To ask for your electricity usage for last year? Possible weed grower!

[buddhasbelly]

We’ve just moved house (2 bed detached bungalow, 70s construction, gas & electric) and got our predicted energy bill - we have a sky high fixed kWh rate but that’s just the way things are at the moment.

However the annual predicted electricity usage is 5300kwh - our old house we used 1700kwh in a year!

Our bedroom has a strong smell of weed. Could the predicted usage be down to the last owner possibly growing weed? I’m sort of hoping so as the predicted use seems crazy. The gas usage is about the same as our old property.

aibu to ask for your average electricity kwh for last year? I’m trying to gauge what others are using, particularly interested to hear if you have a bungalow!

If it was being used as a “farm” then normally the whole place will be used and will stink according, not just one room. Maybe. Just speaking from experience as my dm rents a house out that’s been used like this.

Could be an electric car? Not sure how much kWh that uses…

Electric cars aren't too heavy on the bill because they only trickle charge unless you have a charge point installed at the house.

Ah ok thanks - it’s just one room, loft is heavily insulated with a bit of floor space, wondering if growing for personal use or something. There’s electricity out to the garage so maybe lots of power tools or something?

Cant for the life of me think what else could give that high a predicted use unless I’m being very naive as to how much the average home is using nowadays.

Oh and no electric car before in the house

I wouldn’t have thought growing for personal use would take much as you’d only need one decent lamp.

@Lonelycrab ah ok thanks - hmm the plot for the high electricity usage thickens.

I’m going to track consumption over the next few days and see if I can pinpoint anything else. 5300kwh/annum does seem v high though…

The price cap, which is probably a good indicator of average across the whole population, is based on 2900 kWh per year I think.

Maybe the previous occupant was using a lot of supplementary heating?

Either because the GCH isn't up to much, or they were under the misapprehension that heating one room with a plug in electric heater is cheaper than heating the whole property with GCH?

All you can do is be as efficient as you can, monitor usage and make sure your DD is keeping up with your bills.

However, if your supplier is using the data to set a DD that is far too high, it's probably worth explaining to them that you don't expect to use as much as the previous occupant and how the predicted usage is three times more than your previous home? What heating is installed in the property?

@BarbaraofSeville thanks for this. It’s gas central heating - loft is well insulated.

We didn’t see any electric heaters anywhere when viewing the house (admittedly didn’t smell the cannabis then either, it’s not the smell of it having been smoked but the smell of it being grown that is lingering now).

Yes I think I’ll phone the supplier and explain - it’s the same supplier as my old property but I couldn’t transfer my plan so higher kwh rate but it’s the energy usage that I’m really puzzled by.

1700 kWh for a year seems really low. Maybe the previous owners had a hot tub or something to push it up a bit but that usage seems more realistic than yours.
I am in a bunglow, I use about 400 kWh per month, maybe a little more in the summer when the hot tub is running.

Thanks @Dozycuntlaters yes I think we were pretty efficient in our previous property - this bungalow has quite a small m2 footprint and there’s just the two of us who are out at work in the day. We don’t own a tumble dryer although there is an integrated dishwasher in our new home which we didn’t have in our old house. There wasn’t a hot tub here at the new property (neighbours confirmed).

How old is the boiler? That could make a difference if it is not running efficiently although I think you said the gas usage was ok? My gas usage is very low, it's just my electric that is a bit higher than normal but since I plugged the hot tub back in I have stopped using the tumble dryer so hopefully that should even itself out. Just keep an eye on the meter and see what your daily usage is, that should give you a pretty good idea.

I'm sure lots of people have smaller operations and just do a room. Our old neighbour used to grow weed in his shed. there was no indication that he used any rooms in the house (which were presumably full as they had 3 children in a smallish terrace.

We've just had an annual statement that shows our electricity usage was very close to yours at 1668. We're a couple and fairly low users but had DD home some of that time and she's probably a higher user!!

I'd send them a copy of your previous statements and ask them if there's any way you can reduce the payment for now, with a review in say three months time.

If you think it was a grow house and bought it get an electrician in to check the wires.

I would start by turning every electronic you can see off and seeing if there is still a pull. If there is still power being pulled check if there are any connections in the garden.

@Dozycuntlaters the boiler that was here was pretty standard (said electrician, we’ve just put in a new one as we moved it so it’s more energy efficient now). Previous owners didn’t have a tumble dryer either.

so no hot tub, no tumble dryer, an plush boiler when we moved in. The property is about 69 square meters / 740 square foot so by no means massive!

we tried the heating when we moved in to make sure radiators working. The place was roasting in 20 minutes and stayed warm the rest of the day (was a cold day when we did this).

@SolasAnla thanks will try that!

@madmog yes this is what we’re used to! I realised moving to a detached house would cost more heating wise but it heats up and stays warm quickly (checked pre heatwave!) the loft has a lot of insulation. Maybe the previous owner put on dazzling light shows at Christmas/all year round (really not wanting to accept this was just average use!)

Could you not just get a quarterly bill for the first year then go onto DD when they have an accurate usage reading?

I've known a few people grow in just one room so it's a possibility!

@slashlover me in my haste had forgotten this was an option. Idiot that I am…

Did they work from home? Mine is about 4000-5500 a year in a two bed semi with just me living here, but I'm self employed now, and it leapt up when I converted the garage to an office, and again when I quit my job and started working from home full time, and again during the pandemic when I stopped leaving the house.

Difference between historic bills (same house) and now is one electric heater, four printers, two PCs and a bunch of stuff like speakers etc, plus my massive fan for summer time. But had to go back through old bills because I was worrying about how much I am currently using!

I also suspect my freezer isn't particularly efficient so defrosting it is on this summer's job list!

But no weed, just an office and being a night owl 😂

We are a 4 bed detached house with 2 adults and 2 teens and our electricity usage is over 5000kwh per year. We don't grow weed!

I note mine down on a card every time I take readings. If you compare the figures for say

21/6/22 14,490 kW.Hr and

23/6/21 12,050 kW.Hr

Usage is 2,240 kW.Hr for a year minus 2 days.

Just checked mine, out of interest, and last year was 18 932kWh!! But that's a detached house with electric for everything including hot water and most of the heating (but no weed ). But bloody hell, I didn't expect it to be that much! We've only used a third of that this year at this point though so I think this year will be a lot less (been much more mindful of usage since a killer bill from December)

But you aren't two adults living in a small, well insulated, 2 bed bungalow.

It's not surprising that you use more than the average amount of electricity.

The OP has historically used much less than the estimate for this property so it's right that she's surprised that the utility company expect her use to triple in the new place.

@hilariousnamehere not home worker - but maybe doing home jobs? Think poss mechanic which could explain it.

@dementedpixie thanks good to see comparisons - this is a 2 bed no teens both out of the home. Previous occupants 2 people both working out of the home…

maybe I’m just in denial but on hold to the energy company just now