Tripled electricity usage - help?

[Sofasogreat]

Since December, our electricity usage has tripled; not just the bill, but the actual usage. Does anyone have any idea how that could be the case?

We don’t have the heating on more than in December, we don’t have any new gadgets that would suck the power out of the plugs sockets. Without new things plugged in, what could make it go up so much? Could it be a wiring issue somewhere in the walls?

TIA.

How do you know this?
Estimated bill or smart meter reader?
Have you checked the actual meter reading to see if it matches?

Are you electric only or do you have gas central heating?

Anything that heats or cools uses a lot of electricity e.g. electric showers, tumble drier, oven, old inefficient freezers, etc.

Yes, this is direct from non-smart meter in the house.

Gas central heating, no tumble dryer, no old freezers. If it’s just been one meal a day, could we have cooked enough with an electric oven to have tripled the normal usage for a family of four?

My main concern is that it is somehow a wiring issue and we’ll only discover it in an emergency.

Do you have a backup immersion heater that someone has accidentally switched on?

Turn everything off and check the meter.

Have you an immersion heater that you have accidentally switched on?

Turn everything off. See what the meter does. If it's still whizzing around, then you have a problem. If it's not reading anything, turn your appliances on, one by one, see what the meter does after each is switched back on. That should tell you what the culprit is.

Electric ovens do use quite a lot - our daily usage goes up massively when we use the oven - especially if we have a roast on a Sunday. But that's the same throughout the winter.
Any reason why you don't have a smart meter. I was against it fir years but gave in when we were having Solar panels fitted. The red light comes on whenever a high usage item is switched on so it serves as a reminder and check that nothing is on that shouldn't be.

No backup immersion heater, but I’ll test all the appliances this weekend. Thanks, everyone.

Get a smart meter