Seem to be using a lot of electricity

Burgerphone

Hi all,

I'm living in an all electric, 2 bed flat on my own. I've been taking electricity readings on the days when I'm home all day. On an average day at home, I would put the immersion heater on for half an hour, which would give enough water for a shower and washing up. I'd use the laptop for a few hours or maybe watch some TV, and cook some lunch probably using the microwave or hob. I might wash some clothes in the washing machine once a week, but I don't have a dishwasher. Then in the evening I would probably watch more TV, use the laptop, have one lamp on until about 10pm when I would go to bed. I charge my phone overnight. I wouldn't have the heating on at all. My meter readings have shown that a day like this uses about 9kWh.

I also did some meter readings to see the usage when I'm not there. I did a reading on Sunday at 3pm and another the next day when I got home from work at 6pm. The usage was 6kWh, which seems like a lot to me when I haven't been there.

What worries me is that this seems high when I haven't even used the heating, or in my opinion, been particularly liberal with my electricity use. I'm paying £50 a month for my electricity which apparently allows about 11.5kWh a day (18.9p standing charge per day and 12.63p per kWh). I don't have economy 7 because I don't have the right meter (and I don't have storage heating anyway) But shouldn't I be using significantly less than this outside of the winter months to build up some decent credit on the account? Should I perhaps raise my direct debit to £60 a month to make sure my winter bills are covered?

Andy_WSM

An all electric property would normally cost about £100 a month (or more) spread over the year.

Anything that heats is expensive to run. So water tank, heaters (obviously), washing machine if it's not a cold cycle.

6kW a day when there is little activity in the house isn't particularly excessive assuming you have a fridge / freezer? They would likely account for half of that usage.

Burgerphone

Andy_WSM wrote: »

An all electric property would normally cost about £100 a month (or more) spread over the year.

Anything that heats is expensive to run. So water tank, heaters (obviously), washing machine if it's not a cold cycle.

6kW a day when there is little activity in the house isn't particularly excessive assuming you have a fridge / freezer? They would likely account for half of that usage.

Yeah I have a fridge/freezer, but I'm sure the manual says it uses less than 300kWh a year, surely not 3kWh a day?. And initially, edf wanted my direct debit to be £62 a month, but that was based on the previous tenants' usage (2 people rather than one) so I thought mine would be a bit lower.

CashStrapped

Your usage does not sound excessive if you are home all day using lots of electrical items.

Just get more efficient, turn everything off you dont need during the night. Turn things on only when you need them during the day.

Set-top boxes, wireless box, microwave etc.
Replace lights with energysaving bulbs.
Boil only what you need in the kettle
Only heat water when you need it.

You could do a test, by turning as many things off as you can, then check your meter to see if it still reading anthing.

Also, is it a frost free fridge? If it is not when did you last defrost it and clean it out. A frosted up fridge will use more electricity.

r2015

When I go on holiday I only leave my fridge and freezer and Sky+ box on.


I turn everything off even the cooker clock and my radio alarm.


Usage is then 3 kWh a day when it is normally 11 kWh.

Andy_WSM

Burgerphone wrote: »

Yeah I have a fridge/freezer, but I'm sure the manual says it uses less than 300kWh a year, surely not 3kWh a day?. And initially, edf wanted my direct debit to be £62 a month, but that was based on the previous tenants' usage (2 people rather than one) so I thought mine would be a bit lower.

Toyota claims I can get over 70 MPG from my car, but guess what...

Also, previous tenants usage - after the mildest Winter on record you mean? Whether there are one or two people in the property, the heating costs are the same. May be a slight saving on hot water costs, but you still need lights, put the TV on, no matter how many people are watching it the consumption is the same.

Can you borrow an energy meter from someone? You'll be surprised how all the small things add up. Your Sky box for example, can use 1kW a day if it's on standby and set to record programs. Does it get warm (I know the answer, it does) - the warmth is wasted energy, you still pay for that.

How about broadband router, cordless telephone, doorbell transformer? There are lots of small things in a home that we think are insignificant, but when added together again amount for 1kW or so over 24 hours.