First, pull all fuses (or switch off all MCBs) then replace them one by one while listening for the whirring noise from the meter to resume, then with just the "expensive" circuit left in/on, go round switching items off one by one until it stops again :-)
Second, visit the gocompare, the meerkats or u-switch website.
I presume by units you mean kilowatt/hours. We use about the same as you - at least 9000-10,000 at a rough look at a year's worth of bills, and that's just electricity as we have gas central heating.
We also have a six bed house but three children. I'd say the main consumers are:
Big fridge freezer + small freezer Dishwasher - nearly aways used once a day Washing machine - once a day Tumble dryer - used a lot in winter/cold wet weather Electric oven (but gas hob)
900W microwave Computers - I work at home and use two large monitors plus one of my sons uses a lot of gadgets when he's not at university Big amp, tuner and speakers in my office 3 x flat screen TVs - not on as much as they used to be Fish tank Electric fan heater - I use this in my office when it's really cold but sparingly Low energy bulbs at least one left on overnight Mains radio left on almost always for security Two internet wireless routers - always on TV signal booster for house network - always on Devices on charge - phones, ipad, nintendos etcA lot of gadgets - sky box, printers etc get left in standby too.
E.
Ours is 250W as I type.
OP needs to go round and audit things in each room. Fluorescents left on for the dog? Fuck that - get a cat. More practically, perhaps, see what their consumption is and perhaps leave less on, or replace with LEDs. We had >300W of tungsten GU10 in the kitchen, now down to under
30W of LEDs.Either way, OP needs to find out where the juice is going and look at ways to fix it.
News wrote in news:OpKArryu9
Around 3,000 for me each year. Dishwasher, Tumble Dryer, wife who needs bright lighting, PC and Laptop on for a lot of the time. (Gas water heating)
4 computers always on? Do you really need that? Chargers? Permanently plugged in? Try a power strip with each socket *separately* switched. TV/box? How old are they? What is their standby consumption?
And so on.
Leaving two two/three year old desktops on 24/7 could run up 1000-1500 units a year. Older or high spec desktops can use 120+W so that's a couple of units a day each. The laptops probably use 20% or less units.
A plasma TV could use a unit every 2-3 hours while an LCD would run for half a day on the same number of units.
A 60w lamp left on will use about 1.5 units a day.
An old sky box will use about 250 units a year.
How much baking/cooking do you do using an electric cooker?
HTH.
We (two people) used just under 3,000 units from Feb 2013 to Feb 2014. Electric shower, dishwasher, washing machine (but almost no tumble dryer use). Occasional electric heater use in the Winter, but on a one hour timer. All main heating is night storage and gas. Cooking (apart from the microwave) is also gas, including the oven. Water heating for non shower use is gas.
We have all our lamps changed to compact flourescents.
When the computer CRT ecreen died, the replacement LCD saved a whole load of watts.
We did reduce our consumption markedly after I purchased a plug in power monitor and measured all our appliances. The TV was one of the biggest culprits at about 100W so that gets turned off pretty quickly now when not being actually watched.
Since electricity became so expensive I regularly graph our consumption and the peaks are almost all caused by the washing machine and/or the dishwasher being used. When replacing them we go for the lowest electrical consumption devices.
So I would say, yes, 9128 is a lot of units, three times what we use; Investigation needed I would say.
- Mike
That's about 60 W max?
It sounds like a lot to me --- unless you have electric heating? (We use about 6000 kWh of electricity a year, but a lot more than that in gas.)
The lights may have stayed on but did everything else? Their lighting may be on one circuit, 'theirs', but the expensive stuff might be on another, 'yours'.
I use about 3500/yr plus about1500 from PV panels. Two of us in medium bungalow, no gas and electric car. No tumble dryer but three small freezers. Immersion heater but also solar thermal panels. My main culprit is TV (380w).
That is a lot you use. You can't afford to leave stuff on 24/7 these days. Do the arithmetic, it adds up to a fantastic sum.
Dogs don't need lights at night. Stuff left on unattended is also an additional fire risk.
But all the street lights went out.
In message , News writes
Last year we used 7700. Not much different configuration to you except we don't use microwave (ceramic hob which is what yours sound like) AND we have a hot tub running in the garden!!
It is a lot, is it a single cold feed washing machine and does it get used a lot on hot temperatures? Do you have any form of immersion heater?
Brian
Dunno - but I guess I am using >15000kwh/year, so do you want to swap ;-)
One point often not considered is the occupancy of the place. If it has people in it 24/7 then consumption tends to be much higher than places that are basically empty for a third of every work day.
For a domestic dwelling, it does seem a bit excessive. That equates to the effect of leaving a 1KW electric fire and a 40W lightbulb running 24/7.
No electric heating _implies_ a central heating system which, in turn, implies hot water heating using the CH boiler. It's a fairly common practice to completely shut off the CH in the summer season and use the immersion heater for your summertime hot water needs since the running costs are either about the same or just a tad lower with the bonus of avoiding unwanted heat leakage from the CH boiler and pipework (assuming the 3 port Honeywell diverter valve properly diverts all the flow into the heat exchanger coil on the HW tank).
If you have a largish family of hygeine freaks, showering or bathing daily at the slightest hint of persperation in the summertime when you're relying on the immersion heater, that 25KWH per day consumption could so easily be a predicted consequence.
You need to examine your actual daily usage of energy to see whether or not that 25KWH per day can be fully accounted for. You might also try a simple test to check the accuracy of your supplier's WH meter.
This involves shutting everything off to verify that the meter stops when _everything_ in the house has been switched off and count the revs (or blinks or WHY) on the meter when you switch on your test load (eg 100W tungsten filament lamp or lamps made up to a known total wattage or perhaps a 2KW fan heater to get a faster result).
If you have a trustworthy wattmeter (energy monitor) to hand, you can use actual readings rather than summing up a total from a collection of test loads. Most such 'energy monitors' will allow you zero a KWH counter which may help you to determine a rough calibration after half an hour's worth of run time with the 2KW fan heater).
Many years ago, not long after moving into our current property, I got suspicious of the accuracy of the electric meter and did a few tests using a 100W incandescent lamp as a test load, which showed the meter was over-reading by at least 7%, certainly enough to warrant calling in the supplier to test the meter.
I think the actual error was a plus 11% on actual consumption. The company replaced the meter and refunded the excess units we'd been charged for during the preceeding 12 months or so since we'd taken over the account from the previous owner.
If I were you, I'd certainly be making some fairly basic tests to look for either a metering error or a hidden 'phantom load' (Bill Wright can recount a story or two relating to 'mystery phantom loads' if ask him nicely :-).
In message , John Rumm writes
John, you're right, of course. We retired a year ago, but, prior to that, we ran the attached shop, so were always 'in and out'. There was (still is) a doorway from kitchen to shop.
What I can't understand is the consistency. Our usage seems to have remained roughly the same over the last 12 years, yet we have more 'stuff' now than twelve years ago.
In message , F writes
Good point. I'll ask, tomorrow. We have a whole maze of fuses, boxes and on/off switches here, including a huge grey thing that looks like it should control Battersea power station.
In message , Johny B Good writes
Yes please :-) That is another possibility. When we moved in 12 years ago, I climbed into the loft and found minimal insulation and a tube heater beside the CW tank. There are three lofts here, due to the construction of the house, one of which I have never been in.
Anyway, I am sort of reassured, particularly by Mark's comments, that the usage is us being careless, or carefree.
Three plans. Firstly, tomorrow, turn off everything, and make sure the meter actually stops.
Secondly, use a usage meter as first mentioned by Andrew.
Finally, run a test with just one known item running, to check the accuracy of the meter.
Oh, and cut out the obvious excesses. Two desktops on 24/7. TV and box on standby, but rarely used. Thinking back, we watched a few Harry Potter films last Christmas, a few World Cup matches earlier this year and the England match a couple of weeks ago, yet the TV and box are always on standby. Ridiculous.
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