Hi everybody,
I was on holidays and surprised to see our electricity bill. My wife told me that mostly our bills are double to the bills of our neighbours and relatives. We are getting bills of double the amount of many of our neighbours and relatives who are using the same number of lights and other electrical equipments. My wife noticed it few years back and made a complaint to the electricity department who changed the metre just for nothing. Now they again changed the metre to an electronic one but still the same story. What could be the reason for the metre running faster than other metres in the neighbourhood.
A small note: Once our iron had some problem and the plug and socket was burned due to overload. My wife told me that she had noticed the over consumption after that incident.
I would appreciate if any of the experts in this field can give some clues or ideas to solve it. Electricity Department is telling that we are using too many Air Conditioners but we are not using any.

It is theoretcially possible for a load to be created at a burned or bad connection that will simulate a real load and use electricity, but the heat generated would cause smoke, or even fire, or just burn it self clear.

Just for safety sake, go around to each outlet, junction box, switch, panel, even the electric meter,every electric box you can find, and feel the surface with your finger tips and hands to be sure you do not feel any heat.

Anything you find questionable, have it checked.

So the practicality of this occurring is slim. There must be a load running, whether it is a hot water heater, any electric heater, spa, pool heater, range, dishwasher dry cycle, just trying to list things to help you think of what you may have.

Best I can do is suggest you look at all the appliances you do use, hot water, cooking, to see if there is something that will cause your usage.

I may be able to help speculate if you tell me the square foot of the home, list of each appliance, any unusual situation I may not realize.

You may be able to find a testing firm that can connect a recording meter to measure the power used, to confirm or deny the proper operation of the utility meter.

tkrussell... I once had a Evaporative AC that had a water pump shorted to pump frame but it was not enough to trip the breaker but was enough to create a slight shock, felt like a shock from a 24 volt thermostat. Could something like this run up the bill and be hard to detect.

Yes that is exactly what can happen. A circuit like that uses power but does no work.

Hi tkrussell,
We have gone through all our equipments and all of them are in good condition. Our house is around 1800 sq. feet. I will list down the equipments we use.
1. Fridge (2 door) Brand new
2. Washing Machine - checked well and is used 2-3 hours per week.
3. Water Pump - new one - 10 minutes a day
4. Iron Box - New one - 1 hour per week
5. Ceiling Fans (5 nos) - only 2 at a time (around 5 hours per day)
6. CFL bulbs 15-18 watts (7 nos) 4-5 hours per day maximum
7. Invertor (to use during power failure) rarely used but will be charging daily.
8. TV, DVD Player - average 3 hours per day
9. Computer - 2 hours per day
10. Small pump for aquarium.

All our equipments are new and has been checked well for faults.

One thing to consider is that your billing is correct and others are not.

I do not see any heating equipment listed, where does hot water come from, how is the home heated, food cooked, clothes dried?

Water pump only runs 10 minutes a day? Is the for water to drink, cook wash cloathes , showers? Sure must run more than 10 min.

Not sure what an Iron Box is. Only runs 1 hour a week?

A couple of things you can do to look into this is shut everything you know off, and look at the electric meter to se if it is still recording or showing usage.

NExt, if this is an apt, or otherwise connected to other homes is to shut off the main to your home, to see if another home is connected to yours. You may want to shut it off when others are home to be sure they notice a power outage.

Also, check your billing rate to be sure it is correct, and compare to others to see if there is any difference in rates.

I have offered some obvious possibilities to check into . For a 1800 SF home, there is not much going on. It really is difficult to compare bills to others, unless the loads are identical, the number of people are the same, and the life style is identical.

I wish I can be of more help. Most times I do find, when I can investigate in person, that there usually is some logical reason for the difference. But there have been appliances stuck on for example, or mis wire circuits so that the next door neighbor was connected to the wrong meter.

Check into what you can, get back with any results or additional questions.

Hi tkrussell,
Thanks for your quick reply. I am sorry for a very big mistake (typing error) which I did not notice. The Iron box is used 4 hours a week.

I am from South India where we don't need any heaters (now a days we have started ACs during summer). I am talking about a small house. Food is cooked over gas stove. Water is stored in tanks made of fiber which is filled in 5 minutes and we have to fill the tank twice a day (10 minutes in total a day).

We are living in a single villa which is not connected to any other house with an individual electric connection. Rates has been checked and it is the same. I have 3 neighbours with similar house and using the same number of equipments and a couple of relatives using the same power per day. All of them are getting identical bills except us who is getting always double. Checked out metre after closing everything and it is idle.The only difference is our daily consumed units are double to others. If our metre is showing 15 units per day the other houses are showing 7 or 8 units per day (for eg)

The best I can suggest is to shut off all equipment , lights, appliances,using the normal everyday switch that you use to control each item, and check the meter for usage.

Then I would still shut off the main to be sure nothing else is connected.

The above advice is all good.
Probably not this, but, have seen where neighbors tap into electrical or water, even cable and phone.
At night, you could turn off your main, did you neighbor lights go out?
If you have access to Amprobe, Check current of ground. Should be 0.
Like above, check current of individual circuits.