High electricity usage - could there be a mistake?

ArbitraryRandom

akwexavante said:

A smart meter ASAP to get started would rule out a failing, faulty meter. 

Getting a smart meter ASAP would also rule out any chance of a refund if the usage is the result of a faulty meter... hence the free, quick and easy suggestion of a sanity test as a first step  

Jonboy_1984

What sort of tumble dryer is it? Our old condenser used a lot more energy than the current heat pump one.

Zandoni

Do you have an hot tub?

Qyburn

ArbitraryRandom said:

Getting a smart meter ASAP would also rule out any chance of a refund if the usage is the result of a faulty meter... hence the free, quick and easy suggestion of a sanity test as a first step  

There should be plenty of time for tests while waiting for the smart meter. It took us six months to get ours, but even if you got an appointment straightaway there's likely to be a week or so notice.

For the OP here's an example of the sort of overview they would get. That day was just under 8kWh, but seeing what times that was used helps narrow down where it went.

oliver1951

Alnat1 said:

Definitely worth getting a device to measure how much some of your appliances are using. Tapo P110 is the one most often recommended here, around £15. After you've checked all you can it doubles up as a smart plug and timer, great for the Christmas lights or turning on a lamp when you're way from home.

I discovered after 48 hours of monitoring that our 14 year old American FF was likely going to use 900kWh of electricity a year, the product details said something like 345kWh. At that time with high energy prices, getting a new appliance was going to save us over £200 a year and soon pay for itself. The old FF was gone within a week.

As mentioned above, make sure all lighting is LED. We've seen quite a few people on these forums who have a dozen 50w halogen spots in the kitchen that are often on for several hours a day. 5 hours of lighting, easy to happen over winter and you're adding 3kWh a day to your bill. LEDs at 5w each will soon pay for themselves.

I know this is an oldish post, but a quick query. I have a 12 year old American FF, which also appears to be consuming vast quantities, just on 3kwh per day. Samsung told me that was normal! It’s 2.5x the consumption per the energy rating certificate, or whatever it’s called. So what did you replace yours with and is it performing to the energy rating certificate? Thanks.

victor2

oliver1951 said:

Alnat1 said:

Definitely worth getting a device to measure how much some of your appliances are using. Tapo P110 is the one most often recommended here, around £15. After you've checked all you can it doubles up as a smart plug and timer, great for the Christmas lights or turning on a lamp when you're way from home.

I discovered after 48 hours of monitoring that our 14 year old American FF was likely going to use 900kWh of electricity a year, the product details said something like 345kWh. At that time with high energy prices, getting a new appliance was going to save us over £200 a year and soon pay for itself. The old FF was gone within a week.

As mentioned above, make sure all lighting is LED. We've seen quite a few people on these forums who have a dozen 50w halogen spots in the kitchen that are often on for several hours a day. 5 hours of lighting, easy to happen over winter and you're adding 3kWh a day to your bill. LEDs at 5w each will soon pay for themselves.

I know this is an oldish post, but a quick query. I have a 12 year old American FF, which also appears to be consuming vast quantities, just on 3kwh per day. Samsung told me that was normal! It’s 2.5x the consumption per the energy rating certificate, or whatever it’s called. So what did you replace yours with and is it performing to the energy rating certificate? Thanks.

Best to start a new thread if you want recommendations from people not connected to this one.

However, our 20+ year old American (General Electric, so really American!) was using about 3kWh per day just before it died on us. Replaced it with an LG "American" FF which uses around 1kWh per day. Happy days.

dunstonh

I know this is an oldish post, but a quick query. I have a 12 year old American FF, which also appears to be consuming vast quantities, just on 3kwh per day. Samsung told me that was normal! It’s 2.5x the consumption per the energy rating certificate, or whatever it’s called. So what did you replace yours with and is it performing to the energy rating certificate? Thanks.

Your own thread would be better but this one is dead.

Older or budget American !!!!!! can use a lot more energy.  3kHW per day is normal.  Our old one was in that ballpark and we replaced it with the most energy efficient one available at the time (also a Samsung) and Over the last 10 days it has used 6.28kWh.  So, 0.628 kWh per day.  That is running slightly higher than January where it used 0.569 kWh per day.   Broadly similar each month.

Alnat1

Post might be dead but I'm not 

The kids had moved out so we decided a smaller 50/50 FF would do and went with a Liebherr. Tapo reported it was using LESS than the quoted average kWh. We've since got rid of a small chest freezer too as this was often only half full.

I've realised that storing a lot of frozen food, even if it's a bargain in the shop, costs quite a lot and wipes out the saving. We buy a lot more fresh meat, fish and veg now.

oliver1951

Alnat1 said:

Post might be dead but I'm not 

The kids had moved out so we decided a smaller 50/50 FF would do and went with a Liebherr. Tapo reported it was using LESS than the quoted average kWh. We've since got rid of a small chest freezer too as this was often only half full.

I've realised that storing a lot of frozen food, even if it's a bargain in the shop, costs quite a lot and wipes out the saving. We buy a lot more fresh meat, fish and veg now.

Yes have to agree with you about the cost of ‘bargains’. I inherited the Samsung American style FF, when I bought the house. I’ve used it for several years and I’m reasonably sure that it wasn’t using as much power as before. Also it‘s mostly not very full. Sometimes it’s costing more to run than the value of the things in it. Time I took action. Thanks.

Slinky

Oh dear, just read the whole thread only to find the OP never came back with an update. I wonder if they ever got to the bottom of the issue.