What cheeses me off

[dajop]

Is that it?! Our bill is roughly the same per quarter, well, more actually but in £ rather than AUD.

Our bill in Singapore is almost the same as JohnK's .. (perhaps slightly lower more like $200-$250 for electricity) But we get our bill monthly not quarterly

Unfortunately the cost of being able to sleep soundly at night.

 

[JohnK]

The thing that is wrong is the increase in price of electricity. However when you get the account you can check the accuracy. If the connection rate per day has increased significantly then for that measurement usage is irrelevant.

No it's not just the cost of electricity. Hot water has gone up 3c/kWh and anytime usage has gone up 5c/kWh. The anytime usage increase is a concern. That's close to 25% increase and that's the bulk of our usage. Daily rate has also gone up 22c/day so if everything normal it's a total increase of about $25-$30/month which is not good. Not sure it's better elsewhere. Need to start looking.

Looks like I have bigger problem and one that's going to be a headache.

At midday turned off everything. Actually unplugged everything except stove as I could not get to plug. Checked downstairs and meter is not running. I did this for around 15 minutes. No usage.

Back upstairs and connected microwave, fridge, my laptop that sits on charge all day and charged my phone but I also started cooking using large element for around 90m-120m. Checked meter 3 hours later and usage went up by 3kWh which is a lot for that short period.

Then went out and had haircut and did some walking and back 3 hours later and meter hardly moved. Then checked again just now and meter looks like it has moved about 0.5kWh, possibly less. So last 6 is normal.

Something is using up excess electricity part of the time. The concern is the meter was read 05 July and today 17 July (12 full days later) the reading has gone up ~270kWh which >21kWh/day so something is seriously using up excess electricity.

I suspected fridge as its been playing up for a long time but could actually be the stove as well. I need to check again in 3 hours. Wife charging phone, I'll charge phone and use laptop as well to do some work.

Trust me to have the complex problem. Sigh.

 

[Flashback]

WCMO is some drunk idiot in the BA lounge sitting next to me at the benches overlooking the runway, tipped his glass of wine over me and my laptop. Laptop seems to be working, but what can I even do if it stops? Nothing probably. Now I smell like wine too, which is annoying.

 

[MARTINE]

WCMO is some drunk idiot in the BA lounge sitting next to me at the benches overlooking the runway, tipped his glass of wine over me and my laptop. Laptop seems to be working, but what can I even do if it stops? Nothing probably. Now I smell like wine too, which is annoying.

Did you report him so he was thrown out - banned maybe. Does not help your laptop but you could at least have a trail if insurance claim

 

[Gremlin]

No it's not just the cost of electricity. Hot water has gone up 3c/kWh and anytime usage has gone up 5c/kWh. The anytime usage increase is a concern. That's close to 25% increase and that's the bulk of our usage. Daily rate has also gone up 22c/day so if everything normal it's a total increase of about $25-$30/month which is not good. Not sure it's better elsewhere. Need to start looking.

Looks like I have bigger problem and one that's going to be a headache.

At midday turned off everything. Actually unplugged everything except stove as I could not get to plug. Checked downstairs and meter is not running. I did this for around 15 minutes. No usage.

Back upstairs and connected microwave, fridge, my laptop that sits on charge all day and charged my phone but I also started cooking using large element for around 90m-120m. Checked meter 3 hours later and usage went up by 3kWh which is a lot for that short period.

Then went out and had haircut and did some walking and back 3 hours later and meter hardly moved. Then checked again just now and meter looks like it has moved about 0.5kWh, possibly less. So last 6 is normal.

Something is using up excess electricity part of the time. The concern is the meter was read 05 July and today 17 July (12 full days later) the reading has gone up ~270kWh which >21kWh/day so something is seriously using up excess electricity.

I suspected fridge as its been playing up for a long time but could actually be the stove as well. I need to check again in 3 hours. Wife charging phone, I'll charge phone and use laptop as well to do some work.

Trust me to have the complex problem. Sigh.

I'd get a home energy monitor. You can get ones that attach to the meter box or ones that sit between a power point and the appliance. You probably want the latter, since your best guess is a problematic appliance.

 

[JohnK]

I'd get a home energy monitor. You can get ones that attach to the meter box or ones that sit between a power point and the appliance. You probably want the latter, since your best guess is a problematic appliance.

Thanks. Someone at work mentioned same thing. I've run small test today running laptop on power and on battery. I'm guessing it's either laptop, laptop charging cable or wall socket.

 

[Lynda2475]

A laptop shouldnt be a large power user. I have a laptop on docking station almost 24*7 and it has no material effect on power consumption.

The more likely culprits are appliances with poor energy star ratings usually older fridges, washing machines, dryers, heaters, kettles, electric stoves (especially if older style coil elements), hair dryers and air conditioning. Boiling the kettle once uses more power than running a laptop for several hours.

Have you been home more days this winter (as opposed to travelling)?

 

[Flashback]

Did you report him so he was thrown out - banned maybe. Does not help your laptop but you could at least have a trail if insurance claim

He ran off pretty quick after I muttered some NSFW language. Lounge manager took 20 minutes to show up, noted it at least so will help with the claim if needed.

 

[SYD]

A laptop shouldnt be a large power user. I have a laptop on docking station almost 24*7 and it has no material effect on power consumption.

The more likely culprits are appliances with poor energy star ratings usually older fridges, washing machines, dryers, heaters, kettles, electric stives (especially if older style coil elements), hair dryers and air conditioning. Boiling the kettle once uses more power than running a laptop for several hours.

Have you been home more days this winter (as opposed to travelling)?

An old fridge (or freezer) can be a real power drain. They lose gas and the compressor will run more often (sometime constantly!).

Seals go as well which doesn’t help.

 

[JohnK]

A laptop shouldnt be a large power user. I have a laptop on docking station almost 24*7 and it has no material effect on power consumption.

The more likely culprits are appliances with poor energy star ratings usually older fridges, washing machines, dryers, heaters, kettles, electric stoves (especially if older style coil elements), hair dryers and air conditioning. Boiling the kettle once uses more power than running a laptop for several hours.

Have you been home more days this winter (as opposed to travelling)?

We don't have that many appliances.

Fridge that is only 2 years old but is a lemon and LG played hardball so I didn't ask them to come out as the issue with fridge was and still is intermittent.

Microwave, stove, slow cooker, fan in bathroom that starts when lights on, vacuum cleaner, small heater used a few hours a night, tower fan used in summer only, laptop, charging 3 phones and tablet.

The experiment I did yesterday and today ruled out the majority of appliances. It has to be laptop or the wall plug I use to charge laptop.

 

[ketsuzei]

Would of
Could of
Should of

Must of
Might of

Had of

 

[SYD]

Would of
Could of
Should of

Must of
Might of

Had of

Especially covering up one’s own mistakes - eg I would of booked another flight if I knew the non-refundable flight was actually non-refundable…,

 

[Gremlin]

We don't have that many appliances.

Fridge that is only 2 years old but is a lemon and LG played hardball so I didn't ask them to come out as the issue with fridge was and still is intermittent.

Microwave, stove, slow cooker, fan in bathroom that starts when lights on, vacuum cleaner, small heater used a few hours a night, tower fan used in summer only, laptop, charging 3 phones and tablet.

The experiment I did yesterday and today ruled out the majority of appliances. It has to be laptop or the wall plug I use to charge laptop.

If you've got known problems with the fridge, that'd be the first place I'd look for excess electricity usage.

I'm sure this is not you, but one of our neighbours was complaining about how their electricity usage had increased dramatically and they couldn't figure out why. In other news, they'd recently purchased a Tesla...

 

[eastwest101]

If you've got known problems with the fridge, that'd be the first place I'd look for excess electricity usage.

I'm sure this is not you, but one of our neighbours was complaining about how their electricity usage had increased dramatically and they couldn't figure out why. In other news, they'd recently purchased a Tesla...

Agree, a fridge on its last legs can turn into a monster, I just replaced a failed fridge that doubled my normal monthly power bill.

 

[Hvr]

In other news, they'd recently purchased a Tesla...

They should've used some electricity to turn on the lights.

 

[Pushka]

Agree, a fridge on its last legs can turn into a monster, I just replaced a failed fridge that doubled my normal monthly power bill.

It’s kind of a trade off. Old style fridges last for ever but cost a bomb to run or new style fridges that are power efficient and last a minute!

 

[JessicaTam]

If it is not foggy ... Turn your damn fog lights off!

That is all.

 

[Hvr]

If it is not foggy ... Turn your damn fog lights off!

You're referring to the weather.
Their thinking is foggy, therefore they need the fog lights on because they're not very bright.

Hope that explains the mistery.

 

[CMA222]

Todays Coles email heading is:

Grate savings on your weekly specials

but there is nothing to grate. Gaytimes, Drumsticks or soup ? Have they just lost it with the younger generation missing out on spelling lessons and understanding great vs grate ??

I am obviously getting too old.

 

[JohnK]

Agree, a fridge on its last legs can turn into a monster, I just replaced a failed fridge that doubled my normal monthly power bill.

It's a 2 year old brand new fridge. Problems started occurring well within warranty but they were intermittent. LG said if they send repair person out and they find nothing wrong that I'd be billed for the visit.

Fridge only $1000 but it's still money but now fridge well outside warranty. Not sure bringing a repair person out to try and fix would be worth it especially with ridiculous call out fees and cost of repair.

I've done some rough calculations and with current electricity usage my next quarterly bill is going to be close to $800 if not more which is almost triple my previous bill and well above current bill.

This is the society we created. I buy a faulty product and I'm liable because these greedy corporations are not held responsible for the junk they sell. I should expect at least 10 years of stress free use from a $1000 fridge. I've also lost count of the food we've thrown it as it does not last long in the fridge. And then there's chance of food poisoning or sickness for wife and daughter.

So what do I do now? Spend $1000 on another fridge? My last 3 fridges have been lemons. What chance the next one doesn't have issues? Murphy is over there smiling....