Electricity meter reading far too high

[starbrightstarlight8888]

I moved house last month and took a meter reading of 3957, I then took one exactly a month later and it was 8192. This can't be right can it? That means a monthly electricity bill of around £700.

We don't have gas, we are electric only. We've had new radiators installed so they are brand new and efficient. We've still got electric underfloor heating in the kitchen and lounge which could be inefficient I suppose but not to the tune of £700per month.

We live in a detached bungalow, not a mansion.

British Gas are useless. They say it could be a meter fault but hey can't send anyone round to check until lockdown is over.

What do I do? We are accruing a bill of £25 per day at the moment.

Heating is on in the mornings and evenings only. We don't use a tumble drier or dishwasher. Washing machine is on a few times a week, nothing excessive. There's nothing I can think of that is costing a lot of electricity and certainly not £700 per month!

We are taking hourly readings and the meter is showing as using between 6 and 20 kWh per hour.

[bebarkered]

Hi OP. Take a meter reading at the same every day and keep a record of it. Tell British Gas that if they don't offer to help you that you'll go to Ofgem. But, they won't help you until you have a record of daily meter readings x

[starbrightstarlight8888]

The immersion heater has a thermostat so the immersion will only heat up when the water drops below the set temperature. It's very well insulated.

If you google it, a lot of articles say this is the most efficient way of running an immersion.

[bebarkered]

Don't keep your immersion heater on all the time, unless put it on when you need it

[1990s]

@starbrightstarlight8888

The immersion heater has a thermostat so the immersion will only heat up when the water drops below the set temperature. It's very well insulated.

If you google it, a lot of articles say this is the most efficient way of running an immersion.

Fair enough, but is this different from the previous owners set up? As logically that’s the change...

There are very few single items in a household that are high energy use enough to make a massive difference like this other than heating or an immersion so I’d still be eyeing it with suspicion...

[TokyoSushi]

Something similar is going on here, the electric bill was ticking along just fine, then on Friday, they put a charge of £8000 on there!!

I was on hold to Npower and got to 1 hour 20 before I was cut off. I've emailed them, but no response yet. Daily readings in the interim is a good idea.

[starbrightstarlight8888]

I'm taking hourly readings now.

So annoying, like I haven't got enough to deal with now.

[IstandwithJackieWeaver]

I missed that about the immersion heater. Switch it off and see what happens.

[FallenSky]

I know you disagree but we had the exact same thing and it was our immersion... We're all electric too, only turn the immersion on when needed now and bills dramatically reduced. We have electric panel heaters and an electric fire and use roughly 18-21 units a day now in the really cold months. Much less in Summer. Very expensive way to heat a house.

[Frankley]

I was all electric. Had large old fashioned storage heaters and bills were affordable. I decided to modernize and replaced them with new slim smart ones. The cost of running them shot up and l couldn't afford to heat all rooms anymore. Froze! Have now had gas central heating installed and it's cheaper than it's ever been.
Only switched immersion heater on when necessary. That's gone now

[FallenSky]

But definitely the first thing you should do is turn absolutely everything off and see if the meter is still turning.

[mrsm43s]

Another vote for the immersion heater.

If you have E7 tariff, you should be heating the water for a few hours overnight on the cheaper electric and the insulation keeps it warm throughout the day. Having it on constantly is like having a kettle continuously boiling.

If you do nothing else, switch the immersion off, and then see what difference that makes.

[ForTheLoveOfWine]

This might be worth looking at

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/your-energy-meter/find-out-if-your-energy-meter-is-faulty/

Very clear steps to follow


Also worth as others have said turn the immersion off and see what difference it makes

[ForTheLoveOfWine]

www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/i-think-my-energy-meter-is-faulty

[murbblurb]

Turn the immersion off except for the time to heat a tank. You can do some GCSE calculations with size of tank and initial/final temperature of water to tell you how long it will take to heat. With a hot water tank, don't run dribs and drabs - heat before you need it then use up the hot water. Our (oil heated) hot water is on for an hour in the evening and does bath/shower plus any non dishwasher washing up. There is still hot water for most of the next day as the tank is well lagged.

All electric heaters have the same efficiency - 1kw in gives 1kw out. Clever controls can reduce the amount of time the heater is on. Electricity is 17p a unit now and going up. Consider economy 7.

[tommika]

Leaving the immersion heater on means the water doesn’t have to be heated up from cold when it goes back on, but it heats the water up to temperature and also keeps it warm

‘Most efficient’ depends on the difference between keeping warm and start/stop


While investigating you can isolate each circuit in the fuse box/consumer unit

[BammBamm]

Hi OP we have moved and our bills were around £300 a month which I thought was bad (gas and electricity) so you have my sympathy!
They have come down slightly by us being very careful, but a lot of it is our only water heater is immersion and an old inefficient gas boiler for heating.
Where is your tank located? We are in a bungalow and ours is in the loft so loses heat quite quickly as it's really cold up there. We have wrapped it in old duvets etc and lagged all the pipes until we can get the boiler changed in a few weeks which seems to help a little.

[JustLyra]

We had to do this recently to prove a meter fault. Turn absolutely everything off. Then see what happens with the meter in that hour.

During that hour go round each room and pull out every plug. Then turn things back on one room at a time.

Start with turning absolutely everything off though - our meter was still turning.

[nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut]

Immersion heater. They're the worst culprits for guzzling energy and if it's on all the time then 25 a day would be about right. We had one, still have it actually but it isn't used anymore. We can still connect it and switch it on but it's dire emergencies only as it is SO expensive.

[starbrightstarlight8888]

I just spoke to our electrician. He said the same as our plumber in that the immersion heater only heats to a certain temperature then will turn itself off again and the water will stay warm for most of the day so turning it onto a timer won't help. I've turned it to a timer anyway to see if it will help.

He also told me to order an energy monitor that plugs into the cable of the meter.

I'll have a go at turning everything off and checking the meter stops later.

Thank you for all your advice.

[PaperMonster]

We’re all electric in a small three bed house. We’ve turned the immersion heater off as that was costing about £3 a day. We only use it for baths and so have it on for a couple of hours beforehand. We do all the energy-saving things we can think of. Last month’s bill was about £250. However, I do recall a neighbour when they moved in using about £800 one month without even thinking. I really miss my storage heaters! I have bloomin awful wall heaters now, which we have on for about 6 hours a day. Electricity costs a fortune - and we’re in a very insulated house!

[titchy]

Plus it's ticking over 6 units or mor when there's nothing on.

But you also said your immersion is on all the time Go switch that off now and see what happens

[titchy]

The thermostat in the immersion could also be broken of course.

[LiveintheNow]

Check your fridge too, we had one with a fault that meant it was running the motor constantly.

[Clarabellawilliamson]

Maybe the thermostat in the immersion is faulty?

[CottonSock]

My dad told my sister to keep her immersion heater on constant. She had a bill like this too.