Electricity consumption has increased - what could be the reason?
Overview of Reasons
Incorrect meter connection
Quite often, an increase in energy consumption occurs due to improper connection of the meter. When replacing old induction meters with new, electronic ones, representatives of the energy supply unintentionally, or even worse, intentionally connect the meter in such a way that an overrun occurs. If, after replacing the counter, the readings increased several times, most likely it is the wrong connection.
Consider this as an example. The time has come for the replacement of the meter, you have a new electronic meter installed. So, if an electrician connected the zero-wire output from the meter to the apartment itself, tearing it through the body of the electrical panel, there will be an excessive consumption of electricity. Remember the important thing - the neutral wire should go directly from the meter, there should be no breaks. Otherwise, contact your power supply organization, request to call representatives to check the connection diagram and its changes.
You can determine the wrong connection of the meter visually. If the neutral wire goes to the apartment without a break, the connection is correct. If zero is connected through the enclosure of the electrical panel, the connection is incorrect.
Theft of electricity by neighbors
The second popular reason because of which the electricity consumption in the apartment increases is theft of electricity by neighbors. The easiest way to detect theft is to turn off all consumers in the rooms. If you turn off the lights and all electrical appliances from outlets, but the electric meter will increase readings every minute, it means that most likely your neighbors have connected to you through an adjacent outlet in the wall or in the floor panel itself. This causes an overrun of electric energy. About, how to punish neighbors for the theft of electricity, we told in a separate article.
However, do not rush, maybe no one has connected to you and the problem is the malfunction of your meter. There is such a thing as self-propelled electric meteras a result of which the device will wind light without load.In this case, you first have to check the health of the electric meter and, if necessary, replace it.
Old electrical wiring insulation
It happens that an overspending of electricity occurs due to the fact that the wiring in the apartment or house has become unusable. When aging insulation occurs current leak, an electric meter captures this leak and perceives it as consumed electricity. As a result, electricity consumption increases, while visually problems cannot be detected. To determine that the problem is aging the wiring insulation, you need to invite a specialist who will performcable insulation resistance measurement. According to the results of measurements, it will become clear whether this is the reason or not.
Poor operation of household appliances
Of course, this reason is not responsible for the sharp increase in energy consumption. However, if you simply compared your consumption with your neighbors (for example) and it turned out that with the same amount of appliances you pay a little more “for light”, the reason may also be that you are not very economical about the operation of household appliances.
The fact is that the switched off TV, microwave or music center, which have red lights or a clock on the display, still consume electricity. This is not such a big expense, on average, the same TV consumes tens of milliamps in standby mode. However, nevertheless, over a month this consumption reaches 5-10 kW. Now we multiply this average reading by the number of household appliances operating in standby mode and get an average power consumption of about 20-30 kW per month.
The equipment will not consume electricity only if it is completely disconnected from the outlet, or if this TV, then from the button on the case itself. You can ease the task and connect a group of consumers (for example, a TV and a DVD player) through an extension cord with a button, with which you can completely disconnect the equipment from the network.
Ways to solve the problem
To eliminate the excessive consumption of electricity, the first thing you need to determine what became the culprit in the increase in consumption. If the information provided does not help you, or you doubt that you can independently find and eliminate the cause of the cost overrun, we recommend that you first contact the Housing Office. An electrician from a service organization should inspect the panel for unauthorized connections and errors in the wiring diagram. If no obvious reasons are found in the shield, you need to check the wiring in the apartment and the electric meter itself. As for checking the wiring in the apartment, here again, either do the inspection yourself, or call a specialist. We talked about how to independently check an electric meter in a separate article: https://our.electricianexp.com/en/kak-samomu-proverit-pravilnost-raboty-schetchika-elektroenergii.html. Did the checks not help? Call the grid company and ask how you can perform a specialized check of your meter.
If in this case the network organization tells you to call an electrician, tell me that you did it (as we wrote about earlier) and that the electrician did not find any problems with the connection diagram. Then, already in the network organization, they must announce the procedure for checking the electricity meter. After paying for the services, they will come to you from the network organization and carry out a qualified check.
Finally, we recommend watching a video that clearly shows one of the reason for the excessive consumption of electricity in the apartment:
Now you know why there may be an increase in energy consumption and what to do in this case. We hope the information was useful and interesting for you!
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I did not quite understand. Bad neighbor - it happens, but how can I put a wire through a concrete wall into a hole of 10 mm and connect it to my outlet? I see only one option - go to my apartment to untwist the socket and connect your wire. If there is another option - then the neighbor is either a wizard, or he has an assistant boy with a finger.