Ridiculous energy usage after ASHP and smart meter installed

MobileSaver

TL;DR Elderly singleton hit with 1000 kWh a month usage claim for first 9 months after new solar panels, ASHP and smart meter installed. Last 3 months down to 330 kWh a month usage.

1. What, if anything, can be done to check the validity of that initial 9000 kWh meter reading?
2. How can we check if the solar panels are correctly wired up and compensating for the additional ASHP usage?

Can anyone suggest any other plausible reasons as to how the usage can have been so high for 9 months and still relatively high for the last 3 months considering the solar panels are supposed to almost eradicate electric bills during the summer months?

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The scenario is an 80 year old living on their own in a 4-bed well-insulated, double-glazed, detached house. During the day they may watch TV for a few hours, use the microwave a couple of times to make a cup of tea and dinner and there's an electric heater on a timer. They go to bed at 6pm and turn everything off until 8am the net morning.

Late last year they had solar panels, ASHP, new radiators and the whole house insulated. A short while later their old analogue meter was replaced with a new digital smart meter but the installer couldn't get it to talk to their network so promised they'd be back to solve the problem.

Months passed, correspondence was vague "we're looking into it" and all the while the smart meter remained dark showing no details... Eventually some 9 months later we complained we'd still not received any bill since the smart meter was installed only to be told for the first time that if we press the B button on the meter it lights up and shows the "Active Import" reading which we then duly emailed to E.on. 

Here's the problem, the reading was above 9000 kWh for 9 months usage so more than 1000 kWh per month and the 80 year old received a £4000 bill! Another 3 months have now passed and the usage has only been 1000 kWH for 3 months so only 330 kWh a month for July/Aug/Sep.

Robin9

Describe those new radiators please ?     Are you talking conventional storage rads, panels, "magic dust" types;   wet types (wet  with a gas boiler ?)

lohr500

Is there a sticker on or next to the meter showing the closing reading for the old meter and the start reading for the new meter?
What is the reading now?
9000kWh/£4000 bill for 9 months usage must be close to £0.43 per unit assuming a daily standing charge of +/- £0.60. That seems a very high unit cost. What is the unit cost on the bill?

Keep_pedalling

Much of time the HP will be running the heating will be while there is no solar generation so the solar panels will not be saving much unless he also has batteries to store the excess generation. 

Is he heating the whole house even though 3 bedrooms are not in use?

What traffic is he on?

Is he getting SEG payments for the electricity he is generating? 

MobileSaver

Robin9 said:

Describe those new radiators please ?     Are you talking conventional storage rads, panels, "magic dust" types;   wet types (wet  with a gas boiler ?)

Normal water-filled radiators that need air-bleeding from time to time and powered by the electric ASHP.

lohr500 said:

What is the reading now?
That seems a very high unit cost. What is the unit cost on the bill?

Yes, sticker says start reading was 00000 and reading today (12 months later) is just over 10,000.

Unit cost varies between 31p and 36p but with a £1 a day standing charge. The tariff is a separate issue as E.On still have the account on an old defunct business tariff but mainly trying to get to the bottom of the high usage first.

MobileSaver

Keep_pedalling said:

Is he heating the whole house even though 3 bedrooms are not in use? What traffic is he on? Is he getting SEG payments for the electricity he is generating? 

No batteries, but ASHP heating is on a timer so should not be running between 7pm and 7am. All the rooms not being used have the radiator TRVs set to "1" so minimal heating.

Tariff is a defunct business tariff between 31p and 36p but with a £1 a day standing charge. No, no SEG payments.

MattMattMattUK

MobileSaver said:

Robin9 said:

Describe those new radiators please ?     Are you talking conventional storage rads, panels, "magic dust" types;   wet types (wet  with a gas boiler ?)

Normal water-filled radiators that need air-bleeding from time to time and powered by the electric ASHP.

lohr500 said:

What is the reading now?
That seems a very high unit cost. What is the unit cost on the bill?

Yes, sticker says start reading was 00000 and reading today (12 months later) is just over 10,000.

Unit cost varies between 31p and 36p but with a £1 a day standing charge. The tariff is a separate issue as E.On still have the account on an old defunct business tariff but mainly trying to get to the bottom of the high usage first.

The unit cost and standing charge are a huge issue, with a domestic tariff that amount will be down to less than £2k. Ideally you want to be on a tariff like Octopus Cosy which would hugely reduce bills.

MobileSaver said:
but mainly trying to get to the bottom of the high usage first.

The variance in usage, three summer months vs winter and spring so a huge difference in solar generation.

MobileSaver said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Is he heating the whole house even though 3 bedrooms are not in use? What traffic is he on? Is he getting SEG payments for the electricity he is generating? 

No batteries, but ASHP heating is on a timer so should not be running between 7pm and 7am. All the rooms not being used have the radiator TRVs set to "1" so minimal heating.

Tariff is a defunct business tariff between 31p and 36p but with a £1 a day standing charge. No, no SEG payments.

Most ASHPs have smart learning, they should ideally be continuously. I suspect flow temp may be too high which hammers efficiency. Radiators should be warm all the time not hot.

Can you get more info on the system, the controller, flow temp settings and then we can maybe help more.

matt_drummer

MobileSaver said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Is he heating the whole house even though 3 bedrooms are not in use? What traffic is he on? Is he getting SEG payments for the electricity he is generating? 

No batteries, but ASHP heating is on a timer so should not be running between 7pm and 7am. All the rooms not being used have the radiator TRVs set to "1" so minimal heating.

Tariff is a defunct business tariff between 31p and 36p but with a £1 a day standing charge. No, no SEG payments.

It will be a big part of the problem.

It is being operated like a gas or oil boiler, it's not, it's completely different.

Not heating the whole house and turning it off for half the day will cost a lot more than just leaving it on heating the whole house.

They are most efficient at the lowest flow temperatures, ideally on most of the time putting in just enough heat to keep the house at the desired temperature.

Its a complex subject and some research will be necessary.

The heat pump is chosen to fit the house, if you change the house by shutting most of it down you now have a heat pump that is way too big.

It will use as much electricity, if not much more, producing very little heat.

Minimal heating, maximum electricity!

Reed_Richards

I have a 4-bedroom bungalow, reasonably well insulated and my ASHP uses an average of about 16 kWh per day to heat every room to an average of 20 C and provide hot water.  That's actual usage, my heat pump has it's own meter.  That's about 5850 kWh per year.  So it looks like something is wrong.

lohr500

As a side issue, if it is an old business tariff, does this mean VAT is being paid at 20%?
Not the root cause of the high consumption , but could be making matters worse.

MattMattMattUK

lohr500 said:

As a side issue, if it is an old business tariff, does this mean VAT is being paid at 20%?
Not the root cause of the high consumption , but could be making matters worse.

VAT at 20%, standing charge over £1 a day, unit rate 80% higher than SVT and 3-4 times the cost of a heat pump tariff.