OK. So how many days was that 120kWh spread over? 7 and it’s 17/day or a constant load of around 700w. 5 and it’s 24/day and a constant kilowatt. So you need to consider if it’s a constant load or something switching on and off. An old, large, and possibly faulty 2 door freezer could easily account for a large chunk of that. We had one that when we swapped it out our elec bill dropped by literally 20%. Your smart bulb could not consume that amount
7 days. The appliances are old and crappy (built in IKEA setup supplied by the landlord)
To be clear, I don't think it's the bulb itself. Just wondering if it's possible that when I installed the new fixture I did something wrong and it somehow is pulling a large amount of electricity when not on.
No, nothing you could do to the bulb wiring could cause that (short of connecting up a heater while you were at it!). Do you know the meter readings are accurate, particularly that first one? Are you 100% sure you’re looking at your meter? Easy to test, by manually switching a heavy load and watching the meter speed up / flash faster in time with switching the load. Try taking two daily readings everyday at similar times and see what’s going on, is it still 17kWh per day or more?
Good point. Just double checked to make sure. Definitely ours. Turning the oven on and off made only ours speed up and slow down.
Definitely going to take readings more often. I just checked and we've used 11 kWh in the last 18 hours since we got back. No oven use other than the 30 seconds it was on to test the meter, but we did run the washer and dryer in that time.
So that 11kWh is slightly less than that used when away, despite running a wash/dry cycle plus whatever else might get used normally. Any communal areas that might feed off your place? Especially a power socket that someone might have used while you were away? Try turning off your main power and see if anyone else appears to be affected.
I always suggest on these type of posts to get a device that tracks your real time usage, like an Emerald electricity advisor, it sits on your meter and records all usage. It's also handy to turn everything off and see if your still drawing power. You can also isolate fuses then track usage also. You could also try turning all your fuses off and hang around the meter box until someone comes wondering why there tv is off, or walk around and see if the carpark lights go off or something.
are you sure you're on your own meter for electricity? Do you get a bill from a meter read each month or is this an average bill? If you're a new renter and the bill for the location usually spikes your utility company may be giving you the estimated rate.
You probably need to look to your bill not the smart bulb.
How long have you been there?
I did some math and that usage would be like you leaving your oven on for the week so....
You might be "sharing" unknowlinly a meter and a bill.
That's my best guess.
We've been here for 4 years. The usage has always seemed somewhat high in proportion to what we use but within at least normal bounds. It has spiked recently which is why I was concerned about the new fixture.
The electric company only does annual readings and billing and everything is manual (we send in the meter reading at the end of the year and they calculate the usage and reset the monthly rate for the next year). I've occasionally done interim readings but nothing regular.
You did not install a new oven when you were out of town, correct?
I'd ask your utility company for an "energy audit"
There are a bunch who will send out a representative to sell you crap....
let's see what your useage really is.
Have you had anyone do the math on your bill?
What are you using in your apartment and what that usage should be? If you moved in and your bill was $200 a month and you said OK and you now realize that's really high when it hit $250 - you might want to do a deep dive.
I'm not saying you're paying someone else's bill but I would look at that
I admit I'm doing drunk math but it would take approximately 50 hours of continuous use for an electric oven with a power rating of 2400 watts to consume around 120 kWh. That wasn't a smart bulb spike.
Ha, yeah no new ovens.
For reference, we used 4717 kWh in all of 2023. I just did the math and from 1 Jan 24 to 17 Feb 24 we used 905 kWh (a week of which we weren't even home), which would put it on track for nearly 7000 kWh for the year.
even weirder. You will need to find out what is going on. The only other thing I can think of is if you had your AC on and it's single phasing but not blowing up (basically it's trying to pull what needs for power through one wire instead of two... math and electrical math required to explain but an A/C unit that is half dead can do this)
Was you A/C running while you were away?
The averaged bill is a problem, as you are not seeing what your usage is in detail. I suggest you take a reading weekly for your own records until the problem is solved, and get your own electrician in to diagnose.
It’s quite a bit of disappearing electricity, 600w or so permanently connected or a much higher periodic drain.
The most benign cause would be some building system accidently wired into your apartment circuit - door locks, fire safety maybe. Then there is the possibility of a short circuit or deliberate misappropriation.
I hope you comment again when you get the answer!
Yeah I don't care for the average billed stuff. Last place we lived had the smart meters where I could see usage by the hour. This is the polar opposite of that.
700W constantly should be easy to identify because whatever is using it will be hot. What about radiators in the hallways? Definitely using hot water? Electric towel rail? Underfloor heating? Immersion heater?
Meters do develop faults, though.
Steps I’d be taking:
1. Turn off the main switch for my apartment and see what happens to the meter. If it keeps recording use (red light flashing or wheel spinning), you know that the problem isn’t in your apartment.
2. See if you can isolate at the meter and wait to see which neighbour starts complaining.
3. Buy a cheap clip on current meter and stick it around either the live or neutral (this won’t work if they’re combined in a single cable) leaving the meter. This will confirm whether it’s a meter fault or not.
I work for a local electric utility and have had a few calls similar to this. Typically it’s caused by a large appliance going bad. Most common I’ve seen is HVAC. The only real way to immediately identify the problem is to have a meter with a clamp that can check amperage.
DISCLAIMER: DO NOT ATTEMPT this if you are not 100% confident in what you’re working with. It’s much safer to call an electrician, and it shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg for them to check amps for you. Open the panel cover up to expose to LIVE wires inside of the panel. Use the amp meter to take a reading on both hot legs coming into the unit to see if they’re pulling a high constant load. (The math I saw before writing this said you should see about 5-6amps) If they are, you can go down the panel to see which specific breaker is causing a jump. Easiest way is to turn everything off and then turn each one on individually until you see that load jump again. If it jumps up you’ve most likely identified the breaker feeding the culprit. Find someone that specializes in that device or replace it. Again, do not attempt this unless you understand what you’re doing.
Electricity can kill you and it will probably hurt the whole time you’re dying. Alternatively you could have your meter swapped with someone else. If you know where your meter is outside. (Match the meter number to your bill) you should see a breaker outside. You can turn that off and verify YOUR power in your unit turned off to confirm that meter feeds your unit to eliminate the possibility of a meter swap.
First confirm last month wasn't an estimated bill then this month was an actual bill. Some utilities if they can't get the meter read will skip the month, bill you based on an average then make up for it the next month with the difference.
Water heater?
Happened to me, water heater sprung a leak.
Same. My electric bill went up $200 a month due to a dripping shower in an unused back bath.
Water heater is gas and shared by the rest of the building. We get billed separately for that.
OK. So how many days was that 120kWh spread over? 7 and it’s 17/day or a constant load of around 700w. 5 and it’s 24/day and a constant kilowatt. So you need to consider if it’s a constant load or something switching on and off. An old, large, and possibly faulty 2 door freezer could easily account for a large chunk of that. We had one that when we swapped it out our elec bill dropped by literally 20%. Your smart bulb could not consume that amount
7 days. The appliances are old and crappy (built in IKEA setup supplied by the landlord) To be clear, I don't think it's the bulb itself. Just wondering if it's possible that when I installed the new fixture I did something wrong and it somehow is pulling a large amount of electricity when not on.
No, nothing you could do to the bulb wiring could cause that (short of connecting up a heater while you were at it!). Do you know the meter readings are accurate, particularly that first one? Are you 100% sure you’re looking at your meter? Easy to test, by manually switching a heavy load and watching the meter speed up / flash faster in time with switching the load. Try taking two daily readings everyday at similar times and see what’s going on, is it still 17kWh per day or more?
Good point. Just double checked to make sure. Definitely ours. Turning the oven on and off made only ours speed up and slow down. Definitely going to take readings more often. I just checked and we've used 11 kWh in the last 18 hours since we got back. No oven use other than the 30 seconds it was on to test the meter, but we did run the washer and dryer in that time.
So that 11kWh is slightly less than that used when away, despite running a wash/dry cycle plus whatever else might get used normally. Any communal areas that might feed off your place? Especially a power socket that someone might have used while you were away? Try turning off your main power and see if anyone else appears to be affected.
I always suggest on these type of posts to get a device that tracks your real time usage, like an Emerald electricity advisor, it sits on your meter and records all usage. It's also handy to turn everything off and see if your still drawing power. You can also isolate fuses then track usage also. You could also try turning all your fuses off and hang around the meter box until someone comes wondering why there tv is off, or walk around and see if the carpark lights go off or something.
are you sure you're on your own meter for electricity? Do you get a bill from a meter read each month or is this an average bill? If you're a new renter and the bill for the location usually spikes your utility company may be giving you the estimated rate. You probably need to look to your bill not the smart bulb. How long have you been there? I did some math and that usage would be like you leaving your oven on for the week so.... You might be "sharing" unknowlinly a meter and a bill. That's my best guess.
We've been here for 4 years. The usage has always seemed somewhat high in proportion to what we use but within at least normal bounds. It has spiked recently which is why I was concerned about the new fixture. The electric company only does annual readings and billing and everything is manual (we send in the meter reading at the end of the year and they calculate the usage and reset the monthly rate for the next year). I've occasionally done interim readings but nothing regular.
You did not install a new oven when you were out of town, correct? I'd ask your utility company for an "energy audit" There are a bunch who will send out a representative to sell you crap.... let's see what your useage really is. Have you had anyone do the math on your bill? What are you using in your apartment and what that usage should be? If you moved in and your bill was $200 a month and you said OK and you now realize that's really high when it hit $250 - you might want to do a deep dive. I'm not saying you're paying someone else's bill but I would look at that I admit I'm doing drunk math but it would take approximately 50 hours of continuous use for an electric oven with a power rating of 2400 watts to consume around 120 kWh. That wasn't a smart bulb spike.
Ha, yeah no new ovens. For reference, we used 4717 kWh in all of 2023. I just did the math and from 1 Jan 24 to 17 Feb 24 we used 905 kWh (a week of which we weren't even home), which would put it on track for nearly 7000 kWh for the year.
Do you have a new neighbor? You have a shared meter issue is my guess.
No new neighbor. In fact, someone moved out in December so one of the apartments has been vacant for 2 months.
even weirder. You will need to find out what is going on. The only other thing I can think of is if you had your AC on and it's single phasing but not blowing up (basically it's trying to pull what needs for power through one wire instead of two... math and electrical math required to explain but an A/C unit that is half dead can do this) Was you A/C running while you were away?
No AC in the building 😢
Is it cold where you live in January and February? How is the apartment heated?
Yes it's cold, although it's been unseasonably warm this year. We have radiators that use the same gas boiler as the hot water
The averaged bill is a problem, as you are not seeing what your usage is in detail. I suggest you take a reading weekly for your own records until the problem is solved, and get your own electrician in to diagnose. It’s quite a bit of disappearing electricity, 600w or so permanently connected or a much higher periodic drain. The most benign cause would be some building system accidently wired into your apartment circuit - door locks, fire safety maybe. Then there is the possibility of a short circuit or deliberate misappropriation. I hope you comment again when you get the answer!
Yeah I don't care for the average billed stuff. Last place we lived had the smart meters where I could see usage by the hour. This is the polar opposite of that.
We had something go bad in the outdoor half of our air conditioner (which was also a heat pump) and cause lots of extra usage.
There’s also the possibility there’s some plug outside the apartment that someone plugged into
700W constantly should be easy to identify because whatever is using it will be hot. What about radiators in the hallways? Definitely using hot water? Electric towel rail? Underfloor heating? Immersion heater? Meters do develop faults, though. Steps I’d be taking: 1. Turn off the main switch for my apartment and see what happens to the meter. If it keeps recording use (red light flashing or wheel spinning), you know that the problem isn’t in your apartment. 2. See if you can isolate at the meter and wait to see which neighbour starts complaining. 3. Buy a cheap clip on current meter and stick it around either the live or neutral (this won’t work if they’re combined in a single cable) leaving the meter. This will confirm whether it’s a meter fault or not.
I work for a local electric utility and have had a few calls similar to this. Typically it’s caused by a large appliance going bad. Most common I’ve seen is HVAC. The only real way to immediately identify the problem is to have a meter with a clamp that can check amperage. DISCLAIMER: DO NOT ATTEMPT this if you are not 100% confident in what you’re working with. It’s much safer to call an electrician, and it shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg for them to check amps for you. Open the panel cover up to expose to LIVE wires inside of the panel. Use the amp meter to take a reading on both hot legs coming into the unit to see if they’re pulling a high constant load. (The math I saw before writing this said you should see about 5-6amps) If they are, you can go down the panel to see which specific breaker is causing a jump. Easiest way is to turn everything off and then turn each one on individually until you see that load jump again. If it jumps up you’ve most likely identified the breaker feeding the culprit. Find someone that specializes in that device or replace it. Again, do not attempt this unless you understand what you’re doing. Electricity can kill you and it will probably hurt the whole time you’re dying. Alternatively you could have your meter swapped with someone else. If you know where your meter is outside. (Match the meter number to your bill) you should see a breaker outside. You can turn that off and verify YOUR power in your unit turned off to confirm that meter feeds your unit to eliminate the possibility of a meter swap.
First confirm last month wasn't an estimated bill then this month was an actual bill. Some utilities if they can't get the meter read will skip the month, bill you based on an average then make up for it the next month with the difference.