Is it possible to use 850kwh electricity in a month?

matelodave

mac.d wrote: »

They have gas central heating. There is no problem with previous bills nor estimated readings. The readings are all shown as smart meter readings on bills, and although the final bill from previous supplier shows an estimated reading, it's 50 kwh of a difference from the actual reading. The two readings I posted are actual readings directly from the electric meter.

They have stayed in this house for a number of years and their two most recent bills show they used approx. 400kwh per month in the past 6 months. This is in line with their normal usage, maybe even a little less as its during winter.

So what I am trying to figure out is how can they have used double the amount of electricity than usual in April, for no obvious reason?

It's unlikely that they've suddenly used double the amount unless something has gone wrong, something has been switched on and forgotten or more likely the meter has been misread.

Start reading the meter daily for a week or so to see what your daily average consumption is - you can turn stuff on and off to see how it get affected. Make sure that you are reading the meter and not the IHD and check that you haven't misread the decimal points

keep a spreadsheet and you'll soon see what's going on. Just having a panic because you've got an abnormal bill isn't the way to find out what is happening you need to investigate whats being used and who is reading the meters.

I'm guessing that most people would be using around 10-15 kwh or leccy a day at this time of the year, probably less if there's no heating or hot water involved. 10kwk/day= 310kwh/mo= 3600kwh a year.

Our consumption has dropped from an average of 30kwh.day to around 15 but we are all electric and it's exactly in line with my expectations. Next month it should be down to around 10kwh which include hot water). A really cold, wet and windy day can get us using 50kwh

Benight

matelodave wrote: »

Dunno where you are coming from - stupid statement

Looking to maximise your Thanks count, eh?

Please be nice to all MoneySavers : There's no such thing as a stupid question and, even if you disagree, courtesy helps.

nigelbb

Benight wrote: »

In excess of 1kWh/hour?

Impossible I would say on a domestic tariff :cool:

Get onto Ofgem!

Rubbish!
1kWh per hour for a year is 8760kWh. We use getting on for 11000kWh per year & have gas central heating. Different households choose to use different amounts of energy. We are not all penny pinching misers sat in the dark & cold. If it’s affordable why shouldn’t we have the house as warm & light as we want?

mac.d

Thanks matelodave, I do try to check up on their usage but can't be there all the time and its not always feasible for them to record readings daily, but I'll definitely try to do that over the next week.

I do have some historic info from their smart meter (when it was still smart!), so can see that there are some days when they've used as little as 7 or 8 kwh electric, and the peaks can be 20 kwh (haven't seen anything above 22kwh), so that's why there's a bit of a panic that there's a sudden increase to an average of 27kwh per day.

Benight

nigelbb wrote: »

...If it’s affordable why shouldn’t we have the house as warm & light as we want?

I'm sure Emma Thompson, or any one of those 1000+ people recently arrested in London will explain more fully than I can.;)

Carrot007

mac.d wrote: »

Thanks matelodave, I do try to check up on their usage but can't be there all the time and its not always feasible for them to record readings daily, but I'll definitely try to do that over the next week.

I do have some historic info from their smart meter (when it was still smart!), so can see that there are some days when they've used as little as 7 or 8 kwh electric, and the peaks can be 20 kwh (haven't seen anything above 22kwh), so that's why there's a bit of a panic that there's a sudden increase to an average of 27kwh per day.

Even 20 a day is some serious heating of something. (4 hours in the shower?).


I wish supplierS made it like actually easy to get your smart data then you could easily see what is going wrong! The IHD belongs in the bin unless it has usb or wifi to let me get my data!

Talldave

mac.d wrote: »

Thanks matelodave, I do try to check up on their usage but can't be there all the time and its not always feasible for them to record readings daily, but I'll definitely try to do that over the next week.

I do have some historic info from their smart meter (when it was still smart!), so can see that there are some days when they've used as little as 7 or 8 kwh electric, and the peaks can be 20 kwh (haven't seen anything above 22kwh), so that's why there's a bit of a panic that there's a sudden increase to an average of 27kwh per day.

If they have an IHD, does it have a "live" consumption screen? Use that in conjunction with a few tests shutting off circuits on the consumer unit to see if there's any one circuit that's particularly thirsty. If it's the ring main, then it will be a case of switching stuff off.

nigelbb

Carrot007 wrote: »

Even 20 a day is some serious heating of something. (4 hours in the shower?).

The OP mentioned washing machine & tumble dryer used daily which could account for a large chunk of that.

matelodave

nigelbb wrote: »

The OP mentioned washing machine & tumble dryer used daily which could account for a large chunk of that.

Does anyone really need to use the washing machine and tumble dryer daily. They cost the same to run when half empty as when full so make sure that it's full. Don't do half loads (although I'm still trying to teach my wife this).

Same with the dishwasher, I can get a lot more stuff in in by loading it properly rather than just chucking it all in - it also cleans it better.

Save water by not letting it run down the sink, especially stuff that you've paid good money to heat. Dunno if you've got electric showers but they can use 160watts/minute, so it doesn't take long to ramp up the consumption if you have a lots of them or stand there for ages.

A daily 10 minute shower could use around 50kwh/month - it may not sound a lot but if three or four of you are doing it then it soon mounts up.

It's also worthwhile turning off the TV, computers and games consoles when not in use, don't just leave them on standby - some games consoles are very power hungy when just sitting idle.

Talldave

nigelbb wrote: »

The OP mentioned washing machine & tumble dryer used daily which could account for a large chunk of that.

Maybe true, but they've not had a sudden lifestyle change that accounts for the leap in consumption.


Silly question, but is there some underfloor heating they didn't know they had, which may have been switched on accidentally?


Is there an immersion heater - that may have a broken thermostat?


Is there a bank of security lights outside with a faulty PIR on 24/7?


Has their neighbour recently bought an electric car ;-) ?


Cannabis farm in the loft?!


..running out of ideas fast!!