My crazy electricity costs

Hlyons95

Hi all,
Im looking for help as I’ve been battling with huge energy costs for nearly 2 years.

I own a fairly standard size 2 bedroom flat which runs on electricity only and I live alone. I use an economy 7 meter but my ratings are sky high. I cannot even get electricity quotes anymore as the reads are so high. 

I had the meter tested and found not faulty last year but I am desperately trying to find the fault causing this. My supplier isn’t interested in helping. 

I have today taken reads for example and here they are below
R1 41408
R2 28317
T69726

I also today found an LED light which glows even when off so I’ll be investigating this and buying something so I can test all the appliances in the flat for their usage.

any help would be greatly appreciated, my bill is more than my mortgage and I cannot keep going like this.

Thanks
Haydn

Robin9

Those readings by themselves don't help.

Have you reads from a few weeks ago ? Which is night ; which is day?   Then we can work out your consumption.

PS Have you been putting figures like 41408 and 28317 into comparison sites then that's not what is needed - you need actual annual consumption.

Hlyons95

Robin9 said:

Those readings by themselves don't help.

Have you reads from a few weeks ago ? Which is night ; which is day?   Then we can work out your consumption.

R1 is day and r2 is night. My reads have consistently been around these figures for the last couple of months. When I moved in it was day 17000/13000 night so it’s now more than double my initial usage 

Robin9

Assuming you moved in 2 years ago -  24,000 day units; 15,000 night units. = 12,000 and 7,500 a year

Are you reading the meter correctly ?    Some modern meters are difficult - there is a decimal point. Could 41408 actually be 4140.8 .

Does your meter have a small keypad ?

Talldave

If you use night storage heaters you might find that r1 is night.  Does the meter show which is active on its display?

What do you mean by "My reads have consistently been around these figures for the last couple of months"? If the readings have been the same,  you're not using any electricity!  Read the meters at the same time each day for a few days and that will give you an idea of your consumption. 

What is your heating?  Does your water tank have two immersion heaters? Are they both switched on (bad news if they are)?

Hlyons95

I have electric radiators which are barely used and keep the water heater off 95% of the time.
I think I understand this read thing more as I honestly thought the numbers should be going down.

when I had the meter checked last jan it was

R1 Day 36483
R2 night 23266

Using these figures could I calculate my years use?

Sorry to sound like such an idiot but I simply cannot get this into my head

Robin9

41408-36843 = 4565
28317 - 23266 = 5051

4565 + 5051 =  9616  53% night use

A bit above normal but not much - particularly if you have an electric shower

About £1500  a year -  - high but not sky high

What tariff are you on ? Were you on a fix that ran out 12 months ago and are now on a standard (ie expensive ) tariff ?

Talldave

They count upwards.  They're like a petrol pump counting litres except that they never set back to zero. So you take a reading and subtract the previous reading to see how many units you've used since the last reading.

Your year's use is 9976kWh, with an almost 50/50 split day to night. Around 27kWh a day. You could probably save money by having storage heaters and using less daytime units. 

welshmoneylover

Do you have a boost button for the immersion heater?
how much are you paying each month?

Gerry1

Photos of the meter please, also the hot water tank showing the immersion heaters and switches, plus any timer or Boost button. 

There's probably a red LED on the meter marked '1000 Imp/kWh' or similar.  It means that after 1000 impulses (flashes) you've used one kiloWatt hour which on a decent tariff would cost you perhaps 14p during the day and 9p at night.  It can be very useful to see how much power you are using at any instant.  For example, a 3kW electric kettle on its own will make the light flash 50 times per minute (3000 flashes in a hour = 3kWh = 3kW for 1 hour).  Daytime background use without heating and lighting is probably 150 - 300W, mostly the fridge and the freezer plus various items on standby, so about 2.5 to 5 flashes per minute.

Do a 'meter sanity test' by switching off all the circuits and then the red mains switch.  Watch the red light for a few minutes and make sure it never flashes even once.  Then switch on the kettle (and nothing else) and make sure the usage approximates  to the rating plate on the kettle.

If you don't have storage heaters then E7 probably isn't right for you because the day rate is usually higher.  However, you don't need a meter change to have a single rate tariff.  How much are you paying per kWh and per day (the standing charge)? Don't forget to include 5% VAT.

niktheguru

Are you sending regular meter readings to the supplier? Are your bills based on "actual" or "estimated" readings. How much are you paying every month? Who is your supplier and what is the tariff.
What numbers have you been "putting into the comparison websites"