A bit OT, but our electricity usage has always seemed incredibly high to
me. Not how much we pay, but the actual units used. Looking back, the
last time I read the meter was 26.09.13, which is almost exactly a year
ago. Reading it today, I find we have used 9128 units over a year.

No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing machine,
dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops, kettle,
lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?
--
Graeme

In message , News
writes

A bit OT, but our electricity usage has always seemed incredibly high
to me. Not how much we pay, but the actual units used. Looking back,
the last time I read the meter was 26.09.13, which is almost exactly a
year ago. Reading it today, I find we have used 9128 units over a year.

No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing machine,
dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops, kettle,
lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?

Hmm.. is that a ranch!

4835 here last year; largish farmhouse with outbuildings on same meter.
No electric heating, gas hob, gas hot water.

Tumble drier, dishwasher in regular use.

Check the decimal point! How do you heat water?

--
Tim Lamb

On 22/09/2014 10:44, News wrote:

A bit OT, but our electricity usage has always seemed incredibly high to
me. Not how much we pay, but the actual units used. Looking back, the
last time I read the meter was 26.09.13, which is almost exactly a year
ago. Reading it today, I find we have used 9128 units over a year.

No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing machine,
dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops, kettle,
lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?

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'.

--
F

On 22/09/14 10:44, News wrote:

A bit OT, but our electricity usage has always seemed incredibly high to
me. Not how much we pay, but the actual units used. Looking back, the
last time I read the meter was 26.09.13, which is almost exactly a year
ago. Reading it today, I find we have used 9128 units over a year.

No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing machine,
dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops, kettle,
lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?

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.

News wrote:

we have used 9128 units over a year.

No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing machine,
dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops, kettle,
lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?

Yes.

2100 units in last year here, with a tumble drier.

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

News wrote:
A bit OT, but our electricity usage has always seemed incredibly high
to me. Not how much we pay, but the actual units used. Looking
back, the last time I read the meter was 26.09.13, which is almost
exactly a year ago. Reading it today, I find we have used 9128 units
over a year.
No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing
machine, dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops,
kettle, lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?

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?


--
Robin
reply to address is (meant to be) valid

On Monday, September 22, 2014 10:44:14 AM UTC+1, News wrote:
A bit OT, but our electricity usage has always seemed incredibly high to

me. Not how much we pay, but the actual units used. Looking back, the

last time I read the meter was 26.09.13, which is almost exactly a year

ago. Reading it today, I find we have used 9128 units over a year.



No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing machine,

dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops, kettle,

lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?

--

Graeme

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

Jonathan

On 22/09/2014 10:44, News wrote:

A bit OT, but our electricity usage has always seemed incredibly high to
me. Not how much we pay, but the actual units used. Looking back, the
last time I read the meter was 26.09.13, which is almost exactly a year
ago. Reading it today, I find we have used 9128 units over a year.

No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing machine,
dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops, kettle,
lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?


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.

---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com

On 22/09/2014 10:44, News wrote:

A bit OT, but our electricity usage has always seemed incredibly high to
me. Not how much we pay, but the actual units used. Looking back, the
last time I read the meter was 26.09.13, which is almost exactly a year
ago. Reading it today, I find we have used 9128 units over a year.

No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing machine,
dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops, kettle,
lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?

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

--
Cheers, Rob

Jonathan wrote:
On Monday, September 22, 2014 10:44:14 AM UTC+1, News wrote:
A bit OT, but our electricity usage has always seemed incredibly high to

me. Not how much we pay, but the actual units used. Looking back, the

last time I read the meter was 26.09.13, which is almost exactly a year

ago. Reading it today, I find we have used 9128 units over a year.



No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing machine,

dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops, kettle,

lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?

--

Graeme

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

Jonathan

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

On Monday, September 22, 2014 10:44:14 AM UTC+1, News wrote:
A bit OT, but our electricity usage has always seemed incredibly high to
me.

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

Owain

Jethro_uk wrote:

News wrote:

our electricity usage has always seemed incredibly high to
me. Not how much we pay, but the actual units used.

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
In message , News
writes

No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing
machine, dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops,
kettle, lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?

Hmm.. is that a ranch!

grin 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 :

20.08.02 29666
06.11.02 32697
08.05.03 38412
05.11.03 42082
12.05.04 47134

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

Readings from new meter (actual not estimated) :

23.06.06 16794
18.12.06 21616
12.03.08 34407
20.10.08 39407
10.12.09 49834
18.04.11 61390
21.02.13 75880
26.09.13 80827
03.06.14 87405
22.09.14 89955

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,

--
Graeme

In article ,
News writes:

A bit OT, but our electricity usage has always seemed incredibly high to
me. Not how much we pay, but the actual units used. Looking back, the
last time I read the meter was 26.09.13, which is almost exactly a year
ago. Reading it today, I find we have used 9128 units over a year.

9128 / 365 = 25kWh/day, which is just over 1000W permanent load.

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

No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing machine,
dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops, kettle,
lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?

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.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In message , Jethro_uk
writes

Not paying for your neighbours leccy are you ?

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.

--
Graeme

In message , Andy
Burns writes

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

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.
--
Graeme

In message , Andrew Gabriel
writes
In article ,
News writes:

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

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.

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

No.

Does the figure vary much between summer/winter?

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

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.

Yes, good idea.
--
Graeme

In message , News
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.

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

News wrote:

North? Nearly two grand!

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.

On 2014-09-22 12:23:19 +0000, News said:


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?


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.


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 also have a six bed house but three children. I'd say the main
consumers a

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 etc

A lot of gadgets - sky box, printers etc get left in standby too.

E.

News wrote in news:OpKArryu9
:


A bit OT, but our electricity usage has always seemed incredibly high to
me. Not how much we pay, but the actual units used. Looking back, the
last time I read the meter was 26.09.13, which is almost exactly a year
ago. Reading it today, I find we have used 9128 units over a year.

No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing machine,
dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops, kettle,
lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?

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)

On 22/09/2014 10:44, News wrote:

A bit OT, but our electricity usage has always seemed incredibly high to
me. Not how much we pay, but the actual units used. Looking back, the
last time I read the meter was 26.09.13, which is almost exactly a year
ago. Reading it today, I find we have used 9128 units over a year.

No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing machine,
dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops, kettle,
lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?

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.

On Mon, 22 Sep 2014 10:44:14 +0100, News
wrote:


A bit OT, but our electricity usage has always seemed incredibly high to
me. Not how much we pay, but the actual units used. Looking back, the
last time I read the meter was 26.09.13, which is almost exactly a year
ago. Reading it today, I find we have used 9128 units over a year.

No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing machine,
dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops, kettle,
lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?

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

On 2014-09-22, News wrote:

In message , Andrew Gabriel
writes
In article ,
News writes:

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

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.

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

No.

Does the figure vary much between summer/winter?

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

That's about 60 W max?

On 2014-09-22, News wrote:


A bit OT, but our electricity usage has always seemed incredibly high to
me. Not how much we pay, but the actual units used. Looking back, the
last time I read the meter was 26.09.13, which is almost exactly a year
ago. Reading it today, I find we have used 9128 units over a year.

No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing machine,
dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops, kettle,
lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?

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.)

On 22/09/2014 13:25, News wrote:
In message , Jethro_uk
writes

Not paying for your neighbours leccy are you ?

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.

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'.

--
F

"News" wrote in message
...

A bit OT, but our electricity usage has always seemed incredibly high to
me. Not how much we pay, but the actual units used. Looking back, the
last time I read the meter was 26.09.13, which is almost exactly a year
ago. Reading it today, I find we have used 9128 units over a year.

No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing machine,
dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops, kettle,
lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?
--
Graeme
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.

On 22/09/2014 13:25, News wrote:
In message , Jethro_uk
writes

Not paying for your neighbours leccy are you ?

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.



But all the street lights went out.

--
mailto: news {at} admac {dot] myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

In message , News
writes
In message , Tim Lamb
writes
In message , News
writes

No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing
machine, dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops,
kettle, lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?

Hmm.. is that a ranch!

grin 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 :

20.08.02 29666
06.11.02 32697
08.05.03 38412
05.11.03 42082
12.05.04 47134

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

Readings from new meter (actual not estimated) :

23.06.06 16794
18.12.06 21616
12.03.08 34407
20.10.08 39407
10.12.09 49834
18.04.11 61390
21.02.13 75880
26.09.13 80827
03.06.14 87405
22.09.14 89955

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,

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!!
--
bert

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

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"News" wrote in message
...

A bit OT, but our electricity usage has always seemed incredibly high to
me. Not how much we pay, but the actual units used. Looking back, the
last time I read the meter was 26.09.13, which is almost exactly a year
ago. Reading it today, I find we have used 9128 units over a year.

No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing machine,
dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops, kettle,
lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?
--
Graeme

On 22/09/2014 13:23, News wrote:
In message , Tim Lamb
writes
In message , News
writes

No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing
machine, dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops,
kettle, lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?

Hmm.. is that a ranch!

grin 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?

Dunno - but I guess I am using 15000kwh/year, so do you want to swap ;-)

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


Seems unlikely both meters would be wrong?

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.




--
Cheers,

John.

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| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
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On Mon, 22 Sep 2014 10:44:14 +0100, News
wrote:


A bit OT, but our electricity usage has always seemed incredibly high to
me. Not how much we pay, but the actual units used. Looking back, the
last time I read the meter was 26.09.13, which is almost exactly a year
ago. Reading it today, I find we have used 9128 units over a year.

No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing machine,
dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops, kettle,
lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?

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 :-).
--
J B Good

In message , alan_m
writes
On 22/09/2014 13:25, News wrote:

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.

But all the street lights went out.

big grin
--
Graeme

In message , John
Rumm writes

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.

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.
--
Graeme

In message , F
writes

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'.

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.
--
Graeme

In message , Johny B Good
writes

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 :-).

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.

--
Graeme

In message 2014092214100577972-test@rawlinson456com, Mark Rawlinson
writes

A lot of gadgets - sky box, printers etc get left in standby too.

Thanks Mark - a useful list. I'm not sure whether to be reassured or
not. Two of us plus a 13 year old who leaves his desktop on 24/7 and
runs two average sized monitors, but turns them off at bedtime and
whilst at school. I do very occasionally run a fan heater. Printers
are usually off when not in use. More testing tomorrow.

--
Graeme

In article ,
News wrote:

Secondly, use a usage meter as first mentioned by Andrew.

Our supplier (EON) gave us a usage meter a couple of years ago -- I've
lent it to 2 or 3 people by now. I've tried to get our usage down to
"Zero" on the meter by progressively turning things off but the lowest
I've ever got so far is about 140W.

I wouldn't worry about stuff being left on stand-by (not with your
problems at this stage!). [The push to get people to turn things
completely off comes from the EU green aspirations -- i.e. millions of
people avoiding stand-by mode adds up to a lot.]

We'll all be very interested to see what you find, Graeme!

John

"bert" ] wrote in message
...
In message , News
writes
In message , Tim Lamb
writes
In message , News
writes

No electric heating. No tumble dryer. Just the usual washing machine,
dishwasher, two fridges/freezers, two desktops, two laptops, kettle,
lighting etc. An I naive, or is that a lot of units?

Hmm.. is that a ranch!

grin 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 :

20.08.02 29666
06.11.02 32697
08.05.03 38412
05.11.03 42082
12.05.04 47134

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

Readings from new meter (actual not estimated) :

23.06.06 16794
18.12.06 21616
12.03.08 34407
20.10.08 39407
10.12.09 49834
18.04.11 61390
21.02.13 75880
26.09.13 80827
03.06.14 87405
22.09.14 89955

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,

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!!


Hot tubs are for swingers.

--
Adam

In message ],
Another John writes

We'll all be very interested to see what you find, Graeme!

So will I :-)

The wiring here is strange. I mentioned that there is a master on/off
switch, plus four individually switched fuse boxes. When playing around
this morning, I forgot to turn one of them back on, but did not notice
until this evening. Four fuses in that box, but for what? They seem to
cover the downstairs hall light, and the ceiling lights in the front
rooms, upstairs and down, to the left of the front door, but not the
rooms on the right. In both of those rooms are various wall sockets,
some of which were off, but not all. Most odd. I'll try and remember
to photograph 'mission control' tomorrow.
--
Graeme