High Electric Bill for Residential House

Whether the energy meter is calibrated?

If yes check whether the validity is over.

If not advise him to do the calibration of energy meter..

I think it will be better after this step moving to the next actions...

Yesterday(4.1.11) I went to the site:

The energy meter was changed by the utility almost 6 months ago.And also the house was rewired in 2003(according to him).

I'll give you a list of things that will cause a dramatic increase in power bills. This list is generic but should give you a pointer as to where to look.

Fridges, Freezers and Air Conditioners;

If the seals on the doors of the fridges & Freezers are in poor condition that will dramatically affect the performance of those devices. The compressors will run virtually continuously trying to chill the food space.

If the fridges are old they may no longer be as efficient as later newer types.

Air Conditioners will struggle if the temperature setting is set too cold again causing the compressor to run continuously. If the AC is low on gas it may not be as efficient as it once was. Also running the AC with doors and windows open will cause high power bills.

Electric Heaters;

Oil Filled heaters are fine for small closed rooms but are just current sinks in large rooms.

Small Fan heaters work well for medium closed rooms, but can draw the maximum rated current (for the power supply of one power point)depending on model.

Bathroom Towel, Toilet seat, Bar heaters, These are surruptitious in operation, and Teenagers are prone to turning them on and forgetting to turn them off when finished.

Electric Blankets, If these are not switched off in the morning, then it will have a significant impact on the power bill. Teenagers are usualy the main offender for leaving them on 24/7.

Clothes Dryers, Excessive use of clothes dryers will impact hard on the power bill. Teenage girls are the main culprit here. Teenage boys don't wash their clothes that's Mum's (Mom's) job.

Lighting;

Outside paraflood or spotlight style lighting, is fine but if left on overnight (potentially through the next day) will clock the bill up.

Downlights, these are usually used as an "architectural" device instead of more efficient lighting. Replacing the incandescant globe with either a CFL or LED will improve the power use somewhat though it will affect the light output.

Swimming pool/Spa Equipment;

The filter pump on a swimming pool is usually controlled by a timer of some sort. The duration of operation of the pump will affect the power bill. If the pump's timer has been overidden (for pool maintenance purposes) and then not switched back that will impact significantly on the bill.

Solar heating recirculating pumps controlled by their temperature controllers, can be incorrectly set which will cause the pumps to run continuously. That gets expensive.

Spa pumps, Blowers and electric heaters are usually controlled by demand. It has been known for people(usually teenagers) to forget to turn off the spa equipment after their use. That will impact pretty heavily on the power bill.

Kitchen Stove/Oven; If electric I'd be checking that the controls actually switch off the elements, any element that isn't cold to touch after a couple of hours the stove has been turned off, will be suspect.

Plug in appliances like slow cooking hot pots will also clock up the bills if not switched off properly after use.

General appliances, If your customer has a lot of appliances like Plasma TV's then that too will affect the power bill. Plasma TV's more so due in part to the high standby power draw and the much higher than CRT TV operating power requirement.

This is not an exhaustive list, but they are the main culprits for high power usage in the home.

In the Busted Arse State in Oz, the power bills have been hiked by the "essentially" government instrumentality in charge. So for no fault of the consumer they face bills the are an increase of a third over the same period the previous year. Which is kind of galling when you inspect the bill and find you have used less power than last year but are paying more for it.

What we normally do in california,just reverse the rotation of meter. Change incomer and outgoings for the units you want to reduce.

This is a facetious (humorously false) statement, don't take it seriously.

Sorry, for posting our Californian secrets..........Of course you cant agree with that. Your address is given.

It used to work 30 years ago, as did the gas meter!

Is this a consistently higher usage or maybe just one-time misread of the utility meter?

What was the baseline usage and what is the new value [kW-hrs]?

Very cold weather here now normally triggers higher electric and natural gas usage. Any significant weather changes in your region? Without more data it is difficult to diagnose specific causes.

After visiting the site yesterday,I don't think if is the misread of the utility meter!

The average usege for 3 months ago(from his records) is about 545kWh/month.

What I have done first is to evaluate his total load:

1.TV= 4(the large one screened 32")

2.Refridgerator(defective thermostat)

3.computer =2

4.Electric Iron

5.electric/gas cooker(electricity for ignition process only)

6.Sub- immersed water pump(switched on manually 2times daily)

7.Energy saver lights inside the main house= 12

8.Outside =14(energy savers)

9.Ceiling fan =5

10.Music system.

From the above listed loads,even if they are not in use at a time and lack of knowledge of how energy can be lost unnecessary if not controlled,the 545kWH per month is not large as such.

He has been paying an average of Tsh 100,000(from his latest records) per month.(Government taxes sum up to 22%)

I have adviced him trying to control his usage first within 1 week and see if there is any changes.Then if not, further steps like utility meter calibration can be done.

Suggest!

1 US$ = 1450-1500 Tsh

While my loads are slightly different, I am also averaging about 550kW-hr per month and my local costs are VERY close to the numbers you provided. I have already switched to high efficiency lighting and take care to turn off unnecessary items. Old refrigerators can be large energy sinks. Upgrading to a new one could provide significant savings. Sorry I don't have any other practical suggestions that could substantially lower this customers usage.

I mentioned meter misread because it was done TO me a couple years ago. One very LARGE bill came with an obvious meter read error. I paid but complained. Following (2nd) month was NO charge (they posted a credit), 3rd month charge was very small, and 4th month charge was back to normal. Error corrects itself eventually, but large charge was am unpleasant surprise.

You do not state your location so I will take a simple shot in the dark...............Has the outdoor temperature in you area been cooler/colder due to seasonal change?..........Does the customer have electric heat?

The location is DSM-Tanzania,the outdoor temperatuture is relatively high but the owner does not possess ACs.The customer doesn't have heater.

What I have seen pop up lately here in California is pot growers who tap into their neighbor's electricity somewhere and run an underground circuit to power their grow lights. law enforcement uses unusual electricity bills as a way to find growers.

There was one caught last year in a remote part of northern Calif., the run was almost 300ft. They caught him because the neighbor was not home for a month and complained about their bill, assuming it was because of a recent "smart meter" upgrade. When the utility guy showed up to check the meter, he found the illicit connection. The grower had used an underground tunneling ram to get a flex pipe into the basement while the neighbors were out of town. Tapped directly into the bus of the load center, no breaker so nobody would easily notice, then ran #8 wire for a 30A circuit. He used the right size conductors for voltage drop, must have had some electrician training or help.