Electric bill since working from home

Soldato
Joined
18 May 2004
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2,858
Location
Lincoln, Uk
Sorry, I didnt explain myself cleary, a contactor is a way of getting a small switch (your heating controller) to switch a bigger load, like the electric heating or the immersion heater, its like a relay if that helps? Basically its got a switch in there, and an electromagnet, when you power up the electromagnet (with a small current), it pulls the switch in and turns on the load (which is a big current), you have two off the in the bottom left of the fuseboard, one with a red band at the top (Made by ABB), and one with a blue band (Made by Hagar)

If you have standard panel heaters, and you are not making use of the cheaper night rate to heat your water, then having the E7 tarriff is probably costing you money because you pay more on the day rate to have that. It varies, but the break even point tends to be a quarter of your units on the night rate, any less and it costs you more, and I think it may have even got worse than that since. Its designed for people who have storage heaters which charge up with heat overnight, mainly, although these days, you might find a benifiet if you charged an electric car overnight
 
Caporegime
Joined
21 Jun 2006
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38,372
Thanks. Brainstorm moment... On 24th March the immersion heater did reset itself for some reason, but I checked the manual and defaults were set.

I had another look now and have set electric radiators from auto to off (even though all are off anyway) and also set the water heating from 07:00 - 09:00 and 17:00 - 20:30
defaults were 06:00 - 09:00 and 16:30 - 22:30??!

Also, the last time I provided metre readings was 3 months ago. Chances are this months usage is lower and the previous two have been higher, but appeared as higher this month based on estimate readings (then providing actual)

I don't know why this is even being discussed.

It's an estimated bill.

He needs to provide actual readings before going any further.

Therefore all advice currently is unnecessary unless his bill has actually increased by a lot.
 
Soldato
OP
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6 May 2009
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19,885
I don't know why this is even being discussed.

It's an estimated bill.

He needs to provide actual readings before going any further.

Therefore all advice currently is unnecessary unless his bill has actually increased by a lot.
Where did i say it was estimated? I provided readings to bulb on 24/06

This time last year it was 3 times less
 
Joined
10 May 2004
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Location
Sunny Stafford
34kWh a day for 2 people is nuts!

I've used up 1140kWh this year (180 days up to 28th June). That's 6.33kWh per day, and that factors in working from home since 13th March. Single person household. A normal day for me is 5kWh. If I do 2 x washing machine loads on top, then it hits 10, and if I use the air-con like earlier in the week, again it hits 10, but an average day is 6.33.

As for expenses, I have a bus pass and walk part way, so I might claim the small amount that I can get from the state.
 
Soldato
OP
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I quoted it

Also, the last time I provided metre readings was 3 months ago

That says that you last provided readings 3 months ago.
Yes, actual readings on 24/03 and 24/06. Estimated bulb readings on 24/04 and 24/05.
Bulb say to only provide meter readings every 3 months. For the purpose of monthly usage though, i need to get a reading every month.

Sorry, i should have made this clearer in the original post
 
Caporegime
Joined
21 Jun 2006
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38,372
Yes, actual readings on 24/03 and 24/06. Estimated bulb readings on 24/04 and 24/05.
Bulb say to only provide meter readings every 3 months. For the purpose of monthly usage though, i need to get a reading every month.

Sorry, i should have made this clearer in the original post

If your usage is correct.

Then go around and turn off everything and see how fast your meter is spinning before and after.

Get a smart meter and get an in house monitor.

The main uses of energy are heating air or water. Kettles, showers, tumble dryer, hair dryer, etc.

Is someone using an electric shower for hour long showers every day? Etc.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Nov 2005
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8,617
Location
Southampton
It actually doesn’t. It makes very little difference.

My experience was very different and it made a big difference not allowing the immersion to reach the temperature threshold 24/7, as most days someone was home during the day... So each time the hot water was used for things like the washing machine, washing up crockery/cutlery, hand washing, running a bath would result in the immerson element kicking into action.

It's no surprise the immersion is such a big potential elec consumer if allowed to maintain the temp 24/7, when all is said and done, it's a giant kettle that tries to heat up ~200 litres rather than the minimum of ~400ml to make a cup of tea/coffee.
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Oct 2009
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Spalding, Lincs
My experience was very different and it made a big difference not allowing the immersion to reach the temperature threshold 24/7, as most days someone was home during the day... So each time the hot water was used for things like the washing machine, washing up crockery/cutlery, hand washing, running a bath would result in the immerson element kicking into action.

It's no surprise the immersion is such a big potential elec consumer if allowed to maintain the temp 24/7, when all is said and done, it's a giant kettle that tries to heat up ~200 litres rather than the minimum of ~400ml to make a cup of tea/coffee.

This is the biggest selling point of a combi boiler to me. We don't use a lot of hot water, the appliances and shower heat their own water. It was definitely pretty pointless keeping 200L of water hot 24/7 for the occasional bath or washing of hands etc.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
6 May 2009
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19,885
If your usage is correct.

Then go around and turn off everything and see how fast your meter is spinning before and after.

Get a smart meter and get an in house monitor.

The main uses of energy are heating air or water. Kettles, showers, tumble dryer, hair dryer, etc.

Is someone using an electric shower for hour long showers every day? Etc.
Apartment block, we have no access to the meters. A consierge provides readings - same as all other shared apartment blocks.
Smart meter cannot be fitted.
2 showers a day of upto 5 mins max each
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Mar 2004
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Location
Fareham
Apartment block, we have no access to the meters. A consierge provides readings - same as all other shared apartment blocks.
Smart meter cannot be fitted.
2 showers a day of upto 5 mins max each

Using 34kwh a day actual usage is a roughly average 1.5kw draw all the time, that is quite insane if you aren't doing anything special.

Even 2 hours of electric showers a day won't get near to that level of usage.

Can you get readings once a day from the concierge to check the daily values for now?
 
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