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Use our Cost of Living forum to discuss budgeting and energy saving with other users.

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Use our Cost of Living forum to discuss budgeting and energy saving with other users.

Cost of living

Electric- we used 70 units in 24 hours

26 replies

MinimalistMommi · 21/10/2013 09:41

Is that loads?! Or OK? I have no clue.
We were out for a lot of the day.
Made sure lights were switched off when not in use.
Did a 30 min wash at 30 degrees and then an extra spin to get more water out.
Used a sandwich toaster in evening and put the oven on for 30 mins to make apple crumble.
Watched TV in evening.
The children had small shallow bath.
Me and DH both showered.

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Queen0fFuckingEverything · 21/10/2013 09:48

That sounds outrageously high. I assume by units you mean kwh? For comparison, I live in a 9 bedroom farmhouse, with a welding workshop and electric kiln in the barn and we use an average of 17.7kwh a day.

MinimalistMommi · 21/10/2013 09:57

Sorry, I don't know what I'm talking about, under the numbers I looked at it said KWH.

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MinimalistMommi · 21/10/2013 09:59

So yesterday at 8am it read:
180843

This morning at 8am it read:
180913

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MinimalistMommi · 21/10/2013 10:00

Now I'm in a panic!

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Queen0fFuckingEverything · 21/10/2013 10:04

You need to do that thing where you turn absolutely EVERYTHING off (fridge, cooker, the lot) and then turn them back on one by one while someone watches the meter. See if it stops going round when everything is off - if not, you might have had your supply tapped.

Are your bills usually really high? Your bill should show you the average kwh use per day (ours does, at the bottom).

MinimalistMommi · 21/10/2013 10:11

Right queen I'm going upstairs to find paperwork, thank you for helping me...

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MinimalistMommi · 21/10/2013 10:18

Just found the southern electric paperwork (the last one I can see if from July, my DH usually does the paperwork so I'm assuming it comes each quarter) They actually owed us money as it was the summer time I guess, our budget payment is £35.00 per month which seems OK to me? Can't see anywhere on statement where it says average kWh unfortunately. The bill was on actual readings not estimated btw.

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MinimalistMommi · 21/10/2013 10:19

We have gas too btw, with southern electric again.

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circlebeginning · 21/10/2013 10:26

There may be something switched on you don't know about. My parents had a massive bill after workmen accidentally turned on a disused boiler in the attic.

Queen0fFuckingEverything · 21/10/2013 10:27

Are you definitely reading the meter correctly? You can work out the average khw/day yourself anyway by dividing the total kwh used (it'll definitely say that on the bill) by the number of days it was for.

If it still seems off I'd ring them and ask them to send someone to check the meter. They are meant to send a meter reader once every 12 months anyway to check your meter so if its not been done recently it needs doing anyway.

Queen0fFuckingEverything · 21/10/2013 10:28

But try turning everything (I really mean everything ) off and seeing what the meter does first.

Janek · 21/10/2013 10:31

As far as i know, a meter reading should only be five digits. Yours seem to be six, so i wonder if you've missed the decimal point. Could the readings be
18084.3
And
18091.3
So you've used 7 units in 24 hours, which is fine, particularly if you've used a sandwich toaster for the whole family.

What kind of meter is it? If it's a dial one, the last dial (the tenths) may look different in some way.

Janek · 21/10/2013 10:34

meter i'm sure i'm right - the red number is tenths of units, likewise the red dial

And yes, units are kilowatt hours (kwh) for electricity.

GideonKipper · 21/10/2013 10:34

Yes, our digit on the right is red compared to the others which are white (and are used for the reading). I think janek may be on to something.

Charlesroi · 21/10/2013 10:35

Sounds like a lot to me. On our rate 70 units costs about £9 and that's what we would expect to spend in a week
Our hot water and heating is from a gas combi boiler
We have an electric cooker, oven on about three times a week. We use the washing machine about 3-4 times a week.
I agree with Queen - turn everything off and check the meter stops moving.

MinimalistMommi · 21/10/2013 10:37

janek I missed the comma
The last digit is in red and the first five digits are in white
Does this mean I can stop panicking?!

Thank you Queen too for helping me with this! I truly have no clue but want to start saving money anyway we can.

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Charlesroi · 21/10/2013 10:40

Yep the red is 10ths of a unit - panic over

Lottie4 · 21/10/2013 10:45

We use 7 units a day on average, so as Janek says perhaps you've misread the dials. Pouring with rain here, so not going out to check(!), but I think our last dial is red to. Our lasts dial is always moving around, as there's always something in use or on standby. I think the only way you could use 70 units is if you have night storage heaters or electric heaters in constant use.

7 units for us with SSE works out about £35 a month. The 7 units cover all lighting, tropical fish tank constantly on, 3 electric showers a day, computer on about 8 hours a day for homework, husband studying, working from home, electric cooker and occasional use of electric fire, tv, toaster, mobile phones charging etc etc, so I think we are quite heavy electric users compared to families who have a bath or use a gas and electric cooker.

MinimalistMommi · 21/10/2013 10:47

Thank goodness for that! I guess I'm learning all the time LOL even at 34
I'm going to keep a daily eye on it now as some days we use tumble dryer etc.

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specialsubject · 21/10/2013 12:47

phew. Thought it must be this, I also use 7 units a day for similar things that you listed so happy it is a decimal point error!

MinimalistMommi · 21/10/2013 12:55

special I'm glad it is only 7, I want to figure out how to get it down a little bit more too...

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Janek · 21/10/2013 13:13

Could you turn the thermostat on your boiler down? If you put cold water into the bath after the hot, it would make more sense not to make the water so hot in the first place. When you shower, just turn the shower up 'hotter' (ie less cold in the mix) to make up for it. If you are heating water with electricity it is like having a massive kettle on for hours, and we all know how much electricity the kettle uses!

Also, do you all bath/shower every day? If not, why not only heat water on the days you are planning on bathing? Or heat less/for less time on the days you don't bath the children if you shower every day (i don't...). You can boil a kettle for washing up if you've no hot water.

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MinimalistMommi · 21/10/2013 13:22

janek I'm going to look at turning the thermostat down because we do add cold water to the bath once it has been run.

Because we have a combi I don't think I can choose when the hot water is on? Or have I got that totally wrong?

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Janek · 21/10/2013 13:44

I may have misunderstood - i thought you meant you heated water using electricity, but a combi boiler is gas, i presume, and instant hot water, i presume, so you only heat what you need, which is a good thing. On our boiler there is a dial to 'control' the temperature water gets heated to (or possibly by how much it's heated as we seem to need it on higher in the winter iyswim).

So yes, you 'choose' when the hot water is on, by turning the tap on!

MinimalistMommi · 21/10/2013 13:55

Yes we have gas and electric so our hot water is being heated when we need it. So as someone has pointed out to me on another thread today I need to turn the hot tap on less to stop firing it up!

I will still look at turning thermostat down.

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