Electricity help

Coffeekup

Don't u have a gaming pc? Multiple monitors? Xbox running on a separate TV with the TV on in the back ground, or stereo on in back ground.

So you water meter comes on twice a day now?

steph_87

Hi

Yeah my heaters were off and I was okay watching TV yesterday with fridge freezer on and broadband.  I dont have anything like that and don't have any gaming things or laptops on charge. That's why I can't understand why the electricity use is high.  I've not even showered or used the washing machine to see what it's like. I've work uo this morning and my electricity is currently at £4.92, only my heaters will have been on (8.30) but it had spiked between 6am - 10am recording at 4-6kwh. 

steph_87

I have phoned sse and they are going to look at my meter remotely as I had asked for a new one incase it was faulty.  They said they will look at it in 7 days.  

I actually feel like I'm paying for someone else's bills 

Robin9

Your £4.92 will include the standing charge for the day.

Have you actual meter readings at several times during the day as I have suggested ?

QrizB

steph_87 said:

Yeah my heaters were off and I was okay watching TV yesterday with fridge freezer on and broadband.  I dont have anything like that and don't have any gaming things or laptops on charge. That's why I can't understand why the electricity use is high

You're right, it's a bit of a mystery.

steph_87 said:

I've not even showered or used the washing machine to see what it's like. I've work uo this morning and my electricity is currently at £4.92, only my heaters will have been on (8.30) but it had spiked between 6am - 10am recording at 4-6kwh. 

That can't be right.

steph_87 said:

I have phoned sse and they are going to look at my meter remotely as I had asked for a new one incase it was faulty.  They said they will look at it in 7 days. I actually feel like I'm paying for someone else's bills 

That's a possibility, even though your meter is in your flat. Please let us know the results from Gerry1's meter sanity test.

steph_87

I'll do that today. 

In Sept my bill was £50
Oct £160
Nov £290
Dec £460

I had my new heating put in halfway through Dec.  

Gerry1

steph_87 said:

but it had spiked between 6am - 10am recording at 4-6kwh. 

You seem confused about kW and kWh.  They are very different things and it's most important to know the difference.

If you're using a kiloWatt, that's an instantaneous measurement of power, a bit like speed.  When you did the Meter Sanity Test (you did do it, didn't you?) with absolutely everything turned on you might have been using perhaps 12kW for a minute or two.  But because you used all that power for such a short time, you didn't use anything like 12kiloWatt hours of energy, 12kWh.

It's just like overtaking a slower vehicle, just because you hit a speed of 70mph for a few seconds doesn't mean that you travelled a distance of 70 miles.

So if you have a two 2kW heaters on, you'll see the power consumption at that moment as 4kW (plus background stuff), but it doesn't necessarily mean you've clocked up 4kWh of energy.

QrizB

steph_87 said:

I had my new heating put in halfway through Dec.  

Thanks for the info on your past bills.

I do hope your new heating wasn't too expensive; the old system might not have been the cause of your high bills after all.

Robin9

steph_87 said:

I had my new heating put in halfway through Dec.  

That new heating would appear to be at the heart of the problem - it certainly appears to be on at times other than you think.

You need to look closely at how it works - the timers, thermostats, make and model numbers (please let it not be filled with magic dust)

steph_87

I done the test and the red light went off for about 20 seconds them stayed on consistently. Before I switched everything off it was flashing consistently. Not sure if that's normal or not.