gas and electric use way above average

pochase

nadsat said:

ajbird said:

These comments have been great. I have ordered the various measuring gadgets so we can track rogue appliances that may be drawing more power than expected.

However, the gas is still freaking me out. 
Water is only being heated 4 hours a day
There are 18 rads and the boiler is a fairly new Worcester Bosch Greenstar Ri Compact ErP 30Ri . However, now that I look into this there is a lot of suggestion that these condensing boilers rarely ever actually do any condensing. 

I run a large fish tank too but it's inside and not nearly as bad in filtration costs. We also use a couple of electric heaters in chilly rooms when the central heating isn't on and there's also been a lot of home working.  

Is that a cold water fish tank as you only mention the pump?

The electric heaters are what will be a main source of the high use.

ajbird

cymruchris said:

If your pond pump is for decorative purposes - fit a smart plug and schedule it to come on only for the period of the day when you most want to see it in action. I have a small pond pump running a fountain and waterfall. Originally it was on 24/7 - then as everything was creeping up in cost, it now only runs from 11am to sunset. 

Yes!  I already got the timer sorted. I think we are suffering from death by a thousand cuts.. I never expected this could add up to 12,261kWh

MWT

nadsat said:

ajbird said:

These comments have been great. I have ordered the various measuring gadgets so we can track rogue appliances that may be drawing more power than expected.

However, the gas is still freaking me out. 
Water is only being heated 4 hours a day
There are 18 rads and the boiler is a fairly new Worcester Bosch Greenstar Ri Compact ErP 30Ri . However, now that I look into this there is a lot of suggestion that these condensing boilers rarely ever actually do any condensing. 

Your boiler is 30kWh so is running 12kWh more than ours. I think the idea with condensing boilers is to turn the flow temp down so you don't get flumes from the exhaust but I've not done that yet on ours. 

Modern boilers will modulate the burner so it is not necessarily going to use more just because it is capable of a higher maximum.

MWT

Chrysalis said:

33 units a day, even the most inefficient PC's I can think off wouldnt guzzle that power.

It isn't about being inefficient, it is about what they are being used for, a single PC with a current generation CPU/GPU can easily use 6kWh/day if it is being used for rendering or mining for example.

AnnieB2018

Sorry not sure if this was already suggested and tried, take a gas reading in the morning, have no heating, showers or washing up all day and take another reading in the evening. It is an easy test and really drives home that it is actually you spending all that gas on a bit of warmth and cleanliness..!

theoretica

Do you need to heat the water for 4 hours a day? Is this because you use a lot of water, or because your tank is poorly insulated?

How much of the day does your thermostat have the boiler running for?

QrizB

Chrysalis said:

If after that you find the 33 a day unrealistic, I would try and arrange the meter to be tested.  When I tried to do this with Octopus they initially tried to scare me off by quoting their charge which is £80 (refunded if meter found to be faulty), then when I agreed to pay they started flat out stonewalling me.
If you get a absolute refusal to get the meter checked, make sure you have that documented in case the ombudsman needs to get involved, and get a meter swap, at least that will fix the problem if it is the meter and will to some degree act as evidence.

Not so easy for gas, but for electricity you can buy your own meter for under £30 and have it fitted by an electrician between the existing supply meter and your Consumer Unit. It shouldn't take a competent electrician more than an hour.

gefnew

Buy a second hand owl from well known sites.
Something along theses lines self install.
OWL Wireless Electricity Monitor +USB (smartgreenshop.co.uk)

markin

Age of the house, double glazed, 300mm of loft insulation ?

The freezers are probably the biggest users you can fix.

Check the gas meter isn't creeping when the boiler is not running, Watch that the electric meter isn't randomly jumping.

MWT said:

nadsat said:

ajbird said:

These comments have been great. I have ordered the various measuring gadgets so we can track rogue appliances that may be drawing more power than expected.

However, the gas is still freaking me out. 
Water is only being heated 4 hours a day
There are 18 rads and the boiler is a fairly new Worcester Bosch Greenstar Ri Compact ErP 30Ri . However, now that I look into this there is a lot of suggestion that these condensing boilers rarely ever actually do any condensing. 

Your boiler is 30kWh so is running 12kWh more than ours. I think the idea with condensing boilers is to turn the flow temp down so you don't get flumes from the exhaust but I've not done that yet on ours. 

Modern boilers will modulate the burner so it is not necessarily going to use more just because it is capable of a higher maximum.

It can go down to 9.9 KW, But i think smaller boilers can modulate far lower, The 27r version is 8.9 KW

ajbird

markin said:

Age of the house, double glazed, 300mm of loft insulation ?

The freezers are probably the biggest users you can fix.

Check the gas meter isn't creeping when the boiler is not running, Watch that the electric meter isn't randomly jumping.

house built around 1975
double glazed all round
no where near 300mm of insulation.. still not sure that accounts for 17000 kwh per year? (over average 5 bed house)
1 freezer disconnected now.. see if that makes any difference

Will contact supplier in the morning to see if they have anything useful to add.

The socket monitors will be here some point next week so we will be able to fire a up spread sheet on individual electric use.