My Bills seem excessive!

DizzyOC

Hi,

We live in a one-bed apartment in town and I'm convinced our ESB bill is too high. I've read on here that a lot of people are paying less than us with their ESB heated houses!

What we have: Electric shower (2 x showers a day), 1kw fan heater in the bathroom (used very sparingly - 20mins a day tops). Immersion heater (pretty sure it's a 30 gallon tank - it's a metre high by about 60 wide), Electric oven, small fridge (the under-the-counter type), 32" TV, Computer etc... nothing else major.

What we don't have: No other form of heating (other than that 1kw fan thing in the bathroom) runs on our supply of electrickery - we have a stove which heats the whole place on turf. No washing machine or tumble drier (they're on the Landlord's supply), no dishwasher or any other heavy duty stuff.

So with no washing machine, tumble drier or heating our last two month bill came in at €256! And we were away for 11 days in that period!!!

Can that be right? It seems crazy-high to me! Should we seek to get our lines checked by an engineer?

Many thanks.

PS: the meter was read officially at the end of November.

techdiver

DizzyOC wrote: »

Hi,

We live in a one-bed apartment in town and I'm convinced our ESB bill is too high. I've read on here that a lot of people are paying less than us with their ESB heated houses!

What we have: Electric shower (2 x showers a day), 1kw fan heater in the bathroom (used very sparingly - 20mins a day tops). Immersion heater (pretty sure it's a 30 gallon tank - it's a metre high by about 60 wide), Electric oven, small fridge (the under-the-counter type), 32" TV, Computer etc... nothing else major.

What we don't have: No other form of heating (other than that 1kw fan thing in the bathroom) runs on our supply electrickery - we have a stove which heats the whole place on turf. No washing machine or tumble drier (they're on the Landlord's supply), no dishwasher or any other heavy duty stuff.

So with no washing machine, tumble drier or heating our last two month bill came in at €256! And we were away for 11 days in that period!!!

Can that be right? It seems crazy-high to me! Should we seek to get our lines checked by an engineer?

Many thanks.

I had an issue recently, outlined in this thread - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057125228

In short my meter was faulty and was registering way over the odds for my usage.

Do you have one of the old "disk spinning" mechanical meters, or the newer digital ones?

I purchased a home energy monitor and attached it to my incoming line, to cross reference against the ESB meter to prove the usage wasn't correct. The one I got was the Efergy Classic monitor - http://efergy.com/elite-classic. It works great and stores usage history also.

If you request an ESB engineer out to inspect your meter and there turns out not be nothing wrong with it, there is a charge of €165, so I would rule out rouge appliances in your home consuming power. You can run tests with the meter and by tripping individual circuit breakers etc.

DizzyOC

techdiver wrote: »

I had an issue recently, outlined in this thread - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057125228

In short my meter was faulty and was registering way over the odds for my usage.

Do you have one of the old "disk spinning" mechanical meters, or the newer digital ones?

I purchased a home energy monitor and attached it to my incoming line, to cross reference against the ESB meter to prove the usage wasn't correct. The one I got was the Efergy Classic monitor - http://efergy.com/elite-classic. It works great and stores usage history also.

If you request an ESB engineer out to inspect your meter and there turns out not be nothing wrong with it, there is a charge of €165, so I would rule out rouge appliances in your home consuming power. You can run tests with the meter and by tripping individual circuit breakers etc.

That all sounds very interesting - off to read the other thread now. Thank you, I didn't know you could add your own meter on to thew wire. Good info

DizzyOC

it's a very old-disc spinning meter that we have by the way. Do they have a good record of going wrong?

EI: Una

Hi DizzyOC,

And thanks techdiver.

DizzyOC, was the bill (or bills) prior to the November bill under-estimated? Because the reading would result in a bill that is a "catch-up" on the difference.

If your latest bill is estimated, you can forward us a meter reading to have an accurate bill issued to replace the estimated one.

As techdiver said, there is a check you can do. To ascertain whether there is an issue with internal wiring/appliance(s), switch off/unplug every device, then turn off the trip-switch. After about 20 minutes, turn the trip-switch back on, and plug in/switch on each item individually, checking the meter activity for each one (there is no need to switch each one off again). If one particular device is causing excessive activity on the meter, it is an indication of it being faulty. The ideal way to carry this test out would be, if possible, to have one person at the meter and the other person switching on each appliance.

If you would like any further investigation carried out on internal wiring, it would be something to be checked by an electrical contractor.

The service that we would organise where a technician from ESB Networks calls to the address, is having the meter checked. Internal appliances/wiring would need to be checked first though.

Our Appliance Calculator app gives a good gauge as to what each appliance is using also.

Do let us know if we can be of further assistance.

Kind regards,
Una

DizzyOC

Electric Ireland: Una wrote: »

Hi DizzyOC,

And thanks techdiver.

DizzyOC, was the bill (or bills) prior to the November bill under-estimated? Because the reading would result in a bill that is a "catch-up" on the difference.

If your latest bill is estimated, you can forward us a meter reading to have an accurate bill issued to replace the estimated one.

As techdiver said, there is a check you can do. To ascertain whether there is an issue with internal wiring/appliance(s), switch off/unplug every device, then turn off the trip-switch. After about 20 minutes, turn the trip-switch back on, and plug in/switch on each item individually, checking the meter activity for each one (there is no need to switch each one off again). If one particular device is causing excessive activity on the meter, it is an indication of it being faulty. The ideal way to carry this test out would be, if possible, to have one person at the meter and the other person switching on each appliance.

If you would like any further investigation carried out on internal wiring, it would be something to be checked by an electrical contractor.

The service that we would organise where a technician from ESB Networks calls to the address, is having the meter checked. Internal appliances/wiring would need to be checked first though.

Our Appliance Calculator app gives a good gauge as to what each appliance is using also.

Do let us know if we can be of further assistance.

Kind regards,
Una

Hi Una,

Thanks for that! I'm struggling with the idea of that test a little... I've been at the meter before and had the missus turn on the shower, for example, and watched the wheel spin faster... of course it gets faster - the shower has just been turned on! Is it going too fast though? How could I know?!

I've also checked the meter when we're on the way out with most stuff powered down and it seems to be spinning nice and slowly (Which would indicate it could be more a shower/immersion problem I guess?).

But on face value - and I'm not looking to commit you here - doesn't €250 sound like a lot for the devices I've told you we have? How do I check if the shower, for example, is burning the electric faster than it should be when it's on? How do I verify that other than just going "ooooo" when the wheel spins faster?! Can an electrician determine categorically that a device is using the correct amount of power?

It just seems that by comparison with others, we're paying way more than we should be for what we use. It would seem we either have a faulty product or a faulty meter, no?!

Many thanks again.

EI: Una

Hi DizzyOC,

I sent a query earlier to the relevant department that would be particularly knowledgeable on this issue, and will advise you ASAP.

Kind regards,
Una

EI: Una

Hi again DizzyOC,

I have received confirmation that the procedure to follow would be to check internal appliances/wiring first, including consultation with an electrical contractor if needs be. We cannot advise/check in relation to private household appliances.
If such investigatons indicate that the meter requires checking by ESB Networks, then we can look into arranging a meter inspection.

Regards,
Una

DizzyOC

Thank you very much Una, I appreciate that. I'll have to start with this process so. Thank you again and have a very nice weekend!

EI: Una

No problem at all DizzyOC.

This page on our website provides useful tips, e.g. ways of insulating, such as draught-excluding.

We also offer discounts to electricity customers for direct debit and online billing. If you would like further information, do let us know.

Kind regards,
Una

Chairman Meow

Hi all, 
im in the same boat as the OP here, only my bills are even higher. Im in a 1 bed apartment, the same as the OP, theres only myself and my wife here, we both work so the house is empty about half of the week.Its electric heating, a tumble dryer, and maybe my PC would be the biggest draws for electricity. My bill for Dec/Jan was 340 euro...i have no idea why my bills are so high. At this stage in thinking of switching to anybody who can offer my a lower price because  i just cant afford to be paying this much every 2 months. We have one of those old style spinny meters too. To be honest i think the tumble dryer is probably the biggest culrpit but i just dont know how running a tumble dryer a couple of times a week could result in a bill that huge

EI: Una

Hi Chairman Meow,

Do you have a day/night meter or night storage heater meter?

Here is some info regarding the cost of these meters.

Regards,
Una

Chairman Meow

Im afraid i dont actually know which type of Meter it is. I know im supposed to be on the night saver tariff, as i work during the day and would use the bulk of our energy in the evenings from 6pm or so. We do have storage heaters, but generally we just switch them on to heat the room and leave them switched off at all other times, as we were never really able to get them to work properly for us

EI: Una

Chairman Meow wrote: »

Im afraid i dont actually know which type of Meter it is. I know im supposed to be on the night saver tariff, as i work during the day and would use the bulk of our energy in the evenings from 6pm or so. We do have storage heaters, but generally we just switch them on to heat the room and leave them switched off at all other times, as we were never really able to get them to work properly for us

Hi again,

The lower rate for the NightSaver (day/night meter) commences at 11pm in the winter and midnight in the summer, and runs for nine hours. The day unit rate is 0.2062, the night unit rate is 0.1019.

Do private message us your Electric Ireland account number and your name/address/telephone number if you wish.

Regards,
Una

Chairman Meow

Electric Ireland: Una wrote: »

Chairman Meow wrote: »

Im afraid i dont actually know which type of Meter it is. I know im supposed to be on the night saver tariff, as i work during the day and would use the bulk of our energy in the evenings from 6pm or so. We do have storage heaters, but generally we just switch them on to heat the room and leave them switched off at all other times, as we were never really able to get them to work properly for us

Hi again,

The lower rate for the NightSaver (day/night meter) commences at 11pm in the winter and midnight in the summer, and runs for nine hours. The day unit rate is 0.2062, the night unit rate is 0.1019.

Do private message us your Electric Ireland account number and your name/address/telephone number if you wish.

Regards,
Una

Thanks Una, 
I dont have it to hand here but i will when i get home. Thanks for the info