Electricity Consumption

T

Tyronne Naicker

Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2012
Messages
10
Reaction score
0
Hi,

Thought I could get some advice here.
I have a 3 bedroom house with one geyser (150L). 2 flats on my property (one 2 bedroom and one 1 bedroom) with one additional geyser (100L) to supply both flats with hot water. It looks like my electricity usage is outrageous. Here is my purchase history for June 2016.

1 June - R500 = 467 kW + 100 free = 567 kW
15 June - R500 = 197kW
18 June - R500 = 97kW
21 June - R500 = 97 kW
23 June - R500 = 97kW
25 June - R500 = 97 kW
Today is the 26th and I am left with a balance of 72kW.

2 bedroom flat - 2 occupants.
1 bedroom flat - 1 occupant.

I do not use any heaters or electric blankets in winter. We are only 2 in the main house and bath once per day. There isn't a timer installed on both geysers. I do not understand why my electricity runs out so quick. Don't know what to do. I have now decided to install a prepaid meter in the 2 flats to determine what my tenants electricity usage is like as compared to mine as I feel that I am more conservative with my usage ad apposed to theirs. Is there any suggestions on what I can do about this? Should I purchase in bulk at start of each month or is it the same if I purchase throughout the month? Any suggestions will help.

Total kW usage this far for the month is 1152.
 
Tyronne Naicker said:
Hi,

Thought I could get some advice here.
I have a 3 bedroom house with one geyser (150L). 2 flats on my property (one 2 bedroom and one 1 bedroom) with one additional geyser (100L) to supply both flats with hot water. It looks like my electricity usage is outrageous. Here is my purchase history for June 2016.

1 June - R500 = 467 kW + 100 free = 567 kW
15 June - R500 = 197kW
18 June - R500 = 97kW
21 June - R500 = 97 kW
23 June - R500 = 97kW
25 June - R500 = 97 kW
Today is the 26th and I am left with a balance of 72kW.

2 bedroom flat - 2 occupants.
1 bedroom flat - 1 occupant.

I do not use any heaters or electric blankets in winter. We are only 2 in the main house and bath once per day. There isn't a timer installed on both geysers. I do not understand why my electricity runs out so quick. Don't know what to do. I have now decided to install a prepaid meter in the 2 flats to determine what my tenants electricity usage is like as compared to mine as I feel that I am more conservative with my usage ad apposed to theirs. Is there any suggestions on what I can do about this? Should I purchase in bulk at start of each month or is it the same if I purchase throughout the month? Any suggestions will help.

Total kW usage this far for the month is 1152.
Click to expand...

1152 for a month for a 3 bed property with 2 flats...

Seems pretty much on the money to me.

I have a 3 bed home, and am sitting around the 1200kwh for the month.

You can't judge if you're overusing or not, until you know exactly what is happening in the flats.
 
Yup Tenants in sep flats = separate meters. Then you will be able to tell what is happening at that level.

Next would be to determine the usage between appliances ---- A shared geyser between 2 flats = a problem if you want to start collecting based on usage.

A factor not to ignore --- It is winter, Losses from hot water installations does increase. And that can be managed by knowing what type and category geysers you have; installing geyser blankets and insulation ALL the pipes

Install new geyser control systems on both geysers, which will help in establishing where the highest usage is ....
 
Our tenant worked from 5:00am to 16:00pm. He used to leave the heater on all day so the place was warm when he got back.

If either tenant is using a tumble dryer that could boost their usage. Also as has been mentioned, heaters.
 
maumau said:
Our tenant worked from 5:00am to 16:00pm. He used to leave the heater on all day so the place was warm when he got back.

If either tenant is using a tumble dryer that could boost their usage. Also as has been mentioned, heaters.
Click to expand...

The tenants are notorious for leaving lights on from the time they leave in morning around 7:30 up till the evening 6pm. (In the 2 bedroom)

Single bedroom flat has an Aircon. I'm not sure if that tenant runs it at night to keep warm.
 
ToxicBunny said:
1152 for a month for a 3 bed property with 2 flats...

Seems pretty much on the money to me.

I have a 3 bed home, and am sitting around the 1200kwh for the month.

You can't judge if you're overusing or not, until you know exactly what is happening in the flats.
Click to expand...

What does your monthly bill for electricity amount to?
 
daniellgr said:
Yup Tenants in sep flats = separate meters. Then you will be able to tell what is happening at that level.

Next would be to determine the usage between appliances ---- A shared geyser between 2 flats = a problem if you want to start collecting based on usage.

A factor not to ignore --- It is winter, Losses from hot water installations does increase. And that can be managed by knowing what type and category geysers you have; installing geyser blankets and insulation ALL the pipes

Install new geyser control systems on both geysers, which will help in establishing where the highest usage is ....
Click to expand...

I notice a very big difference in summer! The first R500 lasts me till 24/25 as apposed to now which runs out on 14th
 
Tyronne Naicker said:
I notice a very big difference in summer! The first R500 lasts me till 24/25 as apposed to now which runs out on 14th
Click to expand...


The issues to check as have been stated by others are:

(1) Heaters used and maybe left on
(2) A/C also left on when no one is there
(3) Electric Blankets --- This one was a huge problem in my home. used timers to ensure they would be switched off when not required.
(4) Geysers as previously mentioned. -- A very subtle one, but worth checking.

Prepaid meters should help "control" tenant behaviour, but then you need to sort out how the shared geyser is connected up to prevent any arguments.
 
Last edited:
Tyronne Naicker said:
The tenants are notorious for leaving lights on from the time they leave in morning around 7:30 up till the evening 6pm. (In the 2 bedroom)

Single bedroom flat has an Aircon. I'm not sure if that tenant runs it at night to keep warm.
Click to expand...

mine did the same - changed all the lights to cool white 3W and all those use the same as 1 used too

Stokstert said:
Some tenants use ovens and stove plates on maximum settings as heaters. It then adds up fast.
Click to expand...

Oven and geyser has been changed to Gas

10l - gas geyser
gas 4 plate stove and oven
 
Try buying more electricity on the 1st. Buy R2000 and see how much units you get. My dad is also of the opinion that he gets more units for his money when buying at the small grocer than when buying units at Pick n Pay.
 
give them their own prepaid meters. wife's uncle has this setup and it works for them.
 
In CPT you would pay a certain rate for the first 600 units in a month.
Thereafter the cost per unit is nearly double.

PC running 24/7?
Tumble drier
Wall heaters
Your bath alone would be 4 units of electricity per day.
Doing much baking or cooking in the oven?
 
marco79 said:
Try buying more electricity on the 1st. Buy R2000 and see how much units you get. My dad is also of the opinion that he gets more units for his money when buying at the small grocer than when buying units at Pick n Pay.
Click to expand...

I usually purchase on the Fnb portal. But don't buy in bulk on the first as I don't get the free basic electricity of 100kW and that made me want to purchase for 500 at a time whenever needed after the first. I have read many posts says that there is no difference in bulk purchases as apposed to smaller purchases. But maybe I need to try the bulk purchase and see what I get from that.
 
wetkit said:
In CPT you would pay a certain rate for the first 600 units in a month.
Thereafter the cost per unit is nearly double.

PC running 24/7?
Tumble drier
Wall heaters
Your bath alone would be 4 units of electricity per day.
Doing much baking or cooking in the oven?
Click to expand...

Main house only uses gas for cooking.

Tenants use electrical appliance for cooking. But it seems to me that they don't actually cook that much! One flat does have under floor heating but they are adamant that they don't use it. Not sure how true that is! They also have 2 oil heaters. One in each room. Also again, unsure on how long they run them through the night.
 
ToxicBunny said:
R1500 give or take I think....
Click to expand...

How is it so little for over 1000kW? Do you purchase in bulk at the start of the month or as and when needed?

My bill is now sitting on R3000. And I will have to purchase once more till I get to the 1st on July!

My kW credit is drastically reduced after my 3rd purchase. I only get 97kW for the 500 from the 3rd purchase as apposed to the 197kW on the 2nd purchase and 467kW on the 1St purchase. Makes no sense to me. Should I buy in bulk at start of the month?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X