# ESB    €72 in 2.5 wks: excessive? and how to manage/reduce electricity bills



## Dee101 (22 Mar 2008)

Hi guys

Sorry to start another thread on this topic. I have read through some of the other threads but would really appreciate some help with some  questions specific to myself.

Myself and my boyfriend have just moved into a one bed apartment recently and I just got an ESB bill the other day for €72 - this was only billing for the past 2 and half weeks!. 

I think this is excessive to say the least!. At this rate our bill for two months would be working out at around €280!

I queried it with the ESB to see if they had given an estimation for our first bill and they said no, that it was a reading. 

The girl I spoke to in ESB advised me to have our meter checked by our landlord to make sure its working which I am going to do but in the meantime I am wondering if we are going wrong anywhere in relation to usage and would appreciate any help you can offer in this regard:

1. We have a storage heater for heating water which seem to be common to apartments but I have never used one before and don't know if we are getting the best use out of it - we have this timed to come on from 6 - 8 in the evening to ensure we have hot water when we need it. Is this too much or should we be setting at a different time of the evening when usage is cheaper?.

2. Can someone explain to me what the nightsaver option is and is it worth having?.

3. I am trying to think of other items which could be running up the bill. Any advice on what to watch out for so we can be careful in future?. I have a laptop and the battery is not great on it which means I almost constantly have it plugged in when I use it  - which would be about 2 hours every evening - I have a feeling this could be contributing to the high ESB bill, am I right?.

We don't use the electric heaters that often as the apartment is warm anyway- maybe 2 hours a week tops - just to dry clothes

Sorry for all the questions guys, but I really hope someone can help. This is our first time living out of home so we're not used to all this bills malarky


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## Hoagy (22 Mar 2008)

*Re: Another ESB Complaint!!*

Firstly it sounds like you're paying off some units that were on the meter before you moved in.

Secondly you'll need to tell us what sort of heaters you have.

Don't worry about the laptop, consumption is tiny.  You can leave it plugged in all the time.


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## Sue Ellen (23 Mar 2008)

*Re: Another ESB Complaint!!*

You may find something useful  here [broken link removed]


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## Calico (23 Mar 2008)

*Re: Another ESB Complaint!!*

It doesn't sound that high to me but the my esb bills are astronomical from whatever I'm using !


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## sandrat (23 Mar 2008)

*Re: Another ESB Complaint!!*

our last esb bill was 84 euro for 2 months and we live in a 3 bedroom house. Granted our heating is gas but last gas bill was also around 80 euro. We have energy saving lightbulbs in every room and A applicances all over the house. Maybe there is an immersion in the hotpress that has been left on to heat the water aswell as the storage heater heating the water?


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## Marianne S (23 Mar 2008)

*Re: Another ESB Complaint!!*

Re the nightsaver rate: Check the ESB box, if you have 2 meters marked "day" and "night" then you get half price units at night time. If you don't have it it has to be installed and it's not cheap, I wouldn't bother looking into it if you're only renting although you could mention it to the landlord.

The night rate kicks in at different times during the winter and summer, I think it's around 11 o'clock. This means you should put your dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer on at night because the night time units are Half Price. You should also set your immersion to come on in the morning instead, we have ours set for an hour in the morning from 6-7, sometimes we turn on the boost in the evening for about 15 mins if we've a lot of washing up to do.

If you have the night meter you probably have storage heaters as radiators, these heat up at night time (using cheaper electricity units) and store the heat in the heater and it comes out gradually during the day (that's the theory anyway, usually it all comes out by the afternoon!). There should be 2 switches on the wall beside the heater, one is for the storage heating, the other is for the bost where the heat comes out of a fan at the bottom. Is it possible that the apt is always warm becasue the storage heating is on? Feel the top of the heaters, if they are warm/hot then the storage is on, you can turn it off at the wall.

Sorry my message is a bit garbled, hope it helps you a bit. Our last bill was 100 euro for dec-feb with pretty heavy usage, we have a 2 bed apt


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## Dee101 (24 Mar 2008)

*Re: Another ESB Complaint!!*

Thanks everyone for your replies. 

And for the person who said that its not that expensive! Maybe I am naive but i would think €72 for 2 and a half weeks is excessive. And especially when we don't even use the heaters!.

I am going to get the landlord to check the meter to see if we have the nightsaver meter installed and if so that should make things easier. In the meantime we are just watching our usage. 

The other funny thing that i noticed from our bill was that "Day units" accounted for nearly €50 of the bill and the "night units" were only €7.50. We are not even there during the day so surely it should be the other way around??. To me this would spell something wrong with the meter, as in it could be calculating night units as day units and vice versa.


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## mercman (24 Mar 2008)

*Re: Another ESB Complaint!!*

dee, are you in a new build property or an already built and did you purchase or are you renting. The easiest way to check if there is a problem, one of you go to where the meter is and find the correct meter. Then the other one of the two of you turn everything off in the property, fridge tv etc. then if the meter stops going around then you know the problem is in your apartment. If it continues moving then you know there is a problem. Might have to do for a couple of days. Many years ago my wife (then girlfriend) rented an apartment in Rathmines and the landlord was a complete hook, where he had all the common area lighting and sockets stuck into my meter.


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## Marianne S (24 Mar 2008)

*Re: Another ESB Complaint!!*

If it distinguishes day and night units on your ESB bill then you do have the nightsaver meter. Our day units often account for more than our night but that's becasue they cost 14c a unit rather than 7c for the night rate and remember the night rate doesn't kick in until 11pm so your dinner, ironing, tv, lighting until 11pm is all on the more expensive day rate.

*From [broken link removed]*
*How does NightSaver work?* 
As a NightSaver customer you pay a higher standing charge every two months on your electricity account. In return you get the benefit of cheaper electricity (less-than-half the daytime rate) between the hours of 11 p.m. and 8 a.m. (Wintertime) and between midnight and 9 a.m. (Summertime). 

For new NightSaver customers there is no installation charge for changing your existing electricity meter to the special NightSaver meter. To make savings with NightSaver compared to the 24-hour tariff, transfer at least 3* units of electricity per day to NightSaver hours.

_*based on usage of 5,000 units of electricity per year or 14 units per day_
Using electricity for water heating is the easiest way to transfer usage to night hours. Heating a full immersion tank of water will use about 7 units of electricity. While water heating is the principal load to make savings with NightSaver there are automatic savings for appliances that are continuously running such as the fridge (0.25 units at night aprox.), chest freezer (0.5 units at night aprox. ) and all-night lights. And, there is additional scope for saving by using your washing machine (1 unit/wash aprox. ), tumble dryer (2.5 units per load aprox.) and dishwasher (1 unit per wash aprox.) during NightSaver hours. If it is convenient you should validate potential savings by taking meter readings for a week.


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## Dee101 (24 Mar 2008)

*Re: Another ESB Complaint!!*

Yeah mercman this is what the ESB advised us to do with the meter. I am just gonna have the landlord check it as I understand that the meters for the entire apt block are held in one room and I don't have access to it and i wouldn't have the first clue about finding our one out of them all. We are renting the apartment and its about 5 years old I think.


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## mercman (24 Mar 2008)

*Re: Another ESB Complaint!!*

dee. Did you ever think that if you didn't check the meter reading on moving in, it might have been wrong. When you go to see the meter check the readings from the date of the Bill to when you read it. Multiply out the cost from the units and then you will know if there is anything wrong. I have this feeling that the opening reading on the bill may have been incorrect. Let me know howq you get on.


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## Dee101 (25 Mar 2008)

*Re: ESB    €72 in 2.5 wks: excessive? and how to manage/reduce electricity bills*

Thanks Marianne S your post re the nightsaver etc is very helpful - I understand it better now and have changed my timer on the water heater so its heating water at the cheaper rate.

Thanks to you too Mercman your very helpful. Will let you know how I get on with the meter!


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## foxylady (26 Mar 2008)

*Re: Another ESB Complaint!!*



sandrat said:


> our last esb bill was 84 euro for 2 months and we live in a 3 bedroom house. Granted our heating is gas but last gas bill was also around 80 euro. We have energy saving lightbulbs in every room and A applicances all over the house. Maybe there is an immersion in the hotpress that has been left on to heat the water aswell as the storage heater heating the water?


 

80 for gas seems very cheap. we just moved into 3 bed house and got bill for 3wks and it was 56


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## becky (27 Mar 2008)

I agree €80 for gas is cheap - ours is always €110 and its not used much.  

€72 for 2 and half weeks in an awful lot - our bill is nromally €105 for the 2 months.


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## sandrat (28 Mar 2008)

*Re: ESB    €72 in 2.5 wks: excessive? and how to manage/reduce electricity bills*

we wear jumpers instead of turning on the heat!


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## mik_da_man (28 Mar 2008)

*Re: ESB    €72 in 2.5 wks: excessive? and how to manage/reduce electricity bills*

I live in a 2 bed Apt and i think €80 is not cheap @ all 
My bills were around €70 for two bills in a row that were estimated.
We got a reading for the most recent one and Bord Gais owe me €19 

They didn't stick it back in my account though 

As for the charge did you not get a record of the Meter reading when you moved in?
I have always got that and phoned with it to register the ESB in my name, if this corrospondes to what is on the bill then you must be using a lot of leccy

Mik


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