Why is my electric bill so high [Merged]

rjmachin

There are some details here on using that smart meter:
https://forum.ovoenergy.com/smart-meters-136/ovo-smets1-secure-liberty-100-110-smart-meter-guide-8584

It says that the IMP R01 is night reading and IMP R02 is day reading on E7.

There is a comment at the bottom that one reading on the button 9 should be IMP KWH

Does that link help at all?

theoretica

gf3978114 said:

theoretica said:

I think it would be worth you keeping track of more than just the £ - so you can compare how kWh goes up with how the £ goes down and check that it does relate to use in your flat and only your flat.   But I am sorry I am not sure if IMP REG is the right register to look at.  You also want to find out if you are paying the same for day and night use or if night use is cheaper, as it often is in properties with night storage heaters.

The meter is dated 2017 - if it shows about 50000 kWh in that time, that is a property using a lot of electricity - averaging £8 or £9 a day at present prices (and that is averaging summer and winter). 

I shouldnt be using that much. I dont have heating in or anything plugged in constantly. No hot water. Its ridiculous.

So you need to track down what you are using - where is the meter?  If it is in a row of meters in a block of flats it is worth checking it is the one that relates to your property.  Does the meter stop increasing when you turn *everything* off for a couple of hours? How much does it increase when you boil the kettle only?

gf3978114

You might remember me from my previous thread. Today I pressed random buttons on my metre and managed to get to the bit about debt and there is none. Topped up my metre with £2, got a text right away to say it had gone in and in the few seconds it took to check if it had really gone in it had used about 12p. And in 10 minutes it's used 25p. If people have their lights on/things plugged in all day and it costs them £3 as a household, why is it costing me this much? 
I think its possibly the cooker/microwave/kettle thats the problem as I use those the most. But I recently heard of someone whod left their oven on all night and it cost them under £2.
I enquired if I can use camping equiptment instead, but gas is not allowed as it's flats. So I'm wondering what might be allowed and if anyone has any ideas on what I can use instead.
I'm on UC till I can get help to get into education/get a job in the meantime which will take a long time. And I have applied for limited capability for work over the weekend but I'm sure I'll be rejected as I filled it in wrong. I genuinly cant afford to spend loads on electric.

Muttleythefrog

I think you might have put this in the wrong place... probably your original thread was correctly located and actually you seemed to get some good advice there. I'm not sure how things like debt work on pre payment but you got advice on that if relevant.

Electricity is obviously expensive at the moment.... 3 units might cost around a pound and remember there is also a standard charge each day for supply.

Microwaves are efficient... and so are kettles... both are high wattage but are on for short times.... and so unless you have lengthy cooking in microwave I think you can rule out these being any significant costs. A kettle as example I imagine is 2 or 3kW power but to make a couple of cups of coffee worth of boiling water it might take only 2 minutes... so maybe about 3p... 4 times a day for 8 cups perhaps 12p. Microwave 800W on for 7 minutes to do a baked potato.. about 4p.

Cookers.. electric cookers do use high wattage and run for significant time typically when cooking. If someone left their oven on all night it would almost certainly cost more than £2 unless left on a low heat setting. I work roughly on the basis that our electric oven currently costs around 50p to 80p to cook for that takes 20 to 40 minutes.

Electric showers - they are very high wattage and can use significant power especially if showers are not short. Throw in using a hairdryer afterwards and you might find a good chunk of daily usage exists here. 

Energy efficient bulbs don't use much power (check what you have installed) and probably not an issue unless you have lights on a lot that have many bulbs. A typical modern LED bulb might be 6W... if you had 4 on all day (and I very much doubt you do!) it'd be around 20p.

Computing equipment can use notable power if on long periods and if using intensive graphics processing.

Washing machines -if you have one they do use significant power as they use moderate power over longer periods... obviously lower temperate settings make big impact. Tumble dryers - if you have such they use significant energy... period.

Heating - if your heating is electric expect it to have significant impact on usage of electricity.... at this time of year it could easily be costing you more than all other electrical usage. 

What other equipment do you have? 

You could experiment by turning things off and watching the power consumption.

My wife and I have a 2 bed flat and we use currently 5-8 kWh per day... so around £2-£3 per day. By looking at our hourly usage (visible in app/online from half hourly readings) and known events it's clear our energy is essentially used on the computing equipment on for most waking day and sometimes nights and then there are spikes when electric cooker, washing machine and hoover used. We would see spikes with shower, hob and heating use but they appear in the gas figures. We are currently (mid winter) using in our modern energy efficient flat about 12kWh per day of gas and most of that is on heating... if we used electricity instead that would be over £3 per day heating (especially if you consider it'd be less efficient).

(I'll copy this reply to your first thread in case this thread is deleted).

Muttleythefrog

(Copied response to new thread created in incorrect folder - also to add I see you needed to check the meter was working correctly and find out what tariff you're on as well as better understand the kWh usage and displays. What happened when you turned everything off as advised to check.. did the usage stop?)

I think you might have put this in the wrong place... probably your original thread was correctly located and actually you seemed to get some good advice there. I'm not sure how things like debt work on pre payment but you got advice on that if relevant.

Electricity is obviously expensive at the moment.... 3 units might cost around a pound and remember there is also a standard charge each day for supply.

Microwaves are efficient... and so are kettles... both are high wattage but are on for short times.... and so unless you have lengthy cooking in microwave I think you can rule out these being any significant costs. A kettle as example I imagine is 2 or 3kW power but to make a couple of cups of coffee worth of boiling water it might take only 2 minutes... so maybe about 3p... 4 times a day for 8 cups perhaps 12p. Microwave 800W on for 7 minutes to do a baked potato.. about 4p.

Cookers.. electric cookers do use high wattage and run for significant time typically when cooking. If someone left their oven on all night it would almost certainly cost more than £2 unless left on a low heat setting. I work roughly on the basis that our electric oven currently costs around 50p to 80p to cook for that takes 20 to 40 minutes.

Electric showers - they are very high wattage and can use significant power especially if showers are not short. Throw in using a hairdryer afterwards and you might find a good chunk of daily usage exists here. 

Energy efficient bulbs don't use much power (check what you have installed) and probably not an issue unless you have lights on a lot that have many bulbs. A typical modern LED bulb might be 6W... if you had 4 on all day (and I very much doubt you do!) it'd be around 20p.

Computing equipment can use notable power if on long periods and if using intensive graphics processing.

Washing machines -if you have one they do use significant power as they use moderate power over longer periods... obviously lower temperate settings make big impact. Tumble dryers - if you have such they use significant energy... period.

Heating - if your heating is electric expect it to have significant impact on usage of electricity.... at this time of year it could easily be costing you more than all other electrical usage. 

What other equipment do you have? 

You could experiment by turning things off and watching the power consumption.

My wife and I have a 2 bed flat and we use currently 5-8 kWh per day... so around £2-£3 per day. By looking at our hourly usage (visible in app/online from half hourly readings) and known events it's clear our energy is essentially used on the computing equipment on for most waking day and sometimes nights and then there are spikes when electric cooker, washing machine and hoover used. We would see spikes with shower, hob and heating use but they appear in the gas figures. We are currently (mid winter) using in our modern energy efficient flat about 12kWh per day of gas and most of that is on heating... if we used electricity instead that would be over £3 per day heating (especially if you consider it'd be less efficient).

Auti

How much is your electricity costs - standing charge and each KWH? Is your electric with an electricity company or do you pay the landlord for what you use?

EssexHebridean

I've requested a merge on this. 

Jonboy_1984

How is your hot water heated?

If an electric immersion heater simply switched on, that is likely to use those quantities of power to bring the tank up to temperature and then settle down as it maintains it.

EssexHebridean

An unexpected power guzzler found in another thread not so long ago was the little recessed spotlights that a lot of homes have - the GU10 style ones, if not low energy versions will typically be 50w - and allowing that a lot of people have several of them in a room...I know someone we had here who had I think it was 7 or 8 in their home office ceiling, where they were sitting for 7 or so hours a day noticed a distinct drop in use when they changed the lamps! 

daveyjp

As the flat is all electric the biggest users of electricity will be for heating the rooms, hot water and drying clothes if you have a tumble dryer.

Turn these off and the hourly use should be minimal based on the few low wattage household items which are constantly on.