Monthly electric usage jumped by 100 units

mac.d

My electric usage has been very constant, rarely above 150 kwh per month, however, just taken a meter reading today and I've used 250kwh in the past month. No new appliances or changes in the house, though I had noticed my fridge/freezer clicking on and off a couple of weeks ago, and have since cleaned the dust from the coils at the back. Could it just be down to the fridge? 

Gerry1

Check that the door is sealing properly, e.g. that it's not obstructed by a build-up up of ice or whatever.

tim_p

Could be the fridge. When we replaced an old Scandinova fridge freezer our usage literally dropped by 20%.
how old is the fridge? 

mac.d

No build up of ice & seals are all fine, that's just reminded me I think it was about a month ago I defrosted it. I'm not sure how old it is, maybe 10 years? Its an A-rated Beko model. I'm clutching at straws as I just can't think of anything that would cause such an increase in electric use? We used to have an old chest freezer, and I know when we got rid of it it shaved a good bit off the electric, but its thankfully long gone!

Talldave

See how long it's on for each hour?

mac.d

Thanks to everyone who responded, but not for the first time, I'm an idiot and have not used more than is normal after all!

I do take monthly meter readings, and save them in a spreadsheet so I can see how much has been used & the cost instead of just relying on the bills. It's been a simple mistake in my spreadsheet formula that's counted two months electric usage instead of one. The 'extra' month counted was a smaller than usual figure due to change of supplier and date of reading a couple of months ago, that's what threw me as I knew this month's figure didn't amount to double my normal usage so it was immediately obvious there was an error. Well, at least not to me 

JGB1955

Good news that you have worked it out.  There are FAR too many people on this forum who have absolutely NO handle on their spending/how to read a meter/how to work out their usage.  Well done!

Sorry - that sounds really sanctimonious..that wasn't my intention.

tim_p

Good for you and thankyou for coming back and owning up!  

I suspect many don’t once they find out that the electricity supplier didn’t actually deliberately shaft them after all.

mac.d

Got to be able to laugh at your own stupidity & might as well give you guys a laugh too!

Mickey666

mac.d said:

Thanks to everyone who responded, but not for the first time, I'm an idiot and have not used more than is normal after all!

I'd say 'idiot' is a bit harsh.  You're clearly on top of your budgeting, which is why you noticed the issue in the first place.  More importantly, you decided to look into it and, having considered various possibilities that didn't ring true, kept at it until you found the answer.  Sure, it was your mistake but who hasn't done something similar?  The main thing is that you've fixed it.

coffeehound

The fridge condenser coils got a clean they might otherwise not have, so it's a win