Electric leak/power theft

[DerpiesFreud]

Uuh I`ve been noticing a really high electricity usage(Im using a prepaid meter)

had 60 units at 1pm yesterday,down to 54 by 10pm,
we have a solar geyser with an electric element override that was on from 5pm to 7pm

from 10pm to 1am units are 51 down from 54,3 units in 3 hours :wtf:

No heaters,no AC,no electrical stove
only used the kettle thrice today,

pcs use less than 500w/hr total and only ran for 5 hours


wtf is going on :wtf:

 

[reactor_sa]

Well your geyser element is most commonly 3kw, so if the solar isn't coping you will be using 3 units per hour just on the geyser.

 

[sgs]

Don't know the details, but 10 units a day for e.g. 1 person in a flat is pretty good. For a house that would be exceptional. So doesn't sound too bad to me?

But since you're prepaid, why not switch on your geyser and see how much power it chows? Maybe it's thermostat is stuck - which as already said would explain 6 units already...

 

[DerpiesFreud]

Don't know the details, but 10 units a day for e.g. 1 person in a flat is pretty good. For a house that would be exceptional. So doesn't sound too bad to me?
well there`s 3 of us in the house
But since you're prepaid, why not switch on your geyser and see how much power it chows? Maybe it's thermostat is stuck - which as already said would explain 6 units already...

Yeah thats what I`m thinking...
but normally 150-200 units lasts us the entire month,which is 5-7 units a day
so thats pretty high

I checked now and we`re at 47
clearly something is fishy :erm:

 

[Pooky]

How much do units cost?

 

[biometrics]

500W PC's ... That's not insignificant. How many PC's? Screens as well I assume. Turn them off and see what happens.

 

[froot]

I think he's mistaken with the power usage of the computers. Unless it's a server with 20 hard drives and a big mofo graphics card.
A gaming computer will under full load, use around 300-350W at most. With normal use, maybe 150W.

 

[DerpiesFreud]

How much do units cost?

almost R1 now

500W PC's ... That's not insignificant. How many PC's? Screens as well I assume. Turn them off and see what happens.

500w TOTAL
3 pcs = 2 laptops and a mid-range desktop

I think he's mistaken with the power usage of the computers. Unless it's a server with 20 hard drives and a big mofo graphics card.
A gaming computer will under full load, use around 300-350W at most. With normal use, maybe 150W.

no I`m not

My dads pc has a 400w power supply,used for browsing,movies and word processing,no gaming
q6600,2hdds,9800gt low power edition,lcd monitor

I dont use my rig anymore,my current lappy is 120w
mom`s laptop is 80w
total = 600w excluding efficiency and other numbers
now I highly doubt that my dads pc uses more than 200w so 500w is not an unreasonable estimate

also none of the computers(except mine)run for more than 4 hours a day

 

[froot]

no I`m not

My dads pc has a 400w power supply,used for browsing,movies and word processing,no gaming
q6600,2hdds,9800gt low power edition,lcd monitor

I dont use my rig anymore,my current lappy is 120w
mom`s laptop is 80w
total = 600w excluding efficiency and other numbers
now I highly doubt that my dads pc uses more than 200w so 500w is not an unreasonable estimate

also none of the computers(except mine)run for more than 4 hours a day

The q6600 setup won't use more than 200W under full load, or about 120W under normal use. It can run off a 250W psu if you wanted to.
A standard laptop (using a 90W transformer) uses around 50W under normal use, a larger one about 70W.
So take that under normal use about 240W in total.

 

[upup]

did you switch off all the plugs to test.

 

[P924]

You are using more units because in winter, the electric element in the solar geyser will use a lot more energy, since the water is colder to start with, and the contribution from the sun is lower. Stop complaining, your usage is really low. Remember also that less sun = longer time with lights on = more consumption. The list goes on. Unless you have switched off absolutely everything, your evidence is in no way evidence of what you claim. Besides, if someone was stealing your electricity, why would they be stealing so little, I mean if I had free electricity I would never switch off anything, including heaters.

 

[DerpiesFreud]

did you switch off all the plugs to test.

You are using more units because in winter, the electric element in the solar geyser will use a lot more energy, since the water is colder to start with, and the contribution from the sun is lower. Stop complaining, your usage is really low. Remember also that less sun = longer time with lights on = more consumption. The list goes on. Unless you have switched off absolutely everything, your evidence is in no way evidence of what you claim. Besides, if someone was stealing your electricity, why would they be stealing so little, I mean if I had free electricity I would never switch off anything, including heaters.

I`m not complaining,I`m just really confused as to what would suddenly make our consumption a lot higher than before,also true not sure how to steal electricity,
less sun = more lights I highly doubt a few more minutes or even hours of running led/CFL bulbs

I doubt that that 'long list' would account for such a drastic change,we dont use heaters or an electrical stove.
but the geyser thing does make sense
I`l run proper tests on monday when my parents are at work