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Very high kwh usage for 1 person?

13

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,206 ✭✭✭Escapees


    Looking at the electricity usage charts from the smart meter, it seems pretty clear that the OP is getting billed via the correct meter. During the time they were away in September (14th-23rd presumably), the usage was low and constant (just under 2kWhr). Now, I would have expected it to have been less than 1kWhr per day myself, but the key thing is that it's very consistent for the time they were away. That confirms the correct meter is assigned and no other apartment or area of the complex is also connected to the same meter.

    The smart meter data that the OP now has access to will allow them to pinpoint where the high usage is. They can just zone in on a particular day to see each half hour of usage.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 556 ✭✭✭pad406


    You can definitely rule out being on the wrong meter as your September graph matches while you were away.

    I'd start taking notes of when you use appliances, then compare to the hourly usage from the smart meter and that will pin point it fairly quickly.

    Edit:

    See @Escapees beat me too it, serves me right for going off researching while posting.

    Which reminds me, I did see inefficient fridges can be about 2kWh per day



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,102 ✭✭✭✭ted1


    ok so you know we understand the difference between efficient and economic.

    Let’s bring in Time of Use Haifa., a kWh of electricity at night units are often cheaper than the kWh of gas.
    So I heat my water for about 4 minutes to an hour before 8am , it’s a 3kwh element so costs about 24c. The at 6pm i top up the cylinder using Gas. So it’s about €7.20 to heat the water for the month using electricity & about the same with gas as it’s just topping it up

    With most people having smart meters. It made sense to use the immersion during off peak.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,102 ✭✭✭✭ted1


    the meter will have a serial number. eSB network will confirm the MPRN from the serial number.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,627 ✭✭✭smuggler.ie


    ted1,
    It is irrelevant at this moment what is €0.xx rate for unit - kWh usage that matters here and now(for last 2 years in this instance), price plan is another step

    1.7-1.8kWh parasitic draw when no one is in the premises might indicate fridge is the monster. That is ~50kWh every month and unwanted cold in the apartment



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,102 ✭✭✭✭ted1


    can you post a daily profile for a day you are at home one when you were away. ?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29 HatCat



    Monday when I was at work

    image.png


    and a Sunday at home (I got up around noon, the spike indicates when I turned on the immersion heater)

    image.png

    Those of you saying it might be the immersion - I think you're correct. Those spikes are during the times I would boost it up to heat up my water. They appear consistently throughout the months at the times I'd use it, and they are lower/not there on the days I shower at the gym (so no need to heat water at home).



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,153 ✭✭✭Duvet Day


    The graphs seem to confirm that you are registered to the correct meter and MPRN number which is the most important detail. Can you confirm if the readings are estimated or not on your bill?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,627 ✭✭✭smuggler.ie


    2-3kWh in an hour, when you know your immersion is ON, its not a failure, quite the opposite. Immersion is rated @ that kWh, see the label on the unit "head"



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 6,915 ✭✭✭Alkers


    Ok immersion is a prime suspect.

    You say you turn it on for 15/30 mins yet that graph shows 2kwh used at 7am. I'm guessing an immersion is what 3kw, which means it was running for maybe 40mins.

    At 7pm you have nearly 3kwh used, meaning it was running for almost an hour (or other appliances used also). Did you shower twice that day?



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,374 ✭✭✭Lenar3556


    If that works for you, great.

    But for many, who have a significant hot water requirement for showers for example, it’s not very practical, and the cost benefit marginal.

    You are limited to 3Kw heating, so even for a modest sized 150litre cylinder, you have a slow heat up time of about 2.5hours. And thereafter no recovery until the next off peak band.

    Plus you have to factor that to avail of this discounted rate, you pay higher rates for the remainder of your electricity vs a 24Hr rate.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,102 ✭✭✭✭ted1


    I’ve a 200 or 320l cylinder !! With 5 people ,Including 2 teenage girls

    Big demand for hot water, it’s 25. degrees now the baths was used as was showers After 40 minutes it’ll be at 50 Degrees


    granted the full cylinder might be 50 as the temp prob is about 1-3 of the way up a 5ft joule cylinder



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 100 ✭✭ash2020


    Hi, Who is your Electricity supplier, do you know what day time rates you are on, mine for example is yuno Energy and i pay 31cent per Kw.

    i also live by myself, 1 person And i dont turn heating on because I have electric storage rads and they are very very expensive to run,

    I rarely use cooker, I have an air fryer 2 time sper week, Kettle, fridge , No Tv,

    I use phone



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,374 ✭✭✭Lenar3556


    To bring a 320 litre cylinder from 25 degrees to 60 degrees it takes 13Kw of energy. Over 4Hrs of 3KW immersion run time.

    To raise temperate from 25 degrees to 50 degrees in 40min would require a 14KW heat source - you won’t be doing anything like that with an immersion. An oil or gas boiler yes.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 41,255 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    That is ~50kWh every month and unwanted cold in the apartment

    Doesn't go near to explaining the bills the OP is receiving. Also the heat pumped out of the interior of the fridge, plus the energy the fridge uses, ends up as heat at the back of the fridge, so the net effect is to heat up the room very slightly.

    I'm partial to your abracadabra
    I'm raptured by the joy of it all



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,627 ✭✭✭smuggler.ie


    Initial screenshot 3061kWh per year and question about high consumption. Leave bills aside for now, they important, but consumer has limited control over market pricing

    Consumer can , to certain degree, control usage : repair/replace faulty or inefficient appliances, use power efficient lighting, turn off non-essential/not-in-immediate use equipment

    255kWh per month, perhaps high for 1person in the apartment, however, full-electric, no alternative energy sources.


    Last x2 screenshots potentially indicate consumer ran immersion x2 per day, 2-3kWh for immersion is standard and normal consumption. 4kWhx30d=120kWh for hot water alone in this use pattern. Add other use(PC, lights(potentially GU10x50w down-lighters?), washing, cooking, etc) and you will get your 200-250kWh per month

    OP stated absence in September2025 for 10 days - screenshot indicate steady 1.7-1.8kWh per day use during those days while no one in the apartment = parasitic/unaccounted/inadvertent consumption. OP stated that only fridge was left ON - suspect#1
    50kWh parasitic power draw per month is 1/5 of the bill - i would consider this significant saving


    bills come after consumed kWh.

    As for "heat" produced by fridge - this might explain why OP does not use heaters :D



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29 HatCat


    but given that I only turn on the immersion for 1-1.5 hours a day, the numbers should still be lower, no? I don't turn it on for an hour 2x or more in a day. I give it a 15min or 30min boost.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29 HatCat


    As stated in the response to smuggler.ie, I don't have the immersion on for an hour or more. I only give it a 15-30min boost, so in a day it's on for 1-1.5 hours altogether, depending on the need. I have it on in the morning for 15min so I have hot water to wash my face and brush my teeth, and 30min in the evening for a shower.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,627 ✭✭✭smuggler.ie


    Every device is rated, you immersion heater also - check label on the "head" unit, will be something like that

    image.png

    This indicate that this heater consume 2.7-3kW = means it will consume 2.7-3kilowats per hour (kWh)
    Boost only increases watage to speed up water heating
    15min on boost with 3kW rating 3/4= 0.8kWh



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29 HatCat


    My apartment is not warm, it's 10-15 degrees in here in winter months. The fridge is not heating up the place :D

    So the consensus is that the usage is normal? That this is just how it is with immersion? Few folks have previously stated that my usage seems suspiciously high for one person …



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,036 ✭✭✭10000maniacs


    The most likely explanation is somebody else is using your power.

    You need to get an independent electrician to look at your switch box. He can tell right away what is going on.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29 HatCat


    But the only way I can actually heat up the water is by pressing boost.

    This is what I'm working with

    image.png

    Now, the timer/clock on the left does not work correctly - even when aligning it to the correct time it end up wrong (it's either going too fast or too slow, inaccurate. When I first moved 2 years ago in it was set to heat up the water at certain times and for a certain amount of minutes, but it ended up stuck on "on" for way longer than it was set to, and at the wrong times. So I ended up relying on the boost button. Is this what the issue might be?

    PS: to clarify - the timer/clock is currently not on, hasn't been since I realized it's inaccurate soon after moving in.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,627 ✭✭✭smuggler.ie


    Also please post immersion element unit "head" label image. Located in your hotpress on water tank, ~100mm in diameter bulky thing with power cable from it going to wall



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,286 ✭✭✭greasepalm


    I watched a program where this also happened and got an electrician to call out to check , he put a clamp on her meter and asked if she would boil the kettle and no change , moved to another meter and asked to boil kettle again and it changed on a different meter and stopped when kettle shut off. Paying for someone else power does happen . Somehow something got changed and when proved she was refunded a hefty sum.

    Hope you get yours fixed or someone robbing your electricity.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29 HatCat




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,627 ✭✭✭smuggler.ie


    yes.
    3kW heater , will consume 3kW per hour. Model TIH505
    https://www.teslauk.com/pdf/7768.3706225.pdf

    You just confirmed having faulty timer - cannot trust if left in ON position, even if you only set 15 min on boost, you dont know what is happening on the mechanical clock part, despite manual indicate should not "heat". Seek replacement if possible
    https://www.tfc-group.co.uk/optimum/instructions/OP-ECOSAVE-user-installer-instructions.pdf

    If you run immersion for 1.5h per day, at the rated wattage its 4.5kWh per day = 135kWh per month or half of your 2025 average monthly consumption. So that's is that.
    Now look into other devices:
    lights - what are those? how many, what bulb type
    fridge - should have label inside, or lookup manual/datasheet/energy label by model
    wash/dishwash
    Cooker/hob/oven - usually rated up to 4kW
    etc

    Any malfunctioning device might use more than stated in annual energy sheet (fridges do ). Energy label is for guide only, it will wary by use

    All devices have power rating that will give you idea how much it consume over time running.
    2kW rated kettle will boil 1cup in, let say, 1min » 2/60x1= 0.07kWh per cup - perhaps dont boil half of kettle for one cup as it will take longer(use more power) and then just cool-of over time to be re-boiled again
    PC+monitor could be anywhere from 100 to 300W(if gaming) - 1hour of gaming could be up to 0.3kWh » 9kWh per month

    You get the idea

    you could buy watt meter plug and check all your "socket" devices one by one.


    Still unclear what was using ~2kWh per day in Sep2025 for 10 days, hope you'll figure and eliminate/reduce



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,237 ✭✭✭FishOnABike


    The days you were out of the house usage was less than 2kWh for each day. That's 60 to 70 Wh x 24 hours which would be in the range of the typical background load for a fridge/freezer. The main cost looks like it is from whatever you use while in the house.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,102 ✭✭✭✭ted1


    to be honest those profiles look ok. Nothing really been used while you are away

    So it’s the immersion, have you LED bulbs ? The higher immersion could also be an electric oven or hub



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 4,223 ✭✭✭Field east


    Having skimmed through most posts I get the impression that you may not be in a position to establish the reason for the high usage due to time constraint, lack of knowledge or/and you are not into that kind of DIY needed to examine the ‘system’.

    My suggestion :-

    Get in an electrician to sort it out. Bight set you back €100 to 200 but it will tick a big box for you.

    I hope you can share with us what the problem was.

    As an aside , a neighbour of mine borrowed to purchase a piece of equipment for his carpentry business we had very similar names and use the same bank. I was making his repayments for over six months when I copped on. So anything is possible.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,803 ✭✭✭JVince


    Looks like the immersion is the culprit.

    Get an electrician in and change the timer. They are cheap and easy to install for apprentice level electrician.

    See if the immersion has a "sink/bath" function. For one person, the "sink" function is more than enough power.

    Negotiate/change electricity suppliers EVERY YEAR. It the easiest 30%+ saving you will make for less than 5 minutes work (MPRN number, meter reading + bank details is all you need - can take less than 3 minutes if you are quick at typing!!)

    Get a day/night rate and then use the immersion timer to come on at 7am for 30-40 minutes (in the summer this can be reduced to 30 min as water coming in will be about 13 degrees versus 5 degrees at present). Water will still be warm in the evening and if needed, a 15 minute boost will probably get it hot enough on the "sink" setting.

    Other things, possibly already done, make sure all lights are LED. For cooking, an airfryer & george foreman are better than oven and boiling a kettle, just boil what you need and not a full kettle.

    But priority is an electrician to change the timer and also switch to the sink setting and change supplier to a discounted rate and day/peak/night rate. - You will save about €150 a month with those simple steps



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