Cost of electricity in new house is saying £17 per day?!

[Schoolrefusa]

We have moved into a new house and baffled by the meter in the kitchen warning us how much electricity we are using and its cost.
The previous tenants moved out quite fast and we normally find our bills completely fine(under £100/ month for 5 of us ) , our last house had the same number of bedrooms and even the same appliances which I haven't used excessively (I've done 2 clothes washes on an hour cycle and cooked 2 meals using the oven. I've used the dishwasher once).

heating is oil .
Does anyone have advice how we check this ? Do I start with our landlord? Or the electrics company? Or hope that the gadget in the kitchen is wrong?!

The only difference I can see is that many ceiling lights have 5 bulbs instead of just one but we don't have them on unless in that room really .

Is it a new build, there was a thread on here a while back where the wiring had been done wrong and I cant remember the exact result but turned out a street light/ neighbours house or similar ridiculous scenario was going through their circuit and charging them

I’d imagine the gadget is wrong

i moved recently and was astonished by the predicted bills. I don’t have any way of monitoring but told the utility companies I’d not be paying by direct debit till we had a realistic idea of usage.

as you have a landlord I’d start by asking them about the gadget. But mine turned out to be as I predicted. Hopefully yours will too.

Presumably the "meter" in the kitchen is a plug in display for a smart meter?

Just read the proper meter now and again in 24 hours and it will tell you the actual units you are using and you can then work out the exact cost from your electricity tariff.

Old fashioned incandescent bulbs or modern led's. You could also invest in a power monitor plug and see exactly how much electricity each appliance is using.

Check everywhere for switches that are switched on. Most likely to be kitchen, utility or attached to or next to a hot water tank in a cupboard or in the loft.

Have you checked your oil level? I bet they used the oil til it is almost empty and your hot water is coming off an immersion switch (electricity). Had to do this the first month we moved in, it cost an extra £350. Our immersion costs £1.45 a hour if turned on for the first three hours then drops slightly when the hot water tank is boiling hot.

Don’t rely on a watchman re oil level. One minute we were told we had about 700 litres, the next thing the landlord’s employee arrived with a dipstick and said it’s actually 200 litres. They are very inaccurate.

Under £100 mth for 5 people? I need some tips!

It could be right if you're on a rubbish tariff. The smart meter should tell you cost per hour of running - I have all electric heating in a 2 bed flat and there are times when it's running 3kwh per hour. I am spending about £7/day.

Thank you for these brilliant replies, a massive help. I will look at the real meter for a start ilovemyshed and not impressed with myself I didn't think of this myself ! So all a good help to have some steps to work this out . Much appreciated and that's interesting about the immersion heater .

No it's an old house

Check you actual usage, units per day on the meter
If high check no immersion heater is on and if your still using when you knock everything off have someone come to check wiring.

Ill second the Watchman comment!! Absolute cack, removed mine years ago - I go and see if i can "wobble" the tank, if i can order some more as its almost empty 😆

In a old house I'd be looking for an electric water heater tank or similar

Is there insulation? Our winter energy bill dropped by 1/2-2/3 when we got the loft insulated.

It may be wrong.

We had a smart meter that was showing around £1 a day and then we changed provider (to a cheaper tariff) and it suddenly showed £3/£4 a day, so I think it just stopped working properly cuz our bills weren’t that much! So I don’t think these gadgets are very accurate.

During daylight, switch absolutely everything electrical off you can find, including the fridge and things on standby like the tv. Then go and look at the meter and see if it is moving. If it is, then I would suspect something like an immersion heater. Also check random things like the loft space and check that nobody has left a light on up there.

You are all brilliant . I was at a loss til these ideas and feel much more positive I can work this out ! May be slow to update as a lot going on but you've all helped no end

We have underfloor electric heating run off electricity in a big house plus all the rest and in the Winter the highest it has ever been is 14 a day so l think it's definitely a mistake.

So £17 per day, @ about 3kW per £, that is 17*3=51 kWh per day, or a constant power of about 2 kW. It is a lot.

You need to compare that with your old house. If you had a fixed tariff from a couple of years ago and now have moved onto the price cap tariff it could explain it. If you have moved on to an E7 tariff that might explain it too.

I think it is more likely that something like the immersion heater has been left on. Simple way to test this out is probably not to run the boiler for hot water. Then if the immersion heater is switched on you will still carry on getting hot water. If the immersion heater is off then eventually the water will go cold. There is often a switch in the airing cupboard that turns the immersion heater on and off, but sometimes it is located a bit of distance away, and it is hard to tell whether it is switched on or off.