Are they scamming me with my electricity bill?

Raise your hand if you have never had a doubt like that!

The electricity bill arrives at your house and the first thing you look at is the amount charged. If the amount is in the average of the last bills paid ... oh well .... it is yet another legalized theft but ... reluctantly... you have to pay.

Sometimes, however, the classic bill arrives that puts a flea in your ear: I've never paid so much ... is it possible that they were wrong? or am I exaggerating with the lights left in the house? I am not talking about figures which, at first glance, unequivocally indicate the presence of an error. I'm not talking about the crazy 8000 euro bill that ends up in all the newspapers and on all TVs. I'm talking about those cases in which, within a few months, consumption continues to grow and consequently also the bill.

Anomalies in consumption

It happened to me a while ago. I went to see my mom and, as often happens, we end up talking about the rising cost of living and the bills that keep rising. At one point my mother tells me: "This year the electricity bill has increased dramatically ... frightening! What they charge us is shameful!".

Working in the field of energy conservation, I am quite used to hearing complaints like these. And I'm also used to making people think and bringing them the only possible explanation: the increase in electricity consumption.

"Did you install the air conditioner this summer?" Here .... found the explanation!

"Have you connected any other new appliances? Maybe a humidifier or an ionizer that stays on 24 hours a day?" Here ... this too can explain the increase in consumption!

But in my mother's case, in the careful analysis of the home system, there was absolutely nothing "electric" new. Then, not fully believing in her words, I asked her for two invoices: the last one arrived and that of the same month relating to the previous year.

How to check?

Making an analysis of electricity consumption is quite simple. Just look at the graph on each invoice.

I'm talking about the graph relating to the so-called "Consumption trend over the last 12 months". What you see in the image above is the typical graph of a person who lives alone and who has an air conditioner. In fact, it is possible to notice a rather constant trend during the year, with a peak of consumption in the summer months (air conditioner on for several hours during the day) and with an average consumption indicated of 83 kWh / month.

Comparing this graph with that of the previous year, it is possible to notice any variation, both in terms of average monthly consumption and specifically for each month.

Well, in the case of my mother, there has been an increase in consumption starting from a certain month: first of a modest amount ... and then more and more consistent, constantly increasing from month to month!

How to interpret the anomalies?

The gradual and increasing increase in electricity consumption made me think of some household appliance connected to the electricity grid that had started to malfunction and was consuming more and more energy!

How can we ascertain this hypothesis? And most importantly, how to identify the faulty appliance?

The solution: the purchase of a very useful small device!

Just buy the following small device on the web:

It is an electrical consumption meter for household appliances and the price varies from 20 euros upwards, based on the reading accuracy and the data we want to extrapolate: average hourly, weekly, instantaneous consumption, etc...

It is applied to the electrical socket and the device to be controlled is connected to it. It is left running for several hours (I recommend at least one day) and then it can be interrogated, using the buttons and the display provided, to keep track of consumption data.

If an appliance has a maximum power of 0.4 kWh and has been on for 24 hours, it cannot have consumed more than 9.6 Kw (0.4 x 24)! In some cases, the average daily consumption is also shown on the appliance label. These data can be of further help in the analysis.

When the meter reading shows us a much higher value than expected, it is evident that the device has deteriorated over time and is consuming excessive electricity!

The conclusion of the story

With this simple trick, armed with patience and going to check a different appliance every day (but fortunately there are not many appliances that are connected to the electricity network 24 hours a day), I was able to discover that my mother had a freezer in the cellar, purchased twenty years earlier, which .... still seemed in excellent condition, but consumed four times the electrical power declared on the label !! It is clear that everything, even a freezer, has its life cycle!

I accompanied my mother to a famous distribution chain (I avoid mentioning names and advertisements) and we agreed on the delivery of the new freezer and the collection of the old one.

With great satisfaction, both mine and my mother, I can announce that the bills have returned to their previous standard levels!

Moral of the story

Our electricity consumption mainly depends on those appliances that are connected to the network 24 hours a day (fridge, freezer), or those that are used for a few hours but with high consumption (oven, washing machine, hairdryer, iron).

A separate discussion must be made for the air conditioner, which is used only for a few months a year but for many hours a day: my advice is to use it wisely, only in the hours necessary and possibly using only the dehumidification" function, which is sufficient for cooling and allows less energy to be consumed.

In short ... when we buy these appliances we must take into consideration the fact that they are the main responsible for our consumption and our bills.

A look at the energy class ... A .... B ..... C ..... is a must!

Please note. Source of some images: web