[Help] Insanely high electricity bill!!

maffew · Mar 16, 2021

Any advice from our resident sparkies welcome!!

So I moved into this large 2 bed basement flat in January, and my electric bill is eye wateringly high. Almost impossibly high I am told my my bro who knows a bit about kwH and the like

I dont have any gas, all electric, EPC rating E with an estimated energy cost of £3534 every 3 years. Now this seems quite high in itself, about £100 a month, but kinda what I budgeted for

Problem is I am smashing that number. My electric bill for Feb alone was over £260!!!!

Thats just me (and with a broken washing machine for the whole of Feb, so thats that ruled out). I'm with Igloo on a decent tariff (16p/kWH standing charge 22.6p per day)

9 Jan, meter reading = 11795 kWh
3 Feb, meter reading = 13361 kWh
13 Mar, meter reading = 15092 kWh (these are actuals)

So thats 3297 kWh.
52kwH per day. That's pretty nuts isnt it? £527 or there abouts + standing costs in 2 month. I have no high usage appliances, though all the heating is electric (a very modern boiler system runs the radiatiors/hot water etc) though I was turning this off entirely a lot in Feb.

Could a faulty appliance, or wiring or anything cause such a bill? I dunno.

studio150 · Mar 16, 2021

The occupants of the upper floors are harvesting a marijuana operation and are running their lights and heat off of your meter

LamieRobertson · Mar 16, 2021

No long extension leads entering over flats? :moo:

That’s got to be wrong! Anyway of turning things off for a day one by one to try and see how that effects the meter reading....and if it’s still increasing with nothing on...sorry I know it sounds simplistic...but I’m on £50 per month max for two bed house (gas CH)
Also, have you spoken to your energy company for advice?

drew · Mar 16, 2021

Switch everything off in your flat then have a look at the meter and see if it's still ticking over too quick as that could indicate someone else is running stuff off your meter or it's faulty.

LamieRobertson · Mar 16, 2021

drew said:
Switch everything off in your flat then have a look at the meter and see if it's still ticking over too quick as that could indicate someone else is running stuff off your meter or it's faulty.

Great minds

Harry Wilson's tackle · Mar 16, 2021

The ad on this thread leads me to suspect that electrovolts of money are being earthed from your supply by the feind that is bozza.

Harry Wilson's tackle · Mar 16, 2021

The ad on this thread leads me to suspect that electrovolts of money are being earthed from your supply by the fiend that is bozza.

View attachment 134953

portlock seagull · Mar 16, 2021

I look after couple widows g&e and today been checking they’re on best deals.
Their existing annual g&e comes in at £950 and £1050 respectively if helpful for guidance?

Eeyore · Mar 16, 2021

The biggest draw is your heating. Always.

It depends on how often and how long you have it on for. Also the wattage of the heater.

If you have more than one heater on at a time the bill is no surprise.

maffew · Mar 16, 2021

LamieRobertson said:
No long extension leads entering over flats?

That’s got to be wrong! Anyway of turning things off for a day one by one to try and see how that effects the meter reading....and if it’s still increasing with nothing on...sorry I know it sounds simplistic...but I’m on £50 per month max for two bed house (gas CH)
Also, have you spoken to your energy company for advice?

I think thats what I am going to need to try, but the only thing I can think it could be would be heating related and I had that largely off in Feb, but I think my daily kwH use has actually gone UP in the last 3 weeks. Energy company, I shall raise with again. They said that seems high, do I have any heaters or such plugged in which I dont.

I dont actually have too much to unplug to be honest. A TV which is rarely on, a couple of laptops which are on a lot, erm, a dishwasher, and a faulty washing machine

maffew · Mar 16, 2021

Brighton Lines said:
The biggest draw is your heating. Always.

It depends on how often and how long you have it on for. Also the wattage of the heater.

If you have more than one heater on at a time the bill is no surprise.

Thanks. I've got radiators, a fair few, do these get measured in watts? They kind of all run off the plumbing, I've turned them all off/down today

Rogero · Mar 16, 2021

drew said:
Switch everything off in your flat then have a look at the meter and see if it's still ticking over too quick as that could indicate someone else is running stuff off your meter or it's faulty.

Yes ,switch everything off , throw all the circuit breakers and watch the meter. Turn every thing back on one at a time and keep us all informed. It sounds like you are paying someone else's bill. A friend of mine bought a house and it turned out that he was paying for the communal lighting .

maffew · Mar 16, 2021

Brighton Lines said:
The biggest draw is your heating. Always.

It depends on how often and how long you have it on for. Also the wattage of the heater.

If you have more than one heater on at a time the bill is no surprise.

My brother mentioned to me that I could probably run a 2kw heater all month and have the flat at 25 degrees for less money than I am paying. Don't know if that is true or not

Comrade Sam · Mar 16, 2021

What's never pointed out is that whilst bills are astronomical and line the pockets of hedge funds, everything we now use is supposed to be energy efficient. We'd really see how high their tariffs were if we still used old light bulbs and tellies. All that electricity we've been saving over the last 20 years was hidden in an endless uncontrolled price hike! Saying that a lot of my electric goods have a stand-by and not an off button, to keep milking those units.

Pickles · Mar 16, 2021

maffew said:
Any advice from our resident sparkies welcome!!

So I moved into this large 2 bed basement flat in January, and my electric bill is eye wateringly high. Almost impossibly high I am told my my bro who knows a bit about kwH and the like

I dont have any gas, all electric, EPC rating E with an estimated energy cost of £3534 every 3 years. Now this seems quite high in itself, about £100 a month, but kinda what I budgeted for

Problem is I am smashing that number. My electric bill for Feb alone was over £260!!!! Thats just me (and with a broken washing machine for the whole of Feb, so thats that ruled out). I'm with Igloo on a decent tariff (16p/kWH standing charge 22.6p per day)

9 Jan, meter reading = 11795 kWh
3 Feb, meter reading = 13361 kWh
13 Mar, meter reading = 15092 kWh (these are actuals)

So thats 3297 kWh.
52kwH per day. That's pretty nuts isnt it? £527 or there abouts + standing costs in 2 month. I have no high usage appliances, though all the heating is electric (a very modern boiler system runs the radiatiors/hot water etc) though I was turning this off entirely a lot in Feb.

Could a faulty appliance, or wiring or anything cause such a bill? I dunno.

Ring Nigel.

Knowing the Tory boy, he's probably got an extension lead or two going to Eastbourne, Bexhill, and Burnley......

StonehamPark · Mar 16, 2021

I'd say someone in your building is crypto mining on your power, given those numbers.

Eeyore · Mar 16, 2021

maffew said:
My brother mentioned to me that I could probably run a 2kw heater all month and have the flat at 25 degrees for less money than I am paying. Don't know if that is true or not

No, that would cost a fortune (around £8 per day)

My flat (electric) costs a huge amount to heat. As soon as the heater isn't used it drops dramatically.

If you have a heater on 2kw for an hour and the cost is, say, 16p per kwh that = 32p

You have that on for ten hours then you have used £ 3.20. Multiply that by a 30 day month then you have spent £96 on your heating alone.

Of course, if you have more than one heater on then you need to run the equation again x the number of heaters used.

I bought a stand alone room heater off Amazon, a decent one (saves money in the long run). I have it on at certain times and only for a set amount of hours a day. Electricity costs then dropped.

Of course, you may not be over using heaters, but it is the place to start. Tellys, lights, computers, the cost there is chicken feed.

So best to start by logging your usage at midnight one night then midnight the next. Check what has been on that day. If you go a day using the heating full and then another not using at all you will see a huge difference.

That said, this may already be a consideration so it is not to say you don't have a logging of supply issue.

Brownstuff · Mar 16, 2021

Immersion heaters can run up high kwhs

The Grockle · Mar 16, 2021

I lived in a very large one bedroom flat in Central London that had an electric combo style boiler that was incredibly expensive to run. We were on estimated bills and massively under paid, after paying an eye-watering amended bill and spending a long time questioning/arguing the charges to no avail it ended up we paid something like £150 a month. Our spring and summer usage would have been reasonable apparently but usage in winter months massively pushed up the average. This was 2014, I'd never live somewhere with an electric boiler again unless it was modern and more efficient.

BNthree · Mar 16, 2021

Rogero said:
Yes ,switch everything off , throw all the circuit breakers and watch the meter. Turn every thing back on one at a time and keep us all informed. It sounds like you are paying someone else's bill. A friend of mine bought a house and it turned out that he was paying for the communal lighting .

My first flat I had this problem too. So many dodge job conversions from houses to flats. Got it sorted in the end but bloody hell it was a pain.

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