Household electricity usage assessment

Suzey5

We have huge electricity bills. It appears from the metre that we are using approx 50 kWhs per day. It is a big house with a childcare business, but it still doesn't seem possible. Heating and hot water use alternative energy sources, not electricity. No tumble drier or hair driers are used. Four computers, two fridges and freezers, washing machine daily, lights, cooker, kettle, toaster.  Does anyone know who to approach to come and assess where all this electricity is being used, please? I have asked SSE before but they just sent a form for us to list all appliances, estimate the use, and so on. It still doesn't make sense and would love to be reassured that there is no electricity leakage. Can anyone advise, please? Thank you.

bsms1147

Someone can test this for you, but if no issue is found then you will need to pay.

Sensible plan is to do it yourself; switch off everything - including fridge/freezer and ensure that the meter does not increment. Watch the red flashing light and there should be no flashes. Then go round turning things on one by one and watch the flashing light and you can calculate the energy draw at any one time.

"The majority of meters are labelled 1000 Imp/kWh which means that the LED will flash 1000 times for each kWh of electricty which passes through"
So if you're using 50kwh a day (based on actual reads) then your meter will already be flashing once every 1-2 seconds or so.

If you don't have a smart meter with an in home display monitor that shows current usage/energy draw, then I would suggest you invest in an energy monitor as this will make the job far easier.

comeandgo

I you mention household but it is a business you have.  How many times a day is the kettle on, the toaster and cooker used?  These are the things that eat up electric.

victor2

Read your meter at different times of the day and from that you will get an idea when you are using most electricity.

For example, if you read it at 6pm then at 8am the next day, you would expect the difference to be small. Just a few kWh perhaps. Read it before and after the washing machine is used, then do the same period of time without the washing machine being used to get an idea how much it takes per wash. Or you could get a plug-in monitor and use it to check particular appliances over a typical day.

Bit of detective work required, but less than is involved in running a childcare business!

Robin9

Lots of meter readings is the clue - same time of day, 0800,1200,1600,2200 etc for a week - I think you'll be surprised how much your childcare costs.