Electric cost 1 bed flat - too high?
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Kezzabell2
Posts: 5 Forumite
in Energy
I'm currently waiting for Scottish Power to call me back, apparently I'll hear from them in 3-5 days. but wondering if it sounds like I'm using too much electric or if there could be an issue.
I moved into my first flat in Feb 17. Its brand new (an old office building conversation). From day one I've had issues with the cost of my electric! I was lead to believe it would cost around £30 a month, therefore this is what my budget was. However, I'm now paying £69 a month.
*1 bed flat - live alone
*I leave at 7am, get back around 6-7 in the evenings. I have a horse, so I'm out most of the day in the weekend too.
*I have a shower in the morning and have had a timer put on my hot water tank, so its now only on for 1 hour a day (or 2 if I need a bath at night)
*It's freezing cold, the heating is electric, so I'm aware that will cost a bit to run. The living room is on a timer to come on at 5.30pm until 10 - the room is normally around 14.5 degrees when it comes on. it then comes on at 5.30-7am
*My bedroom radiator is on from 8 until 11pm and 5.30-7am
*I've replaced all of my blubs for LEDs.
*I turn everything off at the sockets, with the exception of the broadband (as it controls the hot water) and my fridge freezer.
*I do about 2 loads of washing a week, and use the tumble for about 40 mins, to get the worst of the wetness from my clothes!
*I have a brand new TV with an A rating!
*I have a laptop that I use occasionally, probably charge it about twice a week.
I'm so scared to use my electric because of the cost, even make sure I charge my phone at work, so I don't have to use the electric at home.
Oh and in the evenings I tend to use candles, so that I don't have to use my lights
I keep a spreadsheet of my meter readings and in the summer my average was 7 units per day, in the last 5 days it has gone up to 29 units per day
Also I have neighbours in the building who work similar hours to me, who's meters are half the size of mine, and they are not as careful!
I've been told that a smart meter won't be much help as my meter cupboard is too far away from my flat, so I would have to walk down closer to the cupboard in order to see what the usage is!
I kind of feel like the builders have wired the electrics up wrong and I'm paying for someone else's electric, or the communal lights or something
I moved into my first flat in Feb 17. Its brand new (an old office building conversation). From day one I've had issues with the cost of my electric! I was lead to believe it would cost around £30 a month, therefore this is what my budget was. However, I'm now paying £69 a month.
*1 bed flat - live alone
*I leave at 7am, get back around 6-7 in the evenings. I have a horse, so I'm out most of the day in the weekend too.
*I have a shower in the morning and have had a timer put on my hot water tank, so its now only on for 1 hour a day (or 2 if I need a bath at night)
*It's freezing cold, the heating is electric, so I'm aware that will cost a bit to run. The living room is on a timer to come on at 5.30pm until 10 - the room is normally around 14.5 degrees when it comes on. it then comes on at 5.30-7am
*My bedroom radiator is on from 8 until 11pm and 5.30-7am
*I've replaced all of my blubs for LEDs.
*I turn everything off at the sockets, with the exception of the broadband (as it controls the hot water) and my fridge freezer.
*I do about 2 loads of washing a week, and use the tumble for about 40 mins, to get the worst of the wetness from my clothes!
*I have a brand new TV with an A rating!
*I have a laptop that I use occasionally, probably charge it about twice a week.
I'm so scared to use my electric because of the cost, even make sure I charge my phone at work, so I don't have to use the electric at home.
Oh and in the evenings I tend to use candles, so that I don't have to use my lights
I keep a spreadsheet of my meter readings and in the summer my average was 7 units per day, in the last 5 days it has gone up to 29 units per day
Also I have neighbours in the building who work similar hours to me, who's meters are half the size of mine, and they are not as careful!
I've been told that a smart meter won't be much help as my meter cupboard is too far away from my flat, so I would have to walk down closer to the cupboard in order to see what the usage is!
I kind of feel like the builders have wired the electrics up wrong and I'm paying for someone else's electric, or the communal lights or something
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Comments
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Kezzabell2 wrote: »I kind of feel like the builders have wired the electrics up wrong and I'm paying for someone else's electric, or the communal lights or something [/FONT]
To test this theory switch off your consumer unit and see what goes off.Never pay on an estimated bill0 -
Kezzabell2 wrote: »I moved into my first flat in Feb 17. Its brand new (an old office building conversation). From day one I've had issues with the cost of my electric! I was lead to believe it would cost around £30 a month, therefore this is what my budget was. However, I'm now paying £69 a month.
£69 sounds more realistic for an all electric property.Kezzabell2 wrote: »*1 bed flat - live alone
*I leave at 7am, get back around 6-7 in the evenings. I have a horse, so I'm out most of the day in the weekend too.
Fair enough.Kezzabell2 wrote: »*I have a shower in the morning and have had a timer put on my hot water tank, so its now only on for 1 hour a day (or 2 if I need a bath at night)
So you have to heat the entire tank regardless of how much you plan to use. An electric shower is much more efficient if you have to use electric.Kezzabell2 wrote: »*It's freezing cold, the heating is electric, so I'm aware that will cost a bit to run. The living room is on a timer to come on at 5.30pm until 10 - the room is normally around 14.5 degrees when it comes on. it then comes on at 5.30-7am
*My bedroom radiator is on from 8 until 11pm and 5.30-7am
So you are using heating at 3 times the cost of gas heating then.Kezzabell2 wrote: »*I've replaced all of my blubs for LEDs.
*I turn everything off at the sockets, with the exception of the broadband (as it controls the hot water) and my fridge freezer.
Neither here nor there, these things are not costing much. UNless you have really old things turning off at the socket will make no difference and even then if will make little difference.Kezzabell2 wrote: »*I do about 2 loads of washing a week, and use the tumble for about 40 mins, to get the worst of the wetness from my clothes!
*I have a brand new TV with an A rating!
*I have a laptop that I use occasionally, probably charge it about twice a week.
You can't avoid washing, a laundrette wil lcost you more and TV/Laptop are minmal use item unless you have a 50's TV.Kezzabell2 wrote: »I'm so scared to use my electric because of the cost, even make sure I charge my phone at work, so I don't have to use the electric at home.
Oh and in the evenings I tend to use candles, so that I don't have to use my lights
Phone costs pennies to charge and the lights even less to use since they are LED. Worry about things that count.Kezzabell2 wrote: »I keep a spreadsheet of my meter readings and in the summer my average was 7 units per day, in the last 5 days it has gone up to 29 units per day
Sounds perfectly reasonable for an electric flat.
I use around 15 units a day in my semi. (Yes I know it's avove average. yada yada yada.).Kezzabell2 wrote: »Also I have neighbours in the building who work similar hours to me, who's meters are half the size of mine, and they are not as careful!
I fail to see what the size of the meter has to do with anything!!!!Kezzabell2 wrote: »I've been told that a smart meter won't be much help as my meter cupboard is too far away from my flat, so I would have to walk down closer to the cupboard in order to see what the usage is!
A smart meter will not stop you using electric you need to anyway.Kezzabell2 wrote: »I kind of feel like the builders have wired the electrics up wrong and I'm paying for someone else's electric, or the communal lights or something
Sounds unlikely I think you unit usage is very reasonable for an all electric flat. I assume you are on DD and not prepay and so the cost will be averaged out thoughout the year instead of costly in winter.
Your ridiculous £30 estimater at first will not have helped as you are going to now be paying the full winter whack though, but it should average down over time for next year.0 -
Whoever lead you to believe it would cost £30 is obviously wrong. For a start a lot of that £30 around £6-£8 roughly may be standing charge per month
Heating is usually the biggest user, that can be heating electric, or water. tv's, lights use very little in scheme of things
Your usage has gone up lately because the heating probbaly doing more work than in Summer.
We all end up paying more this time of year many of us are more realistic in what we pay over the year so we dont get nasty shock when winter comes. Myself I have around £500 in credit and my next bill in December and again in March will be the biggest.0 -
thanks for your replies!
I have been paying £50 a month since June, as I was made aware quite early on the at £30 was not enough.
the point about my neighbours meter being half the size of mine, I meant the number of units!! we all started off with around 600 units on the meters! mine has shot up to 5000ish and hers is 2500ish. We both have a similar routine.
Our hot water tanks were on constant, so I was advised that my the number of unit should half by having a time put on. So have I wasted my money having a timer put on? as well as spending god knows what on LED blubs!! I've done everything I possibly can to try and keep the costs down, yet other people in the building, just plod along with what they were given an pay £40 a month, with no increase so far0 -
You can buy monitors so you can see how much each device/appliance is using. May be a good starting point.
As above if its wired up wrong switch you mains off and see how much it goes up.0 -
The OP is concerned about a recent sudden increase from 7 to 29 units a day. That suggests that the panel (?) heaters are on continuously rather than timed.Never pay on an estimated bill0
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Running LED bulbs could be cheaper than buying candles. Heating and hot water will be the majority of your costs. How long to you spend in the shower?. Do you need a bath at night rather than a quick shower?
Use the kettle to wash up.
Fridges and freezers can be expensive to run. Is yours old and large?0 -
Norman_Castle wrote: »Running LED bulbs could be cheaper than buying candles. Heating and hot water will be the majority of your costs. How long to you spend in the shower?. Do you need a bath at night rather than a quick shower?
Use the kettle to wash up.
Fridges and freezers can be expensive to run. Is yours old and large?
As pointed out it's a tank fed shower not an electric one so no savings vs using bath.0 -
Everything is new! it was all brand new in Feb. I've been told that the fridge freezer should not use more than 3 units a day!
I spend about 10 mins in the shower, 15 if I wash my hair, which is every other day.
I have those meter things on my kettle, which has cost me 67p in the last month. The washing machine and part tumble cost me 18p ago and my TV uses about 2p per night when I watch it.
I wish the heater were on constant, but even for the time they are on, I need to have two 15 tog duvets on my bed and always have a dressing gown and slippers on, on top of my clothes!
I have just spoken to Scottish Power, a strangely helpful man! he's going to call me back tomorrow once I've found the wattage for my radiators, but he said that the type he thinks they've installed are cheap to buy but not cheap to run! sounds very typical of the people that built the flats!0 -
Kezzabell2 wrote: »the point about my neighbours meter being half the size of mine, I meant the number of units!! we all started off with around 600 units on the meters! mine has shot up to 5000ish and hers is 2500ish. We both have a similar routine.
Fair enough, but your useage seems fairly reasonable for an electric flat. It would be odd for meters to be in sync so I doubt that. Unless installed at the same time and using the same amount which is proposterous to even imagine.Kezzabell2 wrote: »Our hot water tanks were on constant, so I was advised that my the number of unit should half by having a time put on. So have I wasted my money having a timer put on? as well as spending god knows what on LED blubs!! I've done everything I possibly can to try and keep the costs down, yet other people in the building, just plod along with what they were given an pay £40 a month, with no increase so far
You will be saving a bit but once heated a modern cylinder will be well insulated and not have much loss so it will not be a big saver.
So the big question then. Are you not on E7? Why? Is your neighbour?0
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