Energy Consumption seems way too high?

ultrarunner1987

Just after a bit of advice really, sorry for the long message in advance:

My mum has, a few months ago, moved into assisted accommodation where rent, service charge etc is paid to the accommodation, but utility bills are paid for directly by the tenant.

The accommodation a 1 bed flat and is electric only, and the supplier is British Gas. She is the only occupant.

Her direct debit has been changed to £100 recently, and the meter is a smart meter. Due to it being on a smart meter, we can read what her current, supposed usage is for the month and as of today, it is £58.61 including standing charge. The only things she uses electricity for is her fridge/freezer, TV, water heater, 1 lamp and a plug socket to charge her phone. She doesn't use the wall mounted electric heater and barely has her ceiling lights on.

For context, I live in a 3 bed semi, with my wife and young daughter. We use a multitude of different plug sockets daily/overnight, our fridge/freezer, the TV is on most of the night every evening and our lights are on quite a lot  We use both gas and electric but have separate bills for both. Currently for the month, as of today, our electricity bill is £32.84 including standing charge.

Our tariffs are similar, both fixed:

Mums: 23.46p per kWh and 57.5p per day standing charge.

Mine: 21.7p per kWh and 59.77p per day standing charge.

It just seems way too high to me, considering my gas and electric bills combined are lower than her single electricity bill.

Could this be a dodgy meter or is the electricity that's being thread through the meter coming from other places also? For example, communal areas within the accommodation which, unbeknownst to my mum, she's footing the bill for. It's important to state that my mum is not the only resident with sky high bills.

Just wondered if anyone had any advice, maybe an electrician or someone that has had a similar issue and managed to get to the bottom of it?

Just to clarify, the direct debit amount isn't the issue, it's the current, actual energy consumption that we're being told she is using.

Thanks in advance

Robin9

Smart meters sometimes fail to communicate.    

Give some actual meter reads please .

Your mum's actually is of the right order, even low for an electrically heated house  -  yours sounds amazingly low. Typically in a gas heated home consumer is about 2900 kWh and about £60 a month.

Ayr_Rage

If the water heater in on 24/7 then that could be using a lot of power.

Older fridges can use quite a lot too.

Turn off everything and check the meter indicator stops flashing.

Do confirm you are taking readings from the actual meter, which will show kWh and not the IHD which could show incorrect ££ readings if the tariff is not correctly loaded to the device.

What has been the average monthly usage in kWh?

molerat

The direct debit is not the bill, it is not the use, it is an estimate of the average monthly spend and can be miles out.

Energy companies do not sell energy in £s, they sell it in kWhs.

What was the meter read, from the actual meter and not the pretty screen in the kitchen, on the day she moved in and what is it today ?

EssexHebridean

You heat your water using gas, at around 6p/kWh 
Your Mum heats her water using electric, at what, about 24p/kWh. 
the water takes the same amount of energy to raise its temperature, but your Mum's is heated using a far more expensive source of that energy. I'd say her bills aren't coming out massively high, from what you have said. That said, the checks suggested above, and keeping a close eye on things going forwards would certainly be a god idea. 

QrizB

Some questions:

Can you see half-hourly consumption data on your mum's BG account? Look at the amount of electricity in kWh, not ££. What time of day is she using her electricity? Is that consistent with her lifestyle?

Do you have access to the meter? Can you check that the serial number on the meter matches the meter serial number on her bills? And carry out Gerry1's meter sanity test?

Robin9

What form does your mum's electric heating take -  storage, panel, underfloor ?

Ayr_Rage

Robin9 said:

What form does your mum's electric heating take -  storage, panel, underfloor ?

It's in the OP

"She doesn't use the wall mounted electric heater"

tim_p

Ayr_Rage said:

Robin9 said:

What form does your mum's electric heating take -  storage, panel, underfloor ?

It's in the OP

"She doesn't use the wall mounted electric heater"

But that could easily apply to both panel and storage. 

Ayr_Rage

tim_p said:

Ayr_Rage said:

Robin9 said:

What form does your mum's electric heating take -  storage, panel, underfloor ?

It's in the OP

"She doesn't use the wall mounted electric heater"

But that could easily apply to both panel and storage. 

Moot point if, as stated, it is not used.

Robin9

But she could be using an oil filled rad or a fan heater or a .........................