Comments on: Watching the electricity meter http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/ Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:04:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: linda http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/comment-page-2/#comment-3456 linda Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:38:29 +0000 http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/#comment-3456 Keith, pre-payment meters are a more expensive method for paying for electricity. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/30/thegreatmeterripoff. Nonetheless the figure you quote would suggest that you are using something close on 20 times more electricity than I am. Even though do I try to be economical that still seems excessive. Are you using electric fires/heaters; these can use an awful lot in the way of kilowattage. As will an unlagged hot water tank especially if it is left on 24/7. You might, perhaps, carry out a home survey to find out just what electrical items you are running, when and for how long. See 'Colin says' July 9th 2008 above. Start by making sure that you switch absolutely everything off and ensure that NO power is being drawn through your meter. The cost of a hand held power monitor, like the efergy one I mentioned above or the owl that billybob suggested, might prove a worthwhile investment to help you do this. Once you work out what you are using turn off anything that is not needed, every time it is NOT needed Are you in rented property? I'm not sure what the position is nowadays but I do know that landlords used to be able to have the meter set to charge at a higher rate eg a 1kw fire running for 1hr should use 1 unit of power but the meter could be set to record 4 units used. Is it possible that there might have been a debt on the property before you moved in? I have heard of power companies 'turning up' pre-payment meters to recover debts. If it is possible that this has been done may the meter have not been reset when the debt was recovered? Gosh, I thought my £20 a month was expensive!! Keith, pre-payment meters are a more expensive method for paying for electricity. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/30/thegreatmeterripoff. Nonetheless the figure you quote would suggest that you are using something close on 20 times more electricity than I am. Even though do I try to be economical that still seems excessive.

Are you using electric fires/heaters; these can use an awful lot in the way of kilowattage. As will an unlagged hot water tank especially if it is left on 24/7.

You might, perhaps, carry out a home survey to find out just what electrical items you are running, when and for how long. See ‘Colin says’ July 9th 2008 above. Start by making sure that you switch absolutely everything off and ensure that NO power is being drawn through your meter. The cost of a hand held power monitor, like the efergy one I mentioned above or the owl that billybob suggested, might prove a worthwhile investment to help you do this. Once you work out what you are using turn off anything that is not needed, every time it is NOT needed

Are you in rented property? I’m not sure what the position is nowadays but I do know that landlords used to be able to have the meter set to charge at a higher rate eg a 1kw fire running for 1hr should use 1 unit of power but the meter could be set to record 4 units used.

Is it possible that there might have been a debt on the property before you moved in? I have heard of power companies ‘turning up’ pre-payment meters to recover debts. If it is possible that this has been done may the meter have not been reset when the debt was recovered?

Gosh, I thought my £20 a month was expensive!!

]]> By: keith macleod http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/comment-page-2/#comment-3430 keith macleod Sat, 29 Nov 2008 10:00:57 +0000 http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/#comment-3430 hi folks ; just been reading your comments on electricity prices.i have a 3 bedroom house and through a pre payment meter i pay £80-£90 per week .i have lived in this house for 16 years and its always been high. hi folks ;
just been reading your comments on electricity prices.i have a 3 bedroom house and through a pre payment meter i pay £80-£90 per week .i have lived in this house for 16 years and its always been high.

]]> By: linda http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/comment-page-1/#comment-3426 linda Thu, 27 Nov 2008 03:14:37 +0000 http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/#comment-3426 Hi y'all. I'm a single person living in a 3 bedroomed house. I have most of the normal electrical appliances including cooker but no dishwasher or tumble drier. I try to conserve power as much as I can and switch off, at the plug, everything that is not in use. My meter was replaced a couple or so years ago. I made the mistake of not taking a final reading from the old one before it was taken out and think I got diddled there - so be warned - certainly the next bill showed more units used than I would normally expect for that quarter. This is the third meter I have had in this house. I got the original changed by telling my supplier that it was making funny noises (the wheel did intermittently give a 'ting' as it span). I was concerned my bills were too high and was proved right when they came down by over a third. Electricity meters are not the property of the power company and if you require one to be tested they have to pay the meter company to do this - that is why they then pass these costs on to you where they can. However, if the meter is faulty you will not be liable for the costs so it is worth making a few checks before contacting them. First (if in a shared property) check that you/they are reading the correct meter. Then switch off and unplug all electrical items and confirm that no power is being drawn - the spinning wheel or flashing light on the meter will stop. Next plug in one appliance at a time and note how much power is being drawn. If you don't have a power monitor you can make an estimated judgement by watching how quickly the wheel spins or light flashes - the faster it is going the more power you are using. Remember that electrical goods can become faulty and this can cause them to use more power than they should. You should consider replacing anything that uses more power than it should. I have an efergy power monitor, keeping a track of my daily consumption in a spreadsheet. This gives daily, weekly and monthly figures and is a brilliant 'toy' for working where all my hard earned cash is going. Just keeping necessities like the fridge/freezers etc running consumes between 4 and 4.5 units a day. Showers, cooking and entertainment (tv/radio etc) pushes this up to 9+ units a day. As far as I can tell a standard shower runs at around 7kw/hr so 1 unit will give approximately 8.5 minutes of heated water. My cooker hotplate uses .86kw, the oven 1.8kw but the grill 2.3kw whilst my microwave/combination uses .65, 1.35 and 1.2 respectively. If heating water for cooking I always use a kettle - 2.6kw but much faster at heating so it works out cheaper than using the stove and I never boil more than required. All my light bulbs are low energy ones. I never leave my mobile 'phone charger (or similar) switched on when not in use. Rather than using electric heating (mains gas is just a myth where I live) I use mobile gas heaters. These are much, much cheaper to run. Hi y’all. I’m a single person living in a 3 bedroomed house. I have most of the normal electrical appliances including cooker but no dishwasher or tumble drier. I try to conserve power as much as I can and switch off, at the plug, everything that is not in use.

My meter was replaced a couple or so years ago. I made the mistake of not taking a final reading from the old one before it was taken out and think I got diddled there - so be warned - certainly the next bill showed more units used than I would normally expect for that quarter. This is the third meter I have had in this house. I got the original changed by telling my supplier that it was making funny noises (the wheel did intermittently give a ‘ting’ as it span). I was concerned my bills were too high and was proved right when they came down by over a third.

Electricity meters are not the property of the power company and if you require one to be tested they have to pay the meter company to do this - that is why they then pass these costs on to you where they can. However, if the meter is faulty you will not be liable for the costs so it is worth making a few checks before contacting them. First (if in a shared property) check that you/they are reading the correct meter. Then switch off and unplug all electrical items and confirm that no power is being drawn - the spinning wheel or flashing light on the meter will stop. Next plug in one appliance at a time and note how much power is being drawn. If you don’t have a power monitor you can make an estimated judgement by watching how quickly the wheel spins or light flashes - the faster it is going the more power you are using. Remember that electrical goods can become faulty and this can cause them to use more power than they should. You should consider replacing anything that uses more power than it should.

I have an efergy power monitor, keeping a track of my daily consumption in a spreadsheet. This gives daily, weekly and monthly figures and is a brilliant ‘toy’ for working where all my hard earned cash is going.

Just keeping necessities like the fridge/freezers etc running consumes between 4 and 4.5 units a day. Showers, cooking and entertainment (tv/radio etc) pushes this up to 9+ units a day.
As far as I can tell a standard shower runs at around 7kw/hr so 1 unit will give approximately 8.5 minutes of heated water.
My cooker hotplate uses .86kw, the oven 1.8kw but the grill 2.3kw whilst my microwave/combination uses .65, 1.35 and 1.2 respectively.
If heating water for cooking I always use a kettle - 2.6kw but much faster at heating so it works out cheaper than using the stove and I never boil more than required.

All my light bulbs are low energy ones. I never leave my mobile ‘phone charger (or similar) switched on when not in use. Rather than using electric heating (mains gas is just a myth where I live) I use mobile gas heaters. These are much, much cheaper to run.

]]> By: Malcolm Snape http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/comment-page-1/#comment-3417 Malcolm Snape Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:29:44 +0000 http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/#comment-3417 Hi Tim, If you are in the North West of England I'm offering a free mater testing service until the end of January. I can also supply, install, and calibrate a tandem 'smart meter' for 79.99, about the same as you would pay if you went out and bought one yourself. Best regards, Malcolm Snape energypricetracker.co.uk Hi Tim,

If you are in the North West of England I’m offering a free mater testing service until the end of January. I can also supply, install, and calibrate a tandem ’smart meter’ for 79.99, about the same as you would pay if you went out and bought one yourself.

Best regards,
Malcolm Snape
energypricetracker.co.uk

]]> By: Clawhammer http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/comment-page-1/#comment-3384 Clawhammer Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:11:16 +0000 http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/#comment-3384 Hi guys & gals, I to am monitoring electric usage, aren't we all? there are a lot of questions re consumption of different sized homes, why not calculate what usage your appliances should be consuming ?? I have a spread sheet that roughly calculates what I should expect my total consumption to be!! (Impressed?? don't be I stole it from someone else) but it does give me an idea of what power I can expect to consume. Pick up any appliance and you will see the power consumption figure printed on it, ie a Kettle may say 3000watts. Try this formula, Wattage(of the appliance) x hours(used per day) x days(per year) / 1000 = total Kwh used per year, x Average cost per Kwh( £0.0975). To test your formula 1000 x 1 x 365 / 1000 = 365 Kwhs x £0.0975= £35.59 cost per year. You can then add a further column to identify multiple units, say 6 light bulbs etc, try it, its free and will give you a reasonable idea of what power your appliances are consuming and what the likely costs could be. Hi guys & gals, I to am monitoring electric usage, aren’t we all? there are a lot of questions re consumption of different sized homes, why not calculate what usage your appliances should be consuming ?? I have a spread sheet that roughly calculates what I should expect my total consumption to be!! (Impressed?? don’t be I stole it from someone else) but it does give me an idea of what power I can expect to consume. Pick up any appliance and you will see the power consumption figure printed on it, ie a Kettle may say 3000watts. Try this formula, Wattage(of the appliance) x hours(used per day) x days(per year) / 1000 = total Kwh used per year, x Average cost per Kwh( £0.0975). To test your formula 1000 x 1 x 365 / 1000 = 365 Kwhs x £0.0975= £35.59 cost per year. You can then add a further column to identify multiple units, say 6 light bulbs etc, try it, its free and will give you a reasonable idea of what power your appliances are consuming and what the likely costs could be.

]]> By: Maddi http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/comment-page-1/#comment-3348 Maddi Sat, 08 Nov 2008 11:00:32 +0000 http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/#comment-3348 I would too.. I am aware that we all have a common denominator of appliances whether there is 1 person or 4 persons in a house. However their usage of washing machines, kettles etc must be more frequent than a single persons usage, logical I think..So how I can be using , according to scottish gas statistics the same as 4 persons is rather puzzling. I do believe the electric shower is 1 of the main culprits in my house! My neighbour down the stairs in a 24 hour period has used 12 units, she was doing a baking, using her tumble dryer etc so perhaps an average of 10 units per 24 hours is normal whether you are 1 or 4 people, who knows! One thing for sure, at the moment I am on a mission to cut down these units and talk to more friends. Unfortunately the electric shower I can't do without but just wait till I get this combi boiler put in and by hook or by crook that electric shower will have to go! :) Thank you for responding to my previous post. I would too.. I am aware that we all have a common denominator of appliances whether there is 1 person or 4 persons in a house. However their usage of washing machines, kettles etc must be more frequent than a single persons usage, logical I think..So how I can be using , according to scottish gas statistics the same as 4 persons is rather puzzling. I do believe the electric shower is 1 of the main culprits in my house!
My neighbour down the stairs in a 24 hour period has used 12 units, she was doing a baking, using her tumble dryer etc so perhaps an average of 10 units per 24 hours is normal whether you are 1 or 4 people, who knows! One thing for sure, at the moment I am on a mission to cut down these units and talk to more friends. Unfortunately the electric shower I can’t do without but just wait till I get this combi boiler put in and by hook or by crook that electric shower will have to go! :)
Thank you for responding to my previous post.

]]> By: tim http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/comment-page-1/#comment-3333 tim Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:04:50 +0000 http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/#comment-3333 When I looked for national statistics about this before all I could come up with was this page from 2003: http://www.gos.gov.uk/goem/news/newsarchive/newstatsonenergy/ I'd love to know current statistics for household electricity and gas usage. When I looked for national statistics about this before all I could come up with was this page from 2003:
http://www.gos.gov.uk/goem/news/newsarchive/newstatsonenergy/

I’d love to know current statistics for household electricity and gas usage.

]]> By: Maddi http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/comment-page-1/#comment-3332 Maddi Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:42:40 +0000 http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/#comment-3332 Hi, Can anyone tell me what the average unit consumption per day is for electricity or has comparisons to mine? I live in a small 2 bed flat. I work so I am out all day. I have a fridge and freezer, electric shower and switch all things apart from main cable tv off at the wall. I have gas central heating and cooker. I am very mindful on my electric usage and I average 8 to 9 units per day which I was told today by the energy efficency dept is a low usage. However I was also told today by scottish gas (dual fuel) that the average consumption per annum for a 3 bed house, 4 persons is 3300 units. I used 3360! Very confused as I do not have tumble dryer, dishwasher etc. I am querying a faulty meter and I am going to take my readings for 14 days plus invest in the energy monitor(thank u Billybob). Any information would be a great help..thank you Hi, Can anyone tell me what the average unit consumption per day is for electricity or has comparisons to mine?
I live in a small 2 bed flat. I work so I am out all day.
I have a fridge and freezer, electric shower and switch all things apart from main cable tv off at the wall. I have gas central heating and cooker. I am very mindful on my electric usage and I average 8 to 9 units per day which I was told today by the energy efficency dept is a low usage. However I was also told today by scottish gas (dual fuel) that the average consumption per annum for a 3 bed house, 4 persons is 3300 units. I used 3360! Very confused as I do not have tumble dryer, dishwasher etc. I am querying a faulty meter and I am going to take my readings for 14 days plus invest in the energy monitor(thank u Billybob). Any information would be a great help..thank you

]]> By: meter man http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/comment-page-1/#comment-3329 meter man Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:26:05 +0000 http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/#comment-3329 FYI Amy.... no meter has a set certified life! some need changing in 5 years others need changing in 10, 15 or 20 years... depends on when a meter starts to become inaccurate FYI Amy…. no meter has a set certified life! some need changing in 5 years others need changing in 10, 15 or 20 years… depends on when a meter starts to become inaccurate

]]> By: Amy from npower http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/comment-page-1/#comment-3307 Amy from npower Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:45:53 +0000 http://cyberelk.net/tim/2007/07/17/watching-the-electricity-meter/#comment-3307 FYI - 20 years in the UK before they legally need to change the meter not 10 years as Teresa stated. You would still have to pay for your electricity though even if your meter went over the 20 yr limit. FYI - 20 years in the UK before they legally need to change the meter not 10 years as Teresa stated. You would still have to pay for your electricity though even if your meter went over the 20 yr limit.

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