R U on Economy 7 with storage Heaters?

hotnuts21

Im trying to do a little research after my last electricity bill. Since moving into our house 18 months ago we have had a nightmare with British Gas (elec supplier) and we have still not had a proper bill, its a long and boring story so I wont bore you with it. It basically resolves around BG are lazy and cant be bothered to do proper readings, and they dont seem to update their own records when they change a meter, so we have been getting estimated bills on a meter which has not been in this house for 3 yrs!! We have got the last two bills on the proper meeter though, so we are uptodate now, but last years bills still need sorting.

Anyway we have Econ 7, and storage heaters. So all our heaters are pulling power over night, dishwasher and washing machine are put on timer over night. Hot water is usually heated overnight for a few hours.

During the day we work 9-6 mon to fri, and when we are in usually have the TV, laptop and router on and not a lot else. Only 2 of us in the house, only 1 of us showers (power shower) at home in the morning (other showers at work )

Now our last electricity bill was read (for the first time) and the bill come through and for just over 6 months its over £600 and when i looked in detail I was shocked to see that the most power is used during the day!! 3 times more power consumption through the day than through the night, I was shocked at this as I presumed the 4 storage heaters would use a lot of power, but the overnight usage is minor compared to that used during the day.

As everything has gone so wrong with this meter and BG, im wondering if somehow the day rate and night rate are actually the wrong way around. So I am doing some research to see if this is normal.

So for those of you on E7 with storage heaters do you find your day usage is 3 times higher than your night usage, even if you try to put everything you can on overnight. Can you post what you use at night, and how much difference there is in your day and night usage of power.

thnkx

Magentasue

Sounds like the peak and off peak reading are the wrong way round unless it's six months over the summer when you weren't using the heaters.

Are all readings on the bills actual rather than estimated?

hotnuts21

Most are estimated only the latest is actual. Its the last 2 months actual that I have looked at, as that is when the heaters is on!

Joyful

Check which rate is moving now and then again when the storage radiators come on tonight. Check this against your bill.

butler_helen

Hi,

My boyfriend and I have this problem too.

We had a bill for 1 month of £113! Which we cannot afford to pay EVERY month.

I think it is because economy 7 is only cheaper from 11pm- 8am, which means for 5 hours day (6pm-11pm), we are running laptops/kettles/oven etc, during the expensive time (plus all weekend). In addition to never turning the storage heaters input off- just down.

I'd be interested to know whether anyone else has experienced high bills in the similar situation you describe.

XH

surfsister

we had the same problem they had transposed the readings as they changed the order on their billing system. Read the meter yourself and look at the numvers on your latest bill. Also can you see the meter whell thingee going round on your meter? I can and it whirrs like mad when the storage heaters go on but slows during the day when not much on. I use about 2,00 at night and 500 i day a quarter so your must be wrong too. Contact your suppleir mine were very helpful if you can be there when the meter readings calls just once to explain it to him also. Good luck

By the by whoa re you with and what are the unit costs please i'm trying to compare

butler_helen

hi surfsister,

we're with E-on and we had the following readings at the following prices, we think it's pretty expensive, although I'm only just sorting out how we can signicantly lower this.

Our largest consumption is overnight. My only explanation is still that we are in for so many hours a day. I don't think storage heaters are condusive to our lifestyle! Evenings and weekends are costing a fortune!

Day primary units 59 kwh at 21.5p each
Day secondary units 218 kwh at 14.96p each

Night units used 1199 kwh at 5.52p each

I hope this helps, I'll keep you updated if I acheive anything, although I left the heaters on input 0 over night last night- so we're a little chilly at the moment!

XH

Cardew

butler_helen wrote: »

I think it is because economy 7 is only cheaper from 11pm- 8am, which means for 5 hours day (6pm-11pm), we are running laptops/kettles/oven etc, during the expensive time (plus all weekend).
XH

Economy 7 as the name implies is for 7 hours cheap electricity.

11pm to 8am is nine hours.

The timing for Economy 7 varies across the country if switched remotely; or you can see the times on your meter if you have the older mechanical type.

A more normal timing is midnight to 7am - although that can vary, and change with BST.

During the other 17 hours you do pay quite a bit more for all your electricity than those on a 'normal' 24/7 tariff.

butler_helen

Cardew wrote: »

Economy 7 as the name implies is for 7 hours cheap electricity.

11pm to 8am is nine hours.

quote]

Sorry, I was allowing for variations I have read on the times for the economy 7 kicking in.

Our meter doesn't appear to tell me when it is cheaper and it isn't on our bill or even in the handbook for the heaters. We're always going to incur higher costs as the econ 7 kicks in around bedtime and finishes before we get up

The e-on customer service team said the rates we have are the best for our house with the storage heaters. Does anyone have any advice on what rate would be more appropriate?

It doesn't help that only 2 of our doors actually shut, so we can't keep heat in any particular room :mad: we're constantly leeking heat

Fire_Fox

I have Economy 7 but we don't have storage heaters. There is someone home a fair bit of the time with lights on (north facing flat) and either the TV or laptop most of the day. We do laundry and use the immersion at night. We use only 40% of our energy on the night rate. Hope that helps.

Bill7

Hi, I've recently moved into a 2 bedroom council flat (all rooms are based upstairs) and have storage heaters. I've also been hit with an outrageous bill which I am still investigating. Its working out that I have to pay £180 a month to heat one room. I have 2 storage heaters in my living room and 1 in the hall, all other rooms have no heating (2 bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom). They are sitting on 3 input (i have 1-5 on the control) and go on off peak hours.

My initial bills were:-

29/08/08 - 04/11/08 £188.36
30/07/08 - 18/08/08 £133.06

Now from november to january its £367.

Ive already been in contact with scottish power to enquire why my latest bill is so extreme. reply was "its this time of year" and say everything looks normal. but surely this is a bit excessive?

I live alone and unemployed at the moment. So this amount is beyond what I am able to pay. I have temporarily been transferred to direct debit and I have turned off all my heating. but im still in disbelief that this should cost so much.