Oct price cap increase likely to push energy bill to over £10k... for a family of 4...

Krakkkers

Don't understand how several kws a day can go unaccounted for, i use less than 2kwh from the grid each day and could tell if someone switched on a 10w bulb.

xeny

MariaAH said:
He has just moved to a competent accountant who will indeed be helping him with the appropriate tax relief. He can claim £6 a week against the business for working from home towards energy (most people who work from home should be able to claim tax relief of this same amount)…amount has not kept up with increase in energy prices, but will be help to many self employed.

Check, but I think with appropriate receipts/records he can claim relief on the actual amount. Given where costs are going and his energy proclivities, this may be worth investigating.

gt94sss2

MariaAH said:

 He has just moved to a competent accountant who will indeed be helping him with the appropriate tax relief. He can claim £6 a week against the business for working from home towards energy (most people who work from home should be able to claim tax relief of this same amount)…amount has not kept up with increase in energy prices, but will be help to many self employed.

Your son can claim more than £6/week if he can document the extra costs if asked to do so (don't try to claim the time he spends gaming!)

£6 is just the default/standard figure that HMRC won't question.

MariaAH

caveman38 said:

I too have enjoyed reading this thread and learned a lot. Without going back and confirming, I keep popping in to find out if you solved the problem of the unaccounted for 2kW - which someone suggested was maybe a  hidden immersion heater.. Was that solved?

No hidden immersion heater (if only that easy!)…we actually had an electrician out today to help us identify circuits that were using most energy, but no major device identified. 

At the time we had fridge freezer plugged in (we thought is was using 104W (2.5kW a day), but his reading showed more like 160W, gulp. We knew we had TV corner in lounge on standby (64W and subject of further scrutiny), and my iMac was sleeping at under 3W. Son had all stuff turned off (not on standby). 

The total wattage was approx 600W…so where was the other 370W? Could not identify any one thing. Could not easily get to sockets for dishwasher/washing machine to verify their standby consumption. Son’s PC was powered down. 

So basically the unaccounted usage is a  heavy combination of other ‘stuff’ on standby. That’s over 8.88kWh a day, 3241kWh a year, of unidentified use!!! £907 per year at current rate, £1685 at Oct rate. That is a normal persons average use alone. 

After the initial shock, I have gone round the house turning all sockets off at wall. Turning kettle off between use. Turned cooker off. I need a badge that says ‘energy police’ and will be like a sniffer dog turning off sockets when not in use and unplugging stuff. I’m already annoying the kids, but tough! 

Daughter had interview for part time job today and got it! So that is good news on two counts…less energy use as she’ll be out the home, and will be able to contribute to her consumption. 

MariaAH

Krakkkers said:

Don't understand how several kws a day can go unaccounted for, i use less than 2kwh from the grid each day and could tell if someone switched on a 10w bulb.

Oh I need your skill set here! I really do!

MariaAH

xeny said:

MariaAH said:
He has just moved to a competent accountant who will indeed be helping him with the appropriate tax relief. He can claim £6 a week against the business for working from home towards energy (most people who work from home should be able to claim tax relief of this same amount)…amount has not kept up with increase in energy prices, but will be help to many self employed.

Check, but I think with appropriate receipts/records he can claim relief on the actual amount. Given where costs are going and his energy proclivities, this may be worth investigating.

Yes, absolutely !

Sea_Shell

Any electric recliner chairs?  Plugged in behind the sofa?

Krakkkers

Have you switched stuff off at the fuse box to see what happens?.My fuse box describes what each switch controls.
Do you have a cellar or attic?

chris_n

MariaAH said:

caveman38 said:

I too have enjoyed reading this thread and learned a lot. Without going back and confirming, I keep popping in to find out if you solved the problem of the unaccounted for 2kW - which someone suggested was maybe a  hidden immersion heater.. Was that solved?

No hidden immersion heater (if only that easy!)…we actually had an electrician out today to help us identify circuits that were using most energy, but no major device identified. 

At the time we had fridge freezer plugged in (we thought is was using 104W (2.5kW a day), but his reading showed more like 160W, gulp. We knew we had TV corner in lounge on standby (64W and subject of further scrutiny), and my iMac was sleeping at under 3W. Son had all stuff turned off (not on standby). 

The total wattage was approx 600W…so where was the other 370W? Could not identify any one thing. Could not easily get to sockets for dishwasher/washing machine to verify their standby consumption. Son’s PC was powered down. 

So basically the unaccounted usage is a  heavy combination of other ‘stuff’ on standby. That’s over 8.88kWh a day, 3241kWh a year, of unidentified use!!! £907 per year at current rate, £1685 at Oct rate. That is a normal persons average use alone. 

After the initial shock, I have gone round the house turning all sockets off at wall. Turning kettle off between use. Turned cooker off. I need a badge that says ‘energy police’ and will be like a sniffer dog turning off sockets when not in use and unplugging stuff. I’m already annoying the kids, but tough! 

Daughter had interview for part time job today and got it! So that is good news on two counts…less energy use as she’ll be out the home, and will be able to contribute to her consumption. 

I'm guessing your electrician used a clamp meter on individual circuits (all of the electricians I worked with in an industrial environment would have done) which could well be prone to errors. Clamp meters show my daughters house overnight at anywhere between 180 to 240W. Her smart meter says about 50 to 60W. Fridge motors normally have poor power factors and switchmode power supplies (TV) are 'noisy', both of which will make a clamp meter over read.

MariaAH

Sea_Shell said:

Any electric recliner chairs?  Plugged in behind the sofa?

Yes, sadly…very low standby but one of the many things contributing to our excessive usage!