ESB Bill

h0stn0tf0und

We have been experiencing rather high bills of late. There are 5 people in the house. Bills have been close to €400. I am thinking of getting in an electrician to check things out. The house is empty most of the day, 9-5. I have removed items to test but with no tumble dryer, dish washer or electric shower / immersion the bill is still €350+. All devices such as computers are running S3 power saving and no TV / DVD / Hifi is left on standby!

I was renting a house with 6 people and the bill was never over €150. TV’s to tumble dryers never stopped!

I called the ESB, they have pointed to items being on standby, water pumps and faulty devices. I cannot find fault with any of the above. Then they said it could be wiring, this is why I am thinking of getting an electrician in.

I have unplugged everything and the meter does come to a complete stop but I have no real way of monitoring the system internally.

Any advice or tips are greatly appreciated.

Also to compare, what are people with similar size families paying?

Our bills at home tend to be 300 euro and there are 3 of us. We don't use heaters - a fire and the immersion, no it's not on for ages - and we plug almost everything out, tv, plugs in our bedrooms, everything but the fridge, when we leave the house for 13 hours a day. We've tested things too and the meter does come to a stop when everything's plugged out. Back when we did use the storage heater and fan heaters etc, and even the first couple christmases we were in the house, we'd use tons and tons of electricity and have far lower bills than we do now that we're using much less. Next door neighbours have bills of 100e or less and there are... 5 of them.
So yeah, electrician to check things out seems like the best thing to try.

rgfuller

My bills are usually less than 200 in a 5 bedroom semi-d. 2 adults.
Have a look at http://www.esb.ie/main/energy_home/appliance_calculator.jsp and take the time to put in all appliances which you have and see how it adds up, for me the biggest cost is cooking and we don't do that much of that!
10 minutes guestimating monthly time usage and it came back with pretty close figures to my bill.

Mr Magnolia

My bills are generally less than €200 - 2 adults in a 3-bed. Check to make sure your bill isn't estimated, I've heard they're tearing the @rse out of the estimated bills recently, the price of electricity has gone up recently though.

Have a look here for some tips too.

Access

Anything above €250 seems very high for a normal family!

I must check mine.....

Access

2 adults and 3 kids... 150 p/m with tumble dryer on non stop! But i do unplug most things at night.

I also use a electrisave power meter, google it or go to HERE

€125 euro isnt cheap for it, but it has helped me cut down on ESB bills by seeing on screen what is being consumed (bills were normally €220) and its from an irish site!

rgfuller

It looks like the UK are getting meters along the same lines (not as good from what I can tell) for free - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6550361.stm

Dilbert75

Turn off ALL of your appliances and watch the meter. If the little bubble keeps going around, then someone else is using your juice. Note that if you use instant showers a lot, they consume lots of power.

maireadmarie

You probably have a faulty meter; notify the ESB that you want it checked.

Sparky

Apply for a domestic nightsaver meter.

You get a 3rd of the peak rate at nighttime and we use it for doing all the tumbledrying at this time

Dilbert75

Dilbert75 wrote:

Turn off ALL of your appliances and watch the meter. If the little bubble keeps going around, then someone else is using your juice. Note that if you use instant showers a lot, they consume lots of power.

Check for other unswitched devices in the house, timers, attic lights, central heating controls etc.

I remember a story about a householder who was always getting a bill 50% higher than this neighbours, he eventually found that the previous owners had but an electric fire up in the attic to dry out a damp patch and forgotton about it!, something like 20 years previously.

Access

Spanky-s wrote:

Apply for a domestic nightsaver meter.

You get a 3rd of the peak rate at nighttime and we use it for doing all the tumbledrying at this time

but doesnt that cost a few hundred to install via esb? The offset would be a while coming!

loopymum

Spanky-s wrote:

Apply for a domestic nightsaver meter.

You get a 3rd of the peak rate at nighttime and we use it for doing all the tumbledrying at this time

Got it! but it costs less than half the price of a day unit
Day Rate 0.1435
Night Rate 0.0705
Standing charge per day 0.486
VAT 13.50%

The above rates do not include VAT
It's a higher standard charge for having a night meter too, but it is really good value, particularily in the winter as Spanky says for tumbledrying and washing clothes. Running dishwasher and cos we have Geothermal &UFH, during the winter timed for this as well.

nightmeter in winter time from 11pm to 8am
" in summer time from 12midnight to 9am
This is following GMT.

For every 1000 days units we use, we use over 500 night units, which makes a substantial saving. actually a saving of over €32 before VAT based on the above figures.

BTW our last bill was €409 for 2months, not estimated, but heating was on a lot, gotta get it down.