Electricity consumption quadrupled

Chriswright96

Hello, to start off, I'll post what our bill says.

During the period of June 2013 to Jan 2014:
998.2 kwh
During the period of June 2014 to Jan 2015:
4032.0 kwh

I've gone quite crazy trying to figure out what has caused this. I got one of those plug in energy readers to see what's using what, and to see if anything may be faulty. So, I've tried it on our fridge and freezer, 'Home entertainment' systems, even phone chargers ...

I have a couple of questions:

1. Could a faulty plug socket cause a rise in consumption to this scale? (Which my plug in reader may not be able to detect)

2. If someone has accidentally been linked up with our meter, for example a neighbor, would this be obvious? If I switch the main switch off, would that switch off the neighbor's?

It is also extremely annoying that the electric company charge to test the readers ... As if we haven't got enough to worry about ...

Is there anything else that would cause this hike in consumption?

Thanks in advanced

molerat

The first reading is incredibly low
The second reading is above average.

Are these actual readings or are estimates involved, who took the readings, do you ever read the meter yourself ?
To me it looks like estimates and catch up readings are involved.

Paully232000

Just for comparison on your figures, as I have just done our yearly consumption figures, which are about average for us price-wise.
2 adults, 2 children, 4 bed house; electricity 3590 kwh.

matelodave

Have you been reading your meters regularly or have these numbers just jumped at you out of the bill. Was your last bill or the one before it an estimate. Do you check your bills against the meter when they come in to make sure that they are correct and do you phone in the readings if they aren't?

Ideally you need to read the meter daily to see which days you are using it all and trying to equate that with what you've been using rather than running around with a plug-in monitor

Are you all electric, have you bought any new appliances, has your lifestyle changed. New electric power shower, using the immersion a bit more? Tumble dryer etc. This winter has so far been colder than last so you might have used a bit more.
It's hard to backtrack over six months to a year ago but doing a couple of weeks of close monitoring should give you some idea of where it's all going.

Chriswright96

These are actual readings (According to the bill) ... I also just found on there the reading for 12 months, which is 10039kwh! ... Oh dear ...

There must be something wrong there ...

From what I measured with my meter thing (I know it's not extremely accurate) I figured out I could leave everything on 24/7 for a year and it would only come to 5500kwh

CashStrapped

Ignore their yearly projections or estimated use for the past year. Energy companies like to do this, but sometimes they are off the mark.

You need to go through your past bills and note down the dates and readings of all the confirmed readings. These usually have a C next to them or say customer reading. Ignore the ones with an E for estimated next to them.

Once you have two confirmed readings, which are around 1 year apart, you then will be able to work out what you used over the previous year(s).

This however is no indication of what you will use for the next year, it is only a guide as to what you have used in the past.

If you have confirmed readings going back longer, go back as far as you can and see how consistant your use is.

I recently went back over 20+ years of bills to see how my usage had changed.

Robwiz

As your electricity usage has caught your interest I suggest you record your meter reading every day. You will soon notice the effect of any changes in habit and improvements like fitting LED lights and timer switches.

macman

How is the property heated and hot watered? If you use electricity for heating, then the weather variation between this winter and last could well explain it.

Shall1978

Hi, in the same boat, my average winter bill has been around 950kwh of electricity per quarter and just had one come through for 4286kwh, not sure how that has happened assumed the reading was wrong but it was correct, jumped from 08055 to 12341 strange love to know why

matelodave

Was the earlier one an estimate if the latest one is correct.

Shall1978

matelodave wrote: »

Was the earlier one an estimate if the latest one is correct.

The previous one was an estimate but the 7 before were all actuals, in my case it has pushed my annual consumption up from 3650kwh to 5800kwh, can't see what has changed, I use a tumble dryer but have done since we moved in 3 years ago, we have solar panels for hot water (ok don't get much use in winter) it's literally more than quadrupled