The price of electric heaters?

steve-ouk84

Hi everyone! I live in a student house and we just got our dreaded electric bill for the quarter september to december and the last bill was £118 and this one today is £369!!! Nothing has really changed as we have gas heating and cooker etc. The only thing I can think of is that we might stay in a bit more and the lights are on alot of the time because its always dark. One massive concern I have is that one of the chaps in our house has a cheap electric fan heater and he claims his room is cold so he uses it all the god dam time. It would make sence as the last bit we got was in the summer time and he wouldnt have used this appliance at all but now its very chilly out! He doesnt seem to think/listen that they cost loads but can someone explain how bad they really are and how much they do cost?
Many thanks for all your help!
Steveo:money:

Magentasue

A 1kwh fire fan heater uses 1kwh (unit) an hour - probably 12-15p. A 2kwh will use double that etc.

Do check that you have used all these units - are either the start or finish readings estimated (E)? I think you know the answer, anyway! The fan heater will be using more than everything else put together if it's on all the time.

steve-ouk84

To be honest I have never questioned a bill all the 2 years I have been in this student house. Do gas and electric companies make mistakes often?

Cardew

It is not possible to say exactly how much fan heaters use because they(should) have a thermostat which switches the power on and off.

It is a common problem that most rooms in student houses have radiators sized for a bedroom and often will get warm enough to be used as a living room.

Most fan heaters are 3kW which means they will cost up to 36p an hour, however an average figure could be in the order of, say, 15p and hour. It doesn't really matter what the size of the fan heater is because a 1kW heater will just run for longer than a 2kW or 3 kW heater.

Magentasue

Cardew wrote: »

It is not possible to say exactly how much fan heaters use because they(should) have a thermostat which switches the power on and off.

Is this true of the cheaper ones, though? I used to have one in my last job - my room was freezing and I'd have the heater under my desk - even when on all day, it never switched off even once the room warmed up.

Cardew

Magentasue wrote: »

Is this true of the cheaper ones, though? I used to have one in my last job - my room was freezing and I'd have the heater under my desk - even when on all day, it never switched off even once the room warmed up.

I have never seen a fan heater without a thermostat, and even the cheapest ones from Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fan-Heaters-Heating-Home-Appliances/b?ie=UTF8&node=3147671 all have a thermostat; and they cost from £10 new.

It is quite possible that on a low setting in a large cold room the thermostat will never cut in. However in a bedroom(especially with some other heating) I would not expect the average consumption to be more than 1kWh.