Help! Tripled my electricity usage in 6 weeks!

EnergyRants

Hi All,

Bit of a long story but here goes.

I periodically (every 4-8 weeks or so) take meter readings for my gas and electricity and register them online with my provider (Scottish Power). I did this last night and it informed me I'd used a whopping 747kW of energy over a period of 47 days!

Now just for some background I'm a single bloke living in a 1 bed flat, I'm out the flat 8-9 hours a day working and 2-3 days a week I stay at my girlfriends. Just to put things into perspective my electricity usage for the 215 days previous to my last meter reading was 749kW so I've used 7 months worth of electricity in 6 weeks!

So before I started blaming the meter or looking for the cannabis farm in the loft I disconnected every appliance in the flat from the wall, tv, cooker, fridge/freezer etc, the lot.

I then set about timing the meter disk because the more electricty you use the faster the disk spins, to try and isolate what could be draining all the power.

So I started turning on appliances incrementally and recording how much faster the disk spun and it wasn't until I turned on a lamp in the living room that I noticed the disk spun 10 seconds faster!

I turned the lamp off and on a few times recording the time it took for the disk to spin and each time it would show a disparity of 10 seconds.

Now I do remember that lamp's light bulb blowing not that long ago (3-4 weeks ago) and I replaced it with a Morrisons 60w reflector spot (which I believe is a halogen bulb).

So I replaced that bulb again with a fluorescent energy saving bulb and did the same experiment and there was no (noticeable) speed up at all from the meter disk.

I'm going to buy an electricity monitor to test all my appliances to make sure but if this is down to that bulb what are my options?

Could it be a faulty bulb? Is it because I used the bulb in the wrong type of lamp (the lamp says 60w so I assumed any 60w was fine).

If it is a faulty bulb can I take action against Morrisons for a faulty product under consumer rights? I mean it can't possibly be right that my energy usage would go from 2-3kW per day to 16kW per day that I've experienced the last 47 days.

Basically my electricity bill is £80 more expensive for 47 days than is should be and you know what the power companies are like my direct debit will probably be bumped up because this spike will affect my average usage.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Cardew

A 60w bulb uses 60w!

For you to attribute an increase of 13 to 14kWh a day to this bulb is impossible. Even if the light was left on 12 hours a day which is unlikely - as you 'are out the flat 8-9 hours a day working and 2-3 days a week I stay at my girlfriends'. - it would be using well over 1kW(about 1100w).

You cannot 'destroy' energy as stated in the First Law of Thermodynamics, so the 1kW+ would be dissipated as heat and the bulb/holder would melt!

Back to the drawing board, with an energy monitor, I am afraid.

EnergyRants

Cardew wrote: »

A 60w bulb uses 60w!

For you to attribute an increase of 13 to 14kWh a day to this bulb is impossible. Even if the light was left on 12 hours a day which is unlikely - as you 'are out the flat 8-9 hours a day working and 2-3 days a week I stay at my girlfriends'. - it would be using well over 1kW(about 1100w).

You cannot 'destroy' energy as stated in the First Law of Thermodynamics, so the 1kW+ would be dissipated as heat and the bulb/holder would melt!

Back to the drawing board, with an energy monitor, I am afraid.

I know it sounds mental and my timing the meter disk isn't very scientific but when that lamp was switched on the disk spun 10 seconds faster.

I will be getting a electricity monitor tomorrow but anecdotally it all coincides with the lightbulb change. Halogen lights are extremely warm but yes if it were using that kind of energy I'd have thought it would have exploded by now.

I'll be taking very detailed meter readings for the next wee while.

macman

You may possibly have an electrical fault causing that current drain, but the cause is certainly not a faulty light bulb!

Andy_WSM

EnergyRants wrote: »

I know it sounds mental and my timing the meter disk isn't very scientific but when that lamp was switched on the disk spun 10 seconds faster.

I will be getting a electricity monitor tomorrow but anecdotally it all coincides with the lightbulb change. Halogen lights are extremely warm but yes if it were using that kind of energy I'd have thought it would have exploded by now.

I'll be taking very detailed meter readings for the next wee while.

Forget the lightbulb, it's not that!

If you have really used the energy you should have noticed your flat is warmer too - that energy has likely been turned into heat by something.

borris89

if you believe the lamp with the 60w halogen lamp to be faulty, then i would recommend having it tested by a qualified portable appliance tester, this would show you the power used by the lamp.Just because something electrical is brand new, doesnt mean it can not be faulty!

Cardew

borris89 wrote: »

if you believe the lamp with the 60w halogen lamp to be faulty, then i would recommend having it tested by a qualified portable appliance tester, this would show you the power used by the lamp.Just because something electrical is brand new, doesnt mean it can not be faulty!

The lamp might well be faulty, but is sure as hell not drawing(using over 1kW)

As explained above(twice), energy(the 1kW+ in this case) cannot be destroyed. It has to manifest itself as heat and 1kW would cause the bulb and holder to quite literally melt or catch fire.

EnergyRants

I'm going to buy a electricity monitor and test it out because I just can't fathom how I've managed to use that much electricity.

I've replaced the 60w halogen bulb and also discovered a 100w! that was on for long periods of time.

I've been monitoring my meter and it appears to have returned to normal, 2-3kW per day.

Just really really hacked off to be honest. 747kW in 47 days