Excessive bills - what is draining the power? 22kw standing??!

Vanilla

Vanilla

Vanilla

Soldato
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18 Oct 2002
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Hi all, I have a 5 bedroom new build house that has just two occupants. I'm finding the bills really excessive (my neighbour's is over £600!).

Do you see the period below where everything is flat? This is the period I was on holiday for. Compare that to when i'm not on holiday and it's barely any difference!! I have solar panels also.

Before going away I

* Turned off the Hot Water and heating at the main switch. I left them totally off.
* Turned off any devices such as NAS
* No heated towel rails were on or anything heavy duty electric.

Can the fridge and freezer really be have such a power draw? 22KW in a day with no one home?!

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Can the fridge and freezer really be have such a power draw? 22KW in a day with no one home?!

My neighbours:

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what was the historic use .. how long long have you lived there, when did 'it' start ?

yes sounds improbable (unless like the recent french bbc drama you have a bank of chest freezers with bodies in the garage)
 
If your so worried, I'd get one of those live monitors and turn EVERYTHING off. If it's still using a lot then I'd be chasing a problem.
 
I'm at 4 kwh per day normal and 9 kwh every other day extra when I charge my car and with a smart meter I can see this graphed accurately online like above. I do use less than most but unless you are GPU mining that is excessive.

Definitely not normal and needs to be reported as accounts and addresses can get mixed up and all sorts of things.

Easy check is a wattage meter (home energy monitor) that clamps on the main power line and gives an instant readout like a smart meter. I have both so I can see any anomalies.
 
bimbleuk said:
Easy check is a wattage meter (home energy monitor) that clamps on the main power line and gives an instant readout like a smart meter. I have both so I can see any anomalies.
Click to expand...

Can you recommend one? The mains power line is outside in a box so I guess I need one that plugs there and feeds to a screen?

Sorry for the noob questions. It's an alien area to me.
 
That does seem rather excessive for only 2 of you even being in a 5 bed house.

As others above are saying, i think i'd want to check the live feed and switch off everything in the house to ensure there's nothing actually consuming power.
 
Thinking about it..........it's a bit of a coincidence that when no one is home the house is consuming 2.2kw power.......and I have solar panels rated to 2kw.......i'm wondering if there's some kind of link.

Looking at smart meters a lot don't support having solr panels but I guess I don't care - i'm just trying to find what is consuming.
 
I have heard of reports that meters have been reporting incorrectly. If so go to the energy watchdog and complain.

I would switch off everything at the consumer unit - including fridge and freezer. Then see if there is any current movement.

I calculated our largest offending long period electric devices were the fridge and the central heating pump. We currently have a gas oven. Then you have the spikes such as kettles, washing machine, dishwasher etc. At the time I used an OWL device for a couple of years - worth it to calculate current draw.

Do you have a hot water tank with an electric element?

Lastly I thought you could emergency decouple the solar inverter from the house mains. If so do that and see if there’s any change.
 
I work for one of the larger energy providers as a metering engineer. (Not just an installer). First thing you want to do s ring up and ask for a check meter to be installed. This is an additional meter connected in series to double check the reading from your meter.

Can you give me a picture of your meter please?

Average house hold usage is around 8-10kw per day and you idle of 2.2kw is about average for a few items left on stand by (TV BB Modem set top boxes and the like).

There is no issue with smart meters and solar panels, I work on many installations and have never had any issues of it not reading or being recorded correctly, all meters are installed with comething called a backstop to stop the import register (what you take from the grid) from registering the solar as import, they now have an export meter built in so will read your export separately if there is any.

Who is your provider?
 
Vanilla said:
Still confused by the 22kw standing when on holiday. Seems a lot.
Click to expand...

4 bed house, OFCH, electric shower, cooker used each day, dishwasher once, tumble drier once, washing machine once, plus 2 computers on 6-8 hours and various other gubbins.
We use 14 units a day. With 3 is us in the house, that is full usage.
Our unit cost is high due to Norn Iron, but in 2 months our bills for electricity are 120-130.

You can't be using 22units daily with no one in the house.
No chance.
 
BigBoy said:
I work for one of the larger energy providers as a metering engineer. (Not just an installer). First thing you want to do s ring up and ask for a check meter to be installed. This is an additional meter connected in series to double check the reading from your meter.
Average house hold usage is around 8-10kw per day and you idle of 2.2kw is about average for a few items left on stand by (TV BB Modem set top boxes and the like).
Who is your provider?
Click to expand...

He is at 22 idle, not 2.2.
It is almost like he is being charged for the energy he is generating.
Wired in wrong?
 
Destination said:
He is at 22 idle, not 2.2.
It is almost like he is being charged for the energy he is generating.
Wired in wrong?
Click to expand...
My bad though he had received written it to 2.2 in th thread.

It's possible the solar has been connected incorrectly, but doubtful pictures of the installation would be helpful.
 
As of the first if december all suppliers should be fitting the same meters, this is because of the smets2 requirements. I've been installing smets2 meters for 4 months now with no issues at all concerning solar generation, as all meters produces since 2016 have yh capability to recognise flow direction
 
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