Unexplained aurora+ usage

Aurora+ shows the amount of kWh you use down to the hour, so you can see exactly what you’re using and when. There are a few reasons you might be seeing usage at times when you know things like appliances and lights switched off.

Appliances

Appliances like fridges, freezers, fish tanks and things on standby consume energy constantly, so you might see a small amount of usage on your app with these household goods.

Hot Water Cylinder

If you have an electric hot water cylinder, you might notice small spikes in your usage every few hours, even when nothing is being used in the home. This is because most hot water cylinders are designed to keep your water at a certain temperature and it needs power to do so.

You’ll also notice that after you use hot water your usage will also spike; this is because your hot water cylinder is replacing and heating the water you’ve used, the spike may occur more than an hour after you used the hot water.

This is something to consider if you're on the Peak and Off-peak plan, as using hot water just before it clicks over to peak time may result in higher charges, as you'll be using power in the more expensive time to heat your water.

The more hot water you use, the more energy you’ll consume, and the bigger the spike will be on your app usage graph.

Faults

Unusual spikes in usage may also indicate that an appliance may not be working as it should; leaking hot water systems will constantly be trying to refill and re-heat which could cause big jumps in energy usage. If you think there could be a faulty appliance eating your power, check out the Home Energy Audit Kit.