Electric usage help please

silverbirch_3

I recently recieved a letter from powergen informing me my monthly direct debit was to increase from £49 to £92 a month. I have just phoned them to query this and having checked my usage for the previous 12 months they tell me my gas usage is £24 a month and my electric is £60 and in order to pay off the arrears as well as cover my usage the correct monthly direct debit to clear the arrears in 9months is £111.

I managed to get them to double the time i have to clear the arrears to 18months but this still leaves me with a monthly payment of £97.

This is for a small 3 bed semi with a family of 2 adults and 4 children. So i need to know what are the biggest electricity users in my home so i can make major cuts. I know the tumble drier is high but i tend to only use that to finish clothes off if they are still a bit damp after been on the line. What else uses alot as i think its time to go round cutting plugs off things.

heatherw_01

some info here:

https://www.energyefficiency.powergen.co.uk/advicecentre/category4/WiseAppliances.htm

Calculator here:


http://www.energyfirst.org/Runningcosts.htm

chris73

£60 a month sounds a lot, even for a family with 2 kids.

Consider replacing lamps with energy saving ones, especially if the kids tend to leave the hall / bedroom / landing lights on even when they aren't in there!.

Do you use an immersion heater for hot water?, if so turn it down by 2 - 5c.

If you have an immersion heater and a shower, then it would be cheaper for 4 members of the family to take a shower rather than fill two or three baths every night. This way you probably wouldn't need to run the immersion all Evening. It's far cheaper to just use the immersion heater in the morning rather then leave it on all day, and the water will still be warm enough for the evening washing up or to fill a basin for a quick wash.

Other heavy users of electricity include, Washing machines, Dishwashers, Immersion Heaters, Halogen Uplighters, Tumble Dryers, Deep Fat Fryers, Electric cookers, Storage Heaters, Fan heaters, Electric Fires

Some questions:-

Do you cook by gas or Electric?

How do you heat your water?

If you have an immersion heater, what temperature is it set at and how long does it run?

What type of heating do you use?

How many bulbs do you have in your main front room?, are they energy saving?

How many of the above appliances do you have?, how often are they used?

Also make sure that all TV's are turned off at the mains, rather then left on standby. Although each TV doesn't use much current in itself, multiply this by 3 or 4 sets, over the period of a quarter and you have a few ££'s!. It's also far safer.

silverbirch_3

thanks for the replys, the hot water is through the gas boiler, on demand not preheated. We have energy saving bulbs in all light fittings that allow them, there are 5 standard bulbs in each of the 2 living room lights but neither are used much as the light from the fish tanks is enough unless you want to read.

cooker is electric but new and energy efficient, washing machine is also grade A and a dyson so takes larger loads so not needing to be used as frequently. Dishwasher is on a least once a day and tv is on constantly. Don't use any form of electric heating or deep fat fryers (my kids don't like chips!)

chris73

Tropical fish? with heaters?

silverbirch_3

yes, tropical with heaters but they are a recent addition so will not be included in the usage for the previous 12 months and the water temp is often too high just from the heat of the room, the heater rarely kicks in.

Hunnymonster

Is there a big thick cable going next door ?

Is the meter reading correctly ? Not sure how you get that checked these days, used to be contact the electricity board - I guess you need to contact your electricity distribution company these days.

We have all the electrical household gadgets going, and I work from home and my electricity is still only £28 a month (3 bed house, 2 adults, 1 little boy who likes turning lights on but not off)

se999

Hi, Try to find the 'culprit' - with us it was an old chest freezer we had in the garage.

So switch everything off that you can, and check how fast your meter is going, then add things a room at a time, to spot the bad room, if you spot a bad room try to work out by elimination what's causing the problem. This might spot the problem for you. More difficult to spot if it's items with thermostat's like freezers, or ones you use for a time and put away again.

We spotted the freezer, because we went away and switched everything off that we could, but still used a terrific amount of electric, so we started a search!! This is another way of at least getting a short list.

Also is it a 'seasonal' problem, look at useage at different times of the year.

Hope this helps.

dbs

Have Powergen recently read the meter?
They did the same to me saying I had used loads of electric and wanted to double my payments but when I checked the meter reading they had got it totally wrong.
They said the reading was 900 when in fact it should have been 600.

silverbirch_3

we are going on holiday in a couple of weeks so i will take the meter reading before we go, fridge/freezer fish tank will all be left on so hopefully that will show any problems. I have also been checking the meter when the tumble dryer is running as that is very old and could do with replacing but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

and it is based on a meter reading rather than an estimate so thats not the problem.

aussielle

It might sound silly, but have you actually checked that the meter reading is correct??????

I only ask as this has just recently happened to us. Scottish Power notified us to say they were increasing our payments after a recent meter reading. When we checked, the meter wasn't even up to the figure they were saying it was at the 'meter read date'. It wasn't a slight error, it was £200 worth of difference and instead of upping our payments we requested a chq back for overpayments :j