# High electricity bills - where are we going wrong ?



## Setanta12 (7 Sep 2011)

We're a couple living in a 2-bed second-floor of three apartment.

We were with an alternate electricity provider but switched to Bord Gais about a year or so ago for both gas and electricity. 

I know, I know, I know  - usual story of not checking bills and a cold Winter but recently we've noticed our huge electricity bills. They're running to about e250 now, bill just in the door - this despite being away on holidays for a fortnight having turned off everything (and I mean everything)!

Our bills read 'A' for actual reading of the meter so we haven't checked this just yet, under lock-and-key with management cmmttee.

We don't have excessive or even normal 'anything', we even sometimes like to sleep with windows open and water is luke-warm-to-warm.

Where are we going wrong ?


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## onq (7 Sep 2011)

That sounds very high, although prices have gone up recently.

Sounds like someone is stealing your electricity, doesn't it?

ONQ.


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## Setanta12 (7 Sep 2011)

Is this possible ? And unimaginably rare !?


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## Jazz01 (7 Sep 2011)

Agree- that sounds very high... there are "consumption calculators" out there... [broken link removed]

Haven't used them so can't comment on their accuracy... Just wondering on how the apartments are split up in relation to the electric usage? Each has it owns board? wonder if you are being charged for someone elses use? Were your builds always "higher than expected / normal"?


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## vandriver (7 Sep 2011)

Any storage heaters?


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## vandriver (7 Sep 2011)

What level are your gas bills at? ie what is your total energy spend per annum


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## hastalavista (8 Sep 2011)

1: the A means they read the meter so the estimated could have been behind the actual.

Call BG and get the actual bills since you joined them.

Also get bills from previous supplier.

I presume the 250 is for 2 months?

You need to ensure that the meter number assigned to you is the correct one, when u get access to the meter room bring your camera and foto the meter, making sure u can read all the numbers.

If push comes to shove u need to have the power cut at the meter and make sure the power to your apt gets cut.

However it does not mean that there is not a second apt on your meter so what u need to do there is ensure that every thing in your apt is off, the wheel on the meter should not be moving

You say nothing about what uses the elec is put to?
Underfloor heating
storage heaters
fan heaters
Old fridge freezer
no timer on immersion in HP
no lagging jacket on immersion
air con


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## choccy (8 Sep 2011)

to get a clear picture of whats happening you need to dig out the last 3 or 4 bills- go back to the last actual reading taken. what could have happened was you had a few estimated bills which were on the low side- so when they took an actual reading the next bill you got was massive to bring your account up to date . or they could have taken a wrong reading so bill is wrong- this happened to me last year i nearly had a heart attack - got bill for 600 odd euro !!!

if thats not the case then hasta la vista s advice is spot on


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## Setanta12 (8 Sep 2011)

This last bill was e265 - and we were abroad for two weeks of these eight weeks. Previous bill was e340.

Two bed apartment second floor of three floors. Had a shower tonight and waited for water to naturally warm up i.e. wasn't boiling flowing out of the taps. No storage heaters - no heat full stop !

Bord Gais will send someone out to check ... for a fee of e220 before VAT!

Hmmm ... our meter is under lock-and-key but we're arranging to inspect it ourselves. All readings have been 'A' i.e. Actual readings.

Dumb question - we have a large TV, UPC box, and DVD player  - could these on stand-by be causing it ? But not that much, surely !? (We always even make sure our phone-chargers are never on standby!)


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## vandriver (9 Sep 2011)

The big users of electricity are things that heat up water.So:
Is your shower electric and how long do you use it
Do you use the immersion and if so for how long a day
Do you use a tumble drier
How often do you use the washing machine
These items use huge amounts of electricity (shower about 1.50 an hour)
If you took 4 15 minute showers a day,that would be not far off 100 on a bill!
I looked up typical standby power consumption for tv dvd etc ,and in the context of your bills,its immaterial.


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## bluemac (9 Sep 2011)

I use an emersion at the moment to heat hot water, I have it on a timer to com on at night for the shortest time possible to make enough hot water for 1 big bath a day...  I have monitored my electric usage and i am still supprised I use 150 units a week 50 of these units are for the hot water.

that give you a good idea how much they cost to run


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## Slim (9 Sep 2011)

hastalavista said:


> ...Old fridge freezer


 
Interesting you should mention this. We have a modern fridge freezer and a quite modern chest freezer but we also have a 25 yr old fridge freezer and enormous electric bills. Could the old FF be behind a lot of this? Slim


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## Billo (9 Sep 2011)

Slim said:


> Interesting you should mention this. We have a modern fridge freezer and a quite modern chest freezer but we also have a 25 yr old fridge freezer and enormous electric bills. Could the old FF be behind a lot of this? Slim



Why would anyone need three freezers ?


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## Slim (9 Sep 2011)

Billo said:


> Why would anyone need three freezers ?


 
Fair point! Damn thing just keeps going. Have it parked in garage storing loaves of bread and beer. Bit of a luxury I suppose!


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## hastalavista (9 Sep 2011)

we need to distinguish between an appliance that uses a lot of power but only for a short time. I agree the big power users are the ones that consume the mula if used a lot however:

elec kettle 2000w for 5 minutes: 66 watts _Correction this should have been 166 see my later post_
versus an old fridge freezer which could be on 24/7  at 250-275w. 6,000 watts

In addition, navel gazing with the fridge door open costs loadsa because even for a modern fridge the estimate is that it takes 7 minutes of recovery time for each minute the fridge is open.
The numbers for the freezer section is higher.

How many times do you see teenagers looking in the fridge, texting and moaning about there is nothing to eat.
An energy saving tip for the RWC: take the beer out of the plastic wrap or box before putting in fridge  so you can just grab and go rather than struggling with the plastic with door open


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## Slim (9 Sep 2011)

hastalavista said:


> elec kettle 2000w for 5 minutes: 66 watts
> versus an old fridge freezer which could be on 24/7 at 250-275w. 6,000 watts
> 
> An energy saving tip for the RWC:


 
Yes, that is frightening, especially as the freezer section does not close properly anymore and ices up considerably. will think about disposal.

BTW, what is an RWC?

Slim


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## hastalavista (9 Sep 2011)

Slim said:


> Yes, that is frightening, especially as the freezer section does not close properly anymore and ices up considerably. will think about disposal.
> 
> BTW, what is an RWC?
> 
> Slim



Rugby World Cup: sorry


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## Slim (9 Sep 2011)

hastalavista said:


> Rugby World Cup: sorry


 
 will keep it for a couple more weeks methinks!!


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## choccy (9 Sep 2011)

even with freezer your bill is still very very high. 
If I was you i'd be beating down the door of the management committee demanding to check out meter number against one on the bill. also take a meter reading yourself today and take another reading yourself a week later- you need to start gathering hard facts as its not even cold yet- what happens when you need the heating on !

Also check with your neighbours in the apartment block- what are their bills like ?


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## SparkRite (9 Sep 2011)

hastalavista said:


> elec kettle 2000w for 5 minutes: 66 watts
> versus an old fridge freezer which could be on 24/7  at 250-275w. 6,000 watts



This is meaningless, and doesn't make sense.

A 2KW kettle uses (generally) 2KW's of power continuously from the moment it is switched on until its turned off, nothing more, nothing less. However what you are charged for is amount of energy used per hour ie. KiloWatt hours (KWh). Known as "units"

So a 2Kw kettle on for five minutes will use 0.166666 of a unit.

(IE. 2Kw for one hour equals 2 units........2Kw for 5 minutes, 1/12 of an hour will use >> 2 divided by 12 = 0.166666 of a unit)

As for the reference to the freezer using 6,000 W.......I won't even go there.......
There are too many variables to work it out properly without more info.


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## angela59 (9 Sep 2011)

That bill sounds very excessive for an apartment.  I have a detached rural house - rural rates are higher, we have our own well so to run pump is expensive together with external lights etc - but my most recent bill in the summer was E211 for two months - in the winter months E250 for two months - and I am frugal with the use of electricity - I have day and night meter.  Read your meter yourself and question this.  The only other alternative is getting one of those energy consumption readers - I got one from Argos and plug it in to various appliances.

Angela59


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## Baracuda (9 Sep 2011)

Our bill is about 140 per month. I had thought that the meter was wrong and had considered getting the ESB to check it. I am after using the ESB appliance and lighting meter calculator and now I see where we're goin wrong...immersion... So the age old debate continues, Is it actually cheaper to leave the thing on constant or turn it on or off as needed?


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## hastalavista (9 Sep 2011)

let me try and explain my earlier email

There was an error in my earlier email when I left out a 1


the math should have been ( 2000 by 5 mins )/60 to give a consumption of 166 watts and not 66

Similarly the fridge freezer is using 250 watts an hour  or 6000 watts in 24 hours.

The point I was trying to make was that while people rightly focus on the high power consuming items, there are appliances such as old fridge freezer which cost a lot to run..

The bill is made up by the wattage of the unit by the duration it is on for.


A standard electric kettle is normally rated at 2kW or 2000w which means that when switched on it draws 2000w [2000 watts] or 2kW [ two kilowatts]

If it is on for an hour then the power consumed is 2kW for the hour or 2kWh [ two kilowatt hours] [ 2kW X 1 hr ]

Electricity is priced in terms of kWh and  I am currently paying  24 cent per kWh

That means that having the kettle on for an hour will cost 48 cent  [2kWh by 20c ]

However typically the kettle will only be on say for 5 minutes at a time so it will cost 4 cent [48 *5/12 ] a shot or 2.44 euro every 2 months if used once a day.

In addition I have an old fridge freezer which draws 250w and is on pretty much all the time as the door seals are perished.

This means that it uses 250w an hour or 0.25 kWh  so in 4 hours it uses 1kW. [4 by 0.25 ]

This means in 24 hours it uses 6 kWh [ 0.25 by 24 ] costing 144 cent a day  or 87 euro every 2 months..


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## SparkRite (10 Sep 2011)

See below


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## SparkRite (10 Sep 2011)

hastalavista said:


> the math should have been ( 2000 by 5 mins )/60 to give a consumption of 166 watts and not 66
> 
> Similarly the fridge freezer is using 250 watts an hour  or 6000 watts in 24 hours.
> 
> .



Dear God!!

What a load of rubbish!!!

Hastalavista did you never hear of the old adage " A little knowledge is a dangerous thing"?


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