Help! Why has my smart meter increased so much?

[BlueEyesUltimateDragon]

So since the bill hike my smart meter tells me that around 6am when I get up I've used around 75-85p and usually on a work day when I'm out of the house I'm on nearly £2 at 5pm and by the time I go to bed it is between £3-4 depending on what I've used for dinner etc. I have the heating on for 1 hour in the morning and 2 hours in the evening.

My mum visited this weekend to watch the kids and accidentally set it to "All day" setting at 7am. I had a very warm house! I realised and turned this off by 9:30am but by the end of that day I had spent nearly £12 (I had used my cooker a fair bit and also the tumble dryer though). Since them, each morning at 6am I've spent over £2! Nothing is different so I don't understand. Now, at 6pm these evening, I've spent £6 already. But I've only had the heating on for 1 hour this morning, out all day so no lights etc and I used my stove and air fryer for 20 minutes for dinner.

Does anyone have any insight into what's going on? Is the smart meter just working off of what it thinks I'm using from the day the heating was on excessively? Its 14 degrees in my daughters room and I have to put the heating on this evening but it'll add so much more 😭 help!

I know its pretty grim isn't it 😥I;ve been so careful not having my heating on I could have cried when I realised it had been on most of the night when we didnt need it.. hope you get it sorted x

@itsmeagainagain thank you! I'm going to contact my supplier tomorrow as well and see if they can see any changes in general usage over the last few days (not counting the day my mum was here!) Because as far as I can tell nothing has changed but you never know!

Are you not able to see a breakdown of your daily use online anywhere?

@NewBootsAndRanty I've scoured my suppliers website and it doesn't seem to offer anything like that, I'm totally baffled. I'd have thought it was a standard thing. It only tells me my current tariff and offers to show me my previous bills

When you check the radiators feel along the bottom. When mine does it it's only the bottom corners that warm up so it must only be clicking on for a couple of minutes then off again. It's started doing it through the day now as well.
I wouldn't have known if I'd not checked the bottom of the radiator the top was stone cold.

@Unforgettablefire thanks for the tip!

What about an app to track your usage? Loop is one and Uswitch is another.

Try using this app loop.homes/

This is how my weekly/daily breakdowns appear on it. I can literally see when my heating kicks in/gets turned up, when I've boiled my kettle etc

@NewBootsAndRanty thank you! Just downloading it now :)

@NewBootsAndRanty @itsmeagainagain okay So I downloaded loop last night and it says that my gas is kicking on every couple of hours for a short while and also my morning hour heating is costing more. I assume this is because of the cold and it taking more energy to heat? The radiators were lukewarm to touch in the night.

Now I need to decide whether I suck it up until the weekend when it'll warm up again or do I play with the boiler 🤔 if it is already kicking on like that and is still so cold then I'm not sure I can really turn it off more - I don't want the kids even colder! Ahh dilemmas.

Thanks for both of your helps yesterday!

reply @BlueEyesUltimateDragon ah that's brilliant that loop has helped you. I might also download that and thanks for the heads up@NewBootsAndRanty
The other thing worth noting is that standing charges are applied first thing too not sure if loop picks that up or not. re your children if they're anything like mine they don't feel the cold half as much as I do. That being said I only really put the heating on for the. When they're in bed I have some really lovely and cheap fleecy sheets and duvets they are super toasty! Lets hope the weather gets a bit warmer and also that something gets done about all our gas and electric rates so that we can all stop obsessing over them and actually enjoy life a bit. all the best to you x

heating on for them that should say - sorry not woken up properly yet!

This has happened to me too and I have the same type of smart meter.
Just had my bill though and it doesn't reflect the amount the display says I've been using fortunately!
Mine told me I'd used nearly £6 of energy when I'd been out of the house for 13 hours the other day (that's more than I sometimes use when I'm at home all day).

@itsmeagainagain that's the same as me, I only have it on for when the children wake up and to make their rooms warmer for when they go to sleep. I just live in jumpers, oodies and permanently carrying a hot water bottle! I think that is why it is jarring to think I was spending so much and I'm still freezing anyway!

I just figured out that I've spent £2 on gas each day that I haven't known was on!!!

An OP I was about to say that your gas central heating will cost more because it's near freezing out.

It's the kW you want to watch

1. It's sensible to leave boiler on winter setting so it kicks in when temp drops so low it might freeze the pipes including inside the boiler!! You defo want that on. That's the snowflake ❄️ you'll see on your auto setting - you'll hear your boiler fire up briefly a few times

1. Sand time of heating will cost more at lower temperatures as you're using more gas / boiler is working harder gif longer during that time period. So for eg few weeks ago having my heating in was approx £1.10 per hour gas on smart meter, but rught now this snowy week it's £2.42- £3.12 per hour depending on how cold house was at time (at times it's been below 9 degrees C in the house!) But the kW setting shows I'm using far more gas during those few hours gas c/heating is on.

If a boiler starts on frost stat. It just basically turns over the water in the system just keeps it above freezing. It usually cycles for a couple of minutes, takes the chill off then goes back to standby. Brilliant thinking on the design & far better than a burst pipe