cut electricity bill

[pcam1984]

Have been contacted by a local pub with a monthly electricity bill of £1850!! Smart meter fitted so no estimated bills, SSE have said that the bills are correct and any problems are within installation. Around 3 months ago they changed 110 50w halogens to 5w LED, in the 3 months there has been no change. So far the owner has spent £600 and not saved a penny, he wants to find the problem before winter kicks in and usage goes up. Was thinking of ringing every circuit to see what ones are pulling the most power then investigating from there. Any other ideas?

 

[Octopus]

If changing 110 lamps for led's hasn't lowered the consumption somebody isn't telling the truth. I would be taking weekly meter readings or even daily maybe as that's a lot to spend.

 

[snowhead]

You need some history.

Has the bill always been around £1850
Did it change when the smart meter was fitted
Have the units used changed
Have they changed electricity suppliers in the past
Has anything else been added since the bill has gone up (if it has), more A/c or cellar cooling for example.
Do they leave the outside lights on all night
Has it got car park lighting.

£1850 may not be that bad if it's turnover is £100,000 a month.

 

[Andy78]

Have been contacted by a local pub with a monthly electricity bill of £1850!! Smart meter fitted so no estimated bills, SSE have said that the bills are correct and any problems are within installation. Around 3 months ago they changed 110 50w halogens to 5w LED, in the 3 months there has been no change. So far the owner has spent £600 and not saved a penny, he wants to find the problem before winter kicks in and usage goes up. Was thinking of ringing every circuit to see what ones are pulling the most power then investigating from there. Any other ideas?

SSE have said the bills are correct. Is this just them reading the script over the phone or have they actually been down and checked the meter and it's calibration ?

110 LED swaps would show a large saving instantly, especially in a pub where they are likely to be on for extended hours 7 days a week. Something is not right. I'd be expecting a pub to be saving over £150 a month with that sort of change.

Ringing every circuit ? Do you mean using a clamp meter ? If so, the pub would be better off hiring a load monitor/power analysler for a week to find out exactly what an average week entails in terms of power consumption.

 

[Marvo]

The savings of the LED retrofits could be being masked by something else that's happened. Even something seemingly trivial like a dribbling hot water tap could mean an immersion heater is consuming 24hrs per day for example. I'd sell them a few hours labour and do a preliminary energy audit where you assess each circuit and power outlet and metering accuracy to start with .

 

[pcam1984]

Hi, going in on Monday afternoon to have a proper walk round to see if there is anything obvious that's going on before I go too in depth, will clamp the sub mains to see if any of the boards are drawing a high current and take it from there. Supposedly the bills have been around the 1850 mark for about a year, they changed lamps and have had 3 bills in since and there's no change. If I can't see anything obvious I'll get a power monitor in for a week or so. They are worried that when autumn/ winter hits the bill will shoot up, extra heating, external ltg etc. if it hits 2000 they don't think they'll be able to stay open too much longer!

 

[Octopus]

I bet there bills have been estimated and now they are paying to catch up.

 

[PEG]

^ I would agree,clients can be evasive when discussing bills,etc,and the fact the bill remains constant,hints towards a payback situation.

A scan through any bills,and the opportunity to assess loads during ALL operations,would yield more clues...

 

[UKMeterman]

Hire in a power analyzer Power Analysers Hire | 3 Phase Power Analyser | Inlec and note the supplier meter readings at start and finish of the week.
One quick thought if they have moved from tungsten to led, are they cheap LED and putting out a horrid power factor?