21000 KWH pa in 2 bed flat omg!!

felix6934

Hello please heeelpp! i live in a 760 sq ft 2 bed apartment thats all electricity, i work full time so my electricity consumption is very predictable, however i have an annual consumption of 21000 KWH this cant be right? I have rigorously refused to accept this from EDF who are currently looking at this issue......with a view to having an in depth investigation

D_M_E

That's an average of about 2 units an hour, day and night.

In your circumstances, I would expect an annual consumption of around 2100Kwh or about 10% of the 21000 you record.

Does your heating switch on and off at the correct times - is there a faulty timer or switch, and does your immersion heater do the same?

Have you tried cutting all power off and watching the meter and seeing if it still advances when nothing is being used - there could be other premises connected to your meter as well as yours - there was a thread on this recently.

Also, as it's all electric, do you have Economy 7 and is the heating connected to the E7 circuit and not the day rate circuit?

Cardew

D_M_E wrote: »

In your circumstances, I would expect an annual consumption of around 2100Kwh or about 10% of the 21000 you record.

??

This is an all electric flat.

The average UK electricity consumption for a property with gas for heating and Hot Water is 3,100kWh and many people use far more.

Electricity for heating and hot water depends on many factors - mainly insulation and temperature of rooms. Some people have long showers.

So whilst 21,000kWh pa is obviously very high, it is not outrageously high.

It is also worth checking how the 21,000kWh has been calculated. Sometimes it is not taken from 'actual' meter readings, but the initial reading used was an under-estimated reading.

matelodave

You should be reading the meter daily to see what is going on and just to make sure that it's your meter that's being recorded.

Reading the meter regularly and keeping your own records allows you to monitor your consumption, see when you use energy and most importantly to check that your bills are accurate and not based on estimates.

D_M_E

This is an all electric flat.

The average UK electricity consumption for a property with gas for heating and Hot Water is 3,100kWh and many people use far more.

Electricity for heating and hot water depends on many factors - mainly insulation and temperature of rooms. Some people have long showers.

By Cardew

Cardew - OP said they are out at work all day and to me that means a low user, only background heating, if any, during the day, so I think that an estimate of around 2100Kwh annual use is appropriate and the 21000Kwh reported is outrageously high.

I agree, though that OP needs to look at the bills and see what the 21000Kwh relates to - estimates or based on actual readings - did the OP supply a reading on moving in and has this been used by EDF?

Also, if the supplied start reading has not been used but a different, far lower one used instead, then EDF are charging for the previous occupant's usage as well.

Another point to look at is - do the meter serial numbers on the bills match the serial number on the meter?

[Deleted User]

The usual good advice from the regulars . i ll just add a couple of points. If you have an electric "dial " meter with its 6 little pointers all spinning around in different directions then it is so easy to misread these very accurate meters.
Also make sure that whatever timer switch is in operation to switch the low and high rates that you know what time this happens. You cannot rely on the old 24 hour analogue circular ones, they can be many hours out with the high rate coming on at the wrong time in the areas of the most usage in the evenings.

spiro

Read your meter every day and post them on here (just edit same post every day) so we can see how much you are using.

felix6934

Many many thanks for your replies! i am looking into this further as my 4 other neighbours are complaining of the same extra ordinarily high charges, all timers are fine and tbh through this summer for example there has been no heaters on at all and i have been at work as usual with literally just the fridge on, smoke alarms etc, i just think that 21000 kwh is way too high for a 2 bed apartment, i am looking at switching of the mains later today to observe the meter in case my flat is paying for other households lol, no i dont think i have econ 7 but will check. i am with EDF energy. thanks all

D_M_E

The plot thickens - all neighbours are making the same complaint - excessively high bills.

Were the flats purpose built as a block of flats, or were they converted from an industrial property such as a warehouse for example?

If converted then it could be that you are all being billed ESTIMATED usage based on the consumption of the business premises from which the residential units were created and not on your own consumption.

Have you checked that the serial numbers on the bills and meter match?

NittyGritty

I use 12800kwh over the year, 3 bed all electric


all the above were meter read by myself every 3 months, so no estimated usage here


so it does sound somethings a miss here

Cardew

The OP hasn't stated what sort of electric heating, and for heating hot water. However 'doesn't think' they have E7!