My house has an electricity leak...
Discussion
First off – this isn’t a rant about the cost of electricity but something just isn’t making sense with my electricity bills. I’m happy that my provider is one of the cheapest.
Keeping it as brief as possible, I have a one bed apartment that I only really live in at the weekends, when I bought the place about 4 years ago I had all the electrics replaced including a new board.
Nobody else has access to it during the week and when I’m there its usually only me using the power, probably no more than:
Dishwasher once a week
Shower 9.5Kw Twice a week (Saturday & Sunday)
LCD Telly (never left on stand by)
Microwave : Twice
Kettle 3 or 4 times
Toaster : Twice
Fridge Freezer : A rated
There isn’t even a water heater, washing machine, Iron or Oven! We really are talking basic electrical usage – No heating needed from April to October.
Heres my issue, I’m being charged £40 per month and it seems I’m nearly using all that quota too!! I’ve compared it to the family home (3 people, oven, 2 tellys, 2 computers, electric shower twice a day… basically using lots more than me) and the bills are virtually the same between the two premises.
The only thing I’ve checked so far is that the meter isn’t still turning when all the appliances are turned off – this rules out any of the other apartments running off my supply.
Any ideas? Could the 1980’s meter be inaccurate? I’m not exactly a friend of the earth… but I’ve always been careful with the electricity I use.
Keeping it as brief as possible, I have a one bed apartment that I only really live in at the weekends, when I bought the place about 4 years ago I had all the electrics replaced including a new board.
Nobody else has access to it during the week and when I’m there its usually only me using the power, probably no more than:
Dishwasher once a week
Shower 9.5Kw Twice a week (Saturday & Sunday)
LCD Telly (never left on stand by)
Microwave : Twice
Kettle 3 or 4 times
Toaster : Twice
Fridge Freezer : A rated
There isn’t even a water heater, washing machine, Iron or Oven! We really are talking basic electrical usage – No heating needed from April to October.
Heres my issue, I’m being charged £40 per month and it seems I’m nearly using all that quota too!! I’ve compared it to the family home (3 people, oven, 2 tellys, 2 computers, electric shower twice a day… basically using lots more than me) and the bills are virtually the same between the two premises.
The only thing I’ve checked so far is that the meter isn’t still turning when all the appliances are turned off – this rules out any of the other apartments running off my supply.
Any ideas? Could the 1980’s meter be inaccurate? I’m not exactly a friend of the earth… but I’ve always been careful with the electricity I use.
£40 seems about right, i've got a similar size flat,live on my own, its a year old so should be very energy efficiant, no gas, but wet heating, only here a couple of hours in the evening and weekends, currently paying £80 a month direct debit and every quarter seem to be in arrears!! 
Sgt Bilko said:
May be your neighbours are only stealing your electricity during Mon-Fri?
You may joke. LL i act for could not work out why the electricity bill for the communal areas was so much. Turned out that one of the tenants had drilled through the wall, tapped into the supply to the cleaner's plug socket for the hoover, and was running everything off that!rude-boy said:
Something is not right there at all...
I'm glad its not just me thinking that, but I can't think what is causing the high bills... ...could it be a faulty appliance that is eating loads of electricity? (although I would have thought that would just cause the board to trip out.. its quite a sensitive 'Le Grande' board)
rude-boy said:
Sgt Bilko said:
May be your neighbours are only stealing your electricity during Mon-Fri?
You may joke. LL i act for could not work out why the electricity bill for the communal areas was so much. Turned out that one of the tenants had drilled through the wall, tapped into the supply to the cleaner's plug socket for the hoover, and was running everything off that!
thats my solution if I cant get to the bottom of the problem in my flat!rude-boy said:
Sgt Bilko said:
May be your neighbours are only stealing your electricity during Mon-Fri?
You may joke. LL i act for could not work out why the electricity bill for the communal areas was so much. Turned out that one of the tenants had drilled through the wall, tapped into the supply to the cleaner's plug socket for the hoover, and was running everything off that!It is possibly a faulty meter.
Get in touch with your supply company and ask them to fit a test meter in tandem with the existing meter to your supply. When this is fitted readings are taken from both at the start of the test period then at the the end. If they tally, the meter is not faulty. If they read differantly, then your meter is at fault.
Get in touch with your supply company and ask them to fit a test meter in tandem with the existing meter to your supply. When this is fitted readings are taken from both at the start of the test period then at the the end. If they tally, the meter is not faulty. If they read differantly, then your meter is at fault.
£40/month sounds high to me. How many units are you using?
My three bed semi with part electric heating uses ~1000 daytime and ~1000 night-time on average per quarter. I pay £65/month.
My bill was £80/month but by monitoring my meter I found that it was clocking ecconomy seven units during the afternoon, so yes, meters do go wrong. I got a £400 quid rebate which was nice
My three bed semi with part electric heating uses ~1000 daytime and ~1000 night-time on average per quarter. I pay £65/month.
My bill was £80/month but by monitoring my meter I found that it was clocking ecconomy seven units during the afternoon, so yes, meters do go wrong. I got a £400 quid rebate which was nice
check out http://www.ebico.co.uk/html/home.php
moved to them from eon - they had 2 rates and seem confusing, this lot have a single rate for everyone
moved to them from eon - they had 2 rates and seem confusing, this lot have a single rate for everyone
AlexanderV8 said:
How is your kitchen hot water heated?
Are you sure there's not an immersion heater switched on?
Its not heated at all - I took the water heater out a few years back but didnt get round to replacing it (Dishwasher & Electric shower mean I dont miss hot tap water for the couple of days I'm there)Are you sure there's not an immersion heater switched on?
But its things like that which are leading me to believe there is a problem somewhere!
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