[OT} Electricity usage

In message , News writes

Hmm.. is that a ranch!

Tumble drier, dishwasher in regular use.

Check the decimal point! How do you heat water?

Seems a lot to me. Our usage Sept 13 to Sept 14 is 4253 units. Two people, d/w, 2 FF, two small desktops and screens, telly. Oil central heating will consume a bit, with pumps and that, but I dunno how much.

With similar appliances, we use two thirds of that and we're not particularly careful about how we use them. Plus, the tumble dryer is often on on what my mother would have called 'a good drying day'.

It does seem on the high side. But I guess it really depends on how often those large appliances are run and whether you have lighting you could roast a turkey under.

I use about twice that but am on full electric heating until we get central heating.

Time to do a meter calibration check I think...

Turn *everything* off.

Then apply one well known load - perhaps a heater or a fixed number of lamps. Aim for 2-4 kW.

Count the disc rotations or LED flashes over a fixed number of minutes and check against your known load. The units of energy per rotation/LED flash will be written on the meter.

If you find any serious discrepancy, ring the DNO and ask for a them to do a calibration check, which they *must* do on suspicion of a faulty meter.

If it is found to be inaccurate, you will be able to lodge a back claim for overcharging - though I am not sure how anyone decides how far back you can go.

Yes.

You've not got a red 1/10's digit on your dial, have you?

Well an average household uses around 4,400 so your figure is high by that yardstick *but* as ever so much depends on circumsatnces - how many people in the household and lifestyle (and hence how often w/m and d/w are run); how PCs etc are used; whether lighting is low energy; and so on. Eg our electricity usage is dominated by 2 PCs (plus modem, router et al) on for 12+ hours a day on average, and hence flat throughout the year. (The increase in lighting, supplementary heating etc in the winter is balanced by the decrease in usage by (old) fridge and freezer.)

There are ready reckoners you could look at with your actual usage of w/m, d/w etc etc to get a better handle. But let's start with the simple:

a. how many people in the house? b. do your *bills* show you using around 9,000 kWh a year?

Similar set up here but we use 3,700 units on average a year.

Jonathan

An awful lot. We have almost the same as you - no dishwasher but a tumble dryer. Our heating is Economy 7 - so metered separately. Excluding the Economy 7, we have used just short of 3000 units over the last year. We try to be economical with our usage, but not that severe! I would get the meter checked if I were you.

Seems a lot. Electric shower? A few a day could account for a fair chunk of that.

We use about 8K per year. Has increased since using plasma TVs and running the new CCTV system.

You haven't left the immmersion heater on have you?

Owain

Not paying for your neighbours leccy are you ?

Quick sanity check ... is the O/P actually paying north of a grand to the electricity supplier?

In message , Tim Lamb writes

Not quite!

Thanks for all the comments. Seems to me you're all using something in the range 3-5000 units. Why are we using over 9000?

Yes, large house. 6 beds. However, 3 people (2 adults, one child), and we don't run lights or anything else in the rooms not being used. Oil heating, no gas, so leccy covers all the usual stuff. Yes, we have two desktops and two laptops on 24/7. Router and homeplugs. Fluorescent lights in the kitchen are left on 24/7 (for the dog ...). Most of our light bulbs are either fluorescent or low energy. Showers just use domestic hot water from the tank. Immersion heater very rarely used - 2 or 3 times, when we've run out of oil. One freezer, one fridge/freezer and a fridge. Dishwasher used every night. Telly perhaps a dozen nights a year. Washing machine twice, sometimes three times a week. No built in tumble dryer. Wifey uses hair dryer and straighteners once a week. The usual mobile chargers, radio etc. Electric kettle - we drink a lot of tea. Electric hob and oven. We use a combination microwave/oven a lot, to avoid heating the big oven. Can never remember the types of hob. Glass top, the rings glow red when on. Always switched off at the wall when not in use.

We had a new meter installed May 2004. Readings (actual) from old meter are :

Usage therefore 17468 over 19 months, or roughly 11032 p.a. ten+ years ago.

Readings from new meter (actual not estimated) :

Usage therefore 73161 from 23.06.06 to today. 8 years 3 months. 99 months. 73161/99 x 12 = 8868 average p.a.

Seems unlikely both meters would be wrong?

Confused,

Mine tends to be 600W, dropping to 400W when everyone in bed.

What are your 'always on' items? (Most other things can be ignored.)

Do you have a 300W/500W outdoor floodlamp which is on dusk-dawn?

Does the figure vary much between summer/winter?

I would suggest buying a power monitor of some type, either for checking the usage of individual appliances, or the type which clips around the meter tails and reports on the whole house.

In message , Jethro_uk writes

Funny you should say that. We have a shop on the side of the house, with separate electricity supply. I began to suspect that their leccy was fed through our meter first! However, I turned mine off this morning, and the shop lights stayed on.

In message , Andy Burns writes

North? Nearly two grand!

This came to light when discussing with my brother. He pays less for gas and electricity than we pay just for electricity. OK, he has a smaller house, but there should not be that much difference.

In message , Andrew Gabriel writes

Hmm. 2 desktops, 2 laptops via chargers, router, homeplugs (3), a mobile, a few fluorescent tubes, fridge, freezer, fridge/freezer, phones, TV and box are always on standby, although rarely used.

See table in my last post. Wifey does love her electric blanket, although it is 'split' with my side rarely on.

Yes, good idea.

In message , News writes

Badly worded. It is just the TV and box that are always on standby, although rarely used.