I'm suddenly getting hit with quarterly bills that are about the same sort of size as what my annual spend has been for the last few years.
Attic flat, electricity only, the mainly-used room heated by an oil radiator with arduino thermostat control, t'other room has it's oil radiator just on a very low setting to stop my stuff getting damp.
I had a smart meter fitted at the start of this month.
As a result of an epic phonecall to npower earlier today, we've established that:
a) very few of the visits by npower meter readers have resulted in an actual meter reading getting put in the system. (I've been aware of quite a high number of estimated bills, but without owning a ladder there wasn't a lot I could do about it.) Amended bills are coming through with some hefty amendments.
b) average daily usage (worked out over the spread of about a year) up until August last year was about 12 units per day.
c) From August last year that's gone up to about 25 units per day. (And I wasn't even in the country for all of September and a bit more!)
d) Old meter and new smart meter would seem to be in agreement with the higher daily consumption.
Edited to add e) Talking through what's in each room with the energy efficiency dept, the back of the envelope calculation came out as expecting my usage to be about 8 units a day, not including the heaters - which are definitely not on all day - or lighting. We didn't factor in my clock radio, but also I lied about how often I do the hoovering, so that probably evens out
I'm struggling to think of any behavioural changes at this end that would result in the doubling of electricity usage, so now having to embark on trying to track down any rogue appliances.
Any tips?