Electricity readings rising fast

Ingenious_jim

We moved in to a rented property 6 months ago. Everything started off well. In that time a lot of the ceiling lights have blown and even the ones we replaced have gone aswell now. We have a couple of lights remaining. We also have been receiving high electricity bills and recently received one for £350 for the month. In total we now apparently owe over a £1000 in arrears.(we have been paying 100 each month as stated as they estimated bill) we sent them our meter reading and it has increased by 5500kwh in 6 months. And in the last week has gone up 300kwh. This seems a lot. All we have on is 1 TV, a fan sometimes, a dishwasher used once a day, a tumble dryer used rarely and a fridge/freezer combi. And as stated only 2 or 3 lights throughout the whole house. Is this a nor. Al occurance, does it sound like a fault, what can we do? We have a 3 bed house, but other than ceiling lights the bedrooms have nothing plugged in.

tim_p

The bulbs you mention? Are they 50watt halogen or LED? If halogen, how many and how long are they on for? Presumably heating and DHW is gas? Electric shower? More info needed.

Robin9

What is your heating ? Do you have electric showers ?

Swipe

Assuming you don't have electric heating this level of consumption certainly is not normal for the appliance use you have described. Did you give your supplier an opening meter reading when you moved in and regular meter readings since? Has your consumption been estimated by the supplier or has your most recent reading been used on the latest bill?

matelodave

You do really need to read the meter yourself at least once a week (ideally once a day for a couple of weeks) to try and see what is using it all and when. It's too late to do much about it if you wait for a bill to come in, you cant control what you use if you dont monitor it yourself.

As said above, what sort of heating & lighting have you got. How do you heat your hot water. Have you been sending in regular meter readings and checking that your bills are correctly using them rather than estimates.

Have you tried turning everything off for an hour or so (and I mean everything, including the fridge, freezer, router, unplug the TV etc etc) to ensure that the meter doesn't move or increment.

If the meter moves then you need to find out what is still consuming power. Shut off the main switch and make sure that it stops

If it doesn't increase then it's got to be something that you are using so go round and check what stuff uses. You need to do your own monitoring to see where its all going all this forum can do is give you some tips.

Ingenious_jim

We have gas heating, and not sure about showers. An reading was given when we moved in at 03672 and is now 09098. We provided readings a few times and each time they contacted with estimated bills still.finallt got to speak to someone and they started by saying they had the wrong postcode for a property 2 miles away on same road, but had the correct address. They are telling us the bill for last month alone is £365. We had one string of Christmas lights on out tree that were not even on every day. Only extra usage. The most recent bill is down to our reading. They have admitted it is unusually high but don't know why.

Gerry1

Make sure the number on the meter is the same as that on the bill.

Ingenious_jim

All numbers match

Ingenious_jim

Wil try turning everything off for an hour as soon as everyone is out. Then check meter.

happydays89

Could someone be using the dryer without you knowing....I have just put a lock on my dryer so my sons can’t use it,they were heating up their boxer shorts for 30 minutes to an hour before they put them on.If their shirts were creased they would put them in the dryer and turn the dial on full then they would return 2 hours later to retrieve their shirt.My bills were very high.....I keep the dryer key with me at all times.

AbrahamLincoln

It sounds like this could a metering fault.

Metering faults are very rare in electricity but then 10,000 kWh+ a year is a huge amount of electricity for a domestic property with gas heating, even if it was a large house of people with inefficient appliances.

You can ask your supplier to arrange for an independent test of the meter's accuracy, but be warned that if it turns out to be working correctly, you're liable for the cost of the test (c.£100).

Once you've tested what happens with the power off, if it the meter does move, definitely ask the supplier to come test it. If it doesn't, consider it.