Another massive Electricity Bill

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435157#Comment_119435157

The digits in red are decimal points and can be ignored. Let's see what they look like tomorrow.

L1011

Are you running the storage heating during the day?

whelan2

You don't use very much night rate electricity it's half the cost of daytime. I'm a dairy farmer and my bills are around 550 per month atm. I use more night rate electricity than day time .

Kraft.l

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435276#Comment_119435276

The storage heater has been switched off for months and the switch for the storage heater on the mains has been switched off for months, when we moved in we tried to turn on the storage heater but it tripped the mains and everything switched off so we just kept it off.

the_amazing_raisin

Okay, so you're using a lot of day rate electricity which is the most expensive. If possible can you shift things to the night rate, like laundry and dishwashing?

You'll also want to look at changing supplier next month, check out a website like bonkers.ie to compare prices. A quick look said SSE were like €300 cheaper per year than what you're paying

With the heating and cooking off (how are you eating btw???) then your usage seems kind of high

Are there any electric heaters or immersion heaters going?

It might be worth getting one of those plugin electricity monitors to plug into your appliances and check how much they're consuming per day. Possibly one of them is out of whack

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435310#Comment_119435310

Well, whatever is using the bulk of the power is in the daytime rather than 24h, or else night rate would be a lot more too. So it's unlikely to be something that's drawing a huge amount all day.

As well as the advice about checking if the meter is still running with everything off / looking at movement with big draws plugged out; you should obtain a socket meter. Most public libraries have them in an energy saving kit they can lend out, but they are quite cheap. Give it an hour on each socket during a normal day to look for anything untoward.

looksee

I knew someone in an apartment who started getting huge bills. Eventually after much dispute (they were students) they managed to establish that somehow the meters for themselves and another apartment had been wrongly wired so they were paying each other's bills. This was not too much of a problem till a new tenant in the other apartment decided to install a 'growing system' for his collection of 'house plants'. It did eventually get sorted. Not saying this is your problem, but it can happen.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435263#Comment_119435263

Daily units seem close enough to what they are showing tonight and they are higher than I'd expect. Are you sure there isn't an immersion heater running? Where does the water in the hot tap come from? Day units alone are higher than I'd have in total for a four bed house with immersion, electric cooker, tumble dryer etc. and two of us home all day.

tvjunki

The white and red clock tells you when you are moving from day rate to night rate. So from 11pm to 7 am you are at the lower rate per kw. .it looks like you can adjust your timer(bottom left where you see your time is nearly 2100 hours. You can put your heating on sooner but you will pay day rate. Move the button to the left from 2100 to 2200 on your picture.

You have night storage which can be expensive. If you own you can change to a lower energy heaters?. I left the old system there and added a few heaters. Now for 2bedhouse, at the moment the electric is 50 per week and that is not using the most effective way e.g washing and dryer on during the day and not from 11pm to 7am in the morning. . Could be cheaper if put on a timer to start.

If you have a fan on with the heat we have had if it is an oldish fan it may not be as efficient.

Have you changed fridges? The American type ones use quite a bit of energy. Check if you have bought anything recently that could have changed the usage.

Also if you are an apartment you may have a pump to force the water up to your apartment? You could have a drippy shower or sink and the pump is going on all the time to keep the water levels right. The motor could be on all the time. I have a drippy shower and once I got that fixed it saved 30 per month.

Take a reading today and then the same time for the next few days. Write down your main usage. If you were washing or ironing etc. See what the usage is from day to day.Switch off all lights and sockets when not in use. Make sure you have energy saving bulbs in the apartment.

just to let you know my usage is down based on last years figures by my electric cost me more than last year.

yankinlk

I'm afraid that at 20kw a day that is pretty normal... for house of 4 like me!

I agree above though... you really need to try and move a lot more units to after 11pm and before 9am for night rate. Anything that heats or moves waterwould be a good start.

A year ago, before I got panels and before I got dn meter I was oblivious to my usage patterns.

If you change habits you could get that down a good bit.

Kraft.l

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435165#Comment_119435165

We dont have immersion on at all.

Electric heaters not on in 2 months

Cooker not used in 2 months.

Kraft.l

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435256#Comment_119435256

Yeh tested that already I'm hooked up to the right meter.

Kraft.l

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435312#Comment_119435312

I only do 1 14 min wash cycle a week my flatmate does 1 60 min wash cycle once a week. Thanks for the tip any places in Dublin where I can buy one of these electricity monitors?

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435384#Comment_119435384

Any hardware store, Screwfix, Argos, probably big Tesco stores even.

Do either of you have substantial / gaming computers?

Kraft.l

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435312#Comment_119435312

The other guy eats out mostly otherwise I use a microwave to cook daily and boil some stuff on a gas stove so as not to use the electric cooker.

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435263#Comment_119435263

Your usage is very high. As an example, I live in a 3 bed semi, electric cooking but heating & water is via gas. 4/5 loads of laundry a week with a couple of those been tumble dried too tho.

That said, very tech intensive house with a very large outbuilding that's used quite often. My total usage for 2 months 27/4 thru to 24/6 was 624 units, versus yours for a 2 bed apartment at 1408!

There is most certainly something drawing power from your supply. The usual advice of unplug everything or even easier to switch of your power at main breaker and see if anything your meter still spins.

Kraft.l

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435336#Comment_119435336

Yeh it's just finding out what's using those units during the day, because were mostly not there, no heating used, microwave use once or twice in evening, kettle used for boiling cups of tea, my phone and tablet charged up, no TV, no laptop, no cooker, no heaters used, no immersion ,that's all I can think of

Kraft.l

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435390#Comment_119435390

Hey thanks for that advice on where to buy, we have no computers, laptops or tvs, just a tablet and 2 phones.

Kraft.l

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435414#Comment_119435414

Yeh it's frustrating, yeh switched off the mains in out apartment, and the wheel did keep spinning albeit slowly after 30 mins later, must try that again after I get the readings tomorrow.

Kraft.l

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435318#Comment_119435318

One of these guys?

pron

Quick bit of maths might be useful to put the bill and the electricity use in context

You've used 1068 kWh (units) in 65 days of 18 hours and 340 units in 65 nights of 6 hours

That's a constant daytime load of 900W which is massive ... a semi-d house of 6 of us with everyone at home and $DEITY knows how many computers, televisions, electric cooking, cleaning, etc has an average load closer to 3-400W (admittedly we use gas for water heating, but still).

Your load only dips to 800W during the night hours - so there's a massive constant drain on your power ..

800W is your microwave on full power, constantly. The kettle runs at maybe 3000W for a few mins tops - so unless you're averaging a fresh boil every 10 mins or so, it won't be that ..

Do you have a load of those halogen uplighters on 24/7 ? 6 to 8 of those would pull 800W, but you'd have sunburn from them in an apartment.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435474#Comment_119435474

Link didn't actually go in there.

Gooser14

How do your current usage figures compare with those for the same period in previous years?

With regards to the bill you posted you seem to be getting a discount of 5.5% which is the Electric Ireland regular discount rate. Their current discount rate for new customers is 30%. You should be speaking to EI to see whether you can be put on their 30% discount plan & failing that you need to switch supplier as soon as you can.

Kraft.l

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435325#Comment_119435325

Dont think so, theres a boiler press, a dial with wordingvsaying hot water above it and a switch saying hot water boot above that, both of these switches are turned off since we moved in.

banie01

Do you have a load of those halogen uplighters on 24/7 ? 6 to 8 of those would pull 800W, but you'd have sunburn from them in an apartment.

TBH, 1st thought that crossed my mind when I saw 1400 units usage, was someone's running a grow light or 5 😉

walterking

Question I have is why on earth are you not on a discounted rate?

That alone will save you 20%-25%

It takes about three minutes.

But something else is causing high use. And it's either hot water or heating as they are the big uses.

Literally turn everything off. Plugs out. Even the fridge.

Then see if the wheel is turning on the meter.

Kraft.l

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435481#Comment_119435481

Sorry I meant this

walterking

It's the daytime use that is the issue.

You have used 130 daytime units in 7 days at a unit cost with no discount.

Something is causing this and possibly a storage heater

And on that subject, if you read up on how to use storage heaters correctly, it will save you a fortune.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435527#Comment_119435527

Yes

Now, not everything has a plug clearly - storage heaters, immersion, hob/oven, showers being the main ones. But if its something with a plug this should let you find it.

Kraft.l

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435478#Comment_119435478

Nope candles most of the time, and bathroom light.