to see how much you are actually using. If your bill is accurate try switching to the cheapest supplier available given your high usage.

PS Another thing to check is your boiler. Do you constantly have hot water or do you switch it on an hour or so before you shower? If your water is always hot your immersion might be left on all the time which would be expensive.

macman

The OP doesn't have a boiler-he's on electric only heating.
What tariff are you on that charges 38p per kWh?!

HappyMJ

Npower only charges a very high rate on the first 2kWh per day the remaining kWh are charged at a lower rate.