Electricity Bill Ideas

zaly

We switched to Bulb energy in August after looking at comparison sites and comparing options. At first everything was great. I got an electricity monitor, cut back on usage and we were quids in and very happy.
Come November and our bills suddenly seemed to shoot up. I know it’s winter but we’re in the South West and it’s been very mild. We’d still been monitoring usage. What’s really odd is that our monitor which was super accurate (within a £ or two) became wildly off! Our latest bill has come in at a whopping £143, where as the monitor claims we used £77 in energy. Bulb did increase their fees in November but I adjusted the monitor accordingly.
We are a fully electric household as we have no gas to the street. We have a forced warm air system that uses an E7 tariff. We don’t have our emmersion tank on, only for baths maybe once a month (use an electric shower for washing). The heating system overnight does not register on our energy monitor as excessively expensive. We do have big energy draw items such as a dishwasher and tumble dryer which do get used, but I’m confused about the discrepancy between the monitor & our bills.

masonic

The first things to check are whether the meter readings used to calculate your bills accurately reflect your actual usage, and whether the calculations used in your bill and the ones produced by your monitor use the same standing charge and unit prices. If there is a discrepancy, these checks should enable you to pinpoint the reason for it.

matelodave

The best idea is to read the meter, not the monitor and make sure that the bills/statements are correct and actually reflect the meter readings. Hopefully the supplier isn't using estimated readings.

Even if you have a smart meter, the IHD (In Home Device) doesn't always get the cost data back from the supplier although it should read the actual kwh from the meter (it's worth checking that it does).

The supplier doesnt care about what the IHD indicates - it's what the meter records which is what you pay for.

If it's not a smart meter and you are using a clamp type energy monitor then these can be wildly inaacurate especially if you've got motor driven or electronic stuff being monitored, even LEDs. They work best with plain reistive loads, like heaters, kettles and conventional light bulbs. They are also a bit susceptible to interference between the sender and display monitor and even the voltage on the line.

I've got a couple (Energy Hive and Efergy) and even the readings between them are different - especially when our inverter driven heat pump kicks in and out. The line voltage is usually around 248 in the summer but is down to 239 this morning.

I can set the approximate tariff rate but not the standing charge so as far as I'm concerned it's gives me a good idea of what is going on and roughly how much it will cost but there have been some prolonged outages on it this last couple of months so the data and costs have been under recorded by quite a bit.

I keep my own records on a spreadsheet based on weekly meter readings so I can keep track of actual readings and costs.

PeterGr

zaly wrote: »

The heating system overnight does not register on our energy monitor as excessively expensive. .

Am I missing something? If your monitor isn't reading your heating energy consumption, why are you surprised that in November your total consumption is higher than what is shown on the monitor?

WhoIsThat

PeterGr wrote: »

Am I missing something? ...

Yes, the second half of the sentence you quoted. :cool:

zaly

PeterGr wrote: »

Am I missing something? If your monitor isn't reading your heating energy consumption, why are you surprised that in November your total consumption is higher than what is shown on the monitor?

The energy monitor does read our heating energy consumption. My point was that the monitor indicates that the cost is low.

matelodave

What make and model is your energy monitor?. You have actually put in the correct tariff including decimal points in the right places.

If it's independant from the suppliers meter, then is it recording the same number of kwh as the suppliers meter. If it's tracking the meter kwh then theres a fault or it's not doing the calculations correctly. Have you tried doing the sums yourself to check.

zaly

matelodave wrote: »

The best idea is to read the meter, not the monitor and make sure that the bills/statements are correct and actually reflect the meter readings. Hopefully the supplier isn't using estimated readings.

Even if you have a smart meter, the IHD (In Home Device) doesn't always get the cost data back from the supplier although it should read the actual kwh from the meter (it's worth checking that it does).

The supplier doesnt care about what the IHD indicates - it's what the meter records which is what you pay for.

If it's not a smart meter and you are using a clamp type energy monitor then these can be wildly inaacurate especially if you've got motor driven or electronic stuff being monitored, even LEDs. They work best with plain reistive loads, like heaters, kettles and conventional light bulbs. They are also a bit susceptible to interference between the sender and display monitor and even the voltage on the line.

I've got a couple (Energy Hive and Efergy) and even the readings between them are different - especially when our inverter driven heat pump kicks in and out. The line voltage is usually around 248 in the summer but is down to 239 this morning.

I can set the approximate tariff rate but not the standing charge so as far as I'm concerned it's gives me a good idea of what is going on and roughly how much it will cost but there have been some prolonged outages on it this last couple of months so the data and costs have been under recorded by quite a bit.

I keep my own records on a spreadsheet based on weekly meter readings so I can keep track of actual readings and costs.

Thank you, this is hugely helpful. We do just have the clamp type monitor so maybe that is the issue. I was reassured when first started using it as the readings were so accurate, but from what you’ve said it maybe that the heating overnight is not reading properly. It’s a heat storage system. It does register a cost but by the sounds of things no where near accurately. I’m going to try using it every other night and see if it makes a big difference. The stored heat will usually last for that long if it’s not too cold out.

zaly

matelodave wrote: »

What make and model is your energy monitor?. You have actually put in the correct tariff including decimal points in the right places.

If it's independant from the suppliers meter, then is it recording the same number of kwh as the suppliers meter. If it's tracking the meter kwh then theres a fault or it's not doing the calculations correctly. Have you tried doing the sums yourself to check.

I’m going to go through and double check everything and do some calculations- it was accurate so I’m confident I’ve got the tariff right but worth checking. It’s a Geo monitor- one of the ones BG gave out awhile ago.

jk0

zaly wrote: »

I’m going to try using it every other night and see if it makes a big difference. The stored heat will usually last for that long if it’s not too cold out.

You're only going to have the heating on every other night? That's a bit silly, isn't it? Just turn it down, surely? Is there no thermostat?

matelodave

Where is the clamp fitted - you may not be recording all the house load especially if you've got it clamped on one of the cables between the meter and the fuse box. Have you got a separate fusebox for the heating.

Try shifting it to one of the two cables between the company fuse and the meter where it will measure everything that flow through the meter