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Sudden spikes in electricity usage
seektheinfinite
Posts: 2 Newbie
in Energy
Okay this is a bit of long and confusing one, so please bear with me. I'm trying to sort this out on behalf of my disabled aunt who is having a nightmare with her energy bills.
She lives in a 2 bedroom flat, but she is the only occupant. During the week she is not at home from 8:30 until around 4:30. She does not have internet, or anything like that. In the evenings the extent of her electricty usage is the TV, and living room light, as that's pretty much all she does until she goes to bed. Her energy bills have been astronomically high for a couple of years now, £135, and we have been in endless disputes with the energy company, who simply keep saying there's no fault with the meter, and that the bills are correct.
She has Economy 7 heating in the flat, and they say this is the reason that the bills are so high, yet, she lives in a block of flats, every flat has the same heating system, and speaking to neighbours their bills range between 50 and 70 a month.
Anyway, she had a smart meter fitted on Monday, and as of Wednesday it was showing she'd used £10.49 of electricity, despite not being there for most of the day. I went up on Wednesday, switched everything off to see if we could find out where all this electricity was being used. With everything switched off, apart from her smoke alarms which run off electricity and can't be turned off, the smart meter showed a usage of 0.18kwh, less than a penny an hour. As I watched the meter it suddenly spiked, and said that she was using 500 something an hour, at 20 pence an hour (this was with everything still switched off.
We stood and watched the meter for five minutes as it fluctuated continuously, every 15-20 seconds or so, going from 0.18 back up to the 500s and just continuing. We turned her appliances back on and watched again as her energy usage continued to go from 250 right up to 800. Phoned the energy company and they're just trying to fob us off again, saying that the smart meter is faulty, yet when checking her meter outside, against the readings of the smart meter they match exactly, so surely there must be a problem somewhere else?
Has anyone ever experienced anything like this, and have some advice on where we can go from now. I know that she is not using anywhere near the amount of energy they say she is, and there is clearly a fault, but how do I get the energy company to fix it?
She lives in a 2 bedroom flat, but she is the only occupant. During the week she is not at home from 8:30 until around 4:30. She does not have internet, or anything like that. In the evenings the extent of her electricty usage is the TV, and living room light, as that's pretty much all she does until she goes to bed. Her energy bills have been astronomically high for a couple of years now, £135, and we have been in endless disputes with the energy company, who simply keep saying there's no fault with the meter, and that the bills are correct.
She has Economy 7 heating in the flat, and they say this is the reason that the bills are so high, yet, she lives in a block of flats, every flat has the same heating system, and speaking to neighbours their bills range between 50 and 70 a month.
Anyway, she had a smart meter fitted on Monday, and as of Wednesday it was showing she'd used £10.49 of electricity, despite not being there for most of the day. I went up on Wednesday, switched everything off to see if we could find out where all this electricity was being used. With everything switched off, apart from her smoke alarms which run off electricity and can't be turned off, the smart meter showed a usage of 0.18kwh, less than a penny an hour. As I watched the meter it suddenly spiked, and said that she was using 500 something an hour, at 20 pence an hour (this was with everything still switched off.
We stood and watched the meter for five minutes as it fluctuated continuously, every 15-20 seconds or so, going from 0.18 back up to the 500s and just continuing. We turned her appliances back on and watched again as her energy usage continued to go from 250 right up to 800. Phoned the energy company and they're just trying to fob us off again, saying that the smart meter is faulty, yet when checking her meter outside, against the readings of the smart meter they match exactly, so surely there must be a problem somewhere else?
Has anyone ever experienced anything like this, and have some advice on where we can go from now. I know that she is not using anywhere near the amount of energy they say she is, and there is clearly a fault, but how do I get the energy company to fix it?
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Comments
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Take a video of the meter spiking and send it to the energy company..
You can request the meter is checked but if found not to be faulty you will be charged for getting the meter inspected.
Electric heating is a lot more expensive than gas so it could well be an accurate bill..0 -
Just checking - are you looking at the meter itself (in a meter box or on a wall) or the Inhouse Display Unit (which is freestanding in the kitchen).
Some more details please of her heating, water heating - forget the TV etc the ones that matters are heater, water heaters, showers, cookers.
Have you access to her old bills - are they full of estimated readings.
What does the Smart meter read - take care with decimal points) ; what did the old meter read when it was removed (the meter fitter will have left a card) ; have you an old bill will ACTUAL readings on it.Never pay on an estimated bill. Always read and understand your bill0 -
> the smart meter showed a usage of 0.18kwh
Presumably you mean 0.18kW, i.e. 180 watts? A smoke alarm won't use that much. That's typical background use of a fridge, freezer and the odd item on standby or charger.
Forget all about the IHD, it probably hasn't even been programmed yet. Just rely on the meter itself, think in kWh and do the sums yourself. Remember, the IHD is not a meter.
Check that the number on the meter is the same as on the bill.
Turn absolutely everything on including the oven, hotplates, kettle, fan heater etc and make sure the little red light is flashing like there's no tomorrow and the total kWh reading on the meter itself is ratcheting up rapidly.
It sounds like the meter is in a common cupboard rather than in the property so it could well be someone's else's.
Finally, make sure that the day and night registers are not swapped over.0 -
Turn absolutely everything on including the oven, hotplates, kettle, fan heater etc and make sure the little red light is flashing like there's no tomorrow and the total kWh reading on the meter itself is ratcheting up rapidly.
Either that, or it blows the main supply fuse, and everything suddenly goes dark. But at least that would mean the bills would be a lot lower!If it sticks, force it.
If it breaks, well it wasn't working right anyway.0 -
Forget all about the IHD, it probably hasn't even been programmed yet. Just rely on the meter itself, think in kWh and do the sums yourself. Remember, the IHD is not a meter.
The In House Display gets its data from the meter, so it should be an accurate display of the readings. It will have been paired with the electricity meter when installed, so unless someone has screwed up and paired the IHD with a different meter, the data should be correct - Easy check - Compare the meter ID matches the information displayed on the IHD.
OP - Try flipping all the breakers in the consumer unit and turning off the power on the main switch (next to all the fuses/breakers). Have a look around the communal areas to see if any lights are out that would normally be on. If the aunt goes out for a few hours, you might find a neighbour jumping up & down because their heating has gone off... Food in the fridge & freezer will be OK without any power for several hours.Her courage will change the world.
Treasure the moments that you have. Savour them for as long as you can for they will never come back again.0 -
You can asked for the meter to be checked. 99.9% of the time, you have to pay for this upfront, with it being reimbursed if it is faulty.
Try turning it off at the main switch on the fuse box and see if the IHD is reading anything (as it should not be).
My smoke alarm is powered by electricity and my night time usgae (when we have all retired) is around 90w an hour.0 -
Absolute phooey about IHD unit showing exact repica of Smart Meter come what may.
At least 20% of IHDs are faulty and NOT showingan accurate picture of electricity usage. The utility supplier will be uninterested in the correcting this by supplying a new IHD.
It is the Smart Meteryou need to monitor not the IHD.0 -
This was obviously of so much importance to seethe infinite on Friday that they bow can't be bothered to reply to the questions/suggestions made.Never pay on an estimated bill. Always read and understand your bill0
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Most smoke alarms are powered by electricity... there aren't many gas powered ones !PennineAcute wrote: »My smoke alarm is powered by electricity
Nope. It's 90 watts, full stop.PennineAcute wrote: »my night time usage (when we have all retired) is around 90w an hour.
It's an important distinction:for some reason many people get this wrong, including the makers of those infamous magic dust panel heaters who claim that 'a 2.2kW heater will only use 14.05kW to heat your room for 16 hours. This is 0.87kW per hour'. :doh:0
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