3000 Kwh per month?!

DrBoogy

Hi all,
Apologies for being "that guy" who sets up an account to ask one question, but I really need some advice and after reading through the forums it seems like a few of you really know what you're talking about. So, the situation is this:

I moved into a new flat at the end of last month. It's an old place with a few drafts and poor insulation, one bedroom, with no gas. There are two storage heaters, one in the living room and one in the bedroom, an immersion heater for hot water (which I've yet to use) and an electric shower. My energy usage is pretty typical; I have a TV which is usually on in the evenings, take one shower a day and do an average of two lots of laundry per week. Heating is on (medium) for an average of 8 hours per day, no thermostat - just on/off.

I took meter readings (from two separate meters) when I moved in, recently received some documentation from EDF and took another set of readings which were around 30 days apart. According to these meters, my energy usage has been over 3000Kwh since moving in - a cost of around £540 on my current tariff which is utterly affordable.

I'm positive there is something wrong here, and between worrying and trying desperately to reduce my consumption I'm not really sure what to do. EDF won't accept the readings online as they're "too high" (surprise surprise) so I'm in limbo there. My worry is that when they send someone round to read the meters I'm going to be slapped with this enormous bill that I'm unable to service.

Any advice?

Robin9

Could you post your readings here please

Take care when reading meters - the old clock type are very easy to mis-read; the new digital less eg mine is 0007312.8 - ignore the number after the decimal point

DrBoogy

Original readings were:
1st meter: 02890
2nd meter: 012139

Readings taken this morning are:
1st meter: 04262
2nd meter: 013900

I have just realised the last digit on the second meter is decimalised (I think, doh!).
Regardless, this still seems like very high consumption for such a small place, no?

Thanks in advance.

House_Martin

Are these meters electric dial type meters ?. These are old ones with 6 rotating dials with pointers .
They are super reliable but very prone to mis reading by both meter readers and occupants.
Digital meters also get read incorrectly if viewed from the wrong angle, 9 and 4 and 7 and 1 can get mis -read

DrBoogy

There appears to be an old-style meter in the middle of two digital ones, from which I have taken the readings. I have some pictures but am unable to upload a a new member.

jk0

Well I'd say you are using your system completely wrongly. You have used 1372 units on the day rate and 177 on the night rate.

Storage heaters are not meant to be switched on and off. You are meant to leave them on all the time, so that they charge automatically overnight. It looks like you have not used them at all overnight, and just used the expensive boost in the evenings.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

if second meter is only a 5 digit meter, then 01390 - 01213 is only 177 units,

whereas 013900 - 012139 is 1761 units, a fair difference.

Edit: stick a link up for pics and somebody will post them for you.

DrBoogy

Entirely possible jk0, just to clarify I do not turn the heaters on or off, they come on automatically at certain times of the day (I've noticed around 18:00 until I go to bed around 22:00, but I'm sure I've seen them on around noon at the weekends also).

I'm not sure exactly where the timer is - this is something I'd likely have to speak to my landlord about.

I still can't work out how to post the pictures - when I try to add the links I am unable to make the post.

Many thanks.

jk0

I wonder if you are on a system other than Economy 7, but have been changed to a flat rate?

There should be two or even three different rates for electricity, the cheapest being stored heat. What are your rates in pence per kwh for each reading?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

you will need to upload pics to TinyPic or another first to get link, then copy and paste in post.

PennineAcute

Minus the http://