Energy consumption help please.....

I don't have a bill handy so I can't check what our consumption is but we pay £55 a month for electric. We have someone in the house pretty much all the time with our LO. We have a 3 storey 4 bed house. Is it based on estimated or actual reads? Do you have a capped tarrif?

Something could be wrong with the meter.

Hi there, our bill is based on actual reads plus we do have a capped tarrif. Ive been doing some research and the UK average usage is 3,300kwh per year so thats 9kwh per day. Our bill shows we are using a whopping 22kwh per day!!! Im amazed as we're not home enough to use this amount.

Our statement says our monthly direct debit for gas and elec has now been revised to £100.50 a month! It was previously £58 a month.

Gas seems fine and the only thing thats new electricity wise is our christmas tree lights! [:'(]

What should I do?

My parents KWH seemed to jump recently. I investigated with British Gas (they have dual fuel with them) and they said they wouldn't investigate anything up to 24 per day - as it was within the average levels. My parents (two of them, 3 bed house, father is bed bound, nothing out of the ordinary in terms of usage but TV is on all day) use 21 per day on average

There seem to be varying estimates as to what is average - most I found said between 3000 - 7000.

British gas advised us to check individual appliances to see what could be causing it, keep a diary for a week, check readings morning afternoon and before bed etc to see our usage.

TG

I would call your supplier and talk it through with them.

I've just looked at our consumption history online, and we use 6/7 kwh a day. That's 2 of us in a 3 bed house, which is empty most of the day during the week.

Could you perhaps get one of those energy monitor gadgety things, and see what sort of readings you get off that?

We use 6-7 a day

I was just going to post about this because I'm really concerned about this too. Ours was about £40 last year. H rang to get a quote today to change from keypad to DD and it'll be £80 a month. We're the same as you - out all day, evenings are spent with the TV on and only the lights in the room we are in. We have a tumble dryer that is on about twice a week and an electric shower every morning (apparently this is very expensive). I'm baffled by the cost too...

Try turning everything off and see if the meter is still going round (using a torch if nec.) As you switch things back on see which cause biggest power usages and check those appliances. Monitor consumption as others have suggested.

For anyone who is interested in the meter thingy I've just bought one for my Dad from here https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350125097182QQihZ022QQcategoryZ50964

And it was recommended in the guardian money last week (I think).

When I worked for Seeboard (now EDF) in customer services we always compared units per day for the equivant quarter last year, in face EDF now have a little graph on the front page of their bills that show units used per day on this bill compared with last year same quarter and last quarter, which is a useful comparison.

Be sure to actually work it out on the days from reading to reading not estimates as it will throw the comparison out and is no definite answer, although it may give you some indications.

If there is a massive difference to corresponding bills (based on actual readings) then you need to follow the other advice of turning everything off and finding out what is causing it. Heating, and water heating are the biggest culprits. Obviously storage radiators are a nightmare.

In 5 years of customer service (meter reading and accounts department) I only ever came across 2 faulty meters that over registered use, and I was dealing with thousands of cases a month. Lots of faulty Economy 7 timeswitches which caused night rate units to be charged at day rate prices (which is easily sorted by replacing the timeswitch, obtaining new readings to show the split across the two rates and rebilling) it's easy to sort as the units have all been used just charged at the wrong rate.

Most faulty meters stop - as in completely stop registering, they don't tend to over record, or under for that matter, unless they're tampered with and that's a whole different ball game.

Flat conversions can be a problem too, shoddy builders/sparks wiring certain sockets up wrongly to wrong flat meters, some flats paying for the communal lighting unknowingly, etc. but one house, one meter, it's normally down to an applicance.

HTH

We're in a two bed flat and, like you, never in during the day. We use £74 a month worth of electricity. Don't know the units without finding a bill, but this is based on actual readings. We are electric only, no gas. HTH.

Thanks for the replies! Sorry I couldnt reply last night as I was on nightshift.

Im deffinitely going to ask them to check our meter, plus we had a power cut on sunday, but it was only us, none of my neighbours were affected. Apparantly it was nothing to do with the supply coming into the house, it was the the neutral switch in the consumer box - thats made me slightly suspicious also.

I'll also be looking for one of those gadet thingys for measuring energy consumption. Im determined to get to the bottom of this!