Over the past year, I noted an average increase in my daily home consumption of electricity of 11 kWh per day (from 45 to 56 daily). This is based on a comparison of usage records for the same months in different years, so similar weather and other circumstances. I have not added anything that would increase usage, and in fact have been keeping the AC set higher than normal (82-84 instead of 78-80). So, I cannot figure why usage would increase this much per Day.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what could cause that type of increase or any device that will help find the problem? Is it possible that the electric meter from the electric company is not operating correctly as well?
?2013-06-18T19:26:28Z
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Hi, native AZ. You don't state how many years you've got data on, or anything you've replaced that's a high-use device, so still a little fuzzy. A year or even two may not tell you much, but, if the detail's in the bill, note the average daily temp compared to last year, which, for a given month, can shed some light on this. My current bill (Apr 24 thru 5-24), for example, shows 70high/40low vs. last year's 78high/54low, and an average kWh per day of 18 vs. last years 24, which makes sense to me. (This is a three bed home of about 1800 sq ft, by the way.)
Sure, the meter can be an issue, although not likely, but fine to get it checked. On the same call to the utility provider, you can discuss the issue more, and/or ask for summary billing data for your location, easier than digging through old bills (if you even kept them).
Also possible that an old power-hog appliance has gone south and is weak or failing. Prime suspects for you probably the A/C, refrigerators, freezers, at this point in early summer, or anything else that either heats or cools. Or a change in use for something already there, like more use of the high-temp "Pots and pans" setting on a dishwasher. Or a teen increasing use of grooming hand appliances like salon hair dryers, curlers, etc, especially if left on, and on, and on. People change, and so do their habits. Last thing here that got my attention was an electric outdoor "turkey fryer".
Again, the utility company may help you sort this out, lend you a "check meter", which can help pinpoint problems, or do an energy audit for some detail. Finally, if the place has a few years on it, the window and door seals may be getting tired and leaky, etc.
Try shutting off all power at the breaker box in your apartment, then look at the meter to see if it's still spinning like crazy. If so then someone has tapped into your lines. Electric rates are extremely convoluted, bureaucratically controlled monsters. I would have blamed the meter reader first, because they regularly miss a spot on the dials and 'mistakenly' add an extra 1000 kwh (they never seem to under-estimate it, though...). I almost always read the meter on the day the meter-reader comes out, then I call up customer service and complain, especially in summer months when the wattage above 600 kwh becomes MUCH more expensive (every power company has their own charging scheme...mine charges more above 600 kwh during the summer months). 6 kwh per hour is insane, that's more than an electric clothes dryer running for a month non-stop. Is someone plugging in a Chevy Volt through the window when you're not looking?? You'd have to leave all the windows open and the electric oven on while running the AC at max to use that much. Or leave an uninsulated electric-heated hot-tub spa outside in the dead of winter set at 100 degrees F. I would guess August should've been 2700 and that the meter reader over-estimated July by a thousand kwh, but all of those rates are much higher than they should be. I weatherproofed the entire house two years ago and the average per month usage dropped from 2000 kwh to 900. The biggest effect was when I put a $17 hot-water heater blanket around the electric water heater and saved $500 a year in electricity because of it.
Your usage is extremely low, so a change of 11kwh would be quite noticeable. In reality, it could be things like phone and computer chargers plugged in all day, stereo sucking lots of power, "instant on" features on TV set, etc. Your increase is only around 500 watts per hour. That could result from just leaving the canlights on in the kitchen. You keep good records, so walk around your home, and look for new/different things. You don't say whether the increase was more in cold weather, more in hot weather, or plain vanilla 330 kWh every month. Lots of good clues in that info.
That is not much of a difference , but turning the ac higher means it runs longer and will come on more often. Set your ac back to where you had it and see if everything is normal. You may also have taken more showers or done more laundry. Installed higher wattage light bulbs, too many possibilities to list
does anybody new live in the house? another person gives off latent heat and uses more electricity. you know? also you might try insulating your water heater, if it's electric. best guess. GL with it! jim