Electricity usage has jumped

jimjam83

Niv said:

I am sure this wouldn't be responsible for the whole jump, but what about the light bulbs? Did you have led in the last place and the new place has halogen / filament bulbs installed? When I moved into my last place one room had 3 light clusters totally 15 bulbs all 75w halogen, they are now 4w led - that's a big difference.

There are some fluorescent tubes but we try to never turn these on. There are led spotlights in the kitchen and we have led bulbs in the lamps in the bedroom and office...we’re getting the old fluorescent tubes taken care of when we refurbish the kitchen and rest of the utility room...

jimjam83

theoretica said:

How many times have you read the meter since you moved in?  It is worth exploring if there could have been any reading error.  That your meter is hardly moving is good, for now, keep an eye on it for a few days as either it will move sometime, or point more strongly to look to the past for an explanation.  Did you take any heating out when you put the utility room underfloor heating in? 

Only when we moved in and just last week when we changed supplier due to the huge bill. 

We’ve had a smart meter plugged in the whole time so I have 3 months worth of readings on the app...
There was a small radiator in the utility which has been turned off completely since the underfloor heating went in. This radiator was connected to the central heating (gas) system.

theoretica

jimjam83 said:

We’ve had a smart meter plugged in the whole time so I have 3 months worth of readings on the app...

Do they show anything interesting if you plot them against time?  Constant use or a big peak somewhere.

edgex

jimjam83 said:

Ectophile said:

If you have a hot water tank, check that someone hasn't left the immersion heater switched on.

Appliances that get hot, or which make other things hot, are the main culprits.  Some people obsess over mobile phone chargers and TVs on standby, but unless they are ancient, the power they use is tiny.  It's electric heaters, water heaters, cookers and the like that take lots of power.

No hot water tank...we had electric underfloor heating installed in the utility last month but it hasn't changed the consumption much at all. 

Is there a fridge or freezer in the utility?

edgex

jimjam83 said:

theoretica said:

How many times have you read the meter since you moved in?  It is worth exploring if there could have been any reading error.  That your meter is hardly moving is good, for now, keep an eye on it for a few days as either it will move sometime, or point more strongly to look to the past for an explanation.  Did you take any heating out when you put the utility room underfloor heating in? 

Only when we moved in and just last week when we changed supplier due to the huge bill. 

We’ve had a smart meter plugged in the whole time so I have 3 months worth of readings on the app...
There was a small radiator in the utility which has been turned off completely since the underfloor heating went in. This radiator was connected to the central heating (gas) system.

Are you trying to keep the utility to the same temperature the radiator did?
If so, that's going to use a lot of electricity.
Where's the thermostat for it, & what's it set at?
What type of floor is it? Insulated?

maisie_cat

That usage is bizarre, we are a detached stone cottage with no gas and no central heating, we use 12kwh per day on average, unless we switch the ancient storage heaters on, in which case it's 26kwh a day (we rarely switch them on). I'd second checking that you are not paying somebody else's bill, there isn't a little garage business out the back somewhere is there?

jimjam83

maisie_cat said:

That usage is bizarre, we are a detached stone cottage with no gas and no central heating, we use 12kwh per day on average, unless we switch the ancient storage heaters on, in which case it's 26kwh a day (we rarely switch them on). I'd second checking that you are not paying somebody else's bill, there isn't a little garage business out the back somewhere is there?

There is a garage and small shed, both of which are wired to the electricity from the house. The only thing that’s constantly switched on is the alarm in the shed...

jimjam83

edgex said:

jimjam83 said:

theoretica said:

How many times have you read the meter since you moved in?  It is worth exploring if there could have been any reading error.  That your meter is hardly moving is good, for now, keep an eye on it for a few days as either it will move sometime, or point more strongly to look to the past for an explanation.  Did you take any heating out when you put the utility room underfloor heating in? 

Only when we moved in and just last week when we changed supplier due to the huge bill. 

We’ve had a smart meter plugged in the whole time so I have 3 months worth of readings on the app...
There was a small radiator in the utility which has been turned off completely since the underfloor heating went in. This radiator was connected to the central heating (gas) system.

Are you trying to keep the utility to the same temperature the radiator did?
If so, that's going to use a lot of electricity.
Where's the thermostat for it, & what's it set at?
What type of floor is it? Insulated?

I’m positive the underfloor heating is not the issue, I kept an eye on the daily readings after it was installed and after a bit of a jump (it took 4 or 5 days to get to temp) it has since settled and readings were what they were beforehand...

jimjam83

edgex said:

jimjam83 said:

Ectophile said:

If you have a hot water tank, check that someone hasn't left the immersion heater switched on.

Appliances that get hot, or which make other things hot, are the main culprits.  Some people obsess over mobile phone chargers and TVs on standby, but unless they are ancient, the power they use is tiny.  It's electric heaters, water heaters, cookers and the like that take lots of power.

No hot water tank...we had electric underfloor heating installed in the utility last month but it hasn't changed the consumption much at all. 

Is there a fridge or freezer in the utility?

No, there’s nothing in there at the moment except for a tumble dryer, which is used once a fortnight I’d say.

Doozergirl

FreeBear said:

Doozergirl said: We used £125 of electricity in January,

... And there's me thinking £25 was a lot for the same month.

You must be missing two teenagers?  

Got our Council Tax valuation this morning as well. 😭😭😭