Insane Energy Bill

MeteredOut

Newbie_John said:

And take two readings within 24h, one now, and one tomorrow at the same time - while using as normal.

It could be something faulty in the flat - immersion heater, storage heaters.. 

Something is using 2-3kWh every hour.

This is the thing the OP should be doing NOW. I'd even go as far as saying they should be recording the meter reading once every hour, on the hour, this evening. That will give us an understanding of whether the previously recorded high usage is still taking place.

And, as part of that, do the meter sanity check others have suggested, to see what is using the energy (assuming something is and its not a faulty meter).

OP, a picture of the meter (with redacted serial number etc) and a redacted copy of the bill would be helpful too.

SubZombies

Gerry1 said:

You still need to do the Meter Sanity Test.  For all you know the meter might be supplying the heating and lighting for all the communal areas.

If you don't provide the info you’ve been repeatedly asked for, then the advice we can give will be limited.

I am currently at work in the office so will be doing the above tonight when I am back

SubZombies

EssexHebridean said:

EssexHebridean said:

First up - questions as above. 

Secondly, do you have any other readings you have physically taken in the time you have been in the flat, plus can you take a reading today - what is that reading?

Third - what form of heating do you have - can you list some makes and models of your heating?

How is your hot water heated? 

You've been asked this a couple of times about heating now - can you give some information please? 

You mentioned that the water is via an immersion heater I think - is this on a timer? 

Our immersion heater comes on once at 6 in the morning and again at 5pm. We do not boost / very very rarely 

QrizB

Newbie_John said:

Something is using 2-3kWh every hour.

That's a kettle boiling 24/7, though. Considering that this is a flat not a mansion, it would be noticeably hot somewhere.

If it isn't a meter fault, the phantom load should be obvious.

Newbie_John

QrizB said:

Newbie_John said:

Something is using 2-3kWh every hour.

That's a kettle boiling 24/7, though. Considering that this is a flat not a mansion, it would be noticeably hot somewhere.

If it isn't a meter fault, the phantom load should be obvious.

There was a case here of someone who's immersion heater was broken and was running 24h.. just saying.
Let's wait for readings and meter sanity results.

Gerry1

Newbie_John said:

QrizB said:

Newbie_John said:

Something is using 2-3kWh every hour.

That's a kettle boiling 24/7, though. Considering that this is a flat not a mansion, it would be noticeably hot somewhere.

If it isn't a meter fault, the phantom load should be obvious.

There was a case here of someone who's immersion heater was broken and was running 24h.. just saying.

Unless there was a hot tap left permanently on it would have boiled.

Slinky

Gerry1 said:

Newbie_John said:

QrizB said:

Newbie_John said:

Something is using 2-3kWh every hour.

That's a kettle boiling 24/7, though. Considering that this is a flat not a mansion, it would be noticeably hot somewhere.

If it isn't a meter fault, the phantom load should be obvious.

There was a case here of someone who's immersion heater was broken and was running 24h.. just saying.

Unless there was a hot tap left permanently on it would have boiled.

Not if it was the timer that was broken rather than the thermostat. I noticed high electricity usage and found the time switch had been knocked on by mistake and it had been on for a month. The thermostat was still controlling the temperature.

Gerry1

Slinky said:

Gerry1 said:

Newbie_John said:

QrizB said:

Newbie_John said:

Something is using 2-3kWh every hour.

That's a kettle boiling 24/7, though. Considering that this is a flat not a mansion, it would be noticeably hot somewhere.

If it isn't a meter fault, the phantom load should be obvious.

There was a case here of someone who's immersion heater was broken and was running 24h.. just saying.

Unless there was a hot tap left permanently on it would have boiled.

Not if it was the timer that was broken rather than the thermostat. I noticed high electricity usage and found the time switch had been knocked on by mistake and it had been on for a month. The thermostat was still controlling the temperature.

You'd only get extra consumption of about 2kWh per day from heat leakage if the immersion heater supply was live 24/7.  The OP seems to have extra consumption of about 2-3kWh per hour.

If the flat has a loft, make sure a fan heater or something hasn't been left on !

Scot_39

SubZombies said:

Scot_39 said:

SubZombies said:

SubZombies said:

Hi Everyone,

I have made the account as I have no clue what to do. I’m 23 and am renting my first place with a couple friends. It is a 2 bed flat and is only electric no gas. Our bills have been around the £150 mark a month. This morning I woke up to a bill of £2,700. They say we have been paying estimated bills which is fair enough however there is no way in 5 months we have use 12,009 Kilowatts of electric as per my bill suggest. 

What can I do as I phoned them and they said it is all payable nothing I can do. There is clearly a mistake somewhere and will not be able to pay this and they threatened me with legal action 

Thanks in advance 

Thanks for all the replies. Our reading when we moved in was 20694 and now is 32044. Gave the initial reading when I moved in on 24th August and have done another reading today as was prompted to do so. 

We have an immersion heater and have barely had the heating on which is a couple of electric wall heaters  By barely I mean maybe 2 hours every other day. 

Our initial move in date we gave a reading and today we did which generated this bill so we have (according to them ) used the energy however we turn all the lights off and make sure not to use energy when not needed. 

Either you got one of those 2 numbers is wrong or you have used 11350 kWh.

You sure your reading meter correctly (if old style not including red 0.x digits if present), if dial not misread etc etc.

And again is meter physicalky your flat - so definitely your meter - don't just rely on labellingin communal setups.

Not far below the now demanded 12000kWh bill.

Which then only leaves meter fault or missing credits from balance for your £150 payments.

Our meter is in our flat so no way we have read someone else’s meter. 

If there was a fault somewhere in the flat. Who does it fall on to pay. Myself, my landlord or the energy supplier?

Normally your in contract with supplier so getting a meter test if after detailed monitoring and the sanity tests you really suspect it - would be down to you at a guess to pay supplier.

If faulty you don't pay but many tested are found within limits (low single digit % accurate).

You could buy a ct clamp monitor from amazon or ebay and monitor the live meter tail yourself for a few days etc in detail but these can be less accurate than many meters.  They don't work on normal flex.

Or do meter sanity checks.

Then frequent meter reads - every few hours or at key times.

Morning before any user activity 
Post breakfast / showers if electric
If all 3 out all day as leave empty
On return
Just before bed 

Could be a useful start point.

Then if see a lot of load maybe switch something off things like immersion tank heaters same period and see if shifts etc on to another period next day or you simply notice hot water colder etc.

And make a conscious effort to avoid using power hungry known devices  - old tvs game consoles gaming pcs, electric showers if possible etc) again over a similar time slot for a few days on and off.


As a rough estinate  

11350 kWh in 5.5 months -  is 68kWh a day 2.8 kW ave load every hour.

But some things take a lot of power. 

Hot water often takes a back seat to heating rooms in winter for many folk.  But is upto half my annual usage at times  - as a low heat user - and that's just for 1.

Again my heating seldom on more than a couple of hours a day unless really freezing outside.

Showers and baths. Say  3 10 min 9.5kW electric het showers c5kWh 3 baths maybe 15-20 kWh+ 

But again often its the little but many - we ignore.

Eery time you use a hw tap - by time water gets hot at tap you could be draining a few litres from tank just in pipe runs plus the actual hw used on top. RUN 20 sec of actual hw as covid hw hand rinsing advice - maybe add 2-3l more at decent flow.

A bathroom sink  maybe 5l plus to fill - kitchen plastic basin maybe double.

Over a day for 3 it will add up.




Your 2 heaters for 2 hours could add as much as 10-12kWh.

But unlikely for most of that 5.5 months.

Gaming PCs - my nephew's twin monitors and recently upgraded psu for new graphics cards can pull nearly a kW max. My old i7 office pc 350-400W with monitor.  Consoles similar - some again pushing 0.5kW

Every hot meal maybe 1kWh, if cooking separately. 

Every laundry wash, tumble dry etc 1kW each etc - 3 cannot live as cheaply as one.

Things like that you might want to stick a couple of tapo monitoring plugs on - about £10 each - and move around over several days.

A faulty fridge freezer stuck on defrost loop etc could pull a few kWhs over rated etc.

Halogen downlighters in kitchens etc - my sisters added to 500W plus now led at a fraction of that.

zagfles

Slinky said:

Gerry1 said:

Newbie_John said:

QrizB said:

Newbie_John said:

Something is using 2-3kWh every hour.

That's a kettle boiling 24/7, though. Considering that this is a flat not a mansion, it would be noticeably hot somewhere.

If it isn't a meter fault, the phantom load should be obvious.

There was a case here of someone who's immersion heater was broken and was running 24h.. just saying.

Unless there was a hot tap left permanently on it would have boiled.

Not if it was the timer that was broken rather than the thermostat. I noticed high electricity usage and found the time switch had been knocked on by mistake and it had been on for a month. The thermostat was still controlling the temperature.

In which case the thermostat will be switching off the power once the water gets to the required temperature. There's no way it's going to use 3kW constantly unless the water was constantly being drained from the tank.