Is my ESB bill unusually high?

O

olivia

Registered User
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Just received my bill for billing period 19 Aug to 19 Oct and I have used 1011 units. I always have a sneaking suspicion that we are 'leaking' electricity and wonder if this about average for a family of 4 living in detached house using electricity to heat the water and cooking by electricity. I leave immersion on to sink all the time. Is there any government agency I can contact for advice (or any other body)?
 
Yes you are leaking electricity....by leaving the immersion on all the time. Immersions are heavy enough on power.
 
Perhaps purchase an Electrisave to help monitor ESB usage [broken link removed]

(I'm not associated with them, though use one myself).
 
Maplin have an alternative and significantly cheaper [broken link removed].
Leo
 
rgfuller said:
Perhaps purchase an Electrisave to help monitor ESB usage [broken link removed]

(I'm not associated with them, though use one myself).
Click to expand...
Not much use for measuring the electricity usage of the immersion. Just read the meter to find total usage out. Leaving the immersion on (even just on sink) all of the time is most likely your biggest cost as pointed out earlier. Monitor your meter reading for a few days with it on and then switch it off (or just use it on demand) and see what difference it makes.
 
I read somewhere, either here or on boards that leaving immersions on didn't make that much of a difference to people bills, in their experience. I assume where the tank is very well insulated. The idea being that keeping it at temp was almost as efficient as heating a whole tank from cold. I can't see it myself.
 
As I said - read the meter daily around the same time for a week, half of which with the immersion on full time and the other half with the immersion off or just used on demand and see what difference it makes.
 
The meter supplied by Maplin can be attached to the cable feeding the immersion. It's non-obtrusive, so doesn't require connection to the cable, a sensor simply fits around the cable.
Leo
 
Leo said:
The meter supplied by Maplin can be attached to the cable feeding the immersion. It's non-obtrusive, so doesn't require connection to the cable, a sensor simply fits around the cable.
Leo
Click to expand...

I don't think so. The Maplin unit appears to be same as the Electrisave one, in that they both use current transformers to obtain the reading.

A current transformer will only work on a single core cable, if you clip it on to a twin or three core cable or flex it won't measure anything because the fields cancel each other out.
 
You're right, not quite clear from the product description. I guess you could isolate the live feed to the immersion either at the consumer unit or going into the switch, but this isn't necessarily a DIY task.
Leo
 
Leo said:
The meter supplied by Maplin can be attached to the cable feeding the immersion. It's non-obtrusive, so doesn't require connection to the cable, a sensor simply fits around the cable.
Leo
Click to expand...
If that's the case then I stand corrected. I assumed that it was a socket based plug-in unit.
 
Just bought a load of those energy saving bulbs for the house given Tesco had a good deal on them. Did anyone notice any significant change in their ESB bill after putting them in?
 
I doubt that lighting would be the major cost in most people's electricity bill to be honest. The benefit of those bulbs is usually long term. Heavier loads such as heaters, immersions, kitchen appliances etc. will normally be the main part of most people's bill.
 
ClubMan said:
I doubt that lighting would be the major cost in most people's electricity bill to be honest. The benefit of those bulbs is usually long term. Heavier loads such as heaters, immersions, kitchen appliances etc. will normally be the main part of most people's bill.
Click to expand...

One of the benefits of the electrisave is you can really notice the cost when you leave a set of lights on (if you've entered the unit usage cost).

E.G. I have a 5 x 40 watt lighting fixture, when it's on my baseline hourly cost goes from 2cent/hour to roughly 10cent/hour, so it's effectivly costing me 8cent/hour to run those 5 lights, leave it on for a day and you've used €1.92, so over a 2 month bill period if I didn't turn them off it would cost me €115 or so!

So a 100 or 200watt lighting usage over a long period can far outweigh the cost of boiling the kettle a few times.

Then again having a 1kw electric heater on for 5 hours would cost as much.

The electrisave is useful for understanding effectivly how much electricity individual items use on an hourly basis and it helps you notice when you've left something on which shouldn't be.

PS. Then again I'm a gadget/control freak so perhaps why I enthuse so much about it - a useful gadget!
 
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rgfuller said:
I have a 5 x 40 watt lighting fixture, when it's on my baseline hourly cost goes from 2cent/hour to roughly 10cent/hour, so it's effectivly costing me 8cent/hour to run those 5 lights, leave it on for a day and you've used €1.92, so over a 2 month bill period if I didn't turn them off it would cost me €115 or so!
Click to expand...

Doesn't sound right. the domestic ESB tariff at the moment is 14.35c per hour plus VAT @ 13.5%, a total of 16.29c per 1 Kwh unit (1000watt hours)

So 5 x 40 watts = 200 watts which should cost you no more than 16.29/5 per hour, or €0.0326
 
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