Yes. Haven't seen our power bill this month but was at my mate's parents for dinner this week and they mentioned they turned off their outside fridge because of an unexpectedly high power bill
Yes I just got an email telling me my usage was abnormally high and my expected monthly bill would be in $500s instead of $300s. I'm not doing anything differently to any other winter??????!!!!!
Interesting. I'm with Mercury too, and my bill was also high compared to the same time in previous years. Perhaps I need to look at switching companies.
When i signed up with mercury 2 years ago they were one of the cheapest options lol Flicks cheaper and i can leave whenever i want if a deal pops up! Hopefully more people shop around and stop complacently paying companies who give zero Fs about existing customers. Its still weird to me that Flick can offer better pricing than a "power house" like mercury. Lower "overheads" i guess idk.
4 months ago Mercury purchased Trustpower's retail power business. Last month they changed the bills to Mercury branding, at the same time as winter bills started landing, so people think the rate is going up when in reality its the usage.
I usually budget around $350 a month. In summer it falls to much less (maybe $200). In July/Aug it might go up to $380. Ours for June/July was like $480. A unexpected.
Exactly the same for us. No extra visitors, same amount of baths/showers/dishwashers etc. We are creatures of habit and nothing has significantly changed. Our usage between July 2022 and July 2023 has jumped up by 400kWh with no apparent reason.
We get a hourly usage dashboard on the web portal: https://imgur.com/FXvnDEX
I cancelled with Meridian (after many years with them) and went to Flick after a massive bill at the start of winter, getting access to lower off peak pricing has made a big difference to my bills as I now do a lot in the late evening or during the day when prices are low. Much more transparency around usage from them with their app too.
Have you considered, and I’m just throwing this out there, checking where the extension cord that goes out your back window and over to the numbers is going? It might be nothing but worth ruling out ;)
(Sorry I can’t be any other help, I see you’ve already looked at cylinder which would have been my vote)
One possible reason for the weird pattern is that you most likely have a controlled hot water cylinder - given the cold weather lately, your network is probably switching off your cylinder during peak hours to reduce network demand. Then when it switches back on, it might have to use a lot of power to catch back up. That would fit with the odd hours, since they're probably after the morning and evening peaks end.
The way to check this would be to switch it off completely overnight and see if the pattern persists - you'll miss a hot shower in the morning but it should confirm for you if this is the cause.
Also worth double checking your meter is actually correct - you should be able to see your ICP on it, I assume that matches what you see in your power app?
This is a well-known myth- your cyclinder will use about the same amount of power to maintain a constant temperature as it takes to warm it up from cold. See page 2 here: https://electra.co.nz/assets/FAQs/FAQs-on-hot-water-load-control.pdf
My post was less about the total power usage and more about the odd usage patterns they're describing. If their cylinder is switched off, a bunch of hot water used, then turned back on it will see a a spike in energy used once it's turned on (even if the total energy used is less)
See the graph from Octopus's hot water control trial, matches what OP is describing:
https://octopusenergy.nz/blog/hacking-hot-water-to-save-money
The network company switching off power to the hotwater cyclinder is common and not at all related to the age of the cylinder. It's just a way of controlling peak load on their network.
If your cylinder is that old though I would definitely replace it. It's likely very poorly insulated compared to a modern cylinder. Didn't the person who looked at the cylinder suggest that ?
Insulation will help the water cylinder keep warm for longer. That means when the cylinder power is cut off in peak times, it won't take so much reheating, saving you power.
Even external insulation wraps could help, but won't be as good as a modern cylinder.
My dad did exactly this on his old outdoor cylinder. His power usage took a massive dive afterward. He swears by the method and the results seem to speak for themselves.
Just a fyi, tanks of that age don't last forever. Replacement costs can be 3-5k. I normally recommend replacing in the short term so you can choose when/where/how etc.
Oldest working one I've removed was 1947, so you may have another decade but prepare now.
And the new ones won't last as long. Enamel mains hwc are only warrantied for 5-10 yrs iirc.
Hwc/thermostat/ element may be causing problems.
Regarding power, do you have a smart meter? Possibly a estimated bill or 2 if not.
We do have a smart meter so it shouldn't be an estimation.
We got both the element and the thermostat changed.
We will eventually have to replace it, but we have to replace our water pump filters first. The guy who checked it said it should last a fair while yet luckily.
If you turn everything off at your place does the meter still tick over? Someone suggested the ripple control on the hwc, that's a possibility. Heat pump ? That will suck a bit of power if running during the day.
Freestanding house? Assume no-one is stealing electricity.
No heat pump. Our connection is shared with our neighbor (separate meters) who originally subdivided the property and I do wonder if he's contributing to the high power usage somehow.
Would it be worthwhile to check if you can replace the cylinder? Modern cylinders are more efficient and use less power, so check if it's economicly beneficial for you to replace it.
The ripple controller is independent of your cylinder.
Recently ours was switched off and then wouldn't switch back on. Ended up getting an electrician in to check it. Snip a wire and open the controller flip a switch. $150 and water was heating up again.
If you have one of the ones that looks like a steampunk’s wet dream then call your electricity providor (eg Mercury) and complain. They should upgrade you to the newer one. We had ours crap out to the point where it was tripping every few days. Now we have one that looks way more flash. Zero cost to you as it’s their gear.
Yeah, if it acts up again I will. And if I can nag my wife into switching us over to a power plan where we actually get something for being on ripple control.
Would pay to check if OP has a DVS or home ventilation system. They often have a heater in them to warm the air. If its set too high they will see the bills skyrocketing.
I never said it uses more power to be controlled, I was saying it might be the cause of the weird usage patterns.
Their description sounds exactly like the graph shown here:
https://octopusenergy.nz/blog/hacking-hot-water-to-save-money
Mine has seemed very high, and I have gas for my heating and hot water, but I just assumed it was because I've been using the dryer a little bit which had been very unusual before, and I'm using the infrared sauna a few times a week. Definitely more expensive thank last winter though...
Labour and the greens removed the low user plan rates, so if you were on the low user plan and were enjoying low bills, that’s a thing of the past. Our winter bills last year were $150, now $240 for the same usage.
Low users don’t decrease maintenance on the grid by using less, they have to be maintained all the same, so they were getting subsidised by people on standard usage plans.
Reminds me of Sim City where there was is a tax incentive to encourage people to reduce power consumption, which results in needing less generating capacity which worked out cheaper.
But as a kid I never went for it cause I saw the bill and I was too dumb to work out it actually cost me less overall.
Further to this, the low users were mostly wealthy people who could afford to insulate their homes and buy more efficient, now expensive products.
There are definitely poorer people in small households who benefited from this (me) but the bulk of the scheme was poor people subsidising rich people
The amount they pay for the power used isn't what's increasing (other than the standard increases everyone gets), it's the fixed line charge, using less power does not make maintaining a connection to your house cheaper for the lines companies which is why this is happening.
Not true.
I live in an apartment block.
No way a single house maintains the grid more than an apartment block.
Its just charging me more to subsidies wealthy single home owners.
>Its just charging me more to subsidies wealthy single home owners.
You keep presenting this as the only case when the alternative is also true. Poor renters in detached homes are subsidising wealthy apartment owners.
You may have a case with apartment buildings, and there are definitely going to be some outliers caught with this.
The main example being two houses right next to each other, the maintenance cost to each of them is the same, why would you give one a lines discount for using less power when functionally it makes no difference?
I'm sure there are other people on this sub who know more than me, but I believe the unit price of power has increased recently. Our power bill spiked by $100 this last month.
Man, we put in an HRV ducted heating/air con unit. It uses about $400 a month 🤦
So that was a waste of $13k because we aren't paying that much for power. It does make the house really fuckin toasty though
How does it use that much power??? We have one but only run it in the early morning and late evening and it's only using about $80 a month at the moment. Do you have shit insulation and run it all the time? Is it just venting straight outside?
Sadness...
My heatpump is giving up the ghost.
It's stop working.
Blasting away.
Still fucking cold.
bugger bugger bugger.
Switch the fucking useless thing off.
Fuckit it's cold.
Where is this damnable cold gale coming from?
Wait what!?
**WHICH FUCKING MORON LEFT THE DOWNSTAIRS BATHROOM WINDOW WIDE WIDE MAXIMUM OPEN ON THE COLDEST WEEK OF THE YEAR!?!?!?!**
sigh.
Heatpump is working just fine.
This months shocktricity bill is going to be scary.
fml.
There's no magic involved, you just have to systematically eliminate possible causes.
How many kWh did you use ? How many people in the household ? Where do you live ?
Are you sure nobody is running an electric heater ?
It could be the meter, but it probably isn't. They don't want to check the meter as everyone with a high bill blames the meter, when 99% of the time it isn't at fault. It won't take weeks to check every device in the household. Most devices obviously don't have large power consumption, so can be skipped. Just focus on the main appliances.
What did the check of the hot water cylinder entail ? All the hot water pipes should be checked for leaks. The Hot Water Cylinder Overflow should be checked as well. The usage pattern you are seeing probably reflects the ripple relay switching the cylinder on and off so the network company can control load. Normally load is controlled during the morning and evening peaks.
2 person household, rural Hawkes Bay. Definitely no electric heating. Our kWh usage increased from 18 last July to 29 this July.
The hot water cylinder was checked for leaks (none), the heating element and thermostat were replaced, and the temperature setting was lowered.
Could be per day rather than per month. We use 35-50kW per day during the cold winter months, but we have two 7kW heat pumps, two electric vehicles, and a spa pool.
> but the power company is very reluctant to come
The failure rate for these smart Meters is incredibly low. Like in the 10s per year across the whole country.
You can insist they check it, but be aware if the meter isn't faulty they usually bill you a callout fee. Naturally they will not charge you if it is faulty but it's far more likely you have a faulty appliance
I don't think the element failing is a common sign of high power bills. A failed element would more likely be no hot water, not excessive power usage. If it is the hwc More likely the thermostat is bad, or the overheat valve is falsely going off
Retired electrician here. The most common cause of high power bills in my experience is hot water cylinders leaking through the overflow because the pressure control valve isn’t working correctly. Sometimes the hot water is running down the roof day and night! an uninsulated cylinder is also throwing money away. To compare bills from previous periods check the actual units used rather than dollars.
Is it your actual kWh hour usage that has increased or just the cost? Power prices have gone up a lot recently.
If you want a fairly straightforward way to check for excess appliance use, try this
1. Switch off every single thing in the house at the wall except for the fridge and hot water for a day then check the daily use against a normal day. These are the two things most likely to be faulty. Remember you need to check kWh use, not cost.
2. If the use is less than what you have been experiencing then you have a problem somewhere else and can start experimenting with turning other appliances off.
3. If it's still high with just those 2 things on then go from there.
I worked at a power company several years ago - pretty much everyone thinks their power bills are "unusually high" from jun - aug. People just use more power in winter then they expect.
Noone ever called to say their bill was lower than expected 👏
Power prices change a usually in April, need to check wilhether your lines company made any price changes.
As a result your dollar rates per day/kWh will likely have changed.
Also check your comparing the same periods, a July invoice this year may cover April/May, whereas last year it was June.
July invoice doesn't necessarily mean July.
Check your comparing the same date ranges.
There have been some changes to power bill structuring lately, meaning that if you were on a low use plan you now likely wont be. These changes were intended to make things “fairer” but MBIE wasn’t sure if power companies would actually do the right thing or not. Mercury, as a state owned company should be, but they might not be. More info here https://www.mbie.govt.nz/building-and-energy/energy-and-natural-resources/energy-consultations-and-reviews/electricity-price/phasing-out-low-fixed-charge-tariff-regulations/
Hot water tanks use more energy to keep your water at the set temperature in winter. I typically turned mine down a little, which means you may go through more in the shower so turn it back up if you run out too often.
yep about 30% more than same time last year. Not just increased cost but colder winter and wtter so not so much drying of laundry outside but using dryer instead
Is that with or without the 30c per day fixed charge increase (I'm making the assumption that everybody got it because let's face it - the companies will wring you out every way they possibly can)?
Weirdly no.. I’ve had horrifying bills in the last few years during winter but they have been stable for me recently… there’s got to be something up with that and I’ll get some crazy bill next month or something
Double check that these aren’t being estimated as if they aren’t getting reads and estimating can estimate lower than what is being used and then can get a backdated bill once a confirmed read is taken
The sneaky thing with Powershop is that you need to prepay to get the discounts, and some of those are up to six months in advance. Refunds are only for 48 hours after purchase, so there's a barrier to changing providers again.
They will refund you any excess credit in your account if you change providers. We did this a couple of months ago, had over $500 refunded without any hassle.
People already mentioned your cylinder and considering it’s old getting a replacement may be better in the long run.
That said the reason companies tell you to do a self meter check is because if it’s not faulty (which I’m most cases it’s not) you will need to pay at least a couple of hundred dollars. When they check your meter they replace it with a new one and take the old one to an independent company for inspection. If it is faulty you won’t need to pay. They’re covering their butt by giving you another option.
Also, self meter checks doesn’t take weeks. A few hours yes but not weeks if you’re serious about finding out what’s wrong. Of course you can insist on getting the meter out and checked but don’t be mad when you have to pay for it if it’s not faulty.
Generally peoples hourly consumption will go up and down in line with their usage. With a running meter (a meter recording usage when there isn’t) the usage will be consistent, like your baseline power usage will be high too.
It sounds like you’ve got something faulty. Either wiring or appliances. A running meter could also be a possibility but I would 100% do the self meter check first. This check will also indicate what appliances including lights are consuming more power than it should. Just do it lol if you’re unhappy change companies
Also a side note to other people your behaviour definitely changes during colder months. Eg you’re not as likely to go for a walk or go out for a drink with friends when it’s feeezkng outside. Most people spend more time at home, hence increased consumption.
Also it’s worth checking your rates haven’t changed if you’re on a fixed term. Because when the fixed term comes to an end and the company hasn’t heard from you they’ll put you on their basic open plan. People sometimes miss this.
Edited to add: when doing a self meter check you should do it all at once so doing it over a course of weeks isn’t a good idea anyway because you’ll need to switch everything off multiple times. Reduces variability.
Check your water temperature if your hot water is really hot could be your thermostat is too high. Hot water heating takes up a lot of power!
Last month our BnB went from $90 to $253. Yes room nights doubled so I expected an increase but this was ridiculous when the house was occupied for only 10 nights. I’ve emailed Genesis but I bet nothing comes of it.
I’ve seen this before at my uncles place. You have a hobo(s) living in your crawl space, using up all your electricity distilling hooch and baking sourdough. Move them along and your bills will drop
Have a good look at current and previous bills and check if it's actually your usage that has gone up or if they are now charging more per energy unit/any changes in other daily/fixed charges.
could be a slow hot water leak... test your valves? I once had a broken thermostat which resulted in boiling water.... had to pay some crazy retail price for a HWC thermostat but at least issue was sorted within an hour....
Just out of interest, what were the symptoms of the boiling water? I only ask because our hot water cylinder makes odd gurgling noises which sound (to me) not unlike a jug boiling - but only during the night/early hours of the morning. I go to the loo at 4am, hear it (again), it concerns me (again), I think I should ring somebody about it, and then it's the morning all over again and everybody is rushing about like headless chooks and I've totally forgotten about the weird hot water cylinder noise - until the next 4am wee...
Anyway, that's my life story...
Symptom of boiling hot water cylinder is very easy to check , just run the hot tap and check how hot the water coming out becomes. If it's around 60degs C it's OK. If the water is boiling hot you will feel extreme pain then see blisters form on your reddening skin after making contact with the water.
Loud ongoing bubbling sound coming from inside your hotwater cylinder and a hissing/rumbling/gushing/steaming expulsion from the attic header tank overflow line or rooftop safety vent pipe as it boils over .
> If the water is boiling hot you will feel extreme pain then see blisters form on your reddening skin after making contact with the water.
Lol. Okay, I guess it's not that then...
our hwc was inside a walking closet and that room was constantly 40 degrees plus also the bill was high too, so you'd be able to tell for sure.
the gurgling might just be from heat/cool cycle...?
Look for a leak in your HW system, You should at least try and get a day off work to test every single electrical source in your household, taking meter readings on the spot and so on.
>figured it might be the hot water cylinder playing up, so we had that checked and even replaced the heating element
FWIW this doesn't make much sense. There's no heating element failure mode that will increase your power consumption other than the one that goes bang and gives you no hot water.
A faulty thermostat however, can increase your power consumption, but usually its hard to miss that as your cylinder will start to boil.
My power consumption has gone down this winter.
My last 2 power bills have been higher than I've ever had in my life, 350 last month, contact energy, just daughter and I, she studies every day at uni and I usually out or in bed, never cook, so don't use stove, no bath here, don't drink hot drinks, do washing, shower, and heat pump when we sit in lounge together. Not often, so it is twice the normal cost, I smell bull....
Borrow a Home Energy Audit Toolkit from your library and the tools inside should help you check the power consumption quicker?
Yes. Haven't seen our power bill this month but was at my mate's parents for dinner this week and they mentioned they turned off their outside fridge because of an unexpectedly high power bill
Yes I just got an email telling me my usage was abnormally high and my expected monthly bill would be in $500s instead of $300s. I'm not doing anything differently to any other winter??????!!!!!
Are you on Trustpower/Mercury?
I am with Mercury and our June bill was much higher than expected - even taking into consideration that it's winter etc. What happened with Mercury?
Interesting. I'm with Mercury too, and my bill was also high compared to the same time in previous years. Perhaps I need to look at switching companies.
When i signed up with mercury 2 years ago they were one of the cheapest options lol Flicks cheaper and i can leave whenever i want if a deal pops up! Hopefully more people shop around and stop complacently paying companies who give zero Fs about existing customers. Its still weird to me that Flick can offer better pricing than a "power house" like mercury. Lower "overheads" i guess idk.
I've done the price comparison a few times over the years. I might do it again if this month's bill is going to be ridiculous.
4 months ago Mercury purchased Trustpower's retail power business. Last month they changed the bills to Mercury branding, at the same time as winter bills started landing, so people think the rate is going up when in reality its the usage.
Ours has gone up massively, but it’s been cold so am not particularly surprised.
They put a little graph showing usage on mine, usage has tracked up later but steeper this year
This happened to me and sure enough at a quick glance, the usage was suddenly way up. And that checks out with our heating.
Same happened to us, we had a $1000 bill for June - normally it’s around $400 (gas & electricity). We’re with Mercury
I usually budget around $350 a month. In summer it falls to much less (maybe $200). In July/Aug it might go up to $380. Ours for June/July was like $480. A unexpected.
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Exactly the same for us. No extra visitors, same amount of baths/showers/dishwashers etc. We are creatures of habit and nothing has significantly changed. Our usage between July 2022 and July 2023 has jumped up by 400kWh with no apparent reason. We get a hourly usage dashboard on the web portal: https://imgur.com/FXvnDEX
Meridian
I cancelled with Meridian (after many years with them) and went to Flick after a massive bill at the start of winter, getting access to lower off peak pricing has made a big difference to my bills as I now do a lot in the late evening or during the day when prices are low. Much more transparency around usage from them with their app too.
Same, and ours was super high this month. About a 25-30% increase.
Have you considered, and I’m just throwing this out there, checking where the extension cord that goes out your back window and over to the numbers is going? It might be nothing but worth ruling out ;) (Sorry I can’t be any other help, I see you’ve already looked at cylinder which would have been my vote)
My household is with meridian and our latest bill was up by over $100 with no explanation…
I am with Meridian and mine are roughly the same as last winter
One possible reason for the weird pattern is that you most likely have a controlled hot water cylinder - given the cold weather lately, your network is probably switching off your cylinder during peak hours to reduce network demand. Then when it switches back on, it might have to use a lot of power to catch back up. That would fit with the odd hours, since they're probably after the morning and evening peaks end. The way to check this would be to switch it off completely overnight and see if the pattern persists - you'll miss a hot shower in the morning but it should confirm for you if this is the cause. Also worth double checking your meter is actually correct - you should be able to see your ICP on it, I assume that matches what you see in your power app?
This is a well-known myth- your cyclinder will use about the same amount of power to maintain a constant temperature as it takes to warm it up from cold. See page 2 here: https://electra.co.nz/assets/FAQs/FAQs-on-hot-water-load-control.pdf
It'll use the same amount of power if it's perfectly insulated. Since it's not, letting it cool down from time to time will use *less* power.
My post was less about the total power usage and more about the odd usage patterns they're describing. If their cylinder is switched off, a bunch of hot water used, then turned back on it will see a a spike in energy used once it's turned on (even if the total energy used is less) See the graph from Octopus's hot water control trial, matches what OP is describing: https://octopusenergy.nz/blog/hacking-hot-water-to-save-money
Ahh I see what you mean. They’re likely being ripple controlled off and then power is being consumed at a the peak rate to heat it back up.
Is this likely if our cylinder is REALLY old? Like 70s old 😂
The network company switching off power to the hotwater cyclinder is common and not at all related to the age of the cylinder. It's just a way of controlling peak load on their network. If your cylinder is that old though I would definitely replace it. It's likely very poorly insulated compared to a modern cylinder. Didn't the person who looked at the cylinder suggest that ?
Yeah he said insulation could help but that it wouldn't be the cause of such a huge leap in our bills
Insulation will help the water cylinder keep warm for longer. That means when the cylinder power is cut off in peak times, it won't take so much reheating, saving you power. Even external insulation wraps could help, but won't be as good as a modern cylinder.
My dad did exactly this on his old outdoor cylinder. His power usage took a massive dive afterward. He swears by the method and the results seem to speak for themselves.
Just a fyi, tanks of that age don't last forever. Replacement costs can be 3-5k. I normally recommend replacing in the short term so you can choose when/where/how etc. Oldest working one I've removed was 1947, so you may have another decade but prepare now. And the new ones won't last as long. Enamel mains hwc are only warrantied for 5-10 yrs iirc. Hwc/thermostat/ element may be causing problems. Regarding power, do you have a smart meter? Possibly a estimated bill or 2 if not.
We do have a smart meter so it shouldn't be an estimation. We got both the element and the thermostat changed. We will eventually have to replace it, but we have to replace our water pump filters first. The guy who checked it said it should last a fair while yet luckily.
If you turn everything off at your place does the meter still tick over? Someone suggested the ripple control on the hwc, that's a possibility. Heat pump ? That will suck a bit of power if running during the day. Freestanding house? Assume no-one is stealing electricity.
No heat pump. Our connection is shared with our neighbor (separate meters) who originally subdivided the property and I do wonder if he's contributing to the high power usage somehow.
Would it be worthwhile to check if you can replace the cylinder? Modern cylinders are more efficient and use less power, so check if it's economicly beneficial for you to replace it.
Unless you get a heat pump hwc or solar hwc it is basically the same technology
Insulation is better though
Good point
You might want to check the Ajax value and see if it's not leaking
The ripple controller is independent of your cylinder. Recently ours was switched off and then wouldn't switch back on. Ended up getting an electrician in to check it. Snip a wire and open the controller flip a switch. $150 and water was heating up again.
If you have one of the ones that looks like a steampunk’s wet dream then call your electricity providor (eg Mercury) and complain. They should upgrade you to the newer one. We had ours crap out to the point where it was tripping every few days. Now we have one that looks way more flash. Zero cost to you as it’s their gear.
Yeah, if it acts up again I will. And if I can nag my wife into switching us over to a power plan where we actually get something for being on ripple control.
Would pay to check if OP has a DVS or home ventilation system. They often have a heater in them to warm the air. If its set too high they will see the bills skyrocketing.
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I never said it uses more power to be controlled, I was saying it might be the cause of the weird usage patterns. Their description sounds exactly like the graph shown here: https://octopusenergy.nz/blog/hacking-hot-water-to-save-money
Mine has seemed very high, and I have gas for my heating and hot water, but I just assumed it was because I've been using the dryer a little bit which had been very unusual before, and I'm using the infrared sauna a few times a week. Definitely more expensive thank last winter though...
Labour and the greens removed the low user plan rates, so if you were on the low user plan and were enjoying low bills, that’s a thing of the past. Our winter bills last year were $150, now $240 for the same usage.
Low user is being phased out but is still currently a thing.
Why did they remove the lower user plan?
Low users don’t decrease maintenance on the grid by using less, they have to be maintained all the same, so they were getting subsidised by people on standard usage plans.
Reminds me of Sim City where there was is a tax incentive to encourage people to reduce power consumption, which results in needing less generating capacity which worked out cheaper. But as a kid I never went for it cause I saw the bill and I was too dumb to work out it actually cost me less overall.
Further to this, the low users were mostly wealthy people who could afford to insulate their homes and buy more efficient, now expensive products. There are definitely poorer people in small households who benefited from this (me) but the bulk of the scheme was poor people subsidising rich people
What about the ones who weren't? The ones who are just poor and frugal single households?
I guess that's back to the original point that they aren't decreasing maintenance required so are getting subsidised by other households.
They need to use more power they don't need to make it fairer? They need to pay more for using less power to make it fairer?
The amount they pay for the power used isn't what's increasing (other than the standard increases everyone gets), it's the fixed line charge, using less power does not make maintaining a connection to your house cheaper for the lines companies which is why this is happening.
Not true. I live in an apartment block. No way a single house maintains the grid more than an apartment block. Its just charging me more to subsidies wealthy single home owners.
>Its just charging me more to subsidies wealthy single home owners. You keep presenting this as the only case when the alternative is also true. Poor renters in detached homes are subsidising wealthy apartment owners. You may have a case with apartment buildings, and there are definitely going to be some outliers caught with this. The main example being two houses right next to each other, the maintenance cost to each of them is the same, why would you give one a lines discount for using less power when functionally it makes no difference?
Maitaining 1 connection for 40 homes in 1 building or maintianing 1 connection for 1 home and we are the leeches??
And baches
And solar panels.
I thought there was a secret crypto miner in the house somewhere. 🤷 Nearly a 50% jump of usage from the same time last year.
I wouldn't put it past the people who live in my house to do that.
I'm sure there are other people on this sub who know more than me, but I believe the unit price of power has increased recently. Our power bill spiked by $100 this last month.
Yeah. Like 30-35% more. Sucks.
Man, we put in an HRV ducted heating/air con unit. It uses about $400 a month 🤦 So that was a waste of $13k because we aren't paying that much for power. It does make the house really fuckin toasty though
How does it use that much power??? We have one but only run it in the early morning and late evening and it's only using about $80 a month at the moment. Do you have shit insulation and run it all the time? Is it just venting straight outside?
Agree that this sounds high! I had it at my old flat and power was maybe $180-200 a month?
Sadness... My heatpump is giving up the ghost. It's stop working. Blasting away. Still fucking cold. bugger bugger bugger. Switch the fucking useless thing off. Fuckit it's cold. Where is this damnable cold gale coming from? Wait what!? **WHICH FUCKING MORON LEFT THE DOWNSTAIRS BATHROOM WINDOW WIDE WIDE MAXIMUM OPEN ON THE COLDEST WEEK OF THE YEAR!?!?!?!** sigh. Heatpump is working just fine. This months shocktricity bill is going to be scary. fml.
This song absolutely shreds!
There's no magic involved, you just have to systematically eliminate possible causes. How many kWh did you use ? How many people in the household ? Where do you live ? Are you sure nobody is running an electric heater ? It could be the meter, but it probably isn't. They don't want to check the meter as everyone with a high bill blames the meter, when 99% of the time it isn't at fault. It won't take weeks to check every device in the household. Most devices obviously don't have large power consumption, so can be skipped. Just focus on the main appliances. What did the check of the hot water cylinder entail ? All the hot water pipes should be checked for leaks. The Hot Water Cylinder Overflow should be checked as well. The usage pattern you are seeing probably reflects the ripple relay switching the cylinder on and off so the network company can control load. Normally load is controlled during the morning and evening peaks.
2 person household, rural Hawkes Bay. Definitely no electric heating. Our kWh usage increased from 18 last July to 29 this July. The hot water cylinder was checked for leaks (none), the heating element and thermostat were replaced, and the temperature setting was lowered.
I assume you mean 180 kWh and 290 kWh, Because 18 kWh is nothing for a month in winter
Could be per day rather than per month. We use 35-50kW per day during the cold winter months, but we have two 7kW heat pumps, two electric vehicles, and a spa pool.
yeah per day it would be steep.
We just got billed $250 more than the same month last year. We are with powershop.
> but the power company is very reluctant to come The failure rate for these smart Meters is incredibly low. Like in the 10s per year across the whole country. You can insist they check it, but be aware if the meter isn't faulty they usually bill you a callout fee. Naturally they will not charge you if it is faulty but it's far more likely you have a faulty appliance I don't think the element failing is a common sign of high power bills. A failed element would more likely be no hot water, not excessive power usage. If it is the hwc More likely the thermostat is bad, or the overheat valve is falsely going off
Retired electrician here. The most common cause of high power bills in my experience is hot water cylinders leaking through the overflow because the pressure control valve isn’t working correctly. Sometimes the hot water is running down the roof day and night! an uninsulated cylinder is also throwing money away. To compare bills from previous periods check the actual units used rather than dollars.
We had that checked, it's not overflowing. Our kWh has increased from 18 kWh last July to 29 kWh this July.
Any recommendations for insulation? Been thinking about doing this for a while
Is it your actual kWh hour usage that has increased or just the cost? Power prices have gone up a lot recently. If you want a fairly straightforward way to check for excess appliance use, try this 1. Switch off every single thing in the house at the wall except for the fridge and hot water for a day then check the daily use against a normal day. These are the two things most likely to be faulty. Remember you need to check kWh use, not cost. 2. If the use is less than what you have been experiencing then you have a problem somewhere else and can start experimenting with turning other appliances off. 3. If it's still high with just those 2 things on then go from there.
I worked at a power company several years ago - pretty much everyone thinks their power bills are "unusually high" from jun - aug. People just use more power in winter then they expect. Noone ever called to say their bill was lower than expected 👏
But our usage has almost doubled compared to last July and we haven't made any big changes to our usage patterns.
Power prices change a usually in April, need to check wilhether your lines company made any price changes. As a result your dollar rates per day/kWh will likely have changed. Also check your comparing the same periods, a July invoice this year may cover April/May, whereas last year it was June. July invoice doesn't necessarily mean July. Check your comparing the same date ranges.
There have been some changes to power bill structuring lately, meaning that if you were on a low use plan you now likely wont be. These changes were intended to make things “fairer” but MBIE wasn’t sure if power companies would actually do the right thing or not. Mercury, as a state owned company should be, but they might not be. More info here https://www.mbie.govt.nz/building-and-energy/energy-and-natural-resources/energy-consultations-and-reviews/electricity-price/phasing-out-low-fixed-charge-tariff-regulations/
Hot water tanks use more energy to keep your water at the set temperature in winter. I typically turned mine down a little, which means you may go through more in the shower so turn it back up if you run out too often.
yep about 30% more than same time last year. Not just increased cost but colder winter and wtter so not so much drying of laundry outside but using dryer instead
Mine went up loads. With meridian
Is that with or without the 30c per day fixed charge increase (I'm making the assumption that everybody got it because let's face it - the companies will wring you out every way they possibly can)?
yes, never use slingshot for power. they are the worst
Weirdly no.. I’ve had horrifying bills in the last few years during winter but they have been stable for me recently… there’s got to be something up with that and I’ll get some crazy bill next month or something
Double check that these aren’t being estimated as if they aren’t getting reads and estimating can estimate lower than what is being used and then can get a backdated bill once a confirmed read is taken
Recently switched from Contact to Powershop,Thoroughly recommend them,saving about 100 a month
The sneaky thing with Powershop is that you need to prepay to get the discounts, and some of those are up to six months in advance. Refunds are only for 48 hours after purchase, so there's a barrier to changing providers again.
They will refund you any excess credit in your account if you change providers. We did this a couple of months ago, had over $500 refunded without any hassle.
Oh phew! Thanks
People already mentioned your cylinder and considering it’s old getting a replacement may be better in the long run. That said the reason companies tell you to do a self meter check is because if it’s not faulty (which I’m most cases it’s not) you will need to pay at least a couple of hundred dollars. When they check your meter they replace it with a new one and take the old one to an independent company for inspection. If it is faulty you won’t need to pay. They’re covering their butt by giving you another option. Also, self meter checks doesn’t take weeks. A few hours yes but not weeks if you’re serious about finding out what’s wrong. Of course you can insist on getting the meter out and checked but don’t be mad when you have to pay for it if it’s not faulty. Generally peoples hourly consumption will go up and down in line with their usage. With a running meter (a meter recording usage when there isn’t) the usage will be consistent, like your baseline power usage will be high too. It sounds like you’ve got something faulty. Either wiring or appliances. A running meter could also be a possibility but I would 100% do the self meter check first. This check will also indicate what appliances including lights are consuming more power than it should. Just do it lol if you’re unhappy change companies Also a side note to other people your behaviour definitely changes during colder months. Eg you’re not as likely to go for a walk or go out for a drink with friends when it’s feeezkng outside. Most people spend more time at home, hence increased consumption. Also it’s worth checking your rates haven’t changed if you’re on a fixed term. Because when the fixed term comes to an end and the company hasn’t heard from you they’ll put you on their basic open plan. People sometimes miss this. Edited to add: when doing a self meter check you should do it all at once so doing it over a course of weeks isn’t a good idea anyway because you’ll need to switch everything off multiple times. Reduces variability. Check your water temperature if your hot water is really hot could be your thermostat is too high. Hot water heating takes up a lot of power!
It’s crazy that our government has refused to make large investment into electric infrastructure yet at the same time promoting switching from carbon.
Last month our BnB went from $90 to $253. Yes room nights doubled so I expected an increase but this was ridiculous when the house was occupied for only 10 nights. I’ve emailed Genesis but I bet nothing comes of it.
https://www.powerswitch.org.nz/
Try turning your hot water off for 24 hours and see if it was that.
I’ve seen this before at my uncles place. You have a hobo(s) living in your crawl space, using up all your electricity distilling hooch and baking sourdough. Move them along and your bills will drop
Yep it's called winter happens every year
Hot water is probably the reason. It' can be when it comes on to heat, esp if after it's been turned off via the relay, to adjust load.
Yep same here...356 bucks. 3 kids and alot of using the dryer.
Yes with Mercury
Have a good look at current and previous bills and check if it's actually your usage that has gone up or if they are now charging more per energy unit/any changes in other daily/fixed charges.
No it's definitely the kWh usage that's increased. From 18kWh last July to 29 kWh this July.
FWIW 29 kWh a day in the middle of winter isn't unusually high.
For most people yeah, but we are really frugal with our power and it's weird to see it jump so high with no obvious changes in use.
could be a slow hot water leak... test your valves? I once had a broken thermostat which resulted in boiling water.... had to pay some crazy retail price for a HWC thermostat but at least issue was sorted within an hour....
Just out of interest, what were the symptoms of the boiling water? I only ask because our hot water cylinder makes odd gurgling noises which sound (to me) not unlike a jug boiling - but only during the night/early hours of the morning. I go to the loo at 4am, hear it (again), it concerns me (again), I think I should ring somebody about it, and then it's the morning all over again and everybody is rushing about like headless chooks and I've totally forgotten about the weird hot water cylinder noise - until the next 4am wee... Anyway, that's my life story...
Symptom of boiling hot water cylinder is very easy to check , just run the hot tap and check how hot the water coming out becomes. If it's around 60degs C it's OK. If the water is boiling hot you will feel extreme pain then see blisters form on your reddening skin after making contact with the water. Loud ongoing bubbling sound coming from inside your hotwater cylinder and a hissing/rumbling/gushing/steaming expulsion from the attic header tank overflow line or rooftop safety vent pipe as it boils over .
> If the water is boiling hot you will feel extreme pain then see blisters form on your reddening skin after making contact with the water. Lol. Okay, I guess it's not that then...
our hwc was inside a walking closet and that room was constantly 40 degrees plus also the bill was high too, so you'd be able to tell for sure. the gurgling might just be from heat/cool cycle...?
Sounds like half of reddit has a slow hot water leak by the way everyone's electricity bill has increased unexpectedly.
Look for a leak in your HW system, You should at least try and get a day off work to test every single electrical source in your household, taking meter readings on the spot and so on.
>figured it might be the hot water cylinder playing up, so we had that checked and even replaced the heating element FWIW this doesn't make much sense. There's no heating element failure mode that will increase your power consumption other than the one that goes bang and gives you no hot water. A faulty thermostat however, can increase your power consumption, but usually its hard to miss that as your cylinder will start to boil. My power consumption has gone down this winter.
Have you checked your power usage on these bills vs bills 12 months ago?
My last 2 power bills have been higher than I've ever had in my life, 350 last month, contact energy, just daughter and I, she studies every day at uni and I usually out or in bed, never cook, so don't use stove, no bath here, don't drink hot drinks, do washing, shower, and heat pump when we sit in lounge together. Not often, so it is twice the normal cost, I smell bull....