How much electricity costs?

[rwbuild]

You wont hear the water bubbling, the tell tail sign is a slow release from the pressure relief valve. There is also 2 off peak settings, Off peak 1 which heats 2 times a day between 4 & 6 in the morning and 3 &4 in the afternoon. Off peak 2 is once per day between 11pm and 4am. When they changed the meter without you knowing they may have changed your heater to off peak 1.
Failing any of the above, did this increase just become noticeable with the last bill, if so then I would suggest that you could have a dodgey hws. Im also curious why you have 3 meters. The old circular one is an old Prospect County Council one and I assume that is the hws. One of the other meters is for general power and light. Why the third one? Of the 2 newer ones, 1 is Endeavour energy the other is Integral energy which is also an off peak meter by the looks of it. Something very strange going on here unless I have interpreted incorrectly. Get a friendly sparky to check everything first starting at the meter box.
Also, they employ contract readers now and if they are lax may be it was a guesstimation also have you checked their readings against your meters.

[snowyskiesau]

I'm a single person household and use 25kWh per day in winter and 15kWh per day in summer. Electric stove and hot water (off peak). Biggest part of the winter usage is the heat pump which goes 8-10 hours a day, 7 days a week (1499kWh for the 3 month billing cycle). Only thing running 24/7 is the fridge and the computer (plus NBN modem etc)

Shed power is a separate feed in and is only a few dollars about the standard meter charge i.e about 0.5kWh per day! I really should get some 3 phase tools and wind the bill up a bit ..

[fletty]

Hi OldGrain,
There IS something wrong and I am suspicious of the off-peak! Off-peak used to be fairly regular hours during the night only but now it can be at any time of the day depending on the load on the network at the time. I suggest you unplug the frij from its current power point and plug it into one that you believe is NOT off-peak. IF it runs continuously then there is a problem with the frij and, when you hear it turn on and off through the day, that is the off peak being turned on and off NOT the thermostat in the frij itself. I am suspicious that your belief that the frij works so well is because it is on far too often. The same applies to the hot water but it is more difficult for you to 'unplug' and check?
I am also in Endeavour's area, there are 2 adults, a swimming pool, aircon, (and, I am ashamed to say....) 4 frij's and my workshop ..... and the quarterly bill is about the same as yours!
fletty

[swk]

A bit late to the thread, which many people have given some good clues to. I'll add...
When a bill is high, look for heating and cooling first. That's what uses the most power in your house. People tend to worry about lights because they can see them on more easily but unless you have really lots of them or big spot lights they are a fairly small proportion of your total load. Same with machinery, even big stuff you probably aren't running multiple hours a day.
The disc type meters, like your picture1, _never_ read high. They are purely mechanical and when they get old they gum up and wear out which slows them down. But they can be misread. As rwbuild says, get a re-read (or do it yourself if you have the actual numbers on your bill).

Regards
SWK

[ian]

A further thought

apart from the supply charge, your power bill should have 3 main lines on it
one for the off-peak hot water, clearly labeled "off-peak"
a second line for the first block of general electricity, charged at a particular rate and
a third for the remainder of the general electricity, charged at a higher rate

there may be lots of secondary lines if the price for each of the main lines changed during the billing period, but these should be clearly identified.

can you tell us what amounts you are being charged?

also, have your bills always been this high, or have they increased significantly since the meters were changed over?

[OldGrain]

Hi Ian & thanks.
$66 for Peak.$81 for Peak Next. Cntrl Load $4.60. Supply $11.90. CL1 Supply 80c.
Price Change (70 days)
$175 for Peak/Next. Cntrl Load $20. Supply $55. CL1 Supply $3.80.
Above figures rounded off.
First Meter:29 Jul Start > Controlled: 99.084. End:99.161 @ 77Kw. 6 Oct Start > Controlled: 99.161. End 99.482 @ 321Kw.
Scnd Meter: : : : > Peak : 8.744. End: 9.384 @ 640 Kw. : : : > Peak 9.384. End 10.878 @ 1.494 Kw.
Bills started to increase over last two years since meters were changed & previous supplier was taken over by current one.
The joys of luxuries one needs.

[rwbuild]

Still doesn't explain why you have 3 meters.

[ian]

Hi Oldgrain

I can't see where your Off-Peak Hot water is being charged
I think one of your meters might be a time of day meter -- the retailer can then charge you extra for power used at peak times, usually 4 to 8 PM on weekdays.
As far as I know, you the customer is supposed to consent to the installation of time of day metering.

Also, I think the only change to your supplier is their name.

[Fuzzie]

Still doesn't explain why you have 3 meters.

I think maybe there are only two meters, the third device is the relay to switch on/off the off peak tariff circuits?

[edit +]

It looks like the first meter is the one measuring the controlled supply. In Qld at least, controlled supply is tariff33 guaranteed supply 18 hours/day. Tariff 31 is the super economy overnight rate, guaranteed for 8hrs/day. Peak$>tariff33$>tariff31$.

[ian]

thanks.
$66 for Peak.$81 for Peak Next. Cntrl Load $4.60. Supply $11.90. CL1 Supply 80c.
Price Change (70 days)
$175 for Peak/Next. Cntrl Load $20. Supply $55. CL1 Supply $3.80.
Above figures rounded off.
First Meter:29 Jul Start > Controlled: 99.084. End:99.161 @ 77Kw. 6 Oct Start > Controlled: 99.161. End 99.482 @ 321Kw.
Scnd Meter: : : : > Peak : 8.744. End: 9.384 @ 640 Kw. : : : > Peak 9.384. End 10.878 @ 1.494 Kw.
Bills started to increase over last two years since meters were changed & previous supplier was taken over by current one.

Hi OldGrain

I've done a bit of research for you

You appear to have two billing lines for your "controlled load" which I think should be only be powering your off-peak hot water

from Endeavor's Tarrif document
A Controlled Load tariff applies where electricity load is separately metered and controlled at a connection point:
a) Controlled Load 1 (N50) applies where supply to approved specified appliances is controlled such that supply may not be available between 7:00am and 10:00pm, during both Eastern Standard Time (EST) and Daylight Saving Time (DST).; and
b) Controlled Load 2 (N54) applies where supply to approved specified appliances is controlled such that electricity is available for restricted periods not exceeding a total of 17 hours in any period of 24 hours.

the full document with the usage charges is here:
http://www.endeavourenergy.com.au/wp...df?MOD=AJPERES

[OldGrain]

Good grief Ian. I thought my bill was confusing with all the double digits etc. But 37 pages to further confuse & confound me or any one else who reads through it. But i do thank you & every one else who has answered. Got some serious bookworming to do. Ha. gordo

[Fuzzie]

Hi Ian & thanks.
$66 for Peak.$81 for Peak Next. Cntrl Load $4.60. Supply $11.90. CL1 Supply 80c.
Price Change (70 days)
$175 for Peak/Next. Cntrl Load $20. Supply $55. CL1 Supply $3.80.
Above figures rounded off.
First Meter:29 Jul Start > Controlled: 99.084. End:99.161 @ 77Kw. 6 Oct Start > Controlled: 99.161. End 99.482 @ 321Kw.
Scnd Meter: : : : > Peak : 8.744. End: 9.384 @ 640 Kw. : : : > Peak 9.384. End 10.878 @ 1.494 Kw.
Bills started to increase over last two years since meters were changed & previous supplier was taken over by current one.
The joys of luxuries one needs.

The A1100 meter would be the one measuring peak supply. It can be read remotely and can measure supply over three phases. The above says there was a lot more power used on the peak circuit during first period while more power used on offf peak during the second period????

Also my arithmetic says the above add up to $418 not $700?

[OldGrain]

Hi Fuzzie. I`ll write it as it is on the bill:
Price Change - 29 Jul to 6th Oct (70 days)
Units. Price. Amount
Peak: 767 kWh $0.2285 $175.26
Peak next: 575 kWh $0.2241 $128.86
Peak next: 192 kWh $0.2236 $42.93
Controlled Load1 326 kWh $0.0641 $20.90
Supply Charge 70 days $0.7967 $55.77
CL1 Supply Charge 70 days $0.0543 $3.80

Its a nightmare in any ones language i reckon. gordo
****Typed " Units/Price/Amount" in columns but didn`t work out once posted.****

[Fuzzie]

Total: $427.52?

[ian]

Hi Fuzzie. I`ll write it as it is on the bill:
Price Change - 29 Jul to 6th Oct (70 days)
Units. Price. Amount
Peak: 767 kWh $0.2285 $175.26
Peak next: 575 kWh $0.2241 $128.86
Peak next: 192 kWh $0.2236 $42.93
Controlled Load1 326 kWh $0.0641 $20.90
Supply Charge 70 days $0.7967 $55.77
CL1 Supply Charge 70 days $0.0543 $3.80

Its a nightmare in any ones language i reckon. gordo
****Typed " Units/Price/Amount" in columns but didn`t work out once posted.****

I "think" I can see the problem.
It looks like the unit prices are about 2x those listed on the Endeavour tarriff schedule, but similar to what Energy Australia list as their price.

Are you sure Endeavour is your supplier and not some 3rd party ?