Huge jump in energy consumption - advice please!

Veteransaver

aiden1992 said:

Thanks for the replies so far, should've clarified in the first post that heating is gas so not the culprit. Same for immersion heater as we don't have one. 

Also, I appreciate that being home with the baby will increase some usage as for example she does have an oil filled radiator in her room that is on approximately 7 hours per night, but this was being used in feb, March and April last year without an impact on the usage. Also I would've expected usage to shoot up from when my wife went on mat leave but it didn't. 

Still at a loss as to what has caused our usage to double in the last few months with no identifiable changes. 

Meter is also inside the property so don't think anyone could've tampered with it. 

So do you have a combi boiler? And no hot water cylinder? That sort of jump in use has to be some significant heating. The radiator in baby's room wouldn't account for much of that though.

Gerry1

aiden1992 said:

as for example she does have an oil filled radiator in her room that is on approximately 7 hours per night

Meter is also inside the property so don't think anyone could've tampered with it. 

A 2kW oil filled radiator could use up to 434kWh per month !

Of course, it's likely to be a fair bit less, depending on the thermostat setting.

However, at five times the price of cost it's not cost effective.

The meter check is because in an external cupboard or meter room it could be supplying a different property.  But check that the serial number is the same as shown on your bill.

Veteransaver

Gerry1 said:

aiden1992 said:

as for example she does have an oil filled radiator in her room that is on approximately 7 hours per night

Meter is also inside the property so don't think anyone could've tampered with it. 

A 2kW oil filled radiator could use up to 434kWh per month !

Of course, it's likely to be a fair bit less, depending on the thermostat setting.

However, at five times the price of cost it's not cost effective.

The meter check is because in an external cupboard or meter room it could be supplying a different property.  But check that the serial number is the same as shown on your bill.

Not possible, unless there was no roof on the room. The room would be unbelievably hot, and oil filled radiators cannot put out 2kW continuously, they don't actually ever give out close to 2kW on average as the radiator simply isn't big enough. I'd be surprised if any of them even get to 1kW output.

EssexHebridean

Veteransaver said:

Gerry1 said:

aiden1992 said:

as for example she does have an oil filled radiator in her room that is on approximately 7 hours per night

Meter is also inside the property so don't think anyone could've tampered with it. 

A 2kW oil filled radiator could use up to 434kWh per month !

Of course, it's likely to be a fair bit less, depending on the thermostat setting.

However, at five times the price of cost it's not cost effective.

The meter check is because in an external cupboard or meter room it could be supplying a different property.  But check that the serial number is the same as shown on your bill.

Not possible, unless there was no roof on the room. The room would be unbelievably hot, and oil filled radiators cannot put out 2kW continuously, they don't actually ever give out close to 2kW on average as the radiator simply isn't big enough. I'd be surprised if any of them even get to 1kW output.

My OH uses a little 1kW oil filled rad in his office during his working days - that runs at just below it’s max consumption when it’s running at full tilt. On a chilly day it will do that steadily throughout most of the morning. 

born_again

Anything new in house since last year, such as American style fridge freezer?

Alnat1

born_again said:

Anything new in house since last year, such as American style fridge freezer?

Or anything like that but isn't new and might not be running well, using lots more electricity. Even then, would hardly be likely to use that much more.

dunstonh

Thanks for the replies so far, should've clarified in the first post that heating is gas so not the culprit. Same for immersion heater as we don't have one. 

There will be a pump.  When our pump is running, it adds a couple of hundreds watts whilst running.  It can add a couple of kW a day depending on how long your heating is on.

Also, I appreciate that being home with the baby will increase some usage as for example she does have an oil filled radiator in her room that is on approximately 7 hours per night

That will hurt.  Using the gas central heating would be cheaper if you have good zoning. It may even be cheaper if you were heating the whole house with the central heating.

 but this was being used in feb, March and April last year without an impact on the usage.

Winter 2023 was mild.  So, it may not have been required to top up as often.

Still at a loss as to what has caused our usage to double in the last few months with no identifiable changes. 

What is your idle use?  i.e. if you were all going out and everything is turned off as you would normally leave it (including things in standby), what is your base level electricity use?

For reference, I was running at 220w before I did my investigations but can get it down to 84w now.
Start taking things off standby and fully turning them off (modern TV connectivity options - not streaming but constant wifi when in standby or constant Bluetooth) can use a lot of energy. Sky Q boxes are heavy use).

Invest in a couple of Tapo energy monitoring plugs, then use them over multiple devices over a period to see what each device is drawing.

Gerry1

Veteransaver said:

Gerry1 said:

aiden1992 said:

as for example she does have an oil filled radiator in her room that is on approximately 7 hours per night

Meter is also inside the property so don't think anyone could've tampered with it. 

A 2kW oil filled radiator could use up to 434kWh per month !

Of course, it's likely to be a fair bit less, depending on the thermostat setting.

However, at five times the price of cost it's not cost effective.

The meter check is because in an external cupboard or meter room it could be supplying a different property.  But check that the serial number is the same as shown on your bill.

Not possible, unless there was no roof on the room. The room would be unbelievably hot, and oil filled radiators cannot put out 2kW continuously, they don't actually ever give out close to 2kW on average as the radiator simply isn't big enough. I'd be surprised if any of them even get to 1kW output.

@Veteransaver That's the maximum possible if a 2kW heater were left on 24/7.  As I stated, the thermostat may kick in (depending on the chosen setting, the room area, ceiling height, insulation and external temperature).

You can buy 3kW oil filled radiators so the figure could even be exceeded.

It's unlikely that none can emit 1kW: this 3kW heater is rated as suitable for smaller rooms !

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AMOS-Radiator-Adjustable-Temperature-Thermostat/dp/B07PKWC9NY/ref=mp_s_a_1_3

The key point is that an oil filled radiator left on for long periods can be very expensive to run.  Together with electric showers it's one of the main culprits when investigating high bills.

markin

Is the a thermometer in that room? You could easily be over heating the room, and running at 5-12 kwh, Also they aren't kid safe so will have to go anyway.

Get the daily data, or take reading before bed and in the morning for a week.

Veteransaver

Gerry1 said:

Veteransaver said:

Gerry1 said:

aiden1992 said:

as for example she does have an oil filled radiator in her room that is on approximately 7 hours per night

Meter is also inside the property so don't think anyone could've tampered with it. 

A 2kW oil filled radiator could use up to 434kWh per month !

Of course, it's likely to be a fair bit less, depending on the thermostat setting.

However, at five times the price of cost it's not cost effective.

The meter check is because in an external cupboard or meter room it could be supplying a different property.  But check that the serial number is the same as shown on your bill.

Not possible, unless there was no roof on the room. The room would be unbelievably hot, and oil filled radiators cannot put out 2kW continuously, they don't actually ever give out close to 2kW on average as the radiator simply isn't big enough. I'd be surprised if any of them even get to 1kW output.

@Veteransaver That's the maximum possible if a 2kW heater were left on 24/7.  As I stated, the thermostat may kick in (depending on the chosen setting, the room area, ceiling height, insulation and external temperature).

You can buy 3kW oil filled radiators so the figure could even be exceeded.

It's unlikely that none can emit 1kW: this 3kW heater is rated as suitable for smaller rooms !

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AMOS-Radiator-Adjustable-Temperature-Thermostat/dp/B07PKWC9NY/ref=mp_s_a_1_3

The key point is that an oil filled radiator left on for long periods can be very expensive to run.  Together with electric showers it's one of the main culprits when investigating high bills.

It's the size of the radiator that means they can't put out anywhere near the rating of their element.
Look how large a standard domestic central heating radiator needs to be to be rated at 2000W out, they are massive!
Oil filled rads have 2 thermostats, one to stop the oil overheating, and the other for the room temperature.
A 2Kw convector or fan heater on the other hand would put out 2kW constantly until the room temperature thermostat kicked in, but an oil radiator can't. It's why people think they are cheaper to run, but it's simply because they don't put out as much heat.