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edgood
Rank 2
October 23, 2022
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Annual electric consumption of 12,000 kWh for only 2 people- What's wrong?

  • October 23, 2022
  • 34 replies
  • 2692 views

I have an OWL electricity monitor which gives readings close to my smart meter, but throughout every night (and though the day) there is a spike in consumption about every 30 mins amounting to about 2 kw.

 

I have tried turning off the hot water system as that seemed like a likely cause.

 

Our heating is gas powered underfloor and the pump doesn't come on at night at the temperature setting we have set.

 

This is a vital issue as even when we are away on holiday and the heating is on frost setting only, we still use 15 - 17 kWh per day!! When we are in the house is comes to between 35 and 40 kwh for an annual total of almost 12,000 kWh for electricity only.  

 

There are only two of us in the house, which is heavily insulated and four years old.

 

We have only normal and up-to-date appliances - washer, tumble dryer, kitchen ovens, etc. What on earth can be causing this level of consumption?

    Best answer by Jeffus

    Updated on 16/09/25 by Chris_OVO:

    Can you get a more detailed chart from the OWL? That shows consumption over a few hours rather than several days. Then we can see how long the spikes last.

     

    Also, 900w is a really high base load. Ours is 200-300w and we have two fridges, two freezers and a gecko to keep warm.

    900w would be 21.6kWh a day…

     

    That is extreme and would point to it potentially being nothing to do with the short spikes if it really is anything like that high. 

     

    I would try the meter creep test then by turning everything off at the consumer unit and seeing if the meter still ticks over.

     

    Then when you test each circuit as has been suggested , look out for anything that might have a high standby power due to an error or normal operation. 

     

    Do you have any pumps in your heating system that have been wired to run permanently by design or mistake? 

     

    Just as an example here are our 30min slots from a night. 

    34 replies

    Show previous replies
    Jeffus
    Rank 20
    Jeffus
    Rank 20
    October 29, 2022

    Making some progress! The spikes throughout the night and day are very short in duration and are caused by the Quooker hot tap maintaining the temperature of its insulated reservoir. I turned this off for two nights and the spikes disappeared, but the underlying usage is still around .9Kw to 1Kw throughout - so the major problem still exists and I’ll will investigate further.

    @edgood good to hear you are making progress.

    As you say the background usage is very high which indicates one or more things on continuously. 

    juliamc
    Rank 20
    juliamc
    Rank 20
    October 29, 2022

    Ooh - that sounds like a very extravagant gadget ! Bet it’s fab though...😎 

    P
    Rank 2
    Pollowick
    Rank 2
    October 29, 2022

     

    … but the underlying usage is still around .9Kw to 1Kw throughout - so the major problem still exists and I’ll will investigate further.

     

    That is still excessive in my opinion and you need to find out what it is.   I have a large house with remote garage and workshop.       Permanently running:    Intruder alarm with radio links to remote buildings,  a full wired and wireless network with radio data links to remote,  intelligent home lighting control panel, water softener,  TV aerial splitter,  mobile phone picocell, plus radios, phones,  mobile phone chargers, TVs, microwave, cookers, washing machine, dishwasher, PCs, printers   all on standby,  fridge/freezers (3) on but not chilling.      With no lights on,    all of that comes to under 300w.

    The intruder alarm - including smoke detectors &c uses 20w,  the computer network when idle around 60-80w,  lighting control maybe 30w …    So,  all of my other devices takes maybe 150w - and there is a lot of those.

     

    So,   where is your consumption going ?      You will have some fun investigating.

     

     

     

     

      nealmurphy
      Newcomer
      nealmurphy
      Newcomer
      October 29, 2022

      Good progress @edgood 

      Now let's try and get the baseload down to save you some money.

      Worth remembering that a baseload that is 500W higher than others could be costing around £4 extra per day, so getting on for £1500 extra per year.

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