Watching the electricity meter
When the electicity bill comes, I usually phone up to give a meter reading. They use an estimated reading, but I like to keep it accurate in order to avoid any surprise charges at the end of the year. Last July I decided to jot down those readings myself in a spreadsheet, and take my own reading every few weeks just to keep track of how much electricity I use.
The reading is in kWh (kilowatt-hours), which is to say that if our house were to use 1kW for an hour, the meter would go up by 1 unit. In my spreadsheet I’ve noted the date in column A and the reading for that date in column B. On each row I’ve calculated our average power consumption for the period since the last reading, so cells in column C have a formula like “=(B7-B6)/(24*(A7-A6))” (kilowatt-hours used divided by hours between readings).
When I started, the average electricity usage for our household was 403W. In the last month, this has gone down to 312W (or 2,734 kWh in a year).
What’s the average power consumption of your household? I tried to find out the average UK domestic household power consumption, but got lost in a maze of statistics. At one point I wrote down that it was 3,300 kWh/year, which works out as 377W. I didn’t save the link though, so I don’t remember where that came from.
July 18th, 2007 at 10:06 am
We use 3300KWh/quarter!
July 18th, 2007 at 10:25 am
Wow! Try turning off the lights at night?
July 18th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
I will have to check ours.
More interestingly, I recently went to take a GAS meter reading (prompted by the gas company asking me to take a reading, since they have been “unable” to get one, despite the meter being outside, unlocked, and easily accessible - grumble grumble). Noticing that it was significantly different to my last bill, I then discovered that it had a different serial number. Upshot being that we have been charged for the wrong flat’s gas usage for ~3 years.
This is going to be fun.
July 18th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
How did *that* happen?! I wonder whose meter — if any! — was used for billing the other flat.
That’s going to be a nightmare to sort out. Are you friendly with the people in that flat..?
July 20th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Hello Tim,
A 2 year old contract shows me a bit over 2000 kWh per year
for our 4 person household for electricity.
For heating I have also some data here: House with 7 households, 21 people:
13800 kWh. So about 2000 kWh per household. Relatively new house.
I’ve just read that in Germany you then calculate this
as kWh per square meter. New houses should expect
about 64 kWh/m^2. If you get below 15 kWh/m^2 you
can call it a “passivehouse” which does not need much
additional heating.
regards,
Florian La Roche
July 23rd, 2007 at 5:39 pm
That’s really impressive.
October 3rd, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Hi,
I thought we were reasonably efficient (all cfl bulbs etc) but a check showed a consumption in 2005 of 9,700kwh/annum.
It is a 4 bedroomed house with 5 people and I run a business with a fair amount of computer equipment, some of which runs 24/7.
Anyway I invested £14 in a socket meter to find out where all the juice was going. The result of doing some jiggling of stuff and a ruthless turning off of stuff not being used has reduced it to around 5,500kwh/annum. That is still living and working the same lifestyle.
While I was impressed with that - a check back shows that was our consumption back in 1993 (the year of Kyoto). It had crept steadily upward ever since - multiple computers, TVs etc.
So nothing to brag about. One of our two fridge/freezers is very inefficient. I reckon I could save £60/annum by buying a new one for £180. But it isn’t very green to landfill a working appliance is it?
October 3rd, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Tim,
The 3,300kwh figure came from Ofgem in 1999 and has been widely quoted. I can’t find how this was calculated. There is a much higher 4,600kwh based on 2003 consumption - which was total UK domestic consumption divided by households.
Some, but surely not all, can be explained by rising consumption.
The 4,600kwh figuren will include electricity used in night storage heaters etc which may not be included in the earlier estimate. Average in electricity consumption between homes that are not on the gas grid and those that are is not that meaningful.
Either way I’m a bit of a power hog atm.
October 4th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
I need to take a look at our electricity use again now that we’ve moved house. This place has loads of ceiling spotlights and that can’t help.
Stuart: those socket meters are great for finding badly behaved applicances aren’t they? Our Virgin Media set-top box was a real power hog. For about £80 you can get a “whole house” meter that clamps around the fuse box supply and transmits information wirelessly to a hand-held device, but you may as well just spot-check the meter reading I think.
October 10th, 2007 at 11:58 am
Yes, like many other people had been adding halogens to undo the good work of CFL lamps.
I’ve started replacing them with LED lights. 1/2w a lamp makes CFL look an energy hog! Problem is the output and colour at a reasonable place. Best I have found are GU10 (240v) at reuk.co.uk. Even so thay make be weaker than 20w halogens and cooler. But much better than the TLC-Direct & Maplin equivelents.
For the 50w GU10 halogens I’m going to be trying the 11w cfl from TLC. They will project out so there may be aethestic problem. I don’t see a replacement for MR16 (12v). Maybe converting them to 240v GU10 may be an option or just wait for LED technology to evolve.
October 10th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
Thanks for the link to reuk.co.uk, good stuff. Have you tried these?:
http://reuk.co.uk/buy-240V-LED-SPOTLIGHT-BULB.htm
I’m thinking about replacing the GU10 50W halogens in this place one by one, as they go. But a colour temporature of 6400K still seems like it might be a lot “bluer” than the halogen bulbs will be, at least according to this chart.
October 12th, 2007 at 8:54 am
Tim,
Yep I have 5x 20,000mcd GU10s. I have 3 on an IKEA track in the lobby outside the toilet. They are just sufficient to light a small passage. I don’t think they are as strong as 20w halogen but that may be because they are still a ‘very cool’ light. But I agree not bluish like the weaker TLC & Maplin GU10s. Elsewhere I have halogen & LED side by side and the difference is dramatic to LED’s disadvantage.
If you need 50w worth of light - cheap LED is nowhere near (yet). That’s why I going to try the 11w TLC cfl GU10s as an interim solution.
Sympathise with your new house problem. Our living room was halogen ceiling lit. I’ve put more table cfl lamps which are more romantic. It has dramatically cut down the use of ceiling halogens and …
October 16th, 2007 at 7:51 pm
Hi All!
I changed electricity suppliers from British Gas to Npower as the sales manager assured me it would be cheaper than the £40 per mth I was spending on my pre-payment meter. She suggested I set my dd up for £33 per mth and that I would probably be in credit after this. I swapped to n power in June and have recently recieved a statement saying that I owe them an additional £400 what a SURPRISE !!!!!!!!! There is no way through the summer that i can possibly have used that much electric for 3 bed house??????????? Jokers aren’t they??
October 16th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
kasia: I’ve heard similar stories from other people, and I think in those cases it was to do with the new supplier not reading the meter when you switched. Does your final meter reading from British Gas match up with your first meter reading for nPower?
October 22nd, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Hi Tim, Yes all readings match but dug out my old electricity bill for 6 mths with British Gas and it was around £240.00 from Oct 06 to April 07 and compared it to N Power for 6 mths usage from April 07 to October 07 which was a whopping …….. £600 and it was the summer!!!!!! The reading when I left B. G was 1167 kwh and at this moment is touching 8000kwh now unless I am powering the whole street God knows whats going on. I have contacted N power again and need to take readings for 1 week but finally spoke to someone that actually seemed concerned with the enormous increase and didn’t just put it down to my appliances which by the way are exactly the same as they were last yr.!!!!!
October 22nd, 2007 at 6:16 pm
P.S. sorry the first figures I origionally posted were not that acurate as have had all bills and statements out today so all figures including the previous post are all correct.
Will let you all know what happens with my war with N Power!!
November 11th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
I have had problems with n-power too!
We moved house and kept with n-power. The meter was being read regularly but I had neglected to note that all n-powers bills were estimated! This I eventually found out was because the readings were not being read in the 7day period where n-power prepared the bill. They did have all the readings but no-one had thought to look at the previous reading before estimating the next bill. this went on for over 2 years and i now owe over £2000 (we were paying £60 per month on DD too!) So my DD bill should have been £150 per month!!
I think this is ridiculous and am now taking daily meter readings. So far its is saying 40 units per day - this seems excessive and I suspect a faulty meter (it is very old and is overdue to be replaced) Neighbours with similar houses pay £80 per month!
November 20th, 2007 at 4:47 am
Plz i need someone to tell me how these meters work.i’m getting very frustrated.Ive been in a new flat for 3 months, but just last week a lad from Scotishpower came to change my meter in my absence, claiming that the meter is incorrect. Though i’ve never checked before, but i notice that the meter runs very fast when ever a heating appliance (microwave, electric kettle, electric heater, iron, etc) is switched on. is this normal?
November 26th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
I dont think my meter is working correctly, how do i check if it is faulty. The reading seems excessive. I dont seem to get anywhere with my supplier.
November 28th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
GUESS WHAT N POWER CUSTOMER AGAIN! BEEN WITH THEM SINCE 2000
SO AWARE OF BILLS RANGING FROM £150-£200+ PER QUARTER, ALSO
THEY PHONE FOR READINGS QUITE OFTEN………..BILL JUST IN AT £817.00
OOOOOUUUUCCCHHHH!!!!!!!AFTER HAVING KITCHEN FITTED AND POND IN GARDEN OBVIOUSLY RECORDED WHAT EXTRA WE WERE USING,
BETWEEN 6&9 PER NIGHT & UP TO 20UNITS PER DAY BUT NOW ALL OF A SUDDEN HAPPY WITH MY READINGS, THEY ARE READING BETWEEN 40&84
PER DAY!!!HORRENDOUS, THEY SAID THEY WILL PUT A METER NEXT TO IT
TO SEE WHAT’S ON, BUT IF IT’S NOT THE METER WE STILL HAVE TO PAY IT. WHYYYY WHEN THEY KNOW WHAT YOU NORMALLY USE?????
November 29th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
i’m really upset at the moment
I spent an hour on the phone to SWALEC today and they simply refuse to send anyone to check my meter as they are adamant that there is nothing wrong with it based on my usage. they said that “as the meter is not actually sparking” and i’m “still recieving an electricity supply” they will not send anyone.
SWALEC seem to think that an average of £20 a week for my electricity (oh did I mention, it’s a 1 BEDROOM FLAT that I live in? ) is not excessive at all.
i’ve been through my statements for the last few years and it averages around 27 units per day. this fluctuates emensely though, ranging from an average of 7.3 units per day during one quarter to an average of 53.57 units per day for another quarter (is that even possible in a 1 bed flat?)
march - june 2005 - 665 units total
march - june 2006 - 4037 units total ??????????
does this make any sense? same time of year, same 1 BED FLAT - extra 3372 units used??? wouldn’t i have to have been doing something crazy like trying to fill a hot air balloon using only multiple hairdryers or something to have used that much more electricity?
it’s just awful living like this, i have the lights off all the time, i don’t have any storage heaters or anything, just one oil filled radiator which i don’t use most of the time because i can’t afford it. i try to only use the washing machine twice a week. all my lightbulbs are energy saving too.
dec 05 - march 06 - they recon i used 5143 units, i had to pay £430 that quarter. that’s more than my friends pay for their whole farm’s electricity.
i’ve got my first baby due in march and i will have to start heating this place properly and using the washing machine. How much will it say i am using then? i’m so worried.
sorry for the rant but any advice on who i could speak to about this would be great,
thanks
November 30th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
bubble - there are a few things you need to check out. when did you move into your flat? are you certain that swalec used the right meter reading then? did you give them a reading and do you still have it?
has your bill been estimated? if it has, then they may be using the wrong readings - check your bill to make sure. it may be that they underestimated bills for a long time and suddenly an accurate reading has thrown up a huge bill. it might be right as your oil fired radiator will be very expensive to run.
how do you get hot water? if you are using an immersion heater, that’s terribly expensive too.
it’s unlikely but not impossible that your meter is faulty - it might be a good idea to ask for a check meter to be fitted for a while.
if you live in a block of flats with a communal meter area, are they reading the right meter?
have you ever switched supplier? did they use the right transfer readings?
if you think your bills have been wrong for a long time, ask them about the ‘backbilling code’. if you complained to them over 12 weeks ago and the problem is still going on, ask them for information about the energy supply ombudsman.
February 3rd, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Last year my electric meter was changed and I was told by the person who did it that meters have to be changed by law every 10 years. If they aren’t then you don’t have to pay your bills because the meters cannot be guaranteed to be correct. The meter in question was 11 years old, if only i’d known sooner lol.
Does anyone know if there is any truth to this. I’m asking because come july 2008 I will have lived in my current accomadation 10years, and the gas meter is still the same one as when I moved in.
February 3rd, 2008 at 4:24 pm
One more question, I have read in previous comments about socket meters, What are they and how can i get some?
Also is there anything that you can attach to you gas meter to see if it’s actually taking accurate readings??
A friend of mine is currently arguing with his gas supplier because apparently his meter was so bad it couldn’t even be tested to see if it was ok.
March 9th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Dear Tim,
Is a unit of electricity the same regardless of which supplier you buy your electricity from.
I ask because my brother lives in small studio flat and has very appliances. Yet he uses 50% more units of electricity per day than my wife and I who live in a spacious three bedroom house and make great use of almost every electric appliance.
I think my brother in law’s meter must be faulty or connected to someone else’s flat in his block. His electricity supplier have told him that he will have to pay £75 to have his meter checked. Is this right?
Thanks
Cliff Watkins
Beckenham
020 8650 7347
March 9th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Cliff: all the meters I’ve seen measure electricity in units of kWh. 1 kWh is the same amount regardless of which supplier you have.
I’ve no idea if having a meter checked is chargeable.
Martin Lewis has a forum for gas and electricity discussions, so perhaps you would do well to ask there.
May 12th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
If you’restill collecting electricity usage, my 2 person household in the midlands for the last quarter used 3,518 kWh. Which is about average for us during this time of year, summer will be a bit higher (air conditioning, disadvantage to having so many electronic devices/computers), dead of winter is lower (advantage to having so many electronic devices/computers, helps keep the place warm
) I’m currently with E-On (powergen) , but am debating switching to Click Energy 5 with british gas as it would have saved 70quid from the last electricity bill. I’ve emailed E-on to see if they could come close to meeting British gas prices, we’ll see.
Glad that a few of you have usage like this expat yank
June 12th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
we are in a house built in 2001 gas combi boiler and central heating.
2 adults and 2 children under 7 in the house.
Our annual consumption should be about 2000 kw/hours.
the only things that are left on are fridge freezer, freezer, phone and smoke alarms.
We bought a monitor for the power usage this showed us that the 2 old hifi’s that we had ( we could not turn off as the cd’s stopped working) were costing us £30 per year to run (31 watts per hour for the pair in stand by)
we now have a background electricity usage of 31 watts per hour ( this must be for the phone and the smoke alarms.
every thing else is turned off when not in use TV, digi box computers etc.
CFL’s all over the house light turn off when leaving the room
June 18th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Single guy, use my computer pretty much all the time when not at my 9-5, been working out my electricity usage over the past week and am currently clocking approximately 1100kWh/year. Pretty good going methinks!
Of course when winter kicks in and the nights get cold, I have to rely on nasty electric heaters (my flat doesn’t have gas), which bump up things quite a bit. (Just got my bill from, amazingly enough, exactly 1 year ago and it’s 3946kWh’s to today). Not actually that great.
June 24th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Hi there,
i think my meter could be faulty!
i’m with N-Power for gas & electric and pay £45 per month for gas but for electric i’m always in credit.
my dd is £15 a month but cause i’m nearly £200 in credit they keep putting it down to £2 a month!
obviously this is a good thing but when i compared my own meter reading in mid march and then now 3 months on my meter says i’ve only used 6kwh! my wife, child & i live in a 2 bed semi and not overly cautious with the electric.
as this may sound amazing to some i am worried that a problem may be found and i’m gonna get a huge bill!
should i worry or just plead ignorance?
June 24th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
CHRIS: Unless you are really running your entire house on slightly less power than a modern TV on standby, your meter is definitely faulty…
June 26th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
I have never visited a “blog” before. How useful the advice I’ve just picked up in two mins far better than those confused and supermarket websites. My electricity for three people in a four bedroom house out all day and overseas 20% of the year was just short of £3000 per year (and no I haven’t got carried away with the zero’s) aacording to my bills I think they are charging me 10000 kwk per annum. By the way this is the beloved NPOWER.
After reading not quite all the postings on here I will be :
1 More green with my electricity usage (already had stopped using tumble dryer which seems to have been a problem)
2 Log a daily reading during my green mission
3 If no joy contact NPOWER for an attempt at getting some help
I’m on a mission now - thanks everyone for your insiration
June 27th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Kerry: are your bills based on actual or estimated meter readings? Might be worth checking your actual meter reading to see if the bills are right.
Good luck with your green mission!
July 4th, 2008 at 8:57 am
reply for teresa and everyone. you have been told by the meter engineer that your new meter has 10 years certified life, this is correct but your meter stays legal for up to 15 years…. depending on what type of meter you have had installed. if you have had an ampy digital meter installed they have a shorter life span than the old fashioned mechanical meters which have a 20 certified life (usually single rate tariff meters). i know this information is accurate for the central networks area (midlands) but could be different for other parts of the country.
also someone asked how to take a read from there new meter, we install meters when customers are out (outside meter) so i can understand the new ampy meters can be confusing.
This only applies to the ampy 5254ex and 5246c models.
You will always find a reading when you look at the meter, either R1 or R4, depending on the time of day. R1 is your rate one (normal) read and R4 is low E7 read. if you read your meter in the day time you will find the R1 read indicated by the 1 flashing. If you read the meter during the E7 hours (12.30am - 7.30am) you will see R4 flashing at the left of the meter readings.
1. Record the reading on the first screen (check what rate the meter is on R1 or R4)
2. Press the Blue Button on the top left of the meter twice, you will see the second read appear. check the rate either R1 or R4 and record the reading.
its that easy…
one more thing. saving money
alot of people dont use the E7. during the night usally between 01.00 and 08.00 am you have 7 hours of cheap electricity if you can try using washing machines, tumble dryers, water heater ect during these hours you will save money.
anyway i hope i have been of some help
July 9th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
If you suspect your meter is over reading the only way to be sure is to test it. This involves switching everything off and connecting a known test load. This is what the electric companies will do if you can get them to do it.
Meanwhile you can do your own crude test using something like a 3KW fan heater and a plug in power meter (£10 from Amazon, Maplin or ebay). Turn everything in the house off and unplug as much as possible. Keep going unti the meter stops turning. Take a meter reading and plug the fan heater (on max) in via the power meter. Couple of hours layer check the power meter agrees with the regular electricity meter. Say you do this for three hours. Both meters should show somewhere closr to 9 units used. It may vary quite a bit because the fan heater won’t be exactly 3KW but both meters should agree to within about 5% or so. If they differ by more than say 10% it would probably be worth trying to get a proper test done.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:25 pm
You blokes should not complain….my house in the US uses an average of 3,000 kwh a month !!! it is an average size house here and 3 people live in it. We do use natural gas for water heater and for a gas furnace during the winter but 1 run a 5 ton air conditioner during the spring and summer. oh well, I stay comfortable and just smile when i send the power company their check each month….btw, I also work for them so its like we just trade $$ back and forth!!! LOL
September 5th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
you should forgat the big 6 and switch to Utility Warehouse for gas elec mobile broadband and phone - you will all save an absolute fortune - they are the only ones who guarantee to be cheaper than all the big boys - they don’t spend all our money on advertising!
September 13th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
hi,
i have just had a massive SHOCK, 16,500 units of electric per year!
but gas for heating and water Combi Boiler 2,800 per year!?
4 bed house
2 adults
3 kids under 10
can this be right?
please help me
September 18th, 2008 at 12:41 am
Hi - does anyone know of a website where I can find out how much electricity an average 1 bedroomed flat (with no Gas facility) uses per month ?
We just rented our flat to a foreign family and we think the electricity usage is excessive and we need proof to confront them with.
We are talking about 150 KW per week for normal rate plus 150 KW per week for the economy rate. We are responsible for paying the bill due to the nature of the contract.
Cheers
Rose