UK Utilities

[Gardian]

Just a shot in the dark really.

No. 2 son lives in the UK, jointly renting a recently built 2-bed flat. The property is no more than 5yo, so fully insulated, etc. I manage the bills (-ish!)

Long overdue reconciliation of the gas / elec:  all sorted in terms of the metered consumption, but ...........

............. when I looked at the electricity consumption, I was horrified. The appliances taking juice are the washer / drier + lighting + hobs (not the oven) + lighting + tv / dvd etc.  Heating / hot water / oven are gas driven.

The consumption (and this is a very average figure, but based on 21 mths worth), is c. 13kwh / day! Both are out working 08.30 - 19.00, 5+ days a week.  Now, I know that washer / driers aren't cheap, but assume each of the 2 young men has a washing session twice / wk, so (max) one 2.5 hr's worth @ 3kw every 2 days, I don't get more than 4kw / day.  Add on the lighting and other bits and bobs, and it shouldn't be more than 6kwh / day?

I'm assured that they aren't running a dodgy substance factory in one of the rooms [Www], so where the hell is all the juice going? 

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.    

[Russethouse]

 Not left the immersion on have they ?  Are they sure they are only paying for their electicity and not another flat as well ?[Www]

[Théière]

Turn off everything and check the meter, as RH says is the other flat connected to their supply seen that before.

[Gardian]

[quote user="Russethouse"] Not left the immersion on have they ?  Are they sure they are only paying for their electicity and not another flat as well ?[Www][/quote]

Don't think so RH - he said that they never have occasion to use it (the hot water is provided by a combi-boiler, so no tank as such).

However, the question of paying perhaps for another flat is one that had crossed my mind. Trouble is I'm down here and he's up there!! Access to the meter is a problem, so I'm thinking that I might try to get the elec supplier to check it out, even if it costs me for the inspection.

My thinking is right though, eh?  That's one hell of a lot of juice / day?

[Gardian]

Sorry - forgot to thank you for your posts.

[Gardengirl]

We have an apartment in France and spend time there on and off throughout the year. As it was our first winter there, we started taking electricity meter readings, mainly because we pay 25 euros to EDF for each of 10 months, and I was concerned that we might get a large bill come July (end of year). In fact, we have underpaid, but it could have been worse. Strangely, EDF have left the direct debit at the same level for next year.

I don't know about kwh, but we have recorded units used. These averaged 33 units per day in February, 14.3 in April and 11 in June/July.

We only have electricity, so that covers everything.We have a washer/drier, hob and oven, heating, hot water and lighting, plus computer.

Don't know if units convert into kwh, so don't know if that's any help.

Jo

The apartment is just over 1 year old, with good insulation and has just 1 bedroom.

June/July included use of a couple of fans in the evenings.

[Russethouse]

 I found this link which might help, but if all the apliances are fairly new you should be able, in theory, to look up their spec and fill in one of the on line calculators

You can fill this in and I think it will give you an idea what the consumption should be (but I haven't road tested it ):

http://www.bp.com/productlanding.do?categoryId=6941&contentId=7050870&nicam=Energy%20Lab%20General&nisrc=Google&nigrp=Energy%20Consumption&nipkw=energy%20usage&niadv=Text%20Ad

this might help to

http://www.cat.org.uk/information/catinfo.tmpl?command=search&db=catinfo.db&eqSKUdatarq=InfoSheet_HomeEnergyAudits

 

[AnOther]

[quote user="gardengirl "]Don't know if units convert into kwh[/quote]Yes, 1kWh = 1 Unit

Gardian, if either has a PC (not laptop) which is routinely left on then over the course of 24 hours that that could quite possibly account for a couple of kWh.

If it's you paying the bills (-ish) then a transfer to them could well see a quantum change !

[Gardian]

[quote user="AnOther"][quote user="gardengirl "]Don't know if units convert into kwh[/quote]Yes, 1kWh = 1 Unit

Gardian, if either has a PC (not laptop) which is routinely left on then over the course of 24 hours that that could quite possibly account for a couple of kWh.

If it's you paying the bills (-ish) then a transfer to them could well see a quantum change !

[/quote]

ANO ............

No, they don't use a PC.  They certainly do get the cost of all the bills charged back to them, but it's just me being obsessive about the cost!  Our son seems rather disinterested in it, even when I told him that it could be costing each of them £20 / mth.

RH - thanks for the links and I had a look at each of those sites.  The 2nd was the more useful and I did do the Energy Saving Trust questionnaire: unfortunately it told me that the flat was 'A' rated and there wasn't much more that could be done to be more energy-efficient!  The best advice in there was to get one of those monitoring devices, so I think that Dad is going to be round there when I'm over in Sept to give the place the once-over.  Earlier advice to disconnect everything and see what happens to the counter is a good start.

[AnOther]

Regardless of actual kWh I'd say that £40/mth is not outrageously excessive for a monthly electricity bill.

From memory we used to pay £38/mth and that was in a modest 2 bed cottage with just the 2 of us and me away for 40% of the time. No dishwasher and certainly no use of the tumble drier.

That was 2 years ago as well and we all know that energy costs in UK have spiraled in that time.

[Russethouse]

 Perhaps a look at www.moneysavingexpert.com on the subject of best/cheapest supplier would be worthwhile.

[Gardian]

ANO ............

Yes, £40 / mth is more what I think it should be.  The actual spend is £60-ish, and I was thinking that it really shouldn't be much more than half that.