Unusually High Elec Consumption

KizzyMM

I'm confused and concerned and hoping you will be able to shed some light on my current situation with electricity consumption.

At the end of August we moved to a newly built house. The house is predominantly gas-centrally heated and the hot water is heated by gas. The electrically powered items in the house are as follows:

Fridge/freezer - 500kWh per annum
Washing Machine - 1.44 kWh per cycle = 375 kWh per annum
Underfloor Heating in Bathrooms - 160w (in full use) for each system (there are 2, and I believe this works out as 2802 kWh per annum)
Boiler control - activates heating and hot water twice daily for 1.5 hours each time
4 x TV's - total use = 15 hours per week
2 DVD Players - total use = 5 hours per week
A toaster used once a day
A kettle, used about 5 times daily
Halogen lights used as required, and almost always switched off when not needed
Mini beer fridge
1 hairdryer, used for 1 hour per week
1 set of hair straighteners, used for 1 hour per week
1 hi-fi, used for 4 hours per week
Electric oven used for 3 hours per week

Our first quarter-bill for 31/8/07 - 13/12/07 was for 1918 kWh. This equates to approx 18 kWh perday. Because of the size of the bill, we modified the use of the underfloor heating as we assumed this was what had caused the high consumption.

However, our bill for the period 14/12.07 - 01/02/08 was for 1429 kWh (28.5 kWh per day), and our bill for 02/02/08 - 16/03/08 is for 833 kWh (19 kWh per day). In our old property (which saw the use of all the above appliances, apart from the underfloor heating) used 8 kWh per day.

I have been monitoring our consumption over the last few days, and we are currently averaging 17 units per day. I have kept a note of every electrical appliance that has been used in each hour, and even when the only thing to be used is one TV (no lights, no nothing else!) the meter is showing that I am using more than 1.5 kWh every 2 hours. I have switched off completely the underfloor heating in one bathroom and this has made no impact to the consumption ( I am on 1 kWh less in the 24hour period with the heating off, than I am with the heating on).

I have contacted Scottishpower for advice as to whether this usage is within normal perameters and I was put through a Consumption Calculator questionnnaire which suggested that, based on the appliances (excluding underfloor heating) etc that we have, our annual consumption should be around 1500 kWh per annum. I was also told that the 'average' household usage is 4000kWh per annum.

We have used 4600kWh in 6 months and I cannot understand how.
I was also told that daily consumption should be between 10 and 20 kWh per day, and I believe that towards the higher end of the scale it would be reasonable to assume it would involve electric heating throughout the home?

I was put onto another Scottishpower helpline where I was told that the average daily consumption is between 20 and 25 kWh, and that using 7000-8000 kWh per annum was reasonable, so I am confused as to what stats are more accurate. I was also advised that based on what I was currently using electricity for, it seemed unusual that my meter had gone up by 3 kWh in three hours and all I'd had on was the TV!

I have no idea what to make of all this. I have asked for someone to check my meter, however I will be charged for this. I have found an alternative, cheaper supplier whcih is great but it does not explain the high consumption for what I believe should be comparatively little demand.

I have spoken to my neighbour who has the same type of house and very similar electrical items, and her usage is 4 kWh per day. Incidentally, all my other neighbour, including one with a sauna, pay between £72 and £87 per month for gas and electricity. If I paid monthly I would need to pay £125. Also, my neighbours all have the dial style meter whereas mine is digital.

Can you tell me what I should expect to be using, based on the info above? Is 17-18 kWh per day reasonable for what we use electricity for? Is there a source of 'average use' statistics that I can refer to?

I am so worried about all this.

I hope it all makes sense, and please ask any questions to make my ramblings clearer.

Thank you for your time.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

The UK average electricity consumption is 3,300kWh p.a.

If you leave the bathroom heaters(and they are 160W each) on permanantly they will use 7.68kWh as you had obviously worked out.

With reference to when your "TV only was on" and you used 3kW in 3 hours.

What about fridge freezer, beer fridge,? CH pump? Computer, Sky box, lights -A Plasma TV can use 500W.

On your 3 electrical bills, are any of them based on estimated readings?

Frankly I would have thought 17-18 kWh a day not unreasonable. Bearing in mind that you use more in winter as lights are on longer, and people spend more time in the house.

Halogen lights(50W?) can use a lot. Electric ovens hobs also(only 3 hours a week?)
Do you have a Dishwasher? Dryer?

You need to buy a power measuring meter(available from Maplins) and start tracking down what is using electricity.

KizzyMM

Thank you for your reply and welcome, Cardew. To answer each of the points you make:

You are correct, along with the TV I had the fridge/freezer, laptop and beer fridge running in the timeframe mentioned. There were no lights or any type of heating being used. I do not have a Skybox and the TV is LCD (32").

The bills mentioned are all based on actual readings, not estimates.

I feel surprised that you percieve 17-18 kWh a day as not unreasonable, given that this puts my consumption at very nearly twice the national average you quote. I stress that the current usage of 17-18kWh is as a result of me using the absolute minimum of electrical equippment and not using the underfloor heating systems. Incidentally, can you let me know the reference for national average statistic you quote as I would like to use it in my written correspondance with Scottishpower (they quoted 7000-8000kWh per annum as a national average).

The halogen lights are 25w bulbs, which are seldom used as I favour low lighting (with energy efficent lightbulbs) to overhead lighting.

I do not have a dishwasher, other than my good husband, and I do not have a tumbledryer.

I have accessed a power measuring meter and will incorporate its use into my monitoring my current electricity consumption.

Thanks once again for taking the time to reply.

Best wishes.

SwanJon

From the average energy costs sticky

SwanJon wrote: »

From energywatch's website
http://www.energywatch.org.uk/help_and_advice/saving_money/index.asp
Consumption

Low user - if your annual consumption is 1,650 kWh electricity and 10,000 kWh gas
Medium user - if your annual consumption is 3,300 kWh electricity and 20,500 kWh gas
High user - if your annual consumption is 4,950 kWh electricity and 28,000 kWh gas
For Economy 7 rate electricity use 3,300 kWh (low), 6,600 kWh (medium) and 9,900 kWh (high). Economy 7 rate bills assume a 55% night time usage.

So 7000-8000 is average for a highish user with electricity heating.
The thing with averages is that almost half of people will use more, and a similar number use less. It is very difficult to compare with neighbours, even if it looks like they have similar appliances as everyone uses electricity differently.

One way to find a culprit appliance is to keep a diary. Each day at the same time (or a couple of times a day) record the reading. Also note what appliances are on when. Use the power measuring thing for your first suspects (or buy a few).
If the meter is faulty, (and very, very few are) it is likely that it will only be faulty by less than 5%. This would still leave you at around 43400 kWh in 6 months, which you still need to bring down.