11,000 kw pa - Help with Electric Usage Audit

chris_n

TheGardener said:

Electric Shower + Young adults usually = monster use   it was one of the biggest hitters in our house and on the now legendary @MariaH thread

That thread (maybe with a little trimming) should be a sticky as a case study for how to go about finding usage and likely culprits.

QrizB

Noble1001 said:

Appliances 
...
Electric Range Cooker & Hood

Can I ask about your electric range? What's the make and model?

Is it simply a bigger-than-usual electric oven or is it eg. an Everhot or similar which is as much a room heater as a cooker?

Coffeekup

Noble1001 said:

I noete that the average use of electricity in the early hours of the morning e.g. 2am is averaging @ 0.22 - 0.25 kw per 30 mins - you are tech heavy you've used my daily average by 5am.

Appliances 
LG American F/Freezer (10 yrs old) -possibly 3kwh's + a day.

Small (single) Chest Freezer (in Garage) - possibly 1kwh's + a day.

Electric Range Cooker & Hood - don't know much about these but I guess they use a chunk of energy, especially if you use all the hobs and compartments at the same time or for many hours during the day.

Sony M/wave - This will use some but for the energy you're currently using a month this will be negligible.

Kitchen spot lights 4 watts x 12 
Dinng area lights 4 watts x 12 -  if on for 5 hours a day for both sets .5 kwh's

Projector (left on standby)/ small amplifier (left on s/by) -actually used 2 per week ish x 2 hours - depending on make and models for them 2 hour's use up 3 kwh's that's not including stand by usage

Tassimo Coffee machine used 2 cups per day - don't know much about these but a quick Google says 600watts for 2 cup's.

Washing Machine 1 x wash per day (40 degrees)...dont use the dryer function - 1-2 kwh's a day 

(all appliances listed left on S/by)
LG 55inch TV - how old? Older they are the more they consume.

Bose 650 Surround Sound System - don't know much about this 

Sky Q - I don't know personally 

Telephones x 2 - I know these can use a bit of standby energy from what others have said on the forum 

HP Injet Printer
IMAC (I work from home using this)
BOSE Speaker (for PC)
SKY Router
LG TV x 2 - 42inch
Sky Q Mini x 2 
Q M3 Soundbar
Various Laptops (plugged in intermittently) - all of the above will use energy of course, it all depends on how much use they get and if they are on in the background when not being used.

Mini Fridge (in step sons bedroom) about a third of the size of a normal fridge (o.8kw per 24hrs - as per the spec) - it'll use more in a warm room or on a carpet, especially if the back is all covered in dust

Gaming PC (not used very often these days and not left in S/by)- depending on the specs this will use some energy especially when under load (I e. Playing demanding games or using demanding programs like video editing.

2 x UPS backups
2 x WD data storage (NAS) - these are probably some of your biggest users of energy over time and more so when u access them (someone recently figured out how much their server was costing them per day/month and they moved over to a online version now.) (Apologies can't find the link to their thread))

Outdoor Pond Pump (details to follow)
Hozelock pond filter 
Fishtanks x 2 (both with pumps/filters) - also big users of energy over time, again depends on a number of things like bulbs, and other stuff I have no idea about.

EV charge point (since March 22 so am well aware of the impact) uses 220 kw per mth (average) 

Blueair Blue 3210 Air Purifier - 24 hour's on 150w

You dont say if you have an electric shower...

As others have said a meter plug is a good way of getting to the bottom of it.
If you take off the car usage you're looking at around 600 kwh's a month, which is not unheard of for 3 adults in a house and one of them being younger which tend to use more energy anyway.
I think you just have alot of items eating away at energy which all adds up, there is a few biggies I would check first if you do get a meter, the fridge's, storage devices and the Nas server's.

Miser1964

>IMAC (I work from home using this)<

Some of your costs for power, heating, internet should be tax-deductible

OP doesn't mention a microwave, so Electric Range Cooker & Hood used for all cooking would run up the kWhs 

dunstonh

The high background use I think is the first stage.  Once the background use has been sorted, then the on-demand power use can be looked at.

MWT

Noble1001 said:

I noete that the average use of electricity in the early hours of the morning e.g. 2am is averaging @ 0.22 - 0.25 kw per 30 mins

Just to get this bit clear, are you saying that your average kWh consumption per 30 min period is 0.22-0.25kWh, or that you are using 0.22-0.25kW steadily...

The first translates to 12kWh a day in background load, the second is 6kWh a day...

If you are taking this from your smart meter half-hour data then it is the first one.

Robin9

Noble1001 said:

T..............................
Electric Range Cooker & Hood
.........

Is that an AGA ?

markin

BooJewels said:

There was a thread on here (last year?) where a blocked pond pump was responsible for several kWh per day; it was acting as a heater and the water was warm. 

It amuses the heck out of me that my blocked pump is still being referenced regularly - I thought about it myself when he said he had pond pumps.  

It was a good 2 years ago now - it wasn't a pond pump, it was actually a pump inside a sump to drain a garden prone to flooding - in my late parent's property.   Because I only visited once a week, it took a while to trace.  The power usage only increased after a storm resulting in a power cut.  The power cut was a red herring - the storm was the pertinent factor. A perfectly sized round pebble had blocked the pump inlet and the water in the sump and in fact the ground for several feet in diameter was hot to the touch.  That little pebble cost me something like 37 quid and a lot of wasted time!  Not helped by not being wholly familiar with the property.

So - OP - check your pond water isn't warm!

The has been at least 2 pond pumps, And even my own sump pump got stuck for a week last year.

Coffeekup

Miser1964 said:

OP doesn't mention a microwave, so Electric Range Cooker & Hood used for all cooking would run up the kWhs 

They do mention one

deano2099

The other advantage of those Tapo smart plugs is that once you're done measuring usage you can, for instance, hook all the AV equipment in one room up to them and use Alexa to turn them on and off at the plug with a routine.