Usage increased 50% in a year - how to track it dow

woolythoughts

Hi

I've determined our electricity usage has increased 50% year on year. Heating is gas so we can exclude that from the equation.

May June last year we used 680 units
May June this year we used 978 units

Nothing has changed in the house in real terms.

One 4K TV has been replaced with an OLED and an extra TV installed in the guest room (switched off)

We've added an extra pump to the pond - but that alone wont be using that much power as its the same as two others we have.

Other than that, nothing has changed electrically.

How on earth do we go about working out which device has malfunctioned!

Sea_Shell

Could it be partially down to the difference in weather to last year!! We've had lights on earlier in the evening as it's been so gloomy. Also if your hot water pump is running a little longer as the ambient temperature of the water is lower this year.

**Just checked ours, only 10kwh more than this time last year for May, so not enough on its own **

Robin9

Read your meter at the same time every day - keep a diary as to what you use.

Possible - light left on the loft, more showers, on holiday last year- at home this

woolythoughts

DH has been home all day as he's been off sick where as last year he was in work - but I doubt that would account for that much more!

We were not on holiday either

spongebob1913

OLED Sets use more electricity. Plus having someone in the house a good 50% more of the time would probably equate to more usage.

woolythoughts

spongeb!!!913 wrote: »

OLED Sets use more electricity. Plus having someone in the house a good 50% more of the time would probably equate to more usage.

But 50% more usage given our back ground usage is high.

Hot tub, koi pond with three pumps and four UV's, IT equipment on 24/7....... seems and awful lot of extra usage on top of that.

8ofspades

That could be a strong reason why it's much higher this year - lights on all day, tv/computer usage, cups of tea, more likely to have cooked food for breakfast/lunch etc.

woolythoughts

We're away on holiday for two weeks from next week so will turn off everything apart from:

Fridge, Freezer, Pond pumps, router, CCTV, Alexa devices, Main sky box.

They are what we regard as essential. We can see what our usage is when we get back.

We have a smart meter so it should be relatively easy (although we can't see instantaneous usage)

matelodave

I dont know how good your smart meter/IHD is but I can check my daily consumption for a week after I've used it. My weekly consumption for five weeks after I've used it and my monthly consumption for 13 months so it's pretty easy to track back. I can also get a meter reading or actual instantaneous consumption from the IHD. It doesn't send any info back to the supplier as I've swapped suppliers three times since it was installed but there's lot of info still available from it.

However that said, I read my meter and record my weekly consumption every Monday morning so I know if something has changed significantly and can then investigate if I don't know what it is.

It doesn't take a lot to make a fairly big difference - something like a bigger telly, on for several more hours a day could easily account for an extra 1-2kwh, likewise a few more cups of tea, cooking during the day and even an extra pond pump 30-40watts = 1kwh a day.

When we go away we shut everything off except the freezer, SKY box, router, CCTV camera, a couple of powerline adapters and an energy monitor and we use around 3.5kwh a day (about 145 watts)

We've used more energy this year than last because it's been colder - our heating is on at the moment. The only way to monitor your consumption is to check it more frequently than once a month or even once a week, ideally it should be daily at roughly the same time every day (say when you get up or when you go to bed)

Talldave

What wattage is the pond pump? Is it on 24/7? If so that could account for some of the increase.

The TV on a lot more will be another contributor - put it to standby when it's not being watched.

woolythoughts

We’ve always had the tv on pretty much all the time as we listen to the radio through it so I doubt it’s that.

I’ve asked ovo to send out a IHD. When we got the smart meter we were given the choice of IHD Or see instant usage on line. We went on line but the. Ovo disabled that a year or so ago when their systems couldn’t deal with it.

Everything was consistent so we never really bothered. We can see historical usage and usage in 30 minute chunks but not instantaneous to try to analyse individual devices.

Prior to tuis, back ground usage of pond, hot tub, etc was 11p per minute I’d expect that now to be 12-13p per minute - we can establish that whilst we’re aaay.