Anyone else on Eon with just electric? High bill..

robatwork

Hi,
I can't compare the electricity bill I just had with a previous winter as I wasn't here the entire time, but I just had a bill for £500 for the last 3 months, and wanted other peoples' experiences in a similar situation:

2 bed detached cottage
Storage heaters on Economy 7
Immersion heater left on permanently (but only during night on E7)
no gas - ie cooker etc on electric too.

However in 2 rooms the heaters are on minimum setting, in the rest they have been on full for the last 2 months or so. Only use the cooker once per day.

Does this bill sound high? 'cos it does to me - the last quarter was £172. I am on a capped rate, and I checked the meter readings - in fact they estimated my usage wrongly so I gave them the correct figures, and double checked their calculations which are OK. Am wondering whether the meters are accurate but don't want to get someone out if opinion in here is that £500 for 3 months is reasonable (just can't believe I am spending over £5 per day on leccy)

thanks
Rob

Magentasue

Sounds right. Tankful of hot water every night and storage heaters. Storage heaters use cheap electricity but they use so much of it, they're prohibitively expensive for a lot of people, especially in a house rather than a flat.

gaz_jones

We live in a 2 bed maisonette (2 floors) and we also only have electricity with no gas. Also with EON.

We pay £77 a month DD so that would be £231 per quarter. We have 2 storage heaters and 2 normal electric wall mounted heaters. Both storage heaters are on throughout winter but we only use the other 2 heaters either just before we go to bed/just after we wake up. Or when we have clothes that need drying.

I am really energy concious(sp?) and our house was also only built about 20 years ago so I imagine is better insulated than your cottage.

robatwork

Thanks to you both - I guess it's right as the house has shocking insulation.. I wonder when Eon will lower their prices to reflect their unit costs....

space_rider

The stor rads that you have on full, do you turn the output back to 1 before you go to bed? If you don`t it will make the bills larger. Also is the immersion heater on a timer set for the E7 times.

robatwork

I do when I remember (nearly always!) - turn them to 9 in the evenings then back to 1 at bedtime. Apparantley, so an electrician told me, all my night power is on E7 not just the immersion - I just leave the immersion on all day as its on a separate circuit that I am assuming only comes on at night..... now I am wondering if this is correct!

space_rider

robatwork wrote: »

I do when I remember (nearly always!) - turn them to 9 in the evenings then back to 1 at bedtime. Apparantley, so an electrician told me, all my night power is on E7 not just the immersion - I just leave the immersion on all day as its on a separate circuit that I am assuming only comes on at night..... now I am wondering if this is correct!

I`m very much doubting that. Immersion heaters should be on a different circuit anyway but unless it`s wired into the low rate of the meter or it has a time switch you are being charged at whatever rate the meter is using at the time. I used to have an all electric house with stor rads and the immersion heater was wired into a timer switch which was set to come on between 4 & 7 am.

dizziblonde

Storage heaters and immersions are hideous anyhow (and rubbish at getting you warm!) - bitter experience speaking here!

Just in case - double check what your meter is showing and your bill... sometimes the day and night readings get transposed for E7 and that can make for some comedy billings... doesn't sound it but it's always worth a look.

robatwork

Yep I double checked and I use most of my electricity at night. The irony is that the storage heaters have proved terrible in this cold weather - come 10 or 11pm the bedroom temperature is about 15 degrees.... so I'm paying through the nose for something that doesn't work very well anyway

Magentasue

Storage heaters, in most houses, provide expensive background heating. No more than that. Like dizziblond, speaking from bitter experience.

Fire_Fox

robatwork wrote: »

Yep I double checked and I use most of my electricity at night. The irony is that the storage heaters have proved terrible in this cold weather - come 10 or 11pm the bedroom temperature is about 15 degrees.... so I'm paying through the nose for something that doesn't work very well anyway

How much time do you actually spend in the bedroom, other than when you are wrapped up in your duvet? Buy an electric underblanket and 15C will be plenty warm enough.

Our last bill (two bedroom all electric flat) was £101 - we have Economy 7 that we don't use properly as panel heaters not storage heaters.