Why has my electricity bill suddenly jumped?
Question:After checking my estimated meter reading with the actual meter reading, I noticed it was much higher than the estimate. After contacting the supplier, they told me this would bring the bill to £189 for a quarter - I normally pay about £55!! What could cause such an increase in the amount of electricity used? I have a new PC but it is only used for about 1-2 hours every other day so I'm sure it can't be that (and I always switch it off). Any thoughts on what it could be? Could an appliance be faulty without me realising? How do I identify what is causing it and will I have to pay if it isn't my fault?
Answers:
Any electrical appliance will make your meter spin faster and raise your bill. Dont use so many hi-fi's.
How long have they been estimating? It could just be a slight variance with each reading that added up over time to the discrepancy you found.
did you perhaps get a brand new plasma tv?
It's normal (at least here in the US) for your electric bill to go up during the summer. With the warmer weather, the use of air conditioning goes up. Not sure if it's the same where you are (I'm assuming you're in England, as you are talking about pounds as your currency).
electricity prices have gone up loads per unit, so that combined with the wrong estimate could easily result in £189 for a quarter.
My bill is £149 for a quarter in a 2 bed flat based on accurate meter reading.
Electricity will find a path through dampness, and go undetected, also carbon dust permeated over live terminals, that become wet, will lower resistance and provide a power drain that adds up. Insulation on the water heater that gets wet, will transfer heat away from the tank shell, causing it to cycle more.
I would dispute this huge jump in your consumption. If the bill is an estimate, and to check this, look at the bill. If it has the letter 'E' before the numbers then it is an estimate bill.
It never fails to amaze me that any variance in ones bills are always in favour of the supplier. Do you think they would write to you and say we have been overcharging you?.
To check your meter is running correctly, switch off the consummer unit, the meter should stop and not move. If it does, it is faulty.
Also go back over your old bills to make sure you have not been underpaying. The supplier may have been and read your meter after a year and found a discrepancy.
You can ask the supplier to come and check the meter or failing all this contact www.ofgem.gov.uk
I suspect that it is a mistake on behalf of the supplier, your computer will not make any noticeable difference to your bill.
Are you with Powergen? Same thing happened to me although my meter was read every quarter and I ended up paying £150 per month for gas and electric due to huge price increase so changed back to leading competitior British Gas.
This is probably a catch up bill. You may have been getting estimated bills based on a lower daily average of usage as opposed to what you were actually using, and it has caught up with you now. If you ring your supplier and ask why there is a jump, they will be able to tell straight away whether it was a catch up bill or whether it was a genuine increase in usage. If it is the latter, then ask to go through a consumption check list with them so they can calculate what your meter should be using per day (1 unit of electricity = 1KW or 1000W). For example, if you have a washing machine which has a 1.7KW motor and you use it once a day, then that will add 1.7 units per day on to your average.
They will ask you to take meter readings over a 7 day period to see how your usage is fluctuating day-to-day and if they feel that there is a problem (meters very, very, very rarely go wrong) then they will either do a meter accuracy test or install a test meter which goes next to the one you have, and the usage registered is compared over a few weeks/months.
The new PC will show hardly anything on your bill. If in doubt, think of every single appliance you have at home, including light bulbs, electrical heaters, microwaves etc. etc. and find out their power consumption (what you have used during the day, and how long they were used). My microwave is 700w (per hour) for example and my light bulbs are 40w (per hour). It is relatively easy to work out for yourself whether there is a problem with your meter.
1 unit of electricity = 1KW = 1000W. If your daily average is 10 units per day, then that means 10 kilowats of energy is flowing through your meter each day.
Hope you get it resolved soon.
Just out of courosity,,,have you had any work done to your breaker panel?
The electircal COMPANYS charge On KILOWATT HOURS
if you have an unbalanced load on One leg, the power company will charge you the leg that is dishing out the higer wattage,,,,get and amp probe and read both hots and the neutral and verify everythings,,,,check that ll numbers are as equal as possible,,,this will save you some cash...
good luck, my friends
It could be a combination of all the things others have said but there was one thing that I did not see on the answers. In some states here in the US, the electric company is allowed to offset their costs of providing power during the summer but raising their rates for the summer months. Air conditioning requires electricity and the costs of heating is not entirely an electric issue. You can heat via electric, oil, gas, etc but air is only electric. Also, do bear in mind that a computers and all the peripherals that go with them are famously electric eating machines. check your bill again next billing period and also look around the outside of your place and make sure no one is plugged into your outlets syphoning your power. I've never seen that myself but I have heard about it happening.
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