£80 pcm electricity bill for one?!!!

spanner200

Hi,

I have moved into a new two bed terraced house recently with a storage heater on economy 7 (there is no gas to the house). When I moved in the supplier was Southern Electric. I have already switched to nPower as they were the cheapest when I did a price comparison. I have indicated I want to pay monthly direct debit, but I just received a letter from Southern Electric that their monthly direct debit would be £80! This seems extremely high for one person. Could anyone provide me with some guidance? I havn't lived on my own before, so I would like to get a rough estimate of what it would cost me when I am finally switched over the nPower.

Many Thanks

espresso

So your total energy bill would be £960 per annum, which is well below average and electricity is the most expensive form of heating. You need to regularly monitor your meter readings and then you can calculate your daily, weekly, monthly, annual running costs and get the best deal for your usage.

spanner200

espresso wrote: »

So your total energy bill would be £960 per annum, which is well below average and electricity is the most expensive form of heating. You need to regularly monitor your meter readings and then you can calculate your daily, weekly, monthly, annual running costs and get the best deal for your usage.

Thanks for that, I just haven't been responsible for paying utility bills on my own before, as I had previously always shared the cost, so I'm unsure how much my electricity bills will cost. Over 9 days I have consumed 381 units on low, and 86 units normal.

The storage heater has a capacity of 210 litres which seems enrmous for one person. Does anyone have any tip on how I can reduce the cost, other than turning down the heating for each radiator so that it doesn't charge as much at night.

Also, this may seem a daft question, but looking at the meter which shows you the current time, and therefore when economy 7 should start (i.e. differentiates between night and day)- how can you tell if it has been configured correctly?

Many thanks for all your help!

Cardew

spanner200 wrote: »

Thanks for that, I just haven't been responsible for paying utility bills on my own before, as I had previously always shared the cost, so I'm unsure how much my electricity bills will cost. Over 9 days I have consumed 381 units on low, and 86 units normal.

The storage heater has a capacity of 210 litres which seems enrmous for one person. Does anyone have any tip on how I can reduce the cost, other than turning down the heating for each radiator so that it doesn't charge as much at night.

Also, this may seem a daft question, but looking at the meter which shows you the current time, and therefore when economy 7 should start (i.e. differentiates between night and day)- how can you tell if it has been configured correctly?

Many thanks for all your help!

What do you mean by 'capacity'? Storage heaters are a cabinet filled with bricks!

I suspect you have a Thermal store which heats up at night and supplies Hot water to the radiators. What make is it? A Gledhill Torrent?

Anyway 381/86 units(kWh) is pretty good.

You can check if the E7(night) timings are correct you will need to watch your meter.

spanner200

Cardew wrote: »

What do you mean by 'capacity'? Storage heaters are a cabinet filled with bricks!

I suspect you have a Thermal store which heats up at night and supplies Hot water to the radiators. What make is it? A Gledhill Torrent?

Anyway 381/86 units(kWh) is pretty good.

You can check if the E7(night) timings are correct you will need to watch your meter.

Sorry, think I got myself into a muddle- I was of course referring to the immersion heater for heating water. Having a daft moment there! :rolleyes: I guess average every day so far is low 43 units, normal 10 units.

having never had stirage heaters, its taking me time to figure out what settings to have it one. At the moment I am in all day but when I return to work it will be more simple as I'll probably have the Output low in all the rooms until I get back. The fun bit is figuring out how much to charge it for every night! (I have Dimplex storage heaters, models XLN)

Are there any other ways I can save on electricity?

So far I have:
1. electricity saving light bulbs
2. switch of everything at the mains

As its a rented house I'm not sure that there is much more I can do!

:j

Stuart_W

Another thing worth checking if you haven't is if your energy company are billing the economy 7 meter reads the right way round (ie charging low for low rate). E.on got my parent's new flat the wrong way round and we had several arguements over the phone with customer service until they agreed it was wrong - despite the fact it had been read several times by a meter reader, rate 1 and rate 2 were being recorded the wrong way round. Grrrrr.

Cardew

210 litres is a huge Hot Water tank - 140 is normal.

You can experiment with how long you want the immersion heater to be on for.

Dishwasher, dryer and washing machine operated during the E7 period will help.

spanner200

Cardew wrote: »

210 litres is a huge Hot Water tank - 140 is normal.

You can experiment with how long you want the immersion heater to be on for.

Dishwasher, dryer and washing machine operated during the E7 period will help.

How would I do that exactly? Sorry to sound daft but there are no instructions and I just assumed it was wired to the economy 7 and there wasn't any way I could alter it!

Cardew

spanner200 wrote: »

How would I do that exactly? Sorry to sound daft but there are no instructions and I just assumed it was wired to the economy 7 and there wasn't any way I could alter it!

Yes it will be wired to switch on during E7

Obviously there isn't some sort of timer then?? If you ran out of hot water how would you heat up more if you didn't have some sort of timer/override facility.

I appreciate you are renting so won't want to get one fitted, but to heat 210 litres of water every night for one person is overkill.

spanner200

Cardew wrote: »

Yes it will be wired to switch on during E7

Obviously there isn't some sort of timer then?? If you ran out of hot water how would you heat up more if you didn't have some sort of timer/override facility.

I appreciate you are renting so won't want to get one fitted, but to heat 210 litres of water every night for one person is overkill.

No there isn't a timer, though there is a swtich next to the heater if I want to boost it. I agree entirely that it is overkill, would it be possible for me to fit another timer to the immersion heater so that it only switches on for a few hours? or would it actually be an inefficient use of heat that does build up if I let the heater cool down each time, as supposed to being thermostatically controlled and simply 'topping' up during the night. I don't use any hot water expect for washing up in the evenings as I have an electric shower.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Magentasue

spanner200 wrote: »

don't use any hot water expect for washing up in the evenings as I have an electric shower.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Yes - my thoughts are that you're heating enough water for two or three baths. That's a hell of a lot of washing up.

I'd turn the immersion off and boil a kettle for the dishes.