Npower increase my monthly bill by over 40%

grannyjo

I have heard of 2 people whose meters were miswired and the upstairs flat was connected to the downstairs flat meter.This only came to light on one of these flats when the owner was in hospital for 2 weeks and all major appliances were off. THE utilities company like yours stonewalled. Her daughter found she had used £200 of electricity in the 2 weeks. They switched absolutely everything off and still the meter was going round. The utility company insisted they paid for the check- found the problem and she got the cost of the meter check back and after checking her consumption for a while, estimated what her usage over the past 2 years had been, and she got quite a lot of money back. (the meter had been renewed 2 years ago)
It really is worth switching everything off and watch the meter (usefully done when the upstairs flat is in.)

It seems you have 3 issues. Are you paying for someone elses electricity, or is the meter faulty- or is there any way you can cut your own consumption. Don't think that switching all your circuit breakers off will necessarly show that the consumption is all yours or not. It all depends how the wiring has been done/ misdone.I've heard of flats illegally wiring their ring main into next doors ring main. Switching off everything will- fridges etc are all ok for about 2 hours easily.
If your meter shows no change for 2 hours with everything off, then either the meter runs incorrectly or you are using more electricity that you realise. THe only thing you could do yourself that I can think of is to have everything off again, then run an appliance- eg convector heater of say 2kw for an hour and see what that shows on the meter. perhaps other people have more ideas.
If you have a 3 kw immersian heater going for 4 hours a day, that could use up to 12kw a day. You could try switching it off and boiling kettles for washing upand washes Just use your immersian for 20 minutes before a bath or shower. If you use a convestor heater these can be very expensive too.
It must be a big worry for you- let us all know how you get on

PS your idea of switching everything off at source - do you mean the whole electricity supply to the meter. This may not help you. You need to let the meter run and check what electricity is registered. The only way I know is to switch every appliance off- not circuit breakers.
Also I note you say you leave your tv, internet on standby. I think I read somewhere that leaving a tv on standby can cost £25 a year. We always switch our tv and internet off properly- its safer too. Again, your convecter heater in the bedroom. We left one on mistakenly for about 6 hours and found that our consumption had gone up about an extra 8 units. The idea earlier of an electric blanket could work better- though getting out of bed to a cold room is not pleasant. The energy saving trust ( google it)might be able to help as they could compare the cost of a storage heater to a convecter heater for you. It depends how long you have it on- but one storage heater could be cheaper than a convector heater.

back_against_the_wall

To grannyjo, post #23, your comments are very interesting and you might be right about my immersion heater. I had no idea these things used up to 3kw. However, a few weeks ago I turned off my hot water heating completely for about 24 hours. It made very little difference to the meter reading I took the next day. However, I need to investigate this matter further to rule it out as a possible explanation of my inexplicable high useage figures. Surely these immersion heaters do not soak up a steady 3kw all the time they are switched on? (I am not totally au fait with how they work). My understanding is that the heating is regulated by a thermostat in the hot water tank and the electricity consumption is adjusted accordingly? Otherwise all immersion heaters would be hopelessly expensive to run and nobody would buy them? So if I have my hot water timer set to come on for 4 hours it is not going to use up a colossal 3kw X 4 hours = 12 kwh or 12 units on my meter because the thermostat will cut off the consumption once the water reaches a set temperature. Is this correct or have I missed something? Anyway, I have now reduced the timer from tomorrow to only switch the hot water heating on for 2 hours instead of 4 so if the immersion heater is the cause of the problem I should see a reduction in my meter readings when I take the next reading.
I do not really think I am paying for someone else's electricity and an electrical engineer friend I have says it is very unlikely that the meter is faulty and the cause of the problem. It was my friend who advised me to test all the circuit breakers by turning them off one by one for periods of up to 24 hours and monitor any resulting meter reading changes and then if this does not provide any clue to the solution of my problem to cut off the supply completely and check several hours later if my meter has turned over any units in the interim while the supply was totally switched off. I have also been experimenting with turning various appliances on and off but nothing makes any difference.
Just to clarify, the TV is only used for a couple of hours each day and then switched off at the mains, not left in standby. I have a freeview recorder left in standby and my laptop computer, modem and fridge are the only appliances left on all the time. I have a fan heater in my bedroom but this has not been turned on for months, at least since last April/March.
Just try and explain this. I have another friend in the flat upstairs from me and last Saturday he kindly asked me up for a meal. I was upstairs at his flat for several hours from about 9pm to 1am. After the meal we watched a DVD. While I was up there he had his central heating on and also his oven to prepare the food for our meal. When I checked our meter readings the next day (Sunday) mine had gone down to 11 units from a previous 14 and his was 12. Oh, you probably say, this was because I had not used the electricity I would have otherwise used in making my own evening meal. The problem with this is that all I do to make my evening meal is heat up a pan of water and throw in some canned vegetables to make a sort of soup. That is what I live on. After my meal I read for several hours in my bedroom by the light of an energy saving 20 watt bulb. So, going up to my friend's flat saved me 3 units of electricity but how can boiling a pan of water, which takes at most about 5 minutes, and reading for a few hours by the light of a 20 watt bulb (it would take the continuous use of a 20 watt bulb for 10 hours to use 0.2 kwh of electricity or 0.2 of a unit) possibly explain the saving of 3kwh of useage? It makes no sense whatever. Also, my friend had his central heating on (which I have turned off), and had used his oven to prepare the food (I never use my oven, just boil some stuff in a pan) and yet the next day's readings show his useage only one unit more than mine!. Plus he has his alarm system activated and on all the time (which uses at least 2 units per day) and my alarm system has been disconnected. Also, my friend tells me he has never fiddled about with his hot water timer which is on all day. None of this makes any sense.

grannyjo

well done because you are really beginning to analyse your usage and comparing it to a friend is again really useful.
The immersian heater as I understand it, will use 3kw to heat up your tank to whatever you have set the thermostat. Once at the required temperature, it cuts off until it either cools down or you use some of the hot water- then it will turn on again at 3kw until its heated the whole tank up again. Why not leave it off for two days and see if there is a difference. The other thing with immersian heaters is again insulation. They usually come wrapped up in a bit of foam stuff. they need a special immersian heating jacket or failing that old blankets, duvets wrapped round then. We have both, the immersian fibre glass jacket and old duvets. Perhaps ypu could ask yourself why you need it on for 2 or 4 hours a day.heating water in a kettle is far more efficient. From what you describe, you seem to use a lot more units than your friend but get a less benefit. Could you ask your friend how many units say every 24 hours for a week. You could also write down every appliance you use (which doesn't seem many, and how many minutes/ hours. Once you have evidence that he gets charged for say 60 units in a week but runs tvs, cookers etc and you run far less appliances for say 65 units a week- then perhaps its time to question the meter installers more carefully. I respect your enginere friend,s opinion in that the meters do not go wrong- but occasionally there are rogue meters and perhaps yours is one. As one person said earlier- are you on a horrendous standing charge. If you go to a price comparison site- eg u switch- but many others, and put your usage in units for the year- rather than how much it costs in £s- then perhaps you may find, your tarriff is a really bad one your your usage. My mothers house, was left empty for about a year, with only occasional weekend visitors- our cost per unit was horrendous and also a huge standing charge so tarriffs do make a big difference. I have to admire you for your persistance in trying to work this one out. - stay in touch I will try to find where I saw about special energy advisers that advise you free. good luck jo

ps- it might be that the dvd standby- wireless standby and laptop on could use the 1-2 units that are missing form the evenin g you spent with your friend If you go out again write down everything left on while out and take readings before and after- that could show your usage recorded as more than it should be. Again, not sure but an electrician told me once that if an appliance is faulty, it can happen that the earth wire sends electricity through that- which you arte paying for. Perhaps other people know more.

grannyjo

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-2057727/How-does-cost-leave-household-appliances-standby.html

paste this link to show you how much things should use. ead another article that said eg computer costs 2p and hour

shaftingham

Immersion heater is 'as and when' - if well insulated and no water has been run off, little will be used. Don't read too much into standby charges on TV's pc's etc. They are a few watts usually and one kettle for 2 cups of water will more than cost what leaving a few TV's/dvd's pc's on standby in a day will cost. The eco-Nazi's like to add up standby charges over a year and terrify you with the resulting figures. So what? You leave 4 or 5 gadgets on standby and over the year it's like having another fridge - whoopee. This has an insignicant effect on your particular issue.
IF you go out for a day, take a meter reading and turn off your fusebox, isolate your flat. If all is good and it hasn't moved, then you know you are NOT being hardwired by someone else between your fusebox and meter. If it has moved then you know a tap-in is occurring there.
If your meter doesn't move, and you notice someone moaning about a powercut then you have been hardwired into from your mains ring after the fusebox. Try getting you pal from upstairs to watch everyone's lights from outside one night, while you turn your fusebox off.
If none of these apply and it DOES move you've got a dodgy meter. Simples.

back_against_the_wall

Initial results would indicate that you are definitely onto something grannyjo. Having reduced the hot water timer from 4 hours yesterday to 2 hours today my meter reading went down from 14 units to 10 units respectively. 10 units is the lowest figure I have ever recorded. This result clearly requires further investigation to confirm it is not just a fluke (very unlikely but you never know). Therefore I have reduced the timer again to just 1 hour for tomorrow and will monitor the result on both my meter reading and my hot water temperature.
I suspect this setting might not give me adequate hot water. The hot water tank is huge, far bigger than I really need but it came pre-installed with the (new build) flat and would not have been my personal choice. But then, neither was the flat which was all but foisted on my poor late mother as part of a compulsory purchase deal by the local Council who wanted to acquire our former home in the name of a "regeneration" scheme, but all that is another story.
What I find somewhat puzzling is that all the flats in our "new build" development are very similar and must have identical immersion heaters and yet the useage figures I have recorded for all other residents (all the electricity meters for the 9 flats in my block are in a cupboard on the ground floor to which I have access and have been taking meter readings daily not just for myself but for all the other residents) are all over the place from much lower than mine to much higher. This variation is difficult to explain unless all the other residents are daily fiddling about with their hot water timers which I think unlikely. I know that my friend in the upstairs flat with whom I occasionally spend an evening tells me he never changes his hot water timer settings and yet I have recorded his daily useage varying from a very low 1 - 2 units per day to over 20 units which suggests that the timer settings are not all that crucial to the daily useage. He is a teacher in a full time job and out most of the day so his readings are understandably higher at weekends when he is at home.
I will have to experiment further and also try and see if other residents do indeed have the same hot water system and immersion heater installed as in my flat. I do seem to be making some progress however and I am very grateful to everybody who has posted a reply or comment. David.

grannyjo

is your immersian heater lagged with a thermal jacket. it really needs to be. old duvets if nothing else. Also when switched on feel the tank. When I lived in a flat it took an hour to heat up enough for a bath. In 20 minutes the top one third was warm. Look at the temperatgure setting as well. My dad used to keep the water nearly scalding as he said we used less that way. We keep ours a bit hotter than hand hot. Think of it as keeping a 3KW heater on.
If you can, go without it for a day. As a new teacher, many years ago we only switched on the immersian for baths. But we had a funny geyser thing in the kitchen that heated instant hot water for washing up. good luck

back_against_the_wall

Meter reading results from the last couple of days have been disappointing. Reducing the hot water timer to only 1 hour per day from a previous 2 hours only resulted in a reduction in useage from 10 units to 9 units. So a full hour off the hot water, from which I was expecting a reduction of around 3 units given that the immersion heater accounts for 3kwh or 3 units for every hour switched on, only reduced my consumption by 1 unit. Even worse, the water went very cold the next day and I had to turn the timer back on for a full 2 hours to bring the water temperature up to something useable. This 2 hours resulted in my meter reading today going up to 12 units. This is a bit twisted considering that when I reduced my timer the other day from 4 hours to 2 hours the useage went down by 4 units from 14 to 10 or 2 units per hour but when I had to increase my timer today from 1 to 2 hours the useage went up from 9 units the previous day to 12 today, or 3 units per hour. The immersion heater hot water tank holds a whopping 170 litres and takes a full 2 hours to heat up from cold to a useable temperature for washing etc. This is way, way too large for my needs but I am stuck with it as it came pre-installed with the flat when we (my late mother and myself) moved in over 4 years ago. So to heat up from cold uses up potentially 6kwh or 6 units on my meter. The tank never gets warm to the touch so must be internally insulated. There is also a "boost" switch the function of which escapes me because it never seems to have any effect. I really cannot do without hot water. I can put up with no heating but must have hot water. Even assuming the immersion heater accounts for about 6kwh per day the sums still do not add up to fully explain the meter reading figures. I am left with trying to track down where about another 6kwh has gone and this is very difficult as there is absolutely nothing left switched on to possibly explain this additional useage. Regards and many thanks to grannyjo etc. David.

HappyMJ

back_against_the_wall wrote: »

Meter reading results from the last couple of days have been disappointing. Reducing the hot water timer to only 1 hour per day from a previous 2 hours only resulted in a reduction in useage from 10 units to 9 units. So a full hour off the hot water, from which I was expecting a reduction of around 3 units given that the immersion heater accounts for 3kwh or 3 units for every hour switched on, only reduced my consumption by 1 unit. Even worse, the water went very cold the next day and I had to turn the timer back on for a full 2 hours to bring the water temperature up to something useable. This 2 hours resulted in my meter reading today going up to 12 units. This is a bit twisted considering that when I reduced my timer the other day from 4 hours to 2 hours the useage went down by 4 units from 14 to 10 or 2 units per hour but when I had to increase my timer today from 1 to 2 hours the useage went up from 9 units the previous day to 12 today, or 3 units per hour. The immersion heater hot water tank holds a whopping 170 litres and takes a full 2 hours to heat up from cold to a useable temperature for washing etc. This is way, way too large for my needs but I am stuck with it as it came pre-installed with the flat when we (my late mother and myself) moved in over 4 years ago. So to heat up from cold uses up potentially 6kwh or 6 units on my meter. The tank never gets warm to the touch so must be internally insulated. There is also a "boost" switch the function of which escapes me because it never seems to have any effect. I really cannot do without hot water. I can put up with no heating but must have hot water. Even assuming the immersion heater accounts for about 6kwh per day the sums still do not add up to fully explain the meter reading figures. I am left with trying to track down where about another 6kwh has gone and this is very difficult as there is absolutely nothing left switched on to possibly explain this additional useage. Regards and many thanks to grannyjo etc. David.

Timing the immersion heater makes little difference to usage. I keep mine on 24 hours a day.

You said you had a small fan heater. How often is that used?

Do you have storage heaters?

grannyjo

at least you,re finding out how it changes. Probably the immersian is heating your flat slightly which is helpful. I don't know how you manage with no heating at all. If you are chasing the other 6 units a day I'd look at the things left on standby- I know someone earlier said its minimal but you're chasing every kw you can. Have you tried the nothing on for a few hours yet- maybe while you go shopping or visit a friend. We use 6-7 units an evening with tv about 3hours (plasma and heavy) lights,central heating pump, 2 fridges some internet and radio for about an hour. Unfortunately it soon adds up.