Big Electricity Bill

Just looking at our bill, I notice that out daily average has nearly doubled from what we were using at our last house.

The main differences are that we use pumps for water and we have an on site sewerage system, which uses three pumps. I can't for the life of me see how this could nearly double the bill, so although that's a contributing factor, I expect there is something else (and I haven't ruled out an error with the meter yet).

Any ideas on how I can work out where it's all going? It's easy enough to calculate lights and appliances etc., but then we are using the same appliances and our habits haven't really changed.

Does anyone know of a meter that you can put inline with something to see how much it is drawing over a period of time? That would be handy. Then I could monitor one of the pumps and see how much power it uses.

We have one of the new digital metres and it has 4 'virtual' meters. One is for off peak but the other three are charged at the standard rate. They tell me that they meter usage at different tariffs for people on a sliding scale. I asked Country Energy if it's possible for these meters to be incorrectly set up so that they meter incorrectly and she couldn't rule it out. Seems unlikely but you never know.

Our neighbours have a very similar setup to us and there bill is about 2/3 what ours is...

I have seen a meter that you can plug inline with appliances and it will tell you exactly what the power usage of that item is, either instantaneous or accumulated over a set time. Sorry but I have no idea where you would get one from or how much.

I could be wrong, but one of the electronics magazines did a project on this. I believe Jaycar and/or Dick Smith sell the kit. I records Kw/h over time.

On the subject of your septic system, our Septech uses 2 pumps, 1 for aeration and 1 for pump-out. The aeration cycle can be adjusted on the controller and was originally set to the default of 60% duty cycle. The service guy thought his was too high for a household of only 2 people and adjusted it down to 40%. We did notice a decrease in our usage after this. These are fairly beefy pumps and whether they run 15 hours/day or 9.5 hours makes a difference over time.

Your water pumps shouldn't really contribute all that much, unless you take very long showers and have the washing machine and dish washer going a lot.

Some of the electrical wholesalers have test equipment that can be rented.
Try Haymans, Ideal, CNW for a start.

Hi Darren

I've given up trying to find out how the electric supply company is ripping me off.

Our quarterly bill is/was around $300.00

There is only two of us in the house.

We have Solar hot water heating and have a slow combustion wood stove that heats the water and does the cooking in the winter and never goes out and only boost the hot water occasionally with electricity when it is cloudy in the summer.

We also have a slow combustion wood heater to heat the house in the winter and no air conditioning. We use a small electric fan heater occasionally in the morning in the bedroom when we first get up until dressed.

We have a septic system so that doesn't use any electricity.

We have never turned any of our appliances off standby. We have three small water pumps that only come on when a tap is turned on but only one pump at a time. Two computers that are on for about 15 hours a day.

The TV is on most of the day as my wife channel surfs for all the cooking shows that are on. I haven't figured out why because we eat the same meals all the time. It must be a female gene that does it.

The only other electricity used is in the shed.

The only way that I reduced my electricity bill was when a rival electricity company rang me up to switch over.

I was paying 17 odd cents a unit to Country Energy and the rival company offered me 14 odd cents a unit so I rang Country Energy and told them about the offer and they offered to me for 12 odd cents.

I asked them why you have to ring them up to getter a better deal and their reply was we have over 900,000 customers and we haven't got time to do that but we advertise it on our web site.

Who goes to an electricity company's website?

I suppose their too busy ringing up all the opposition customers.

This has saved me about $50.00 a quarter on my electricity bill.

I might talk to the sparky and see if he can get hold of one. Though having one of my own would be handy for all sorts of things.

It just can't imagine how the water pumps and septic system could account for such a huge increase. We're talking about 10 to 15 kwh per day, which is as much as my parents use for their whole house. All the utlities run off our meter (part of the deal with them).

Our off peak is down to about half what it was before. The system is smaller, newer, and much more efficient than the old one, but Country Energy reckon it seems too small an amount at 6 units per day. They thought the sparky might have wired up the top element and it was coming on all the time instead of just the off peak. But our heaters don't have a top element, so it can't be that.

I'm going to take a meter reading tonight and see what we used in the 24 hours since last night. Will be interesting to see how it compares to the daily average from the last bill. Has anyone ever heard of a meter being wrong? Bloody hard to prove I would imagine.

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This has saved me about $50.00 a quarter on my electricity bill.

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It would probably save me a couple of hundred! I should qualify for a bulk discount - currently paying 15.34 cents. I'll ask her about that when I ring tomorrow to report my findings with the meter.

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Our quarterly bill is/was around $300.00

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BTW my parent's bill for the last quarter was $184. Granted they're not paying for the pumps and the septic (or the shed) but they pay for their own hot water.

I enqiured with AGl a while ago on the meter, and they said (then) that it would cost $80 for someone to come out and test it, if it turned out the meter was faulty, I would get the $80 credited to my next bill

Clipsal have a wireless monitoring meter called a Centameter , it comes with one current clamp to put over a phase wire in the meter box, but you can buy extra, when I bought one it cost $230 for three phase about 3 years ago.It doesn't give you an aggregate total but you can see what is running and switching on and off.
http://www3.clipsal.com/centameter/centameter.cfm

Mark

Walk around your house and look for extention cords. Might have a cheeky neighbor. :roll:

You can get the Clipsal unit from AGL stores. Price isn't mentioned on their website but
another forum I'm in, indicated current price at about $190 for a 3 phase unit.

Thanks Mark, I'll check them out.

Don't have any neighbours Jake! Well, there's one across the road but I think we'd notice an extension cord. :wink:

Just did another meter reading and we have used 36 units since 7pm last night, which is on par with the average daily usage from the last bill. Should be down around 18-20. But the average since the last bill is up to 38 per day. I suspect we have something here that is sucking power big time. I'm now on a mission to turn things off until I find the culprit. If I can't find anything, it has to be the meter.

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Originally Posted by apricotripper

Walk around your house and look for extention cords. Might have a cheeky neighbor. :roll:

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Not you is it....:U:U:U:U:U:U

I would have to be a long chord though..

Al :q

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Originally Posted by silentC

Thanks Mark, I'll check them out.

Don't have any neighbours Jake! Well, there's one across the road but I think we'd notice an extension cord. :wink:

Just did another meter reading and we have used 36 units since 7pm last night, which is on par with the average daily usage from the last bill. Should be down around 18-20. But the average since the last bill is up to 38 per day. I suspect we have something here that is sucking power big time. I'm now on a mission to turn things off until I find the culprit. If I can't find anything, it has to be the meter.

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You must know what current the appliances/pumps/lights should be drawing when being used?

Cant you work it as to what you should be using??

Al :)

So Global Warming is all Darren's fault.

This thread has got me thinking about my household electron consumption!

My last bill (Summer!) is for $524.85 over 95 days. 26Kw per day!

I might have to do some serious shopping around.

Charges vary from 15.43 up to 19.42 cents per!

Silent - is it all a 240V system?

if so, (I'm tired, so check my maths):
to find x Watt hours:
x Watt hours = KWh x 1000
= 15,000 Wh
to convert to Amp hours, divide by voltage
15,000/240 = 62.5 Ah

or, to find amps per hour:
62.5 Ah used in a day, divide by 24 hours = 2 Amps per hour for 24 hours.

That is a big difference for a sudden increase in power consumption.... the same as 6 x 100W lightbulbs running for 24 hours.

What are the specs on the pumps that get used the most?

Again, better the check the maths.... I'm really tired.

If there are inverters in the system... you are on your own as I'm running a mile! :rolleyes:

Both Jaycar Electroincs and Dick Smith sell a clamp ammeter which will help you figure out what's guzzling your power. About $130. Just clamp it around the power cord and see how many amps things draw. You may be amazed to see how much power appliances in 'standby' mode consume.

Clinton, yes it's all 240v. I'm seriously considering switching some of it over to solar. Some of the pumps could run on solar for instance.

I've switched off a few things, like the fridge in the shed for example, then I'll do another reading tomorrow night to see what if any change there is.

I was adding a few things up out of interest. For example, we have 15 12v halogen downlights in our main living area. They are on separate switches, so not all on at once and not all the time. But if they were, that's 15 x 0.06 kwh, which is 0.9 kilowatts per hour that they are on. If they were on for 2 hours, that would cost 27 cents per day to run. That's about 19% of the cost of running our house per day, if I have the maths right.

Master Splinter, thanks I'll check them out.

whats the Watt rating of the halogens?

Don't know really ..... I've been in a conversation with a plumber, about hot water systems........he was saying to ensure that the systems temp isn't set too high, or you'll get a high energy bill. I didn't take much notice at the time. and probably not your problem eh.

But, I'd definetly work it out soon Silent. Electricity consumption is monitored by authorities eh....... Hate to see your place raided one day by some kind of swat team with big guns.........

wouldn't be too pleasent being pinned to the ground and yelled at by a big copper......uno , ' Where's the stuff SILENT !..... Where you grow that mean weed ! '


:C :C .... ' I'm no deeeeealller ' (sniff) .... 'its just me hot water systemmmm set too high ' (sniff) :U :roll:

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Originally Posted by Clinton1

whats the Watt rating of the halogens?

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I assumed 60 watt globes. I think the way you work it out in units as charged by the electricity supplier is 60 / 1000 = 0.06kwh per globe per hour.

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Where you grow that mean weed !

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Yeah, plenty of that goes on around here, although most people just go out in to dem dere hills and grow it.

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Originally Posted by Barry_White

Our quarterly bill is/was around $300.00

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Cripes, Bazza! I wish MY electric bill was $300 a quarter! :(

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Originally Posted by Honorary Bloke

Cripes, Bazza! I wish MY electric bill was $300 a quarter! :(

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Well Bob I do have a pretty small footprint on the planet. I use solar, I use my own water, I try to suck as little electricity out of the National Grid that I can, I grow my own vegetables. The only bad thing I do is burn firewood but I'm not polluting any neighbours, my nearest neighbour is a mile away.

Its the beer fridge.
You keep opening the door too often.:doh:

Check the fridge seals, particularly at the bottom.

Thing is, it's the same beer fridge we had at the old house...

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Originally Posted by silentC

Does anyone know of a meter that you can put inline with something to see how much it is drawing over a period of time? That would be handy. Then I could monitor one of the pumps and see how much power it uses.

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Hi silentC
Have a look at this from Jaycar Electronics.
MS-6115 Mains Power Meter
Plug it into a power point then plug the appliance into it.
Enter your tariff and it will tell you how much it's costing you to run.
Also displays instantaneous voltage and current being drawn as well as peak values. Battery backed up so data not lost during blackout or moving to another point.
All for the princely sum of $40.
www.jaycar.com.au

PS for comparison, our electricity bill for the Summer months was $356 (after $30 pensioner rebate)
but that included running a 5 1/4 HP air con for up to 12 hours most days, a computer for up to 10 hours, television for 12 hours, numerous devices in standby. We use gas for cooking and hot water.

Thanks Rob, that's exactly what I'm after. Unfortunately they're out of stock :( I'll contact them and find out what the back order wait is like.

Yes, I used to get bills like that. We don't have an air conditioner. That's how I know something is wrong. According to the meter, we used 20 units between 7pm last night and 10am this morning, during more than half of which we were asleep! It's not anything we are doing, I'm sure of it. Either something is eating it up, or the meter is faulty.

Two months away apparently. New product expected last year. Don't know why they put it up on the site when they don't have any to sell :((

What about turning every thing off in turn while checking the meter to see if the disk is spinning.

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Originally Posted by DavidG

Its the beer fridge.
You keep opening the door too often.:doh:

Check the fridge seals, particularly at the bottom.

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That's must be why mine is nearly a grand per quarter:doh:

There is no disk!

The meters they install now are digital. They click over every time another kwh is used. I've been monitoring it now every hour to see what happens. We went out to lunch, leaving nothing on. No water being used (hence no pumps, no septic system load), no lights no TV. We still used 2 kwh in a little over an hour. If it went at that rate all day, we would be up to 48kwh for the 24 hour period, which is more than 10kwh over our current average, so obviously 2kwh in an hour is up above the average for the day.

Someone just suggested to me there could be a 'leak' in one of the underground cables. Does this sound likely? I would have thought this would trip the earth leakage, but then if the problem is on the grid side of the meter board, would it?

Just because you went out to lunch doesn't mean the septic system stops working, those pumps get automatically switched on and off by the septic system controller. Likewise your fridge(s) and freezer(s) would still have been going. Granted it would be hard to see that lot chewing up 2Kw in an hour.

If it was the septic pumps etc. I would expect to see peaks (they only come on periodically). Instead, I'm seeing a fairly constant usage of 1.5kw per hour. It's almost predictable. 10:15 to 11:15 - 2 units, 11:15 to 12:15 - 1 unit, 12:15 to 1:15 - 2 units, 1:15 to 2:15 - 1 unit etc. If it proceeds at that rate, we get to 36 units in 24 hours, which is what I recorded last night. These meters only tick over every 1 kwh, so it's hard to tell if I have a 1kw peak every other hour, or a steady 1.5kw per hour.

Some things are using up power at a constant rate and others are causing little peaks that get absorbed in the 'granularity' of the meter. I think the only way I'll get to the bottom of it is to switch things off one by one, as suggested by Bob, and monitor. I've already started doing that by turning off the beer fridge and a couple of other things over night - with no noticeable affect so far.

My head hurts...

If it is a dual occupancy there may be a cross over in the wiring and your'e suppling some of their power.

Mark

This is a possibility that has crossed my mind. I guess I can prove that by flicking my main switch and then checking all the points etc. in their place. However I would be very surprised if that has happened by mistake, because the guy we have used knows his stuff. He is a good mate of the old man's though, so it's possible they made a deal. :)

Silent,
this is a reasonably common complaint/concern of electricity distribution customers. So much so, that in Qld, they have setup a first point of call website for people to review - called the energy institute....

http://www.energyinstitute.com.au/en...gy-report.aspx

Follow this link and let me know how you go, I may be able to step you through working a few things out.....:)

Country Energy has something similar. I went through and did it yesterday and according to it, our bill should be about 2/3 what the last one was. I'll go through and do that one too and see what comes up.

The thing I'm trying to make clear though is that our habits haven't really changed. Our hot water is actually more efficient, so our Off Peak has nearly been cut in half. It's the standard rate that has increased. The things that I can see as being contributors to the increase are:

12v Halogen downlights - supposedly use less energy than an incandescant bulb but we have heaps more of them

Water pumps - all our water is pumped from the tank to the house at mains pressure. The pumps come on every time a tap is turned on and there is no doubt a surge of power required to start them each time

Septic system - has an air pump that is on a timer and a water pump on a float switch which comes on when the pump out drum is full - may switch on once a day in normal use or several times on washing days.

Recycled water for toilet/irrigation - has an air pump which comes on for 2 hours per day, plus an irrigation pump which is on a float switch. May switch on once a day, or several times on washing days.

A small upright freezer which is new to us. Otherwise we have always run two fridges, one in the kitchen and a beer fridge.

Otherwise, things like TV, stereo, PC, Playstation etc. are on and off at various times as always. We don't switch off at the wall.

What I'm looking for is something that has added about 15kwh per day to our electricity usage. Something that we didn't have before. I'm buggered if I can work out what it is.

Thanks for the link, I'll check it out.

15Kwh per day = 600 or so watts per hour.

???? Solar hot water heaters have an element about that size to prevent frost damage. Stuck on ?????????????????