How am i using so much gas/electricity?? HELP??

molerat

Those are consumption figures, we need the meter readings and the questions I asked as that will affect how you are billed. It looks like there are a few estimates in that list - the numbers are all over the place.

Nikki2

ok - electric readings 2014-2015 - all read by me or npower...

date day/normal night/low

12/2/15 16241 4017
28/1/15 15924 3902
30/10/14 14211 3698
12/08/14 13097 3512
30/06/14 12676 3412
15/05/14 12245 3313
06/05/14 12097 3270
13/02/14 9913 2671
12/02/14 9863 2661
14/08/13 4176 1445

(new elec meter fitted feb 2013)


KWh 2014 - Total 8336 Elec / 19103 Gas

Elec breakdown KWh...
Jan 1181
Feb 1088
Mar 1097
Apr 925
May 565
Jun 338
Jul 376
Aug 431
Sep 470
Oct 560
Nov 605
Dec 700

Hope this makes sense to someone...! My head hurts!
lol

teddysmum

As above, you will pay a lot more on a pre-payment meter and will find most of your card value gone in arrears payment.


You haven't put your gas readings and I'm not sure what the electricity readings are (from two metrer displays ?), but your electricity does seem high according to your monthly usage figures.


I am home all day, use washing machine, dishwasher, tv, two computers, fish tank, fridge, electric cooker ,microwave, various appliances and a high 2kwh electric radiator (sometimes) but only average 7-9 kwh/day all year round. ie 210-270 for a 30 day month.


You don't need to write out all monthy usages but the two February 12th electricity readings are useful to work out an estimated annual use. Do you have a recent gas reading with one about a year before it ?

molerat

With gas at the property what do you use electricity for as those readings show you are using 2.5 times the national average of around 300 units per month and around 1.5 times the national average for gas !! Your night unit use does not seem to justify being on economy 7. The use pattern seems to show electric heating ..... underfloor heating by any chance ........ or are the oldies sneaking an electric fire on ?

Take daily gas and electric readings for a while, try to figure out what is switched on and try to figure out where it is being used.

Also post up your gas readings and dates and check what the meter reads in.

As a guide I live in a detached 3 bed in N Scotland and use 3300 kWh electric and around 18000 kWh gas with the heating on Nov - Feb/Mar 24 hours a day including background heat in a large conservatory !!

teddysmum

I've had a quick look on the Npower website and found these figures (They are for my post code but there won't be a large difference) which I've rounded to the nearest penny:


On prepayment
Gas 4p/kwh plus 29p standing charge per day
Electricity 17p/kwh plus 12p standing charge per day


On latest fix prices (to May2016)
Gas 3p/kwh plus 11p standing charge per day
Electricity 11p/kwh plus 28p standing charge per day.


On economy 7
Electricity 11p/kwh(day) and 7p/kwh (night) plus 41p standing charge per day.

As you can see prepayment is much higher.

[Deleted User]

Nikki you mentioned that you have had a new meter fitted a while back, that could be part of your problem. I had a new meter once, and they made a right mucking fuddle of it. They couldn't sort out the correct readings and I ended up being overcharged.

It's not clear what you're using to heat the house, if it's gas central heating then it's not likely that an Economy 7 electricity tariff is right for you at all. E7 is designed to run night storage heaters for people who have no gas.

Battery lighting is not saving you money, if they're disposables that's an astronomically expensive way to buy electricity, and even if they're rechargeables, your still buying more electricity to charge them with than you're getting back when you use the light.

I'm a bit puzzled by the figure in your tables your elec appears to be about 11,000kWh PA Aug to Aug, not 8,000. That's a lot of electricity, especially as most is being used in the day.

Is the second table gas? Are the figures kWH, m^3, or 100ft^3? It's important to know which.

Nikki2

First table was Electricity meter readings - day - then night

second table was Electricity KWh readings for each month of 2014

My central heating is Gas central heating - radiators.
The Imersion is switched OFF
we do NOT have under-floor heating - far too posh for us!
and my mum and dad - although they live with me are VERY energy conscious - is theyre cold during the day they put on a calor gas bottle fire, or an extra jumper. Only whn they are looking after my 2 year old and it gets really cold towards the evening do they give in and put the heating on.

Last time i spoke to Npower they recommended pre-pay, which i assumed was a good idea since i could at least SEE what was using so much power....

molerat

Of course they will suggest pre pay as it guarantees they will get their money, you pay for what you are using as you go and they get to charge a premium price - win win for them.

You need to address your electric use as that is where your money is going.

Nikki2

had thought about getting one of those gizmos that shows me when something's using a lot of power.....are they any good?

macman

1) Get yourself off E7, since you are paying a premium for all your daytime usage-which is the bulk of your total consumption (which is what would be expected without NSH's or an immersion heater).
2) as pointed out above, your electricity usage is 250% higher than the average, so you need to address the cause of that as a priority.
Both your fuels, gas and electricity, are billed in kWh's. The electricity meter also reads in kWh units.
Your gas meter reads in volume (either cu m or in 100 cu ft). This is converted to kWh's for billing purposes, and the conversion formula is shown on every bill.
Why put on a calor gas heater during the day-that is an extremely expensive way to heat any property. You already have the cheapest fuel per kWh available, which is mains gas.