ᐅ Excessive Electricity Consumption in Single-Family Home Construction – Experiences
Created on: 16 Jan 2022 20:55
M
Miwi2009
Hello everyone,
I built a single-family house with a general contractor, and according to the construction contract, I am responsible for the electricity costs during the building phase. After about 9 months of construction, a staggering 25,000 kWh were consumed. This corresponds to approximately €8,000 in electricity costs. In my opinion, the main drivers were the heating program for the screed as well as various heaters and drying devices that were used in the house for some time.
I wanted the general contractor to cover part of the electricity costs (€4,000), but unfortunately, they are unwilling to negotiate and refer to the contract. My logical argument would be that, as a layperson, I would expect a usual electricity consumption or costs for a single-family house to average between €2,500 and €3,500, depending on the season and other factors.
Has anyone had a similar experience or any suggestions on how to get the general contractor to share 50% of the costs?
Thanks in advance!
I built a single-family house with a general contractor, and according to the construction contract, I am responsible for the electricity costs during the building phase. After about 9 months of construction, a staggering 25,000 kWh were consumed. This corresponds to approximately €8,000 in electricity costs. In my opinion, the main drivers were the heating program for the screed as well as various heaters and drying devices that were used in the house for some time.
I wanted the general contractor to cover part of the electricity costs (€4,000), but unfortunately, they are unwilling to negotiate and refer to the contract. My logical argument would be that, as a layperson, I would expect a usual electricity consumption or costs for a single-family house to average between €2,500 and €3,500, depending on the season and other factors.
Has anyone had a similar experience or any suggestions on how to get the general contractor to share 50% of the costs?
Thanks in advance!
B
Benutzer20017 Jan 2022 10:17Tolentino schrieb:
Not sure if you meant me or the OP; for me, it was the general contractor’s electrician, but acting on my behalf. According to the construction contract, I had to provide the temporary power supply. I meant the OP – sorry if that was unclear.
Our electrician had already installed the meter with zero reading in the modular enclosure. Later, it was then screwed into the meter cabinet.
All of this happened at the same time as registering with the grid operator. Now, after a little over one and a half years, I am at just under 3800 kWh.
But 25,000 kWh, I would definitely investigate who the major consumer is... ?
All of this happened at the same time as registering with the grid operator. Now, after a little over one and a half years, I am at just under 3800 kWh.
But 25,000 kWh, I would definitely investigate who the major consumer is... ?
H
Hausbautraum2017 Jan 2022 10:56Your numbers are quite extreme. I looked up our kWh consumption again.
We used 8,000 kWh for the construction and another 5,000 kWh for drying the screed.
The huge amount was due to drying after plastering. We ran one electric heater with 10 kW, four construction dryers totaling 3 kW, and fans using 1 kW. That adds up to 14 kW.
Running all this for almost three weeks resulted in nearly 7,000 kWh consumed.
However, 13,000 kWh is still only about half of 25,000 kWh.
We used 8,000 kWh for the construction and another 5,000 kWh for drying the screed.
The huge amount was due to drying after plastering. We ran one electric heater with 10 kW, four construction dryers totaling 3 kW, and fans using 1 kW. That adds up to 14 kW.
Running all this for almost three weeks resulted in nearly 7,000 kWh consumed.
However, 13,000 kWh is still only about half of 25,000 kWh.
Benutzer200 schrieb:
I meant the OP – sorry if that wasn’t clear. The general contractor was or is responsible for the temporary construction power box including the connection, and they also registered everything with the utility provider. I know the meter started at zero.
I can rule out electricity theft; also, it’s not easy to access the site without permission, otherwise the cable would have to be very long 😉
The only explanation I have is, on the one hand, the heating program running through the external device (instead of the heat pump), and on the other, the ventilation and drying equipment that operated over a very long period.
Even though the contract states that I have to cover these costs, as a layperson I would expect typical construction electricity usage not to exceed this by such a large margin. As I said, I’m willing to accept up to 3,000 euros, but not more than twice that amount.
R
RotorMotor17 Jan 2022 11:27Miwi2009 schrieb:
The only explanation I have is, on one hand, the heating-up program through the external device (instead of the heat pump) as well as the ventilation and drying devices, which ran for a very long period of time. What do you mean by a very long period?
How warm was it during that time?
Was the house insulated and were the windows closed?
Oh, and how large is your house?
If it is 10 times bigger than ours, the consumption could of course be reasonable!
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