ESB bill very high

A

AliDesign

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I am wondering if anyone could shed some light on an ESB query I have. There are 2 of us living in a 3 bedroom house and we're only home in the evenings. This time last year our monthly bill was about €70/€80. Now the last 3 bills we've had are €250 & €300 even though I give readings regularly. Our heating is Bord Gais so I don't think it's seasonal.

The only change is that we got a second switch/fuse board put up last June as we started to convert our garage. The garage isn't fully wired, we just have the board there for when we decide to actually make it into a room so there are cables but no sockets etc. We also replaced our electric shower and hooked it up to the same board. The electrician who did the job did work for a friend and their fuse board nearly set alight. I don't know if a problem with the board could be the reason for my high bills but I am open to suggestions. also would anyone know if there someone I could call out to audit my energy usage?
 
Simpe test yourself is to turn everything off and unplug everything for a minute - take a look at your meter and it should literally stop revolving??
 
Thanks for the suggestion but I tried that a few weeks ago and it did slow down to a near stop (the fridge was on). I could be there for ages testing all the appliances in the house and I can't think of any appliance other than the shower that we didn't have before the bills start going up. Surely the shower wouldn't use 3/4 times as much electricity as everything in the entire house?
 
There isn't anyone who will call out and audit your usage. You need to do that yourself.

Check your last few bills. Have they been based on actual readings? What is the average daily usage between actual readings? Work that out. Make sure you base your calculations on actual readings, not estimates.

Then, take a reading each day at the same time for a week or so. Is the daily usage above, below or at the average for the last few months.

Knowing what you are using every day you should be able to make economies by switching things off, etc. Take a look at the energy advice on the ESB website for guidance: www.esb.ie.

If despite all this you are still faced with a daily recorded usage that is beyond what you think you are using call out a proper electrician to check if there is a problem with your installlation.

For advice on how to read your meter click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmPTlXqhzYc

Regards,

Fnergg
 
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