How can this be possible?

Milly1974

I live in a rented house, stone built and not well maintained. Just the two of us here, and we both work all day. We do not have gas in the house, so everything is powered by electricity.

I cook most evenings, the water is heated by an electric water heater that was set at around 55 degrees C, and the heating is storage heaters supplemented by an open fire on winter evenings. the heating has been off for several months, we use the washing machine a few times a week but do not have a tumble drier.

Is it possible that between 17th March and 31st August, we could use 4,904 units of electricity? I really don't see how this could be fair or possible? Please help me, as I don't think we can continue using £70 of electricity a month in summer, and more in winter.

Magentasue

It seems high but maybe you use a lot of hot water or have high energy toys such as plasma screen TV?

More likely, perhaps that one of your readings is/was estimated?

Milly1974

Hi Sue, and thanks for taking an interest.

The readings are definitely correct. They are both actual readings I took myself.

When I first queried the bill with Npower, they asked if we had a hot tub or similar, which we don't. Between us we probably have about 10 baths a week, as we don't have a shower. Could this use such a high amount of electricity?

Milly

Incisor

Milly1974 wrote: »

... When I first queried the bill with Npower, they asked if we had a hot tub or similar, which we don't. Between us we probably have about 10 baths a week, as we don't have a shower. Could this use such a high amount of electricity?

How do you control the hot water heater?

Milly1974

Thanks Incisor.

Erm. Not sure if this is what you mean, but there is a little dial on the top to set what temperature it heats to. When we first moved in (November) it was set to max, 95 degrees. We got a massive electric bill following the reading in March, so we turned it down to 55 degrees. I realised that we were still using a lot the other day, so I have turned it down to 40 degrees now. Starting to wonder if it might be broken, as the water still seems quite hot.

Magentasue

When we moved into our house in Feb, there was an immersion heater and very little hot water. However, there was hot water so we didn't replace or repair because we were going to put gas CH in this summer.

We then realised there was hot water even when we hadn't turned the immersion on. Not sure what the problem was but we had to take the fuse out to disconnect it. Within a couple of weeks, the tank was leaking so we got the gas boiler put in rather sooner than planned. Meanwhile, we ended up paying for £200 worth of electricity in just over a month.

So, yes, it does sound as if your immersion heater is going the same way.

McKneff

cant you just heat your water up when you need it instead of having it on constantly.

As far as i know storage heaters are quite expensive to run

Incisor

Milly1974 wrote: »

Thanks Incisor.

Erm. Not sure if this is what you mean, but there is a little dial on the top to set what temperature it heats to. When we first moved in (November) it was set to max, 95 degrees. We got a massive electric bill following the reading in March, so we turned it down to 55 degrees. I realised that we were still using a lot the other day, so I have turned it down to 40 degrees now. Starting to wonder if it might be broken, as the water still seems quite hot.

Looks like the water is being kept to temperature 24 hours/day, in which case I am not all that surprised at your consumption. The heater should ideally be on a timer - failing that, switch it on for about an hour before you need it,as anniehanlon suggests. Also, is the hot water tank insulated? If it is not, you could get a cylinder jacket to insulate it.

Milly1974

I have to admit, I don't know what kind of water heater we have. It is electric, and heats a tank, rather than heating it as we use it, but I don't know what it is called.

I think we could set it to just heat a tank of water when we need it, but I am not sure if that would be any more economical than just keeping it hot for when we want it?

I know that the storage heaters are not cheap, which is why I have had them off all summer and we have just had a fire when we needed it.

Milly1974

Incisor wrote: »

Looks like the water is being kept to temperature 24 hours/day, in which case I am not all that surprised at your consumption. The heater should ideally be on a timer - failing that, switch it on for about an hour before you need it,as anniehanlon suggests. Also, is the hot water tank insulated? If it is not, you could get a cylinder jacket to insulate it.

Does it really use that much?

The water heater doesn't have a timer, and I have to admit I don't fancy getting up at half four to put the water on for half five when I have a bath in the morning. Do you think it would cost a lot to get a timer installed?

It does have a jacket to insulate, but not very thick. Again, do these cost a lot, are they difficult to fit, and are they one-size-fits-all?

Magentasue

You say that you keep turning down the water temp, but do you notice the difference? You say it still seems hot, maybe the thermostat is faulty?

We haven't had an immersion heater for years now (apart from briefly this year) but we always had it on a timer - don't think timer of jacket is expensive. Jackets easy enough to fit and yes, as far as I remember, one size.