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High Usage why?
Deeping_Dave
Posts: 32 Forumite
in Energy
Million dollar question I know but bare with me.
I've been monitoring my daily usage on my Octopus app and online. They lost connection to the display back in April and sent me a bill that was estimated and I thought way over what it should be. I started looking into what we are using each day. We live in a 4 bed detached house. The heating is LPG so the electric is used for everything else. I thought we'd be above average as the dishwasher and washing machine plus tumble dryer are on a lot. But some days it's 10kwh then others it's up and over 25\30. No water heated by electric. When I looked into it and compared to my neighbours who live in an identical house with 3 grown up kids they are significantly lower in use. I asked months ago for it to be investigated. Yesterday they agreed but said it'd cost £80 if no fault with meter found. I've done a test and switched everything off for 30 minutes like they asked. The metre goes up in 1kwh units so unless it's using more than that an hour it wouldn't show. We will do a longer test but that's not easy with everyone being at home at the moment. I'm so tired of Octopus we've had problems ever since we switched a year or so ago. Also the display was set up at the wrong tariff so I thought I was paying one rate when the bill showed a higher one. Yesterday I again called and went through everything. We did a test on the phone where I told them every item we have that uses electric. He said it should be between 8.5 and 10kwh a day based on that. I agreed we will be slightly higher than most as I have 3 daughters who cook and do stuff at different times but not 25kwh a day. he asked for the latest metre reading and assured me it would not be used to produce a bill whilst this complaint was being investigated. Then surprise surprise a bill for £1000 appeared today. I've done every test I can think to find out if we have something that is drawing lots of electricity or left on and come up blank. I know there's actually probably no answer but I'm so unconfident in Octopus to get stuff right after a year of problems. Is there any other way I can tell what's going on and are they right to charge for the metre to be tested even when it's been set up wrong on the display unit for a year? Any help would be appreciated thanks.
I've been monitoring my daily usage on my Octopus app and online. They lost connection to the display back in April and sent me a bill that was estimated and I thought way over what it should be. I started looking into what we are using each day. We live in a 4 bed detached house. The heating is LPG so the electric is used for everything else. I thought we'd be above average as the dishwasher and washing machine plus tumble dryer are on a lot. But some days it's 10kwh then others it's up and over 25\30. No water heated by electric. When I looked into it and compared to my neighbours who live in an identical house with 3 grown up kids they are significantly lower in use. I asked months ago for it to be investigated. Yesterday they agreed but said it'd cost £80 if no fault with meter found. I've done a test and switched everything off for 30 minutes like they asked. The metre goes up in 1kwh units so unless it's using more than that an hour it wouldn't show. We will do a longer test but that's not easy with everyone being at home at the moment. I'm so tired of Octopus we've had problems ever since we switched a year or so ago. Also the display was set up at the wrong tariff so I thought I was paying one rate when the bill showed a higher one. Yesterday I again called and went through everything. We did a test on the phone where I told them every item we have that uses electric. He said it should be between 8.5 and 10kwh a day based on that. I agreed we will be slightly higher than most as I have 3 daughters who cook and do stuff at different times but not 25kwh a day. he asked for the latest metre reading and assured me it would not be used to produce a bill whilst this complaint was being investigated. Then surprise surprise a bill for £1000 appeared today. I've done every test I can think to find out if we have something that is drawing lots of electricity or left on and come up blank. I know there's actually probably no answer but I'm so unconfident in Octopus to get stuff right after a year of problems. Is there any other way I can tell what's going on and are they right to charge for the metre to be tested even when it's been set up wrong on the display unit for a year? Any help would be appreciated thanks.
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Comments
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Can you get your half hour data from the smart meter? Then see if your high use is short narrow peaks or long broad peaks and if it can correlate to a daily activity diary.
But a banker, engaged at enormous expense,Had the whole of their cash in his care.
Lewis Carroll1 -
It sounds like you have a working In Home Dispay unit, even if the tariff isn't correct.
Instead of using it to show cost, change it to show kWh. It should have a display feature that shows how much electricity is being used at this moment in time.
If you have a SMET2 type smart meter, try downloading the Bright app. This can show usage for any day, split into half hour slots. You can find out when the high amounts of electricity are being used and try to pin down what's causing it.
Finally, I'd rather not bare with you (hubby might get annoyed) but I'll bear with you until you get this sorted
Barnsley, South Yorkshire
Solar PV 5.25kWp SW facing (14 x 375) installed Mar 22
Lux 3.6kw hybrid inverter and 9.6kw Pylontech batteries
Daikin 8kW ASHP installed Jan 25
Octopus Cosy/Fixed Outgoing2 -
Do you have an electric shower(s), or are they fed from hot water?
Does anyone in the house take frequent long showers?
Also, what do you consider a lot:
as the dishwasher and washing machine plus tumble dryer are on a lot
And how often/long is the oven on for each day?
cook and do stuff at different times
And as above, seeing usage during the day can help pinpoint. Does the Octopus website show your hourly or 30min usage?
Finally, the tariff/cost showing incorrectly on the in home display is not normally related to actual billing.1 -
Do you have electric showers rather than ones fed by a boiler, by any chance?🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00. Balance as at 31/12/25 = £ 91,100.00
SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her1 -
What fridges/freezers do you have? Those can guzzle a lot. Plus the dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer, and multiple cooking - if that all coincides on some days, easily adds up.
An energy audit is needed, a list of ALL the appliances you have that use electricity and identifying how much they're used. An energy monitor can help you identify how much individual things actually use rather than having to estimate.
As a general guide, things that heat/cool use more energy than things that mainly produce light.0 -
I'm not sure but I'll try. The actual metre in the garden only goes up in 1kwh units. The smart display shows current usage so I presume that is at that particular moment or are they breaking it down to per hour? I'll look on the Octopus website but to be honest the way it's designed doesn't make it easy to find answers.theoretica said:Can you get your half hour data from the smart meter? Then see if your high use is short narrow peaks or long broad peaks and if it can correlate to a daily activity diary.0 -
No electric showers all LPGk_man said:Do you have an electric shower(s), or are they fed from hot water?
Does anyone in the house take frequent long showers?
Also, what do you consider a lot:
as the dishwasher and washing machine plus tumble dryer are on a lot
And how often/long is the oven on for each day?
cook and do stuff at different times
And as above, seeing usage during the day can help pinpoint. Does the Octopus website show your hourly or 30min usage?
Finally, the tariff/cost showing incorrectly on the in home display is not normally related to actual billing.
Dishwasher twice a day I reckon
Oven/Hob used 2/3 times day probably no more than 90 minutes in total
Washing Machine probably once a day
Tumble dryer at night for an hour or so
The website only shows daily at present I'm trying to find an hourly option but no luck so far.0 -
Samsung Fridge and Freezer 2 tall ones. When I've just got those and the usual on the average read is about 4/500 watts. I turn off various items to see what's using what but nothing sticks out as being heavy usage other than the usuals mentioned.0
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Deeping_Dave said:are they right to charge for the metre to be tested even when it's been set up wrong on the display unit for a year?Hi,yes if you asked for it they can charge for a meter test, though if meter found to be faulty you don't pay.The IHD is a freebie, your bill is based on the actual meter readings, is supplier receiving smart readings?
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Fish tanks, pond pumps, reptiles with heat lamps?
Any big beefy gaming type computers?
If it were me I'd start off by going round each and every room and looking at everything that's plugged in, and questioning whether it needs to be.🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00. Balance as at 31/12/25 = £ 91,100.00
SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her1
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