4000kWh used in 2 months, how is it possible??

phemark

Hello,

We have moved in into a new build flat in the end of October. Month later we received a normal, 60 pound bill for estimated use. Which was fine. Then on the 2nd of Feb, we were asked to enter our readings. And yesterday, we received our new bill - 670 pounds for 3900 kWh for 69 days! This is average of 57 kWh per day! I cannot understand how is this possible?

So, the flat is 2 bed with a living room. Everything here is electric. This is what I was able to calculate myself.

• Boiler (not on demand)- it says that it does up to 6kWh per night, but sometimes we turn it on for an extra hour. So lets say max 7kWh.
• 2 bedroom radiators - i think they are ~1kw each, and we have them for ~3h each a day, so max 6kWh
• Two other radiators are broken, and we have 750w electric heater in the living room, which if we have on for 8h, is max 6kWh.
• And then there are 2 bathroom tower rails, probably ~200w each. One is on for 24h a day another is for 12 hours, so both of them should be max 7kWh
• So in total we get max 26kWh for heating and water.

All that is left are lights, two computers, cooker, washing machine and a fridge. I cant see these taking 31kWh a day.

Can you please let me know if I am calculating something incorrectly? Maybe something is using electricity even more?

Could broken radiators use electricity even if not heating up?

Thank you for all your answers.


EDIT: Recalculated everything based on all meter readings, and everything is +- ok. Conclusion - use less of tower rail

StuC75

But how accurate was the Estimated 1st month?

I have gas heating\hot water - and my standard electric usage is about 10/14 kwh a day (fridge, lighting, cooking, reasonable electric usage and occasional use of tumble drier)..

I would check exactly what the wall heaters are, 1kwh seems low? if there 2 or 3 that could easily explain the unexplained amount...

StuC75

Also consider that moved in in-time for the coldest time of the year so its going to seem more costly, if you are paying monthly budgeted amount then you would have built up a credit in summer time so wouldn't be as worried..

Have checked my combined usage for January and my daily average for a 3 bedroom semi detached house, 2 adults (mostly) was

Gas : 2,188 kwh over 31 days = 71 per day,
Elec : 279kwh over 32 days = 9 per day..

But Im still using the credit balance built up in my account so can have it warm...

Be_Happy

For a 'new build' flat your set up sounds unusual. All electric would usually be on E7. You say 2 broken radiators - why broken in new build? Are these storage heaters or are you on some form of 'wet' electric heating ie boiler and radiators, that is using full price electricity?

matelodave

Did you give a meter reading when you moved in, or did you just assume that the meter was zero. You might be paying for load of electricity used by the builders if you didn't read the meter and give it to your supplier.

You should be reading your meter yourself at least monthly so you can monitor what you are using - ideally if it's that amount then read it daily for a few weeks to see when you are using it all and see if you can cut down.

An immersion heater is usually rated at 3kw so you'd use 3kwh in one hour - is yours on a timer or left on all night. What tariff are you on, standard, E7 or E10.
Using electric radiator/convector heaters is a very expensive way of heating your home unless it's extremely well insulated and using them during the high rate is even more costly.

I can't help you with consumption as we've got a heatpump and our average total electricity consumption since October has been less than 30kwh a day - it's been a very mild winter so far for us - last year we used about 45kwh a day. So I'd guess that using direct heating like you we could be using at least 50-60kw a day and 100kwh or more if it was as cold as last year.
We are both at home all day every day and we live in a very exposed 3-bedroom detached bungalow out in fenland. I would expect a new build flat to have significantly better insulation than our 1986 build so you must be doing something wrong to use that amount of electricity or your meter wasn't at zero when you started.

dogshome

Hmmm - That Estimated first bill - Was the Start Reading the same as the one you gave the supplier on the day you moved in, (Or you leave it to a Letting Agent/Builder to advise the supplier ? )
Even on a New Build, it's highly unlikely that it's brand new meter will be reading zero - Power would be used for circuit testing at the very least.

phemark

Thanks for replies guys.

I checked my December bill, and it was estimate. So if i look at the whole, in the last 3 months we used on average of 44 kWh per day. It is still a lot, but now at least it matches my calculations +-.
Heating is ~28kWh per day, and everything else ~16kWh.

Weird is, that i always knew that electric heating is expensive, but without calculating this, never knew how much. From now, I will be limiting our bathroom tower rail use (there is no need for it to be on 24/7:).

Crisis averted,
Thanks!

matelodave

Even 16kwh a day seems to be a lot, I reckon 8-10 should be nearer the mark - what have you got turned on that uses it all.


Try being a bit energy conscious, turn stuff off or unplug it when it's not in use (don't leave stuff like TV's, computers, games consoles, video players etc on standby) Turn lights out when you aren't in the room. Halogen spot lights are very hungry, a kitchen with 10 of them is using 500watts when they are on, that's 6-8p an hour.


Only heat hot water for when you need it and don't let it run down the sink when you are washing or washing up. Take shorter showers or shallower baths - fit flow restrictors on the taps/shower (usually free from the water company) - if you use less you don't have to heat so much. Only use the washing machine, tumble dryer or dishwasher with full loads, they cost just as much to run when they are half empty as when they are full and they are the next big consumers after the heating & hot water. Only fill the kettle with as much water as you need.
Saving just one kwh a day will knock over £3.50 off your monthly bill

Stevefromdonny

5.8pence / kwh is very low indeed. Thats just a bit more than I pay for gas! Are you on a special tarrif?

Make sure all the heaters are connected somehow to thermostats. You can get plug in programmable thermostats which you can program to achieve certain temperatures through the day (for example 7am-9am@20deg, 9am-5pm@15deg, 5pm-9pm@20deg, 9pm-7am@15deg). I would also make sure the heaters are somehow centrally controlled via a timer, so that they all knock off overnight. A decent electrician will be able to advise you on this. It will be easy if the heaters are on their own circuits. Being a newbuild though, I would hope they had connected the heaters up properly with the correct controls.

Whatever you do, make sure the heaters are not just cycling on their own built in thermostats - they are hideously unreliable at actually sensing the temperature of the room! All they see is the teamperature of the heater they are attached to! Also, don't just turn the heaters on and off when you want, make sure you certainly have some time control on them. Or you will get another huge bill!

Just worth pointing out, my cousin lived in a newbuild flat and he never had the heating on, relying on heat from the surrounding flats.

I worked out that my old boiler used about 100kwh per day during the depth of winter. That would be scary if it was electric . . . (though the old boiler was G rated so I was paying for inefficiency!!)

lstar337

phemark wrote: »

EDIT: Recalculated everything based on all meter readings, and everything is +- ok. Conclusion - use less of tower rail

I doubt the towel rail alone is going to save you much, though 24hours is a crazy amount of time for it to be on. Try 8hours.

You need to look at your other usage, especially the high power devices.

I'm only using 35kWh/day at the moment, and that is in a leaky old building with no wall insulation, giant single glazed sash windows, and night storage heating. If I disregard heating costs (Eco7) then I only use ~8kWh/day at the moment.

Good luck.

kingrulzuk

Try being a bit energy conscious, turn stuff off or unplug it when it's not in use (don't leave stuff like TV's, computers, games consoles, video players etc on standby) Turn lights out when you aren't in the room. Halogen spot lights are very hungry, a kitchen with 10 of them is using 500watts when they are on, that's 6-8p an hour.


Only heat hot water for when you need it and don't let it run down the sink when you are washing or washing up. Take shorter showers or shallower baths - fit flow restrictors on the taps/shower (usually free from the water company) - if you use less you don't have to heat so much. Only use the washing machine, tumble dryer or dishwasher with full loads, they cost just as much to run when they are half empty as when they are full and they are the next big consumers after the heating & hot water. Only fill the kettle with as much water as you need.
Saving just one kwh a day will knock over £3.50 off your monthly bill[/QUOTE]


Good Advice. Thank you