Cause of massive night time usage?

[Dammo6]

HI Guys,

Hopefully someone here might be able to offer a plausible answer to my question because my electricity provider certainly can't.

I had a smart meter installed last March. Analysis of the data shows that we are using, on average, virtually the same number of units between 00:00 and 08:00 are we are between 16:00 and 24:00. The 8-hour period in between is roughly half.

The meter appears to be fine. I turn off the supply and checked the reading before and after a 40 minute period. It was exactly the same.

The company suggests that it is a faulty appliance but I've tried to explain that there is no appliance that is only on during the night that wouldn't also be on in the evening. So surely all the other appliances that would be on in the evening should see a significantly greater reading in total? I hope this is clear.

Can anyone offer an explanation? Is there something glaring obvious that I'm missing?

Thanks in advance

 

[James]

Sounds like a thermal storage electric boiler.
how is the house heated?

 

[littlespark]

Any storage heaters? Off peak immersion water heater?

They can take as much electricity overnight as a normal days usage, but at a lesser rate price

 

[DefyG]

Try turning off circuits individually to see when the usage falls.

 

[James]

A picture of the distribution boards and or boiler / radiator would be helpful

 

[Dammo6]

Thanks for all the replies. I thought I’d answered last night but I wasn’t sign in on the other device .
We have ofch and two solid fuel stoves heating the house. No storage heaters.
I’ve started checking individual circuits but no joy so far.

 

[baldelectrician]

You can have your own meter installed after their meter.
You can get a meter for around £50 and have a compotent electrician install it

 

[Dammo6]

Does this sound like a meter issue? Nobody I've spoken to has ever come across a similar situation. I'd get as much satisfaction from the company 'customer service' dept as I would if I asked them to cut my hair over the phone.

 

[baldelectrician]

Does this sound like a meter issue? Nobody I've spoken to has ever come across a similar situation. I'd get as much satisfaction from the company 'customer service' dept as I would if I asked them to cut my hair over the phone.

Getting this done will rule out or rule in their meter

 

[snowhead]

How does the overall total of units used compare from the old meter to the "Smart" Meter?

 

[Vortigern]

The only appliance is heating that might go up at night but as you say heating is not electric. Maybe radiator pump? What temperature is your thermostat set to at night? Pics please

 

[MJPD29]

It doesn't sound like a meter issue if it is the same thing every day at the same time, it's almost certainly something in your property

 

[James]

any pictures of the installation, or screenshots of the data that seems incorrect?

 

[brianmoooore]

There's another thread on here at the moment, concerning a faulty meter that's racking up units on it's own.

 

[Julie.]

It's just a matter of working through it logically.

Mainswitch off overnight - ensure meter reading doesn't increase.

Mainswitch on, but all circuits off overnight - ensure meter reading doesn't increase.

Mainswitch on, but all circuits other than one (say the cooker) off overnight - ensure meter reading doesn't increase.

Mainswitch on, but all circuits other than a different one (say the downstairs sockets) off overnight - ensure meter reading doesn't increase.

.... sleep - repeat....

Until you find one circuit which does increase significantly (most will have a small load such as unused chargers etc).

Once you find out which circuit has the load, repeat the same methodology on that circuit.

It's a long drawn out process, but if you post a list of the circuits you have, we could take a (un)educated guess.

Often unlabelled radial circuits, ring finals etc

 

[SJD]

What sort of a house is this? Detached, terraced, flat in block, etc?

I only ask because the night time use looks to be coming from something that only powers up with substantial usage overnight, and that tends to be off-peak stuff like storage heaters and off-peak immersions. And e.g. if an older terrace, it is not impossible someone has connected them to one of your circuits e.g. via a party wall.

 

[davesparks]

How many units are being used in each time period?

 

[DefyG]

I'd get as much satisfaction from the company 'customer service' dept as I would if I asked them to cut my hair over the phone.

We too would like to get some satisfaction knowing that the posts (replies) made to try and help the OP are acknowledged and answered.

 

[davesparks]

Analysis of the data shows that we are using, on average, virtually the same number of units between 00:00 and 08:00 are we are between 16:00 and 24:00. The 8-hour period in between is roughly half.

Can anyone offer an explanation? Is there something glaring obvious that I'm missing?

How many units are we actually talking about here?

What appliances are you using during those time periods?

If you're getting up and going to work or whatever before 8am then, depending on your routine, it's entirely possible that you may be using as much electricity between 0:00 and 08:00 as you are between 16:00 and 0:00

Personally my highest usage in a day is usually in the hour or so after I get up. I'll boil the kettle a couple of times, put the washing machine on and maybe the dishwasher before going out to work.

 

[freddo]

Personally my highest usage in a day is usually in the hour or so after I get up. I'll boil the kettle a couple of times, put the washing machine on and maybe the dishwasher before going out to work.

Bloody hell I wish I was that organised!