Why is my meter running so high?

[katiegray1211]

Hi,

This is my first post and was wondering if anyone could help
I moved into my 1 bed flat about 7 months ago - the flat has single glazed windows and all electric. Our electric heating is Thermaskirt - so the heating is in the skirting boards and our meters are digital and have Economy 7 so a day and night reading.

After not being shown where the meters were initially and asking other tenants we were told we could not submit a meter reading so the electricity bills we were paying until recently were estimates. At that point we were paying up to £180 which was far expensive for a one bed flat. However, we eventually submitted a meter reading and when we received our bill were told that we owed our electricity company £960 on top of what we had already paid.

After ringing the company we were with they told us to do some tests etc. When we have everything off the meter, obviously, does not go up however, when we have the heating on for 2 and a half hours the day rate goes up by 8 kw, we have also had the heating off and just an electric heater on and in 3 hours the day rate has has gone up by 10kw. Due to our meter being Economy 7 we tried the heating on overnight from 8pm-9am and the day rate had gone up by 16kw and the night time rate had gone up 28 kw. We have also considered that it could be our immersion heater (water) but after leaving this on solely for 4 hours the meter had barely increased.

Should the day rate meter be going up throughout the night as well as the night rate ? Is it possible that there is something wrong with our meter?

Any advice welcome, thank you!! - we have tried ringing the electricity company already.

 

[jc_150]

Hi,

I have been looking at Thermaskirt heating, and cannot find any power ratings from the manufacturer as there seems to be different types. To start at a ball- park figure Amazon were doing Thermaskirt kit which included 24 metres of it and had a power rating of 3.2 kW (3200 watts) ( a little more than an immersion heater rating of 3 kW) So wondering what length of Thermaskirt you have in total. The system also has thermostats so will not draw that amount all the time it is switched on as it will be switching in and out according to temperature. I can only estimate what you are using by assuming it was on all the time. From what you have said you had it on for 2.5 hrs during the day and it changed by 8 kW. So 8 divide by 2.5 = 3.2 kW per hour which is exactly what the Amazon system would have used if it was on all the time. You say that you have economy 7, and from what I understand this is usually a cheaper 7 hour period from say 11:30 pm to 6:30 am although this may change depending where you are. Therefore testing it from 8 pm to 9 am is going to incur both day time and night time charges. I would guess you are paying something like 18p per kW hour day rate and maybe 10p per kW hour night rate. ( this is a guess) The test you did with the immersion heater is not enough, as it could be part of the problem (working ok but not in your calculation) If the water was up to temperature and the immersion switched off by its thermostat then it would appear to be using nothing during the time you checked it, but it would add to you bill when it was heating probably during the time that you were not monitoring it. So lets look at worse- case scenario. You had a period of 13 hours when you did your tests. Say 8pm to 11:30 pm you were on day rate and 11:30pm to 6:30 am night rate and 6:30 am to 9 am day rate. So 6 hrs on day rate and 7 hrs on night rate. Total usage was 44 kW over 13 hrs which is 3.38 kwH. If the immersion heater was not part of the equation, then it looks like the full heating was on for the full 13 hours. There is a thermostat isn’t there and it is not on full up all the time?. You need to do more exhaustive tests. In my opinion when you test the heating again you must turn the immersion heater off completely from the wall switch so it is out of the equation, and when you are testing the immersion heater you must turn off the heating completely. You must ask the electric company what time the cheap tariff is active, and test the heating only during that time, and see what the meters read. Only the night rate should go up during this time. I could explain more but it would be writing war and peace, so read what I have said and do more conclusive tests and report back.