How can I ascertain if I am paying for someone else's electricity? Help!

[Danielle]

My electricity bills are 1.5-2.5k per month for a 5 bedroom house. My heating was running off ? electric so while this figure is extremely high it (kind of) made sense, as the house is large. I had an electrician calculate the space and electric consumption. As it was so high, I decided to go down the route of Air Source, and have had 4 Mitsubishi air source heat pumps installed to make my electric more affordable... having been told this would take them to half or a third. But my first bill have come in and it is £2300, for ONE month!!. I wonder if I am paying for the electricity for the farm shop next door or something like this. My provider, utility warehouse will only check that my meter is working and the wires inside my house.
Does anyone know how or who can I ask to check that the wires going into my house are only providing electricity for my property. Utility warehouse refuse to do this. is there ANY service I can pay for to prove what is going on. Even if just for me! I am in a lot of financial difficulty now! Thanks

 

[Timbo]

I have gas heating, but I don't spend that in a year.
Quite frankly, I couldn't afford to spend that much a month!

 

[7029 dave]

All good advise, I want to concentrate on the supply meter, I would insist that the energy supplier do an accuracy test on the meter,2 ways load bank test or fit a check meter in series with your supply meter the latter is the only option if you have 3phase meter.

 

[freddo]

I clamped 1 phase of a 100A supply today. Looking good.

 

[7029 dave]

All good advise, I want to concentrate on the supply meter, I would insist that the energy supplier do an accuracy test on the meter,2 ways load bank test or fit a check meter in series with your supply meter the latter is the only option if you have 3phase meter.

Check meters can be fitted to single phase meters too, just 3phase meters cant be load bank tested didnt explain that very well.

 

[pc1966]

That is either a dodgy meter or a supply going to roast its terminals...

 

[James]

I have in the past used energy monitors to get an idea of how much power each device in a factory is using.
you could buy a couple of these and put them on each of your heating units.
they are the most likley high usage devices you have.
if they account for 90% of the usage then i am afraid you will have to turn the heating down.
if they are less than 50% of your usage then i suspect you have a problem with either billing meter or a leech drawing your electricity for there own use.

Eco-Eye Smart PC - Eco-eye electricity monitors (eco-eye.com)

there may well be a member who can install them on different circuits for you at different times if you are not confident.

 

[MJPD29]

First thing to do is turn the power off and see if the meter is still counting. If its not, it's your house

 

[Electrics]

Is there a chance (slim, probably) that someone could be stealing from load side and so turning it off at our CU might also turn off the offending circuit and thereby make it look like nothing is being stolen? In such a case would it be worth physically turning everything drawing load in the house off to see if the live circuits are still drawing power? After all if OP can see her tails going into the meter then the 'turn off the CU' suggested by myself and others isn't going to yield any results.

 

[littlespark]

I think we need a photograph of the consumer unit and associated wiring before we can suggest anything else. Already been asked for

 

[Danielle]

I have one of these connected at home... allows me to see exactly what I'm using... Very easy to use.

Elite Classic - Efergy

The Efergy Elite Classic Wireless Energy Monitor is the world's best selling in-home energy display (with over 500,000 units sold).

efergy.com

Thanks so much i will try that!

 

[Danielle]

I think we need a photograph of the consumer unit and associated wiring before we can suggest anything else. Already been asked for

 

[Danielle]

thanks so much for your advice, these are pictures of the electric meters. they are both 3 phase

 

[Danielle]

I think we need a photograph of the consumer unit and associated wiring before we can suggest anything else. Already been asked for

sorry if you have received these photos twice, i am not sure if i just sent them on the thread to you! thanks you for your advice

 

[Strima]

So you have two three phase supplies?

TBH in think you need to get a sparky in to trace out a lot of that cabling and check your loads for phase balancing etc. Not unusual for the supplier to load bills for unbalance three phase supplies.

 

[pc1966]

Do you really have two 3-phase electric supplies to the property? Was it ever divided and owned separately?

That could deliver 80kW+ so that sort of bill is feasible from a supply point of view, but still a massive power use.

 

[Deleted account]

What sort of loading do you have.

electric showers
ovens hobs
kitchens
swimingpools
etc......

 

[Strima]

Hang on, you said the property is a new build (2016) yet one fo those supplies is a lot older than that.

Can you post pictures of all your distribution boards etc and possible a layout of your building and neighbouring properties?

 

[stevethesparks]

I can see more of these sort of posts when all these proposed electric boilers kick in
As already advised, get an electrician in to give you a detailed report.

 

[Zerax]

As Jack Regan once said... "the hairs on my wooden leg, tell me that something is up"

Why would a 5 bed house have 2 x 3Phase supplies ?? Why would a house that was apparently built in 2016 have an installation that clearly pre-dates that ?? Why would a large 5 bed house have been built with only electric heating ?? Where do those CT clamps go to ??

Far more information is needed...

 

[Electrics]

Deffo can't have been built from scratch in 2016 since there appears to be old colour wiring involved in the utility cabling.

Was this a big renovation and/or partial demolition/rebuild job, and the utility area was existing?

At this point there is too much guessing involved and you need to get an electrician in to trace stuff and figure out what's going on. Without more pics and layout of the house/adjoining buildings etc it's just too difficult to give an accurate answer here.

Get a spark in to see what's going on and give any report he gives you to your electricity supplier to prove that they need to do a thorough investigation.

How are you billed? Are there two, one with two meters' numbers added together, just one? What do the numbers on the bill say - do they match up with one of the meters? Have your bills dropped since lockdown ie with places being shut?

I don't see why a three phase unit was put into a domestic dwelling unless you have tonnes of outbuildings or a business next door was being run off it. I have no experience in the UK but on the continent when i've seen a building+workshop set up it was either three phase or one single phase and one three phase supply. Two three phase supplies is just plain weird unless someone from Sweden has done it.