Power bills....

[Guest boostin]

So we got our power bill the other day. Now we live in Auckland, the house is a smallish 3 bedroom Hardiplank and longrun iron roof, approx 15 yo with insulation. Heating is a log burner. There are 2 adults and a child here. The dryer gets used about once a fortnight, as does the stove/oven. We don't have any big flashy high power things like plasmas, just standard household appliances.

Now our bill for just over 2 months, June and July 09, (cos they stuffed up the last one) came to $644.

The last house we were in was a lot bigger and we used electricity for heating, and the biggest bill we got there was $250 for 1 month (May 09).

We had a sparky over in the weekend to check appliances etc and he can't fault anything, so he reckons the meter is faulty. Now at gas stations, their pumps have to be checked and calibrated regularly to make sure they're not ripping customers off. Why aren't power meters done too??

[funkytown]

you sure its not just an estimate to start with - should say on your bill

[Guest boostin]

Nope, actual read to actual read.

[funkytown]

 boostin said:

Nope, actual read to actual read.

gay man.. sounds like BS. I cant help you on the fault or if one exists. It doesnt sound right though.

Perhaps you could ask for it to be checked - however i suspect if its not "their fault" then you will have to pay even more.

edit: thinking out loud - are you on the same electricity plan - and what about your hotwater plan.. Are you with the same compnay.

[Joker]

meters are only checked when there is a problem or if they have been tampered with etc

eek!

[driftrex]

i have heard a few people saying there bills are unusually high this month, mine included. dont ask me why tho.

[Guest boostin]

Yeah they said they can check the meter. If its faulty they will fix it. If its not its a $150 charge. Thieving pricks.

All power with the 1 company. Sparky says the hot water is working fine.

Our daily average use when we were using power for heating was 19kW per day.

Since we've been in our new place using a log burner its 28kW per day. Somethings not right....

[zarnah]

maybe its time to turn those "lights" off eh...... ;D

[pl0x]

yea i heard of people having really high bills lately and that is was getting checked out or something, wasnt on the news or something?

[Guest STiEVO]

cheek to see if the neibours are wired into your power to feed their hydro bulbs for the um tomatoes. lol

[Guest itsgotgo]

we just had a bill last week,4adults of which 3 are females so showers and hair driers and like with plasma and stereos.$195 a month and thats a reading every month.

Are you sure the themostat isnt stuck on full stick in hot water cylinder?

noticed any boiling out of the spout on the roof?

ajax valve stuck on or blocked,so it wont shut off and will constanly flow out of overflow pipe on roof? got a $350 bill with that.

The hot water is constantly flat out heating with the cold water coming in

[D-Style]

A good habbit to get into is read your own meter and keep a record. Just incase they have misread, or input the wrong numbers. It does happin. Ive been caught out once before.

Have alook at you last bills and check what rates you been charged?

Keep an eye on what you use in your house... (even check you meters and keep record)

[Johnnynz]

 D-Style said:

A good habbit to get into is read your own meter and keep a record. Just incase they have misread, or input the wrong numbers. It does happin. Ive been caught out once before.

Have alook at you last bills and check what rates you been charged?

Keep an eye on what you use in your house... (even check you meters and keep record)

+1 I dont trust the power companys an inch (puts on tinfoil hat) I keep a track as well.

[Guest boostin]

 itsgotgo']

we just had a bill last week,4adults of which 3 are females so showers and hair driers and like with plasma and stereos.$195 a month and thats a reading every month.

Are you sure the themostat isnt stuck on full stick in hot water cylinder?

noticed any boiling out of the spout on the roof?

ajax valve stuck on or blocked,so it wont shut off and will constanly flow out of overflow pipe on roof? got a $350 bill with that.

The hot water is constantly flat out heating with the cold water coming in

Sparky checked hot water and its not overheating and the thermostat is working fine.

[quote name='D-Style said:

A good habbit to get into is read your own meter and keep a record. Just incase they have misread, or input the wrong numbers. It does happin. Ive been caught out once before.

Have alook at you last bills and check what rates you been charged?

Keep an eye on what you use in your house... (even check you meters and keep record)

I've checked what we've supposedly used since the read a week and a half ago and its another $100 since then, and we've been aware of what we're using.

[funkytown]

start unplugging shit till you find whats literally eating power..

[Guest boostin]

But its not. The sparky had his ammeter on the main feed into the house while I went around and switched everything on, and it was all sweet. He reckons the meter is overspeeding.

[dubbedup]

2 adults and 4 kids, in winter $400 plus every month....electrical heating only but have a gas oven.

[DRFVDR]

hehehe me not gonna comment

but even though I have not moved into my house yet I doubt that i will reach $50 a month as all my water heating is via wetback and this includes the central heating

but yours sounds overly expensive I would so get that meter checked we had the same issue and they found a dodgy meter and we got some of our money back(not all the theiving pigs )

[funkytown]

 boostin said:

But its not. The sparky had his ammeter on the main feed into the house while I went around and switched everything on, and it was all sweet. He reckons the meter is overspeeding.

sounds like you should take the chance and get you meter looked at.. if you have had everything else checked

[off2harrys]

 DRFVDR said:

hehehe me not gonna comment

but even though I have not moved into my house yet I doubt that i will reach $50 a month as all my water heating is via wetback and this includes the central heating

but yours sounds overly expensive I would so get that meter checked we had the same issue and they found a dodgy meter and we got some of our money back(not all the theiving pigs )

whats a wetback??sounds like a winner

[dubbedup]

fire with a radiator in it basically it heats your water.

[QRAF]

after talking to the mrs she would like to remind everyone power did go up a couple of months ago i think it was by .6 of a cent on every kw you use this might not sound like much but it soon adds up.

Also we have just gone through one of the coldest winters for a long time so when usage goes up so does cost.

plus the lines companys not power generators but the lines like wel energy want more money so they can start replacing the old ones as they didn't save anything from the past.

And the number one factor as to why our power is more expensive than the rest of the world is because we don't have nuclear power, sorry to say it but its true.

[Guest]

maybe install extra wire in meter box? Its a bad bad thing to do and will cost you so bad when you get caught.

[Drunkenmonkey]

tbh thats way over, during the coldest part of winter i had 2 oil fin heaters FLAT OUT all night and these are big 1.5kw heaters we have no insulation what so ever so they never turned off during the night i also have a 550w plasma, computer etc and power bill only $150 - $200 a month.... could always calculate how many kw/hr u should be using and see how much u use by watching meter?? im in auck and am an a apprentice have last years books somewhere to work it out if ya want i can brush the dust off and find it

[zarnah]

on the first house i lived in when I left home (about ten years ago) it had one of the old meters that has a little wheel that goes round and round, stuck a match stick in it and jammed the wheel, hello cheap power!