I've never really understood how some people can take a simple black and white fact and fail to comprehend it or worse still, find a bizarre alternative.
As an example: If today you go to Uswitch and type in that you are a single person living alone in a 3 bed-roomed, all electric, mid-terraced house with above average insulation and don't cook there every night. If Uswitch then say that all the energy companies that they check say 1 years worth of electricity now will cost between £354.00 and £574.18, then it stands to reason that 8 years ago if you used £432.00 for 3 months during summer and £437.00 for the next 3 autumn months then clearly something is wrong?
Another example: If your energy provider tells you that an average user of electricity uses between 9 and 15 units of electricity a day. And you consider yourself to be a low user as you have all low energy light-bulbs throughout your house, "A" rated energy efficient appliances, you never leave anything on stand-by and generally don't waste electricity. However you use 27.5 units of electricity a day with no-one in the house, because you are away on holiday and everything is switched off except you fridge and freezer. Then surely something is greatly amiss?
A further Example: If you live in the above detailed property, 3 bed-roomed, mid terraced, all electric house, above average insulation, but there are 3 of you living there. Uswitch say it could cost you between £561.77 and £991.28 per year. And if you lived in a detatched, all electric, 5 bed-roomed, house with poor insulation, and there were 5 people living in the house. Uswitch say it would cost you between £1071.52 and £2071.90. So how come it costs me in my 3 bed-roomed mid-terraced house with low energy bulbs and energy efficient appliances, with good insulation, and only 3 people living in it between £3773.00 and £4122.00 according to Scottish Power - surely that is clearly wrong?
Now if amongst this 2 things happen at around the same time, that being - your neighbours move out and you get a new meter fitted. Simultaneously you have a drop in you electrical consumption of a significant amount (say from 33 units daily average use to around 15 units average daily use), then one of these events has to be the cause. If subsequently your old meter tests within normal parameters at the hands of an independent examiner, then that leaves your neighbours moving out as the only significant event still in question. Again if at some point your local council puts a team of cleaners into your neighbours property, with industrial cleaners that run on electricity and your usage for that one day almost doubles - just for that day then goes back to normal, that would seem to verify the cause of your troubles as the wiring at the meter of the two properties which share a common feed to the mains. There is however a third option not considered by yourself as it is simply not the case, but is held as the truth by your electricity supplier - in this case Scottish Power. You are using less apliances in your house which is why your electrical usage is down - and that is just plain bizarre!!!
