Help me understand my grandad's high electricity usage

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: Electric usage and cost advice?.

Dixter01

Hi, Have just registered as I wanted to enquire about high electricity usage for my Grandad and searched forums and found this one. Similar to the OP, my Grandad has very high usage in his electric only bungalow. He has electric underfloor heating (which we know is not very efficient) but only has 2 rooms switched on.

He uses an electric shower once a week, has all meals cooked for him. He uses a TV but has no computer and generally does not appear to use much electricity at all. His usage for January was 1700kW with February and March at 1400kW and we can't work out how. He is having a Smart Meter installed early June but I think all that will tell us is that heating is drawing a huge amount of usage.

Does anyone know of companies who can carry out surveys to see what might be going on. I have had a look but all I can find is Installers rather than Surveyors. He lives in Caterham, Surrey. Many thanks

MattMattMattUK

Dixter01 said:

Hi, Have just registered as I wanted to enquire about high electricity usage for my Grandad and searched forums and found this one. Similar to the OP, my Grandad has very high usage in his electric only bungalow. He has electric underfloor heating (which we know is not very efficient) but only has 2 rooms switched on.

Electric underfloor heating is 100% efficient, but electricity is more expensive per kWh than gas, nearly three times as expensive. Most electric underfloor heating draws around 120-150w/m2, so based on two relatively small rooms that could still use around 4.5kWh an hour to operate if running at full power so where there is poor insulation. For someone home all day, heating on for 12 hours a day would use the entire January usage on it's own. So whilst he is likely using it for less it could be responsible for a significant amount of his usage, especially if he is someone who likes their home warm.

Dixter01 said:

He uses an electric shower once a week, has all meals cooked for him. He uses a TV but has no computer and generally does not appear to use much electricity at all. His usage for January was 1700kW with February and March at 1400kW and we can't work out how. He is having a Smart Meter installed early June but I think all that will tell us is that heating is drawing a huge amount of usage.

It will tell you when it is being drawn which is key, if there is an all night load, how much it costs when he turns the heating on, how much when running for a period of time etc.

Dixter01 said:

Does anyone know of companies who can carry out surveys to see what might be going on. I have had a look but all I can find is Installers rather than Surveyors. He lives in Caterham, Surrey. Many thanks

You do not need a survey, if he is running the heating for long periods of time then that will be the vast majority of his usage, is the heating still on now? If his usage now the heating is off plumets then that pretty much identifies the usage, although it is still worth checking meter numbers, running a sanity test, basic load testing yourself etc. 

Dixter01

MattMattMattUK said:

Dixter01 said:

Hi, Have just registered as I wanted to enquire about high electricity usage for my Grandad and searched forums and found this one. Similar to the OP, my Grandad has very high usage in his electric only bungalow. He has electric underfloor heating (which we know is not very efficient) but only has 2 rooms switched on.

Electric underfloor heating is 100% efficient, but electricity is more expensive per kWh than gas, nearly three times as expensive. Most electric underfloor heating draws around 120-150w/m2, so based on two relatively small rooms that could still use around 4.5kWh an hour to operate if running at full power so where there is poor insulation. For someone home all day, heating on for 12 hours a day would use the entire January usage on it's own. So whilst he is likely using it for less it could be responsible for a significant amount of his usage, especially if he is someone who likes their home warm.

Dixter01 said:

He uses an electric shower once a week, has all meals cooked for him. He uses a TV but has no computer and generally does not appear to use much electricity at all. His usage for January was 1700kW with February and March at 1400kW and we can't work out how. He is having a Smart Meter installed early June but I think all that will tell us is that heating is drawing a huge amount of usage.

It will tell you when it is being drawn which is key, if there is an all night load, how much it costs when he turns the heating on, how much when running for a period of time etc.

Dixter01 said:

Does anyone know of companies who can carry out surveys to see what might be going on. I have had a look but all I can find is Installers rather than Surveyors. He lives in Caterham, Surrey. Many thanks

You do not need a survey, if he is running the heating for long periods of time then that will be the vast majority of his usage, is the heating still on now? If his usage now the heating is off plumets then that pretty much identifies the usage, although it is still worth checking meter numbers, running a sanity test, basic load testing yourself etc. 

Many thanks for the reply Matt - very much appreciated. Obviously it is a big concern for him as bills are so high.  will have a look at his current usage as I believe it is off now. It definitely does plummet once the heating season is over

molerat

Bungalows can lose a lot of heat due to the often large roof area for number of rooms.  What is his loft insulation like ?

Dixter01

molerat said:

Bungalows can lose a lot of heat due to the often large roof area for number of rooms.  What is his loft insulation like ?

It is a relatively small, 1980's built bungalow but I must admit I haven't had a look at the insulation in the loft. We do know that next  door (mirror image) has a similar installation and their bills around 1/3 of my Grandad's. I fully understand that there may be factors causing relatively high usage but he appears to be doing everything he can to minimise usage. When my Nan was still alive, the bungalow was kept a lot warmer but he doesn't like it as hot now and heats less rooms. We are hoping that the Smart Meter will be a start in trying to work something out.

Gerry1

If the underfloor system is being used at daytime rates then nothing is more expensive, unless it's on E7 or similar which will be even worse.

If it's impossible to get gas or oil CH then it's probably worth getting some High Heat Retention storage heaters such as Dimplex Quantum running on E7.  Not cheap to buy and install but running costs are likely to be much lower.

Robin9

Dixter01 said:

molerat said:

Bungalows can lose a lot of heat due to the often large roof area for number of rooms.  What is his loft insulation like ?

It is a relatively small, 1980's built bungalow but I must admit I haven't had a look at the insulation in the loft. We do know that next  door (mirror image) has a similar installation and their bills around 1/3 of my Grandad's. I fully understand that there may be factors causing relatively high usage but he appears to be doing everything he can to minimise usage. When my Nan was still alive, the bungalow was kept a lot warmer but he doesn't like it as hot now and heats less rooms. We are hoping that the Smart Meter will be a start in trying to work something out.

Comparisons with properties can be misleading.  Have you seen next doors bills ?   It may be that he is a) not paying a large enough DD and running up a large debit; b) still on an old fix that's much cheaper than today's rates; c) not using his heating so much; d) running at a lower temp; e) a better insulated building.