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Problem Solve with me.....tracking energy use....
CashStrapped
Posts: 1,302 Forumite
I need some heads from other energy regulars....
Helping a neighbour get to the root cause of an energy use/cost spike....
She mentioned to me that her bill one month Dec/Jan was suddenly enormous. She has an E7 set-up.
So, I went over expecting the usual; estimated bills, underpaying direct debit, poor use of E7 during winter and a poor tariff.
However, it turned out that none of those applied at all.
It turns out she pays on receipt of bill and gives a meter reading each time. The tariff, while not the best out there, is certainly not the worst.
Based on her annual figures she is using 68% on night rate, which is pretty good.
Her figures for the last seven days shows an average night use of 17kwh and a day use of 5kwh. That was using two out of three (3kw) storage heaters in the small flat. The storage heaters are being operated correctly. With inputs set as required and the output left on the lowest setting.
Looking at the month in question. The months either side follow her typical usage for winter. around 17-20kwh per night and 5-6kwh during the day.
However, for that one December bill she her daytime use stayed normal but her night use shot up to a 50kwh average per night!
If we exclude 20kwh for the storage heaters, that still leaves an unaccounted 30kwh.
So the question is.....where did that 30kwh night use go?
My only theory is the hot water cylinder was somehow left on.
However, She does not use the hot water cylinder. It looks to be about 175L tank with an immersion rated at 2.3kw (I think). It may actually be 3kw. It is well insulated. It is set to heat the tank to around 65 degrees. She said she did turn it on for a short period while her shower was repaired in early December. Yet she insists this was only for a few nights (timed for 2hrs a night) and that she manually turned it off at the switch.
For hot water normally she uses the shower or boils the kettle.
Assuming the tank is the issue, I do not see how it makes up for that missing 30kwh, unless the storage heaters used more for that period. It could be that the storage heaters used more for that month and used 25kwh, so that would leave 25kwh for the cylinder to make up. At a stretch I suppose it could use 3kw per hour if heating the tank for the whole E7 period (assuming a 3kw element). That could equate to 18kwh of use. But there would still be some to make up. And if the immersion was heating for 7 hours solid, the water would be boiling.....
It does not make sense!
The meter readings were definitely correct. The opening was inline with previous readings and use and the readings following the closing reading for that month was a higher number and again corresponded with normal use.
So....thoughts?
The hot water tank is my only possible solution....
The fact her use has returned to normal excluded, in my mind, a meter failure (and it is a reliable analogue meter).
Helping a neighbour get to the root cause of an energy use/cost spike....
She mentioned to me that her bill one month Dec/Jan was suddenly enormous. She has an E7 set-up.
So, I went over expecting the usual; estimated bills, underpaying direct debit, poor use of E7 during winter and a poor tariff.
However, it turned out that none of those applied at all.
It turns out she pays on receipt of bill and gives a meter reading each time. The tariff, while not the best out there, is certainly not the worst.
Based on her annual figures she is using 68% on night rate, which is pretty good.
Her figures for the last seven days shows an average night use of 17kwh and a day use of 5kwh. That was using two out of three (3kw) storage heaters in the small flat. The storage heaters are being operated correctly. With inputs set as required and the output left on the lowest setting.
Looking at the month in question. The months either side follow her typical usage for winter. around 17-20kwh per night and 5-6kwh during the day.
However, for that one December bill she her daytime use stayed normal but her night use shot up to a 50kwh average per night!
If we exclude 20kwh for the storage heaters, that still leaves an unaccounted 30kwh.
So the question is.....where did that 30kwh night use go?
My only theory is the hot water cylinder was somehow left on.
However, She does not use the hot water cylinder. It looks to be about 175L tank with an immersion rated at 2.3kw (I think). It may actually be 3kw. It is well insulated. It is set to heat the tank to around 65 degrees. She said she did turn it on for a short period while her shower was repaired in early December. Yet she insists this was only for a few nights (timed for 2hrs a night) and that she manually turned it off at the switch.
For hot water normally she uses the shower or boils the kettle.
Assuming the tank is the issue, I do not see how it makes up for that missing 30kwh, unless the storage heaters used more for that period. It could be that the storage heaters used more for that month and used 25kwh, so that would leave 25kwh for the cylinder to make up. At a stretch I suppose it could use 3kw per hour if heating the tank for the whole E7 period (assuming a 3kw element). That could equate to 18kwh of use. But there would still be some to make up. And if the immersion was heating for 7 hours solid, the water would be boiling.....
It does not make sense!
The meter readings were definitely correct. The opening was inline with previous readings and use and the readings following the closing reading for that month was a higher number and again corresponded with normal use.
So....thoughts?
The hot water tank is my only possible solution....
The fact her use has returned to normal excluded, in my mind, a meter failure (and it is a reliable analogue meter).
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