[Closed] Tracing individual energy use within your house

How big is your fridge?

It'll be something like that?

Use something like this

Plug in energy meter

I have an energy monitoring plug which sits between the main socket and a single device and tells me how much juice that device is using.

£15 or so from Amazon and then plug each suspect device into it (fridge, washing machine, dryer etc).

That said - £500 does seem extraordinarily high for nearly all domestic settings I can think of so a couple of things to rule out; 1/ A recent meter change? The end reading of the old meter or even the start reading of the new meter could be wrong (they do not always come starting at zero so if they have assumed 0 but it was actually 00200 for eg then you will have been billed for 200kW you have not used), 2/ a few estimated readings being a bit low and now an actual meter reading correcting the last few months usage, 3/ the most recent reading being incorrect, 4/ a faulty meter (does happen occasionally), 5/ someone tapping into your meter and running a cannabis farm next door.

Just for reference we are a 3 person household - 2 adults, 1 child. We have the large TV on lots, my work station on lots, a PS5 on lots, Mrs D drying her hair each day for a length of time I cannot even fathom, washing machine on at least once and sometimes twice a day, dishwasher on once a day, very large American style fridge/freeze and a plethora of snake tanks with heating and lighting. Our leccy usage is £120ish p/m in winter and a bit less in summer.

First off are you 100% sure that the meter readings, start and finish, are accurate? That would be my first thought. After that your pretty much need a smart meter and switch off. Items for me by one.

You haven’t accidentally switched on an electric immersion heater for the hot water tank have you?

Have you just bought a Tesla?

Have you actually used £500, or is it a direct debit increase based on an estimate?

Just checked the little Octopus Energy display screen and it reckons we have used £1,500 so far this year.

How can I find out where the power is going?

I haven't got one so I could be wrong, but isn't that what Smart Meters are for?

Are you on Octopus Go? If so the smart meter isnt that smart if you are charging an electric car overnight as it doesnt record it at the lower rate. You can see the lower rate if you check the bills but sometimes wake up with £7 usage from an overnight charge when it is in fact about £2

Your display should tell you what you are using instantaneously and also historically.

That's basically it's raison de'etre

I'd invest in a couple of decent smart plugs and take a peek at suspect devices (washing /drying, topup heating). I've an eve device in my office to trigger/monitor the oil filled rad. If you use the dedicated eve app it'll show usage trands for the device and even provide projected costings based on past usage.

Just a thought: you've not accidentally switched on an immersion heater in a cupboard?

Neighbours tapping your power for their skunk farm?

Surely you can work out what's plugged in.

I reckon only using electricity for heating could use so much - how do you heat the house?

Left the immersion on?

@dannybgoode - without wanting to derail the thread too much, but how on earth does a family of 3 need to run the 'washing machine on at least once and sometimes twice a day' ?

Not a dig/attack, i am just always curious as to how others live.

In clean clothes daily
With a clean dry fresh towel daily
Bedding washed weekly
Sports kits most days

without wanting to derail the thread too much, but how on earth does a family of 3

I’m not in charge of such things so only have a scant knowledge of such things however I do know a) a 9yo generates more dirty clothes than could possibly ever be imagined, b) Mrs D is a nurse and has to wash her uniforms as soon as she gets in from a shift, c) I’m pretty sure someone else sneaks their washing in with ours as well as I think the washing machine is on too much as well 😀

I pedict 10 pages of this next week when the fisry full month of new prices hits.
People are going to be stunned, as is wca, by the actual cost of fuel amd food.
Its only going to get worse as well, as long as the war in Ukraine continues.
Tjats why we should be throwing the kitchen sink aand everything else in that direction.

As for high wattage items. Washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwashers are up there. Then tv and computers, lower but on long time.

I did a 2 week meter read and octopus sent me a bill. £14 gas and £40 elec. I live alone. So £110pcm. That's being frugal too. Instantly changed my dd payment to £100 to pre empt the outcry and subsequently high demands from Octopus.

Not got a hot tub or oil filled radiator on ? Used the oven a lot or long showers (assuming elec shower).

I've been monitoring energy use and the hot tub is a killer - we now just leave the pump on and water at the lowest setting of 20c, only switch on when needed once a week. Saving over £100 a month. Also ditched using the dryer - clothing on airer in conservatory with a dehumidifier.

I've been doing weekly readings and chucking it into a spreadsheet. We've really cut down on Kwh. Worked out that using the hot tub one night a week costs about £4 to heat to 39c !

We got hammered last winter with both of us WFH, heating on, oil filled radiators on in conservatory and shed office. I moved into the conservatory this winter and had the heating on low (and put a jumper on). I'm about to move back out to the shed as the conservatory is too bright in the afternoons, but there will be no heating being used in the shed !!

Our variable electric is now just short of 27p per Kwh, up from 19p

We're a family of 5. If the washing machine wasn't a peak-STW-miele I reckon it would have walked out of the house in protest by now. I daredn't plug it in to a smart plug.

Indeed wca has a hot tub. Time for a solar array to heat that bad boy up.

I suspect my energy supplier will want to come out to check the meter as we've cut back so much ! 🙂

Hot tub was recently refilled and heated from 14 degrees to 38. Total energy consumption for the house during that period was £14 which was largely the tub I should imagine. I am using it 3 - 4 times a week so cheaper to keep it up to temp than reheating 1000 litres of water.

Sauna is about £2 for the time I am in there which even at 5 times a week would only be about £500 e year so well worth it for the pain relief it gives.

Electric car is on overnight timer so charges from midnight but the battery is so degraded that it only takes about 1 hour to fully charge.

I am aware we probably use more power than normal due in part to the above high consumptions but still not 4 times the average.

Will get a plug meter reader to check the fridges, washing machine, tumble dryer etc.

In clean clothes daily

Worn =/ dirty. You can wear most stuff stuff more than once before it needs washing.

With a clean dry fresh towel daily

Really? A new towel every day? I don't even do that in a hotel.

Nor do I, because its not necessary.
However there are many people who do actually only use a towel once then wash it.
Ditto clothes

That is why some people do 10 loads of washing a week

I’m sorry I’m having no sympathy for someone running a hot tub, sauna and electric car then complaining about their fuel bill, whilst other people are deciding how to afford to eat.

I do understand you want to check you’re being charged with honesty, but that’s a massive out of proportion first world problem IMO.

I’ve been monitoring energy use and the hot tub is a killer

Surely you must've known this when you bought it?

Ours is about £140/month with an electric car (although low ish mileage), two desktop PCs on a lot in the evening (kids). We re-use towels, re-wear trousers a lot, means we do about 3 loads of laundry a week (for four of us). I have enough sports kit to wash it all together once a week.

Overnight quiescent drain is about 120W, in the evenings it's 300W or so.

To the OP - are you using power tools a lot? If you are using a lot of tools, a vacuum or even a welder that would really push up your bill. I once ran a small fan heater for a day or so to dry out our caravan, made a significant impact on the bill and that was years ago before the current price shocks.

I have never actually complained about being charged for what I use. I know and appreciate that I am in a lucky* position to live my life.

I just asked for help on tracing what I think is over metering of energy use.

*Not sure if you are aware that my user name has led to me being registered disabled - or might be the other way around. The 'hot tub' is a hydrotherapy tub to allow me to exercise my leg in a controlled temperature with the extra support that the water provides. The sauna is run at a low temperature of around 50 degrees but I am in there for a longer period so that the heat of my body core is raised and all muscles are properly heated through to promote relaxation and reduce the pain in muscles and joints exacerbated by the poor posture when walking caused by the ankle. The electric car is a 2011 Nissan Leaf with approximately 35 mile range that was bought for about £3,000 if memory serves for all of the short journeys to the shops, train station etc that I would have previously walked or ridden. I am not looking for your sympathy but just pointing out that sometimes there is something more that joy behind the purchase of such 'toys'

I need to look into this a bit to (also Hot tub owner/user). Last time I did the calc is was costing about a £1 a day on average. This was pre recent prices rises so a fresh calc is due.

Any recommendations on the energy monitoring plugs? Is there an option which can export usage to a file? (e.g. csv)

I am aware we probably use more power than normal due in part to the above high consumptions but still not 4 times the average.

I don't have hot tub, sauna, electric car or any electric heating.
We're 'average' family of 4 in average 4 bed semi with all A+ rated appliances and 4 year old boiler, who do resort to tumble drier on too many occasions.

I'm now on a £220 a month to stave off the price rise, and expect by Christmas to be on £250-300 a month if predictions are correct.

It's the hot tub at 38c using the power. They are really expensive to run, add in the sauna too.

A hot tub is like having a 1kw kettle on 24/7. So 30p per hour, or £7.20 per day maximum (£223 a month). Assume heater is only on 50% of the time you are looking at £100 easy. We've just slashed the costs by about £3-£4 a day (checked with regular meter readings). Electric was at about £9 per day when hot tub was 'ticking over', it's now under £6 per day with the heat down at just 20c, then upped once a week.

Overnight quiescent drain

<John Peel>Later we've got a session from Overnight Quiescent Drain</John Peel>

Nor do I, because its not necessary.
However there are many people who do actually only use a towel once then wash it.
Ditto clothes

Ah, gotcha, fair enough.

I am using it 3 – 4 times a week so cheaper to keep it up to temp than reheating 1000 litres of water.

Think about that for a minute - by my reckoning there is no way this can be correct. Sure reheating it will use a lot of power (and be a pain as it's not ready to use when you want it) but keeping it up to temp will use more.

Every minute that the water is above ambient temperature it is losing energy to the environment, and the bigger the difference between ambient temperature and the water temperature the more energy it is losing.

but how on earth does a family of 3 need to run the ‘washing machine on at least once and sometimes twice a day’ ?

Household of one here and washing machine does around 10 loads per week. I do have daily sweats and chills though. Towels used to be changed twice weekly but now eeking that out a bit. Sheets changed twice weekly in warmer months.

Washer is on daily here - my cycling kit on quick washes. Washers are relatively cheap if on cool washes. It's the dryers that cost. SIL had her daughter and kids staying for a while a few years back, and they were use towel once, in washer, then in dryer. Electric bill for SIL was huge.

I appreciate OP needs the hot tub, but I'd suggest dropping the temp when not used, then put the heat on in the morning, for use that evening. Ours will heat at about 1.5c per hour. We've even got kingspan on the top of ours to keep the heat in. I recon even with use 3 x a week he'll save about half the energy bill.

How much juice does your thicknesser use?!

All joking aside, are you using power tools more often? Doing any welding? It may not be a big single thing (but those are easy to check), it could be accumulation of other activities.

Household of one here and washing machine does around 10 loads per week

Wow, that is a lot.

Family of 4 here and our machine does about 5-6 loads per week. Never use the tumble dryer, but we do live somewhere with very dry air and have central heating that keeps the house warm.

People washing towels daily/after every use are wasting money and killing the planet. There is just no need. Surely you use them to dry your clean skin rather than rub the dirt off?

Can you take the cover off and put on a piece of glass when the sun's out? Might help 🙂

From the Artic Spa website - How much does a hot tub cost to run? The average running cost of a 2 pump Hot Tub will vary according to insulation, usage and again construction. We average out at around £0.41 per day and that is with 40 minutes use every day. Even allowing for that being an advert and increased costs, from looking at the Octopus meter it appears to be about £1 per day for the hot tub at 38 degrees.

We chose the Artic Spa partly because of the low running costs. The shell that forms the tub is fully insulated. It sits in a wooden frame/shell that is also fully insulated so when the water leaves the tub, the pipes are still in an insulated area. The insulated lid that fits on the top is about 8 inches thick and has enough weight to be a snug fit. It is also inside the cabin I built which also has some insulating properties.

Yes, it is a large electric draw but less than £50 per month from what we have seen on the meter. The money saved in turning it up and down is not worth the ease of being able to just hop in at a moments notice such as when I get back from pushing a trolley around a supermarket or finish a ride.

[i]All joking aside, are you using power tools more often? Doing any welding? It may not be a big single thing (but those are easy to check), it could be accumulation of other activities.[/i]

Just moved most of the tool feeds to remote control sockets so nothing is left on standby.

We are having that 'energy awareness' moment and looking where we can save but I still think £6,500 is more that 'a little high' even for an earth rapist with first world issues like me.

WCA - sounds like the sauna & hot tub are big contributors even if you do have a valid reason for them. Can you improve the insulation around the hot-tub?

I seem to remember you posting ages ago that your other half tends to have the heating on with most of the windows open? Or did I imagine that?

EDIT - cross posts - perhaps improving insulation would only be marginal gains....?

We do have a cheapy 'clip in line' readout of energy use. When we first got it I spent a (Frustrating for the family) couple of hours turning things on and off with it in my hand. We can set it to the exact standing charge and PpU we are paying - and so see when someone fires up the kettle or tumble drier.
IMO, each of the kids computers + monitors that seem to be on 12 hours a day use as much as a tumble drier load per day.
IIRC, I also worked out we had an old Sony DVD player that on standby *ate* energy....

2/ a few estimated readings being a bit low and now an actual meter reading correcting the last few months usage

This could easily explain a one-off high bill.

Can you take the cover off and put on a piece of glass when the sun’s out?

Probably a very good way of getting a hot tub full of green gunk...

[cougar mode]I can think of more exciting ways to fill the tub with gunk[/cougar mode]