High Power Bill

Im wondering if anyone had any suggestions for me to look at what is causing this.
I opened our bill today and it was $550 for 29 days. Our bills are usually about $120-160, and before moving to Nelson we were paying $80 a month max. Oh and that is for DH, I and DS.

We haven't changed anything regarding our power usage in the last month, no new appliances. We turn everything off at the wall when not in use, no heaters or air con, nothing. I just can't seem to figure it out and it has me really stressed.

Wow, that is a lot.

What heating (if any now) do you use? Do you run a lot of baths? Do you do a lot of baking or long cook meals in the oven?

Those are the only things I can think of that genuinely use a lot of power. Otherwise I'd have to think there is a problem somewhere.

Oh, your last bill wasn't a really low estimate reading was it?

Edited by clover

clover wrote: Oh, your last bill wasn't a really low estimate reading was it?

And has your meter been getting physically read regularly? If it's been estimated too low a few times in a row it can make an actual reading seem really high. Can you check the readings on your meter? Meter readers are human and can someimes make mistakes too.

What MrsEmma suggested is a good idea too. Sometimes there can be something drawing power that you don't realise.

Also talk to your power retailer about it, a good CSR can talk you through things to look at and they should let you pay it off if it is too much to pay at once.

Oh, and our meter gets read alternate months.
And they are digital meters, so I can't just tell if it's still ticking over, like at our old place.


Edited by MamaT

My Dad is a plumber so I might ring him tomorrow and see if he can talk me through looking at certain things. But, if we had only just moved here I could understand that something weird was wrong, we've been here 6 months though, so anything like that should have been picked up a while ago shouldn't it?

I wonder if it is worth getting an electrician to take a look at all?? Or is that likely to cost a huge amount in itself? Can't hurt to ring someone though I guess

Our anytime meter is generally around 200-400units/month.
First thing I did when I got the bill was to check it against the meter board and yep, it is now slightly higher, so no human error (damn it all).
Will ring around some electricians in the morning then I think.

Mummydee - there is probably only so much the call centre people can do to help though really I guess. Not their fault. We are pretty energy conscious, as in turn the jug and toaster, oven etc etc off at the wall when not in use, so really there probably isn't a lot they can suggest that we don't already do and have done for years.

Thanks for the advice and tips ladies.

Wow, that is high.

I would get a Electrician round to have a look as it is a huge jump in one month.

Here is link to approximate running costs of household items but it sounds like your not doing anything different so I imagine its not going to be much help

Linky Link

We had a lot of trouble with this same problem this winter.

It seems that power has just gone up so that accounts for some of it, but not all of it for sure.

We were advised to first turn all appliances off overnight, do a meter reading when we went to bed then read again when we got up. If a lot of units had been used in that time, that meant it was the hot water cylinder.

We also were advised to put timers on our oil heaters, which did make a huge difference.

It seems for us, that it must have been using the dryer and oil heater, as by process of elimination and cutting things down I have come to that conclusion.

We were with mercury and our highest bill was $420 this winter which was an absolute shock, as our highest bill ever before that was only $180. This is our first year with a baby though and so heating and dryer use did go up as well as hot water use, but it was a shock that it was supposedly that much.

My advice: ask to pay off that big bill. I made an arrangement with the power company when we got the $420 one as we just couldn't afford it.

We switched to Contact after checking the consumer site, and although it's not that much cheaper really they have this thing called smoothpay which allows you to pay an agreed amount per week, then it is reviewed every 4 months, idea being the highs and lows will even out with the cost you pay each week. This has helped us to afford our power bills massively.

I too was convinced that something had to be wrong, but our use did steadily drop once I made some changes. You can also buy devices from the warehouse which test how much power each appliance uses, its possible its something within your house.

If worried definitely get an electrician to come. I know how stressful this is! Sorry its happened to you

ETA I was told by Mercury that hot water accounts for a massive part of your power bill so maybe you could look at what's going on there, more washing? Appliances that use water maybe there's a leak or problem?

Edited by wiggly_jiggly

MamaT wrote: I rang Genesis again today and got a really helpful lady. Turns out they had made an error on the last read statement and therefore the next estimate was also out, so it all got accumulated into this bill, if that makes sense. They are setting up an easy pay system where I pay $55 a week to cover that bill and our regular power, so that is awesome. I was really impressed with the customer service I got today actually.

I'm glad you got it figured out and that you got someone who could help!

Glad you got it figured out!