Enormous (!) Electric Ireland Bill :( please help...

little_roro

Hi all...
I'm hoping one of you kind people might be able to shed some light on my huge electricity usage as I'm at a total loss.. I moved into a 2bed apartment last November. I'm living alone, am away most weekends and working full-time hours so the apartment is empty a lot of the time.

I've received 3 electricity bills since moving in.. the first was estimated at approx €60, the second I received was an actual reading for €217 (over an 8 week period, 2 of which I was away) and the most recent another actual reading for €175. My units used per billing period are on average 700-800!! :eek:

Bearing in mind my heating bill is included in my rent and is on a seperate landlord meter I simply can't understand what's going on!! Using Electric Ireland's online usage calculator I could only account for 400 (max) of the 800 units that are being used! The landlord has a very new-fangled fancy water heating system and I'm very concerned this could be the culprit. I have no control over when the water is heated as the water heating units are not in the apartments and he runs them. He hasn't been much help and my ESB bills are now in arrears as I simply can't afford to pay them.

Can anyone advise if there's a way to get my electricity usage assessed without the need to involve my landlord??

Any help/ advise is much appreciated..

Electric Ireland: David

Hi little_roro,

I can understand your concern if you can only account for only half of your usage. Our Appliance Calculator will identify the most common energy guzzlers, and water heating is amongst the most energy intensive of these.

Have you access to your meter? To reliably track your usage, you would need to check your meter against the consumption in your apartment. A useful check which should only take 10-15 mins:

• Turn off all the power in your apartment (at the main trip switch on your fuse board would be the most straighforward method)
• Wait approx. 10 mins before checking your meter
• By this time, the revolving disc (or flashing dial, if it's digital) should have come to a complete halt
• If it is still spinning (or flashing), it could be that there are problems with the internal wiring, an appliance, or that the water heating system you mentioned is running

I would advise doing this check both when you suspect the water heating is active, and when it is not. This way you may be able to establish its overall impact on your energy consumption.

Please feel free to contact me via PM with your account information if you would like me to look into this in more detail.

Thanks,

David.

little_roro

Hi David.. many thanks for the advice.. I've checked my usage as you advised twice today. The first time I plugged out all applicances for 20mins and found the meter stopped completely. I then carried on about my business as usual for a couple of hours (cooked dinner, boiled the kettle for a cuppa etc.) and returned to the meter to test it again. By this time the meter had clocked up 2units in the space of about 2 hours.

I tested the meter again at a time when I knew the underfloor heating (supposedly paid for by the landlord on a seperate meter) was on. This time I turned off all appliances and ran the hot water for 5mins exactly to see if that made a difference, but again no change in the meter after 15mins testing.

I will check my meter again in the morning to see how many units accumulate overnight whilst I'm sleeping. It really shouldn't be any as I rarely if ever leave my TV on standby, and always switch all my lights off before bed and in rooms I'm not in.

The main trouble I have is that I have no real way of knowing when the water heating units are in actual fact on.. Its my understanding they turn on and store the hot water throughout the day but my landlord is being very vague about it unfortunately.

I spoke with Electric Ireland today and they explained it's an issue I need to address with my landlord as the units have to be paid for one way or the other.

Electric Ireland: David

Hi little_roro,

Thanks for letting me know how you got on.

little_roro wrote:

I then carried on about my business as usual for a couple of hours (cooked dinner, boiled the kettle for a cuppa etc.) and returned to the meter to test it again. By this time the meter had clocked up 2units in the space of about 2 hours.

This sounds about right, bearing in mind the cooking in particular. The only anomaly seems to be the water heating, which, as you know, you will need to discuss further with the landlord.

little_roro wrote:

the units have to be paid for one way or the other.

True, yes, but if you are experiencing problems paying all at once, we can arrange a payment schedule to suit.

All the best,

David.