Four months ago, my energy meter was upgraded to a Landis+Gyr U-Series E350 (www.landisgyr.com.au/product/landisgyr-u-series-e350/) from a nondescript beige meter with an orange button. My energy bill has doubled from approximately $240 to $510 (20kW/day), despite having a 20-panel 8kw solar system and no air conditioning usage and nothing that would consume that much. I contacted my provider, who suggested raising my AC temperature to 24?C from off, (I typically set it to 27?C when needed), and then they offered to conduct another meter reading, which yielded the same results.
Has anyone had a similar experience?
I think I saw something in the news about someone's meter being wired up incorrectly so production was measured as usuge.
Sounds like they put a "smart meter" in and now they can charge you higher amounts at peak hour when you use the oven or stove to cook.
Alot of electricity companies say you will save on off peak, but if read the plan and you will see peak hour doubles in price and off peak they only take a few cents off.
Change to a flat rate to stop being stung of peak and off peak times.
Another trick electricity companies used is a "demand charge"
Make sure no matter how good a plan looks that it doesn't have a demand charge.
For example a demand charge might be only afew cents but they times it by the your highest half hour kw usage in the whole month and times that by the days in the month and times it again by the demand charge.
Demand charge of 50c X 15kw (a rainy day when you ran the toaster at the same time as the cloths dryer and cooking a lamb in the oven.) X 30 days = and extra $225 per month.
I got $17.34cr with Net Export 120 Units.
Last year: 662
Last bill: 1485
This bill: 1507
Select to expand quotesnoidberg said..
Alot of electricity companies say you will save on off peak, but if read the plan and you will see peak hour doubles in price and off peak they only take a few cents off.
I'm on a flat rate of 30.8120 cents per unit. I'm fairly cognizant of my energy usage, and I know what each appliance consumes, so I try to keep my totals during the day to below 5kW. Therefore, I don't turn the coffee machine and the kettle on at the same time while the pool pump is running (10:00-16:00hrs daily). I've put power meters on the fridges and the bore pump. The bore pump averages 23kW monthly, so it's approximately $15 for the 2 month billing period. The combined fridges use around 60kW per month, making them the highest-consuming devices I can measure.
To measure the entire house, I would need to replace the breakers with "smart" relays that have a measurement feature like www.amazon.com.au/Shelly-Home-Relais-Schaltaktor-Messfunktion/dp/B0B4HL537H/. However, this model only goes up to 16A, and most of the devices I can't measure are on a 20A.
Do you know if your bill has gone up, or the measured consumption? You should be able to read the measured consumption changes on your account on the company's web site.
There was something on the news the other week where the wholesaler moved to a peak pricing model so the customer's bills went up hugely. The retailer did not advise the customer because they claimed it was the wholesaler changing the infrastructure so it wasn't their responsibility.
www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-09/energy-companies-under-fire-over-time-of-use-rates/103655324
My provider says my meter doesn't support that feature, i.e., the ability to view your consumption on their website, because that's the first thing they suggested I do, and then said, "Oh, yours doesn't support this."
However the meter does display a kW value which is going up crazy fast with nothing on.
Select to expand quoteFlySurfer said..
My provider says my meter doesn't support that feature, i.e., the ability to view your consumption on their website, because that's the first thing they suggested I do, and then said, "Oh, yours doesn't support this."
However the meter does display a kW value which is going up crazy fast with nothing on.
Do the numbers you can view make any sense to you?
Western Power use these meters, at least mine is one of those.
Have a look at the values mentioned in this thread:
forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2786825
"
Press the left grey button for these channels.
04 Time
05 Date
07 Total kWh Consumption (A1 Tariff)
10 kWh Consumption - Total Current Rate A
20 kWh Consumption - Total Current Rate B
30 kWh Consumption - Total Current Rate C
40 kWh Consumption - Total Current Rate D
88 Test Display
For Generations channels. Hold the left hand grey button for two seconds until "Alt 1" is displayed.
47 Total kWh Generation (A1 Tariff)
50 kWh Generation - Total Current Rate A
60 kWh Generation - Total Current Rate C
70 kWh Generation - Total Current Rate B
80 kWh Generation - Total Current Rate D
"
I can't see the generation channels, as I don't have a solar setup, but the first bit definitely works.
Past bills should have the meter reading. The readings month to month and year to year should be similar. It should be easy enough to compare the bills and see what has changed.
Old meter showed avg. consumption of 312 units a month.
New meter shows avg. consumption of 748 units a month.
Nothing has changed in the house.
Supplier is acting dumb and not interested.
I have placed power meters on heavy consuming appliances, and it matches the old meter, however this is just on circuits with plugs and not 24hr monitoring of all consumption.
What should I do?
Select to expand quoteremery said..
I think I saw something in the news about someone's meter being wired up incorrectly so production was measured as usuge.
Instead of measuring individual appliances, why not just take a single power usage reading at the same point that the power meter does? There are a few consumer products that do this. Ideally you'd get something that can tell the difference between 'real' power and 'apparent' power, (i.e. kW vs KVA) so you'd get an accurate reading.
My electricity bills also turned red from few hundred dollars credit to pay now bills regardless of 20kw solar panel .
Strange because our electricity usage dropped after kids left home to their own .
I hope that battery will get cheaper soon . Specifically new type of sodium battery could promise price drop becomes economical even for grid tie homes.
I assume that 30 to 50 kWh hours battery should be sufficient. At manufacturing cost $50 per kWh it should not be a dream only.
Select to expand quoteHarrow said..
Instead of measuring individual appliances, why not just take a single power usage reading at the same point that the power meter does? There are a few consumer products that do this. Ideally you'd get something that can tell the difference between 'real' power and 'apparent' power, (i.e. kW vs KVA) so you'd get an accurate reading.
That's the obvious way to do it, and I bought the equipment. The problem is, all electricians want more than $3.5k just to unscrew four screws and place coils around some fuse wires. They won't do it unless they supply certified equipment and get a new board because it's asbestos.
Still trying to get the meter investigated, but it now shows much lower consumption.
Select to expand quoteMacroscien said..
My electricity bills also turned red from few hundred dollars credit to pay now bills regardless of 20kw solar panel .
Strange because our electricity usage dropped after kids left home to their own .
I hope that battery will get cheaper soon . Specifically new type of sodium battery could promise price drop becomes economical even for grid tie homes.
I assume that 30 to 50 kWh hours battery should be sufficient. At manufacturing cost $50 per kWh it should not be a dream only.
Theres an old bloke who bumbles about on youtube who did some sodium battery tests and im pretty sure the outcome wasnt great ill try find it
