These questions may help you understand why the electricity bill is higher than expected
by Dean Kenway | Jun 7, 2016 | All, Uncategorized |
- Hopefully you are comparing two bills of similar days billed and both actual reads, not estimated. So how does the total consumption of electricity (in kw/hrs) compare between the two different billing periods?
- If the consumption is similar but the $ amount you are being asked to pay is considerably different, how do the rates PER k/w/hr compare? Generally around 28 cents. If the rates vary this would be something to question your electricity retailer
- If the consumption varies considerably this indicates one of three things.
- You’ve consumed more electricity – refer to point 1 above
- The readings taken by the meter reader were incorrectly recorded
- Then look further to determine whether the readings were “estimated” or “actual” reads?
- Determine how many days you were billed for on each of the bills and confirm they are all around the same, usually around 30 or 90 days.
- If these don’t ring any bells, get the last few electricity bills in front of you
- The first thing you need to do is ask yourself what changes may have occurred during the billing cycle you are concerned about.
- Did you have friends or family staying over?
- Was it a particularly cold or warm period that may have involved you using air-conditioning or heating more than average?
- Was there some faulty electrical equipment? A faulty pool timer for example that didn’t switch off?
- Maybe you left the pool timer on manual instead of automatic
- Maybe a faulty hot water thermostat that heated the water far more than it should have?
- You may be thinking the metering is inaccurate – Speaking from experience, this is extremely rare and very unlikely
- The most common explanations we find are:
- Customers not realising how much some appliances draw in electricity. For example
- Clothes dryers & electric heaters consume 2.4 kw’s per hour or $0.67 per hr
- Air conditioners vary depending on size, technology, the structure and usage
- Larger hot water systems & pool pumps not connected to a cheaper off peak meter can also elevate the billing significantly
- Forgetting about those unusual circumstances such as
- extended family visiting for an extended period
- all that wet weather and the need to use the clothes dryer
- those daughters and girlfriends standing in the shower for a looooong time
- Still confused and require assistance? Feel free to contact us
