Electricity bill help

Adz1000

Hi guys, I live in a small one bedroom apartment with my girlfriend and we only have electric appliances (no gas at all). Our recent quarter bill with E-on was £230.42 which is surely way over the top! :eek:

I am a bit unsure of what tariff to be on so just wanted some people in the know to point me in the right direction! We have an Elson Coral E boiler which we use to heat up the water which I turn on at midnight and turn off first thing every morning as for some reason I can't seem to get it to only click on for off peak rates :huh:

Other than that I can't see anything which would cause a large bill, so I assume it's the boiler we are being hammered on.

So what tariff would you suggest I use and which payment method (I don't really like DD in case they undercharge and get stung after the year is up) as I have had a look on uSwitch and it still comes up as £650~ a year which I still think is pretty high at £50 a month, or is that reasonable?

Many thanks in advance

Premier_2

£650 p.a. for an all electric property seems very reasonable to me.

Magentasue

Do you have storage heaters?

Most of the electricity you use at this time of year is likely to be for heating.

flossy_splodge

Are you on Economy 7?
If not, why are you putting things to run overnight?

Adz1000

We have 2 heaters (one in the living room which gets a few hours a day use at most and one in the 'hall' which doesn't get used)

I just looked and it is on an Economy 7 with Heatwise plan, what would be the plan of action for when to turn the boiler on as I have left it on through the day before as I thought it would only turn itself on when it's off peak but my bill was much higher as it seemed to be on constantly?

Thanks for the replies

anniecave

I would always pay by direct debit now, as this seems to give the cheapest tariffs. If I think a direct debit is too low then I phone and ask to get it increased. In my experience they are normally happy to do this!

Magentasue

Adz1000 wrote: »

We have 2 heaters (one in the living room which gets a few hours a day use at most and one in the 'hall' which doesn't get used)

I just looked and it is on an Economy 7 with Heatwise plan, what would be the plan of action for when to turn the boiler on

Thanks for the replies

It sounds as if you are on a tariff where you pay more for daytime electricity, and yet you are using heating that doesn't take advantage of the cheaper night time rates. Economy 7 is suited to storage heaters, but if you have heaters that you turn on during the day, these are ordinary electric heaters.

You need to look at how many kwh you you at night (off peak) and how many day (peak). If you're using less than 25% of the total off-peak, it's probably more expensive than a normal tariff. Some E7 tariffs need a much higher percentage.

I don't know anything about your boiler but when we had a gas boiler that heated water to store, we only needed it on for a couple of hours a day for a family of six. Many people will say that if you have it on all night, it won't cost much because you pay to heat it up and it will lose little heat in a well insulated tank. However, you obviously need to time it so that it's heating up in off peak hours, and, as said, these vary regionally. As said, best to check.

flossy_splodge

Magentasue wrote: »

Economy 7 is suited to storage heaters.

I am on Economy 7 and do NOT have storage heaters.
However, I run my washing machine at night .
I monitor day usage and night usage (from the bills which give you clear figures) and make sure it is the most economical tariff for my pattern of use.
You need to do the same.:T

Adz1000

I will start to manage it with a bit more detail then, may even start writing down when different things are turned off and switched on Should I still switch or just keep an eye on it and see how things turn out next quarter?

Also, when are the off peak times for e-ons eco 7, will check the website in a minute just didn't know if anyone knew off the top of their heads

Magentasue

Adz1000 wrote: »

I will start to manage it with a bit more detail then, may even start writing down when different things are turned off and switched on Should I still switch or just keep an eye on it and see how things turn out next quarter?

Also, when are the off peak times for e-ons eco 7, will check the website in a minute just didn't know if anyone knew off the top of their heads

I'm pretty sure it varies regionally.

flossy_splodge

Adz1000 wrote: »

Should I still switch or just keep an eye on it and see how things turn out next quarter?

Also, when are the off peak times for e-ons eco 7, will check the website in a minute just didn't know if anyone knew off the top of their heads

The first questio is of course up to you.
As to the latter, There will be a big dial thing, probably next to your electricity meter.
If you look at it carefully it will tell you when your different times are set for.
These may well be different to someone else's as they do not reset them if you have a power out or similar.:eek: