Why do my overnight costs keep changing ?

Missy78

Hi All

I know we are all struggling with the energy costs right now, but I can't help but feel a little suspicious of what is going on with my overnight costs.  We have been very mindful of turning everything off every night and I have been watching my smart meter like a hawk.  When I get up everyday at 7am it is at around 50-60p, which I have come to except is the "normal" figure for us. Now I am noticing that at least once a week my figure is shooting up to between £1.25/£1.57 which it was this morning, when nothing is done any different to the cheaper "normal" days.  This seems to happen when I have saved money the day before. Just makes me sceptical. Wondered why this could be happening and wondered whether anyone else is finding the same thing ?

Thanks

victor2

Missy78 said:

Hi All

I know we are all struggling with the energy costs right now, but I can't help but feel a little suspicious of what is going on with my overnight costs.  We have been very mindful of turning everything off every night and I have been watching my smart meter like a hawk.  When I get up everyday at 7am it is at around 50-60p, which I have come to except is the "normal" figure for us. Now I am noticing that at least once a week my figure is shooting up to between £1.25/£1.57 which it was this morning, when nothing is done any different to the cheaper "normal" days.  This seems to happen when I have saved money the day before. Just makes me sceptical. Wondered why this could be happening and wondered whether anyone else is finding the same thing ?

Thanks

When does the standing charge for the day go on? Perhaps you have been comparing costs without the standing charge to costs with it included. Check that the tariff details shown in the IHD (if you can) are correct.

Start to think in kWh, as that is what you are billed for. Then convert it to money to see what the actual cost is.

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

... I can't help but feel a little suspicious of what is going on with my overnight costs.

Does your in-home display give you the option of looking at your consumption for the day hour-by-hour, and in kWh rather than £££?

Something like this (from my Geo Trio II, on the "Electricity usage" menu):

This will let you see whether you have a mystery appliance drawing power in the middle of the night, or not.

Sea_Shell

We've noticed (whilst away) that our electricity usage is slightly higher this last week than in late April, for the same appliances.

We put it down to the slightly warmer weather, so the fridge/freezer need to work that little bit harder.

Alnat1

If the standing charge is included in your daily figures, could it be that it's not always added at the same time every day. Possible that it's missed one 24 hr period and 2 go through the following day.

Alnat1

If your IHD doesn't have nice graph data (mine doesn't) try downloading the Bright app. Really good for comparing different weeks/months usage.

Mstty

Sea_Shell said:

We've noticed (whilst away) that our electricity usage is slightly higher this last week than in late April, for the same appliances.

We put it down to the slightly warmer weather, so the fridge/freezer need to work that little bit harder.

This is probably it👍⬆️⬆️⬆️

pochase

Is it possible that only recently the unit rates have been updated to the new ones and you were looking still at the old cost?

The only safe way to look at it is by looking at KWh instead of £ as already suggested by @QrizB.

markin

The tariff rate can take months, years to update for some people, best to record usage in KWH.

[Deleted User]

Missy78 said:

  We have been very mindful of turning everything off every night and I have been watching my smart meter like a hawk.

Hi,

are you talking about the actual smart meter or the IHD, the gadget?

Ultrasonic

Sea_Shell said:

We've noticed (whilst away) that our electricity usage is slightly higher this last week than in late April, for the same appliances.

We put it down to the slightly warmer weather, so the fridge/freezer need to work that little bit harder.

What sort of difference have you seen out of interest?

The OP would be talking about ballpark 3 kWh difference if the extra is purely from electricity usage on an SVT which is far too big to be from a fridge/freezer working a little harder due to an increase in ambient temperatures. Leaving a freezer door open might  perhaps?

If this is happening just on occasional days I'm struggling to believe it's an issue with the tariff data either, which whilst it could be wrong you'd at least expect to be consistent?

@Missy78 can you think of anything in your house that could be using extra energy some nights? You don't perhaps have an electric shower someone could use after last looked at the display? Or perhaps an immersion heater that might occasionally be on at night?