# Electricity bill analysis



## Wexfordman (22 Oct 2012)

Hi,

We are with airtricity for our home electricity, and using one of those monthly saver plans, which are supposed to average out our electicity bills to a manageable amount.

Well, it certainly seems to have averaged it out, its now 189 euro a month, and has been since about last january!!! We thought it was because initially they had under-estimated our usage (we have been with them since 2009), but at this point it simply cant be....

Bearing in mind, we do not use immersion heater etc, our heating is oil and backboiler, so we would expect to be average or a bit above average with our usage (wife is home based and we have a busy house during the day after school etc).


Anyway, to my point, is there anyway I can get my bill analysed to see what is going on. Everytime I ring airtiricity i come away confused, and last time I went to move off the monthly saver plan it was going to cost me a few hundered euro as they reckoned we were in debit on the plan.


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## rgfuller (22 Oct 2012)

What you could do is add up all your appliances and appliance usage to get an idea of how much you should be paying - Electric Ireland have a good one, though I would scale up on some of the suggested wattage (e.g. their laptop wattage in use seems low).


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## mathepac (22 Oct 2012)

Have you taken actual meter readings and compared actual consumption with the saver bills you been getting?


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## STEINER (22 Oct 2012)

€189 per month seems huge to me. As per other posters, definitely check the meter readings.  My airtricity bi-monthly bill averages €90.


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## serotoninsid (22 Oct 2012)

mathepac said:


> Have you taken actual meter readings and compared actual consumption with the saver bills you been getting?


I'm with Airtricity - and have account settings to allow for both email and text reminder to submit meter readings. It's a two minute job - and is well worthwhile if you want to ensure that things are 99.9% accurate.  It also allows me to compare bills - as with accurate readings, they should be the same each time (I don't have anything that would seasonally adjust the usage - such as electric heating).  Checked my bills recently - and for the past 8-10 months, they are all working out at €120-125 for each bi-monthly bill.

I would question whether that 'saver plan' is necessary or in your best interests?


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## burmo (22 Oct 2012)

Definitely start taking a weekly reading and you'll quickly see what your actual consumption is.


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## Knuttell (23 Oct 2012)

Pretty poor calculator,the only thing I tried was lighting and CFL bulbs and cannot properly see results plus the add to list doesn't respond.
If they cant get the basics right then have little or no confidence in the results.


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## pjd104 (23 Oct 2012)

Hi

You could get a nightmeter installed. It's free to get 
it installed and the night units are half the price
Of the day units. 8 or 9 cent per unit as opposed to 17 or 18 cent by day. 

It costs a small bit extra on the standing charge 
But you would save a lot if you used it carefully. 

I think the night rate kicks in from 11pm to 8 am in 
Winter. 

Paul


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## mathepac (24 Oct 2012)

burmo said:


> Definitely start taking a weekly reading and you'll quickly see what your actual consumption is.





Knuttell said:


> Pretty poor calculator,the only thing I tried was lighting and CFL bulbs and cannot properly see results plus the add to list doesn't respond. ...



Here's one we prepared earlier. This little spreadsheet tracks electricity usage from meter readings. It's easy to use and is free - tech support contracts are also free,  , just post a question in the key-post thread.

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=168218&highlight=electricity

HTH


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## Leo (24 Oct 2012)

pjd104 said:


> You could get a nightmeter installed. It's free to get it installed and the night units are half the price Of the day units. 8 or 9 cent per unit as opposed to 17 or 18 cent by day.
> 
> It costs a small bit extra on the standing charge But you would save a lot if you used it carefully.


 
You need to be very careful of this approach. On the NighSaver tarriff, units used during the day are 7% more expensive than the normal day rate, so you'd need to do the calculations based on your usage patterns to see if it made sense. The Standing charge is also almost €50 more per year.


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