just had first elec bill - WTF! (UK)

[sithsmith23]

Hi All

Just had first bill through from EDF since purchased I3 and was a bit shocked to say the least that they wanted to increase monthly DD by 71% (£50) to cover new usage and top next 6 months as current DD payments over last 6 months do not cover actual usage.

I think I've read before that issues with off peak charging? (might be wrong) I am charging car at home about 85 to 90% of the time with off peak (I have economy 7 so 5.3p unit off peak vs 15p peak) + I have tracking my usage and assumed cost (clearly incorrectly) which is completely at odds with level of increase from EDF.

Looking at bill and comparing last bill there is massive increase in day unit usage but very small usage in night which leads me to believe when I plug and set off peak between hours I know it to be, then this has not be actually case (I do roughly check 50% of the time that the car is charging when it should be EG off peak through the app)

I have Rolec charger (I believe the story of issues with off peak was only for the BMW wallbox?)....any guidance/advice/insight? I've sent my questions/queries to EDF but sure they wash their hands off it....probably need to get back in charge with installer?

cheers for any support

Paul

 

[jadnashuanh]

How far did you drive? You can use the vehicle's history on your usage pattern and miles/kwHr and get a good idea of how much energy you used on the i3. It won't be perfect since the car uses some energy for things other than charging such as warming or cooling the battery pack and the passenger cabin, and the process is not perfect in the conversion of acv to dcv. But, it is a fairly accurate guesstimate.

You can just use something like your mileage driven divided by 4 and be fairly close to how many Kw's you used.

I do not know how they bill in the UK, but in some places, you pay a different base charge varying with your maximum usage...you may have jumped to the next tier, and a different pricing structure.

The other thing I'd carefully check is the history of prior usage, and now that you have the i3. Compare the delta from those prior to buying the i3 with after. For 50 pounds at your lower rate, that amounts to about 50/0.053 or 943Kw * 4, or 3774 miles at average consumption rates. But if that were at your peak rates, 50/0.15 or 333Kw, or 4*333 = 1333 miles.

 

[psquare]

I switched to Economy 7 on Ecotricity and track my consumption very closely at least every 2-3 days. I also provide readings to Ecotricity every month in order to give them data to base a proper estimate on my consumption. I'm paying a standing charge of 27p per day and 16.55p on and 6.9p off peak. Ecotricity also give owners of EVs an annual discount of £40. About 67% of our electricity usage is off peak now, as I've also switched dishwasher and washing machine to delayed night programs.

I've actually just checked and since April 22nd our electricity costs are £126.09 plus VAT, so roughly £150. That's about £2.72 per day for all electricity consumed. About £1.50-£1.80 of that should be attributable to car charging per day, I'd say. This is also totally in line with my estimates before I bought the car. Our average weekly mileage is around 250 miles.

Hope this helps you in some way.

 

[MikeS]

I agree with psquare. I pay about 17p per kilowatt so to fill a 18.8kw battery will cost me no more than £3.20. So if my average range was 70 miles it cost about 4.5p/mile which is significantly less than an ICE vehicle. Before any comment about your elec bill,how many miles do you drive a week?

 

[sithsmith23]

and relax....timer clock for elec meter was 10 hours behind...so day usage was being charged as night and vice versa...so this explains why what I thought should be increased night usage through car charging actually was counting as day.

Nice people from EDF have installed new elec meter & bill will be revised....

 

[psquare]

and relax....timer clock for elec meter was 10 hours behind...so day usage was being charged as night and vice versa...so this explains why what I thought should be increased night usage through car charging actually was counting as day.

Nice people from EDF have installed new elec meter & bill will be revised....

Very glad to hear you found a plausible explanation for this. My Economy-7 meter clock doesn't change for summer/winter time, so my AM off-peak window moves during the year from 1:30/8:30 (summer) to 0:30/7:30 (winter).