energy monitors - advice

mumlady1

Hi there
I've just received a HUGE bill for combined gas & electricty of £405.33 from n-power (bear in mind that I already pay them £119 per month) and my DD is about to increase to £209 per month!!!!!!!! :eek:
Before anyone comments, I don't have our heating on all day (I do have a selection of jumpers & have been known to wear 3 at a time to avoid putting the heating on!) & we don't leave appliances on standby, we do switch off lights etc, etc. I just can't see where this bill has come from
I'm in the process of switching but am also considering an energy monitor to keep an eye on our day to day usage so I can a) try to work out how this bill is so high & b) try to prevent the same thing happening again.
Does anyone have one of these monitors & do you have any suggestions or advice regarding it?
Your help would be appreciated, thanks
Can you get a similar monitor for gas usage?

WestonDave

The electricity monitors are OK - you can often borrow one from your council or library - within limitations - i.e. they are fairly poor at low readings but that probably isn't your problem. If you are going to use one for a while have it in easy sight so in the kitchen near where you cook or in the lounge so you can keep an eye on it.

Might be useful if you post your actual usage (gas and electricity seperately) on here as we can probably pick up which is high (if either), along with some basic details like size/style of house and the number of people with ages living in the house. For example a house with a load of teenagers might be draining a lot of hot water showering!

mumlady1

Thanks for the reply Weston Dave :-) I am intending to have the monitor in easy sight where I can see exactly what is going on with the electricity usage.
Our house is an average size 3 bed semi. 2 adults & 2 teens. We have gas central heating, double glazing & cavity wall insulation.
The kids each have a playstation or xbox which is on for a couple of hours most (but not every) days. If they're not on that they are watching a film on their laptop but they don't have both on at the same time.
Usually only 1 room has a light on at any time. Other lights are switched on only when room is in use.
Yes, we do all shower every day :-) & the only other thing I can think of which is used to any great extent is the TV and my laptop which I use for work.
usage on the bill is Electricity 4955 kWh
& Gas is 13083 kWh
How does that compare with everyone else?

rogerblack

mumlady1 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Weston Dave :-) I am intending to have the monitor in easy sight where I can see exactly what is going on with the electricity usage.

I would recommend in addition getting one of these.

(No particular recommendation for this seller, who I have not dealt with before)

A plug in energy meter really helps work out what's using what.
It lets you do things like plug the fridge into it for a day and see what it uses, while the whole-house energy meter gives you a poor idea of use over time.

It can be very easy to see an appliance turning on and using an extra lot of watts - but it's generally rather hard to work out from this how much it's on over a 24h period, and therefore the costs, with a whole house monitor.

Equaliser123

Just a question, but have there been a series of estimated bills which may have estimated too low?

Could simply be a 'catch up'.

MillicentBystander

rogerblack wrote: »

I would recommend in addition getting one of these.

(No particular recommendation for this seller, who I have not dealt with before)

A plug in energy meter really helps work out what's using what.
It lets you do things like plug the fridge into it for a day and see what it uses, while the whole-house energy meter gives you a poor idea of use over time.

It can be very easy to see an appliance turning on and using an extra lot of watts - but it's generally rather hard to work out from this how much it's on over a 24h period, and therefore the costs, with a whole house monitor.

I have both so agree with you to an extent but if you think about it most household's really power hungry 'appliances' could not be measured by these plug in monitors - namely electric cooker, immersion heater and electric shower. Plus if you discover that your fridge is using more electricity than you would like it to, it's not like you can turn it off is it? Or buy a more energy efficient one at great expense to 'save' leccy'. Certainly what they are good for is telling you how much that plasma in the corner is costing you whilst it is on as 'background noise' etc.

JasonEmporio

Might be useful if you publish your real utilization (gas and power separately) so any expert can probably choose up which is great (if either), along with some primary information like size/ style of home and the variety of individuals with age groups residing in the home.

mumlady1

Hi everyone, thanks for the replies & suggestions. I spoke (eventually) to a very helpful guy at the energy savings (not the correct title but I'm just finished work & my brain is numb, lol) dept. I walked through every inch of the house telling home which appliances i had in each room & how often they are used. According to him, I should be using approx 15kw of energy per day but we are being charged for 25kw per day! There's obviously something not right.
I've to take meter readings every day at the same time for a few days & speak to him again next week. He did agree with me that the figures didn't add up (and yes, I was honest about my energy consumption, lol) so hopefully, they'll investigate a bit further & find an answer. In the meantime, I'll look at energy monitors as I'd like to be more aware of what's going on to avoid this happening again. Thanks again for the info regards these meters, I should be able to make a more informed choice now:)

rogerblack

MillicentBystander wrote: »

Plus if you discover that your fridge is using more electricity than you would like it to, it's not like you can turn it off is it? Or buy a more energy efficient one at great expense to 'save' leccy'.

It does depend.
I hadn't realised my last fridge was on its last legs - and discovered that it was probably costing me 60 quid a year or so to run. (The compressor was on most of the time)

(It so happens that I got a 'new' one for free at the tip, just by asking if it was OK to pick one up as I dropped it off)
I have found it useful for stuff like working out how much power it takes to microwave things - and that my little toaster oven is remarkably energy hungry, and just how much my washing machine costs on 'dry' - for example, is it cheaper to do two small, or one big load, or ...

Basically lots of choices that matter very little to me which way I do them, but together save significant energy.

techno12

Have you applied for the nPower free energy monitor?

There was a section on the "My Account" bit of the website where you applied for one and I've had mine for a couple of years now. Not sure if the offer is still running - you could always ask for one if not as they might be feeling generous and send one anyway.

I have mine in the corner of the lounge and I still look at it loads, especially as this year I'm working from unpaid from home and have a PC with 2 monitors running all day (my weekly usage has increased 10% to 55kWh which isn't too bad I guess). I don't want any nasty surprises and my usage seems more or less fixed.

Disagree with some of the comments above regarding the plug in monitor. I have one of those too but haven't used it since I got the whole house one as the latter is far more useful (and it's fairly accurate, it wavers +/- 5w which is next to nothing). The plug in ones are a pain to use, crawling on all fours to see the reading, and having to plug/unplug things. Having said that, it's handy to borrow one and go round the appliances once I guess..

With the whole-house one, you can see the total consumption drop almost immediately when lights etc are clicked off. Slightly satisfying to see the drops, alarming when it rises when the tumble dryer is on, doubly so if I have the oven on at the same time - the idle of 125w balloons to over 4500w ;-)

Norman_Castle

Disagree with some of the comments above regarding the plug in monitor. I have one of those too but haven't used it since I got the whole house one as the latter is far more useful (and it's fairly accurate, it wavers +/- 5w which is next to nothing). The plug in ones are a pain to use, crawling on all fours to see the reading, and having to plug/unplug things. Having said that, it's handy to borrow one and go round the appliances once I guess..

I've used a short extension lead to site my plug in monitor in a more convenient place. I've had two. The one below is easy to set up, by adding unit cost, and easy to read. Another similar one was confusing to set and understand and was very difficult to read. They are also much more accurate than the cable connect type.
http://smartgreenshop.co.uk/index.php/powerplus-energy-meter.html
Postage for me is £1. Go to checkout and input postcode.

The comment above about fridge usage is true but as the running costs are higher than expected I defrost my fridge regularly, unlike before when it was defrosted when necessary (when the door no longer closed).