Why am I using so much KWH of electricity ?

macman

Immersion heater left on 24/7?
The PSU's do not use anything like 500W, that is simply the maximum that they will output.

HappyMJ

bris wrote: »

I'm in a similar position, I had solar panels installed about 4 months ago so thought that would help. I now only use the dishwasher, washing machine etc in the daytime, but my last quarter I still used 2210kwh worth of electricity that cost £307.
I also have gas central heating and no electric showers. The only thing I can think of is the 2 pc's that are on a lot, both have 500w power supplies, but apart from that I just don't see where the electricity goes.
I also replaced all my light bulbs and spot lights to led so the only use 4 watts each.
Any one know how I can trouble shoot my usage.
thanks.

I agree with Macman. The power supplies are rated at 500W but the computer will rarely actually use that much. It's the maximum it could possibly use but only if you have a very fast processor which is being hammered by the latest extremely intensive game along with a supercharged graphics card as well as all the disk and network I/O and added to the screen. Even an old inefficient Xbox will only use 200W maximum even though the power supplies were rated much higher. When browsing the internet the total usage is usually less than 100W and when idle it might only be about 50W. You will find a computer is idle most of the time. However, if you left it on 24/7 then 50W to 100W adds up....and when you multiply it by pc's,ps3's and 50" plasmas then it's quite a lot.

The big user of power is anything to do with heat. Electric heating, dryers and so on.

Yolina

HappyMJ wrote: »

if you left it on 24/7 then 50W to 100W adds up....and when you multiply it by pc's,ps3's and 50" plasmas then it's quite a lot.

Absolutely - a rough guide is that if something uses for example 50w and is on 24/7 it will cost around £50 over a year... So it's worth switching things off properly when not in use

BirnamBear

Having switched my beer/wine fridge/freezer off in the garage as I posted yesterday I read the meter at 0830 this morning,exactly 24 hrs later.
Saving was only 5kwh....used 25kwh that period compared to the 30kwh daily over the previous days.
Interesting though that I read the meter also yesterday at 1230pm and at 1630pm.Had used 4kwh only by then.
When reading the meter at 1630 I noticed that the dial was revolving fast and it triggered something with me.We have a bedroom at the end of the house which is the end of a run for a central heating radiator.My wife uses this as a dressing room as it is off our bedroom but because the radiator does not work we have a Delonghi oil portable heater in there.It is on between 0600 till 0800 and 1600 till 2200 in the autumn/winter(we live in Scotland )
Switched it off this morning and will read again tomorrow but it must be a big user I'm guessing since the saving on the fridge/Freezer in the garage was only 5kwh.

Yolina

That rad might well explain a few things but 5kwh/day just for that fridge-freezer in your garage is :eek: are you sure about the figure? That's more than my daily use :rotfl: my average is 4.1kwh/day for my flat, I'm in most of the day too, my fridge and my freezer are both 13 years old so not the most efficient either.

bluebird

Has anyone considered if your meter is faulty?

check your house including loft space in case there's an extra electric cable running from yours to someone elses.

if you are unhappy ask your company for a free usage check meter to check all your appliances,don't leave tv's on standby

BirnamBear

Yolina wrote: »

That rad might well explain a few things but 5kwh/day just for that fridge-freezer in your garage is :eek: are you sure about the figure? That's more than my daily use :rotfl: my average is 4.1kwh/day for my flat, I'm in most of the day too, my fridge and my freezer are both 13 years old so not the most efficient either.

Had only used 4kwh between 0830 and 1630 and used 21 kwh between 1630 and 0830 today.

jalexa

BirnamBear wrote: »

Had only used 4kwh between 0830 and 1630 and used 21 kwh between 1630 and 0830 today.

Rogue or misunderstood underfloor heating timer and/or the portable oil-filled radiator?

macman

The oil filled rad running 8 hours a day 7 days a week will cost about £7 per week per kw. if it's a 2kW model (you don't say), that cost will double. So that's potentially £56 a month on your bill!
This assumes that is it on without the 'stat cutting in and out.

bloss0m

I cant imagine your freezer using any where near 5Kwh per day, it wouldn't even come close to 1kwh per day unless its faulty. The usually culprits of high usage is as always heating. showers use a lot of energy as does cooking too but you generally doesnt use them all day. 32kwh per day is a lot of energy to use of you dont heat with electric. Computers dont use a lot of energy even at rated 500w as mentioned probably around 2-300w tops its when playings games or number crunching pcs use a bit more even then no where near 500w