Pre-paid meter over charging?

[Justloadit]

All the electronic stuff put together excluding heaters and pumps would draw somewhere under a one Kwatt hour, so there you have already 6Kwatts, so another 500watts an hour used somewhere.

Get yourself an OWL -to monitor in real time your consumption. You can then switch circuit breakers off to see what is actually consuming the power.

[mother]

Oh goodie! I like checklists! Thanks Andy.

I'm guessing you mean 9 kWh.

Heating (under floor, panel heaters etc) - None
Geyser element - I suppose yes
Geyser timer clock - I suppose yes
Cellphone and laptop chargers - None plugged in
Cordless house phone system - No
Server - No
PC's / computers running - Switched off
Any external USB devices plugged into a computer - No
Hi-Fi, DVD player, TV, stove, microwave etc on standby - Switched off, not on standby
Satellite decoder - On standby
Analogue TV mast amplifier - erm, what?
House alarm/fire system - None
Electric fence - None
Motorized gate battery charger - None
Motorized garage door battery charger - None
Ceiling fans - Definitely off
Bedroom toys - hehehehe all off
Pool pump / chlorinator / pool light / pool timer clock - None
Irrigation controller / battery charger / Tank liquid level sensing equip - None
Porch lighting, boundary lighting, security lighting - All off
Electric blanket - None
Radio alarm clock - None
Plug-in mosquito repeller - None
ADSL router / switch - Ok this was on
Fridge & Freezer both on
are a few hings that spring to mind immediately.

I guess I'll have to invest in that bird then...

[Sparks]

7-9kWh is what mine is on average: 2 geysers; 3TVs' on standby; 1TV on; PC on standby; router on and about 200W lighting all night.
My average cost pm is about R450-R600 depending on how much we use the 2 ovens. Having a gas hob does help. The washing machine, huge automatic, runs nearly every day as here is a two-year old.

[AndyD]

.....nothing ridiculous or leaking.

This got me thinking how much the earth leakage of your electrical installation could cost you.

If your earth leakage is 30mA and your breaker is just hanging in then
30/1000x220
gives you a 6.6 watt load
6.6/1000 = 0.0066kW times 744 hours in a month = 4.91 units of electricity (kWh)
So your earth leakage fault current could cost you up to about R6.00/ month depending on your tariff.

Sorry, not very relevant, I was just bored

[bergie]

what about stuff thats not connected to earth leakage relay.geyser?could be quite relevant.

[Dave A]

Thermostat was on 60, I now turned it down to 50 (lets see if it helps).

I wouldn't set it below 60 degrees C for water quality/health reasons. Just as with food, there are nasties that can breed in warm water and it takes temperature to kill them. 60 degrees is as low as you should go.

[AndyD]

Is this an official recommendation? I've seen many geysers set below 60°C and there seems to be a trend of people setting them as low as possible to save on power.

[Martinco]

I have an add-on solar heating system and it is programmed automatically to once a week take the temperature to 75 degrees to "kill off the bugs "
So there is merit in what Dave says.

[Justloadit]

I am sure we have had a discussion about this before, but I can not find it now. The main culprit is Legionella

[mother]

Aw man! In other words, turn that thermostat back up to 60, and never ever get into a jacuzi / hot water spring / heated pool again ...

[Sparks]

That is actually interesting Dave, I thought the "leaking" was referring to water. But since you mention it, I once had the problem of a high electricity bill and on investigation found a few electrical leaks where T&E had been stripped. There was a constant leakage the current of which I do not recall. Good things tong testers. After fixing it the bill was still high, although reduced. I could not fathom it out untill the plumber who called me in on the job mentioned in passing that he was baffled as to why the waterpipes were hot at the back of the building despite the fact that the geyser was not set high. The joints in the cavity were leaking water. That obviously kept the thermostat going.

[murdock]

i connected a geyser yesterday and noticed it had something interesting on the label...leakage current over a 24 hour period.

[AndyD]

i connected a geyser yesterday and noticed it had something interesting on the label...leakage current over a 24 hour period.

I don't understand your post which I suspect was Mod edited. Please explain.

[murdock]

http://www.kwikot.co.za/Maintenance/Maintenance.php

on the green label in has what i think states standing loss/24hr ...2.16 kwh...i am not sure what this means.

[Greg]

I think that refers to the heat loss over a 24Hr period if no water is used.(In other words the power it would require to get it back to the temperature it was set at.)