I still top that. My usage has been sky high for years. I have had a meter replaced as faulty and then told it wasn't. I have had a check meter on that says my usage is correct. My typical usage is about 50 a day according to the meter. I bought an owl monitor after reading a few posts and that says I am using about 14.75 Kwh per day which I think is about the average for my household. I have now contacted my supplier to have another check meter installed. Someone informed me that my readings (3.6 times higher on the meter to the owl) indicate measurement in the wrong units (MJ and not Kwh). If this proves to be the case think I think I have been overcharged for about 8 to 10 years!!!!!!! Try one of these energy monitoring units, they are easy to install and although they are accurate to only +/- 5% (according to the manufacturer) it is useful in tracking what you are using in terms of appliances. The pack I got also came with an individual monitoring device that you can use to check individual items.

Hope this helps.

Cheers .... Paul

Hi Paul

Thought I'd see how the last week went and then get back on this one.

We have averaged around 30 units a day. I spoke tonight for an hour to Southern Electric and they have said the average is between 16-20 a day - different from what their customer services lady emailed me.

Anyhow, they are going to send us an electric monitor thing to check each appliance, give us £50 for the awful advice and reduce our DD longer term if we show that we are trying to conserve electric.

Just been a sad learning curve of taking bad advice from them and not checking our usage as bills are so far between. I don't think our meter is broken, I just think that the electric heater we have is absolutely sending the bill throught the roof.

Anyhow, onwards and upwards. Not going to let it get me down and will keep a more careful eye.

Damn this credit crunch!

Cheers

Alan

OMG.........I thought it was just me with the excessive electricity bills. I have just been hit with a £900 bill as my D/D has not been covering my usuage. i am currenlty paying £50 a month. NPower are suggesting my average annual bill is in excess of £1300 for a three bed property with 2 adults and a child living there. We are all out in the day, so i cant understand why it is so high. i have done the 7 day meter test, but given what i have read, i am going to do it again, and get one of those checkers to see if it corresponds with what i am using. Can anyone advise where to buy the checker? and also how much does it cost to have your meter checked or replaced?

Thanks in advance

andrea

For info - my actual usuage turns out to be around 14.5 units per day. 3 bed end terrace 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 dogs. 1 wash just about every day, dish washer used pracitcally every day, 2 Pc's, Wii, up to 3 tv's Both the kids and the wife use straightners practically every day too!!!!

The unit I used was the OWL. Type a search for it and make sure you get the deal where they throw in the individual unit checker as well. It was well worth it. Easy to fit and use.

Hope this helps

Paul

I too am spending a massive amount on electricity - with Atlantic, which I changed to 2 years ago from British Gas. I now pay £125 per month for electricity, which does NOT include heating. My heating is Gas warm air and the only thing in the house which is not electric. I live in a three bedroom house, extended to give 2 extra rooms and shower room downstairs. I work from home (past 6 years) and have the usual computer, printer etc on 7 hours a day during the week. The only electric heaters I use are a Dimplex 1.5kw in the extension - only used during coldest winter months and occasional (maybe two weeks a year) use of convector heater in extra bedroom which is part of the extension. (The warm air central heating does not go to the extension.) The hot water is electric (immersion heater) I have a washing machine, dishwasher, electric oven, fridge, freezer and use fans in the hottest summer months. The house is insulated cavity wall construction and is 30 years old. Usual TV, DVD player etc

I have no idea how to calculate why I am using so much electricity, but feel it must be wrong having read other posts.

Is there a professional body which would come and assess my electricity use? Having just done a comparison on this site I could apparently save £252 by switching to EDF - but I think this may be a false move, since I am sure the real problem lies with the usage, not the rate.

Not sure about prof. bodies that will help. What I had to do was pay £50 to have a test meter installed alongside my meter. This was refunded once they admitted that the meter was faulty. As mentioned earlier, the owl that I bought to monitor my usuage came with another device that plugs into the socket before the appliance plug and this told me what each individual device in my house was using. Hope this is of help...

Paul

Thanjks - monitor I understand, but what is an "owl"?

PS to earlier post - who installs the test meter. My meter has been there since 1976 and was originally put in by, I think, British Gas when the house was built. Would it now be EDF who I think are my "suppliers / transporters "? or Atlantic?

suestar:

Hi

It might be helpful to recognise that while meter error is not impossible it should be the least likely of all the possible explanations which include billing error, catching up previous underpayment, as well as excessive use.

The first thing to do is to start to get a handle on your consumption. Read your meter daily for a week, then weekly for a month, then monthly. Not important at this stage that you can't calculate as long as you save the numbers.

The next thing to do is to start to scrutinise your bill. Before you can be sure about your consumption you need a bill in which both the previous and latest readings are actual readings not estimated readings. Its up to you but whenever you get a bill with an estimated reading is worth submitting an actual reading and asking for the bill be be recalculated.

Without more detailed information its impossible to comment, but for example if Atlantic wrongly assumed you used electric heating £125/month would not be an unreasonable estimate of monthly consumption.

Post some actual readings and you will get more help here

Hi there,

We use BG for electricity and although our home situation is a little odd, we're sure we cannot really be using £900 worth of electricity per month.

We are living on site in mobile homes whilst a barn conversion project is going on around us. We have two mobile homes and a small section of barn allocated for freezers, washing machine and tumble dryer and another section allocated to my office where I have three computers. We have no gas on site (other than propane gas cannisters for cooking) and we purchased oil filled radiators for heating the mobiles as these were supposed to be fairly economical to run.

BG had us down as hardly any usage based on estimates for the first year, however I paid £58 per month on a DD as I knew the bill would finally catch up with us. I had contacted to mention the low usage and they seemed less than concerned, but provided meter readings to try to ensure the bills were more accurate. It was deemed that the original reading when we first moved in must have been wrong as the usage was too high/ low (can't remember which), so the meter was changed last August. Since this time, BG put a credit on my account of £1600 for overpayment. Again, I didn't use it as it was just too uncertain. All seemed OK, and then my last bill showed I owed them money again. I queried this and ran tests every day for a week and it seems that my average usage is approx 140 units per day (around £900 per month). BG were supposed to be investigating, but nothing happened, so I followed up with them and they are now sending out some monitoring equipment and asked me to perform a light bulb test and another test to see if the meter moves when no power is being used. I tried both tests and the meter did not move and the light bulb made little or no difference to the meter, however when I started turning the power to the freezers and mobile homes back on again, the meter moved quickly.

BG have scared me as they advised that if the problem lies my side of the meter, then I am liable for the bill and they mentioned the possibility of the power leaking somehow underground. I'm really concerned by this as I have no idea how this would happen (if indeed it can) and also, why BG have left the problem to get worse for this length of time when clearly there must be a problem.

I realise we may not be running in the most energy efficient way at the moment, and for this I would anticipate a bill in the region of £150 per month max, but £900 per month seems almost impossible.

Please can anyone advise on the underground leakage problem.

Many thanks,

George