Electricity usage seems high

Lupus said:
Not necessarily there might be something you're using, the geyser could be working over, a fan, aircon, oven, something could be using it.
Do you have a backup system running on batteries? As with the bouts of load shedding your batteries will use more power than what you actually used.
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Potentially something is causing the higher usage, no behaviours have changed, no battery backup system other than a single mini ups for the router.
 
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airborne said:
Can prepaid meters go faulty and misread either under or over?

3 people and we never went over R1500 then the meter broke and they replaced it and our useage jumped to R2200 the next month and there’s no reasonable explanation in terms of our usage. I checked to make sure it’s not some new provider shafting us on the rates, the cost per kWh is the same as before, as per the published rate the COCT gives.
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Has anyone heard of prepaid meters under or over reading?

My landlady seems to believe the old meter was under reading, so it’s either that or the new meter is over reading.
 
killerbyte said:
I live with a family member in a 2 bed, 2 bath unit.
There is a single geyser, a fridge, a washing machine and dishwasher.
Electronics include a TV, Android TV box, my media server and gaming PC (These two use R250 worth of electricity in a month because I only play Dota).
Stove is gas, we use gas heaters during winter. And oven usage is minimal at best (maybe once a week).

Our electricity bill is R1800pm (We get our electricity through Impact Meters) and we use approx. 650KWh in a month.
This seems a little high to me, but I would like to hear what others are paying for similar situation.
And I would appreciate any recommendations when it comes to reducing this amount.
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We would pay R2980 for 1000KWh in Tshwane, so what you are paying is below our rate.
 
Vorastra said:
Another one. You people supplementing with solar or aomething?
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Just seems I have a smaller place.

Just the 1 geyser
1 TV that on maybe twice a week
1 Fridge
1 Freezer
Electric hob and oven
Washing machine
We have a dryer but we never use it.
No pool. No aircons. etc.
No heaters (use a fireplace that heats most of the house)

We do most of our cooking in the convection microwave/oven combo thing and the airfryer.

About 400kWh p/m on a heavy month.
 
airborne said:
Has anyone heard of prepaid meters under or over reading?

My landlady seems to believe the old meter was under reading, so it’s either that or the new meter is over reading.
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I did have an old meter under read it was the old dial ones, I literally watched the meter move slow as molass it was in a complex though.
 
Lupus said:
I did have an old meter under read it was the old dial ones, I literally watched the meter move slow as molass it was in a complex though.
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Those things being mechanical could lose the plot, both prepaid meters in my case are digital but I’m assuming whatever picks up the current, which apparently is how they count the units used, could go out of spec and misread.
 
airborne said:
Has anyone heard of prepaid meters under or over reading?

My landlady seems to believe the old meter was under reading, so it’s either that or the new meter is over reading.
Click to expand...
The only way you will know will be to independently measure the usage and then compare.
 
airborne said:
Those things being mechanical could lose the plot, both prepaid meters in my case are digital but I’m assuming whatever picks up the current, which apparently is how they count the units used, could go out of spec and misread.
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Hm digital is a harder one to pick up.
 
kory said:
Well we are a 4 person household usually
City of Cape Town
2 geysers
3 TVs
Gaming console
3 Apple TVs
2 Alexas
2 air purifiers
1 desktop
2 laptops
2 tablets
1 fridge
1 freezer
Induction hob
Electric oven
Washing machine
Pool pump and jojo tank
Electric fence

691Kw
Click to expand...
Impossible
 
killerbyte said:
I live with a family member in a 2 bed, 2 bath unit.
There is a single geyser, a fridge, a washing machine and dishwasher.
Electronics include a TV, Android TV box, my media server and gaming PC (These two use R250 worth of electricity in a month because I only play Dota).
Stove is gas, we use gas heaters during winter. And oven usage is minimal at best (maybe once a week).

Our electricity bill is R1800pm (We get our electricity through Impact Meters) and we use approx. 650KWh in a month.
This seems a little high to me, but I would like to hear what others are paying for similar situation.
And I would appreciate any recommendations when it comes to reducing this amount.
Click to expand...
I live in a 3 bed 2 bath house. 1 Geyser. Cook using electricity but mainly via air fryer or convection microwave so cheaper than the oven. We also average around 600 to 650KWH a month but it can vary a lot between summer and winter especially if we use our bar heater for colder periods.

One thing is the base price you pay seems expensive. In our complex we pay R1.7 per KWH. Doing rough math you are paying around R2.7 per KWH. That seems very steep as a start.

Your main usage is probably your geyser, but each appliance adds up too. I got an effergy energy meter and used it to check various appliances with a custom extension chord I made and it helped my understanding.

Anyways, I would first work to try see if you can't get a cheaper supplier of power. Then I would look at a heat pump or solar geyser. If you are considering going full solar then I would skip the geyser step and just power the geyser from solar. That is what I am currently doing.
 
Cius said:
I live in a 3 bed 2 bath house. 1 Geyser. Cook using electricity but mainly via air fryer or convection microwave so cheaper than the oven. We also average around 600 to 650KWH a month but it can vary a lot between summer and winter especially if we use our bar heater for colder periods.

One thing is the base price you pay seems expensive. In our complex we pay R1.7 per KWH. Doing rough math you are paying around R2.7 per KWH. That seems very steep as a start.

Your main usage is probably your geyser, but each appliance adds up too. I got an effergy energy meter and used it to check various appliances with a custom extension chord I made and it helped my understanding.

Anyways, I would first work to try see if you can't get a cheaper supplier of power. Then I would look at a heat pump or solar geyser. If you are considering going full solar then I would skip the geyser step and just power the geyser from solar. That is what I am currently doing.
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Spot on this advice is catching on now!
 
Cius said:
I live in a 3 bed 2 bath house. 1 Geyser. Cook using electricity but mainly via air fryer or convection microwave so cheaper than the oven. We also average around 600 to 650KWH a month but it can vary a lot between summer and winter especially if we use our bar heater for colder periods.

One thing is the base price you pay seems expensive. In our complex we pay R1.7 per KWH. Doing rough math you are paying around R2.7 per KWH. That seems very steep as a start.

Your main usage is probably your geyser, but each appliance adds up too. I got an effergy energy meter and used it to check various appliances with a custom extension chord I made and it helped my understanding.

Anyways, I would first work to try see if you can't get a cheaper supplier of power. Then I would look at a heat pump or solar geyser. If you are considering going full solar then I would skip the geyser step and just power the geyser from solar. That is what I am currently doing.
Click to expand...

How do you get a cheaper supplier of power?
I’m in Cape Town and COCT determines the rate.
 
airborne said:
How do you get a cheaper supplier of power?
I’m in Cape Town and COCT determines the rate.
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Sounds like he is on one of those pre-paid meter systems from a private provider. They tend to be a rip off from what I heard. Our complex looked at them a while back. You buy pre-paid power from a provider and load a code in their meter to load the power up for your home. They charge a premium over what CoJ or Eskom for instance would charge you.

Our power price is adjusted from time to time as there are step rates in CoJ, but our complex tries to estimate where we roughly fall and charges us a flat rate per KWH regardless of how much you use. We used to pay more as our entire complex was somehow loaded as a single house on CoJ's system and a new managing agent spotted that a few years back when they took over managing the complex. They fixed it to state how many units where in the complex and hence price came down a lot as the step rates obviously then kicked in at a much higher level on our bulk meter.
 
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