£700 Electricity Bill due to underfloor heating (I think!)

gazzil

Hi all, as the title of my thread suggests, I am in a situation with my electricity consumption!!

Apologies for my first post being a cry for help too...

Ok, i've recently moved into a small 2-bed apartment which has Economy 7 electricity tariff with Eon and have received an actual bill (with correct meter readings) for £550... on top of the £75 Direct debit which I pay each month. I think this is largely down to the fact that I am not using the heating system correctly.

For the last quarter, I have used over 3,500 day kwh units and only 450 night units... I'm guessing this isn't efficient use of the economy 7 tariff.

I have a water based underfloor heating and water heating system, which has 6 settings for heat temperatures throughout the day. I am out at work all day and dont return until 8pm (or later) each night so I set the heating to come on at 20 degrees early morning, reduce down to 16 during the day and then up to 20 again throughout the evening. Isn't this constant use of day units?

The water is set to some on for a couple of hours during the morning and a couple of hours in the evening.

Because of the fact that I have economy 7 and pay a large rate for day kwh units (up until 12.30am) this is costing me an absolute fortune.

I have since turned the heating completely off until I can work it out. I have also used a watt meter to check EVERY appliance in the house, so I know which items to use at suitable times etc etc.

Everything, apart from essentials (fridge, alarms etc) is now powered completely off when I'm not home.

Anyhow... my queries are:

If I have to set the U/F heating at 6 switch times throughout the day, how can I take advantage of the Economy 7 Rates during the night when I dont want the heating on during that time? Can U/floor heating systems store the energy from the previous night and use it during the following day? if so, how do I control this? because the heating comes on when I set a room temperature for a certain time, so if I dont want it on throughout the night, but I want to store heat for use in the day, how do I set it?

At my previous flat, I had economy 7 with storage heaters and they were wired separately so they weren't even powered during the day rate.

Also, I have a separate thermostat in every room. If they are all at the minimum setting, does this mean that no heat/electric will be used? I'm guessing that if I have any heating set at switch times during the day, then this will use day units.

I also have a separate manual timer attached (in the electrical cupboard) next to the digital heating/water control panel... its one of those with the small levers that you push up or down for each half-hour (or so) interval. This is switched off at the moment as I don't understand its use when there are full timing controls on the digital elec/water panel. I'm guessing this manual timer could be what I'm missing though.

With the water, I have changed it to come on for a couple of hours during the night now and there seems to be enough for use during the morning. But if I want a shower in the evening, I have to use the + hour booster switch.

For information, the control panel is a Danfoss T9, the boiler is a Heatrae Sadia Megaflow system and the underfloor heating is a Myson system.

I am just hoping someone else has a similar set-up and can shed some light on to the suitable and efficient operation.

Many, many thanks and apologies for the long first post.

Gaz

jd87

Your set-up cannot store heat from the night and release it in the day. Economy 7 is the wrong kind of tariff for you (it is the wrong kind of tariff for most people). You need to come off economy 7. This is easily done with a call to your elec supplier, and maybe a small charge for a meter change.

Also, stop heating your house during the day when nobody is in! Just set it to come on half an hour before you get home.

Vestra

Would Economy 10 not be best for you?

franklally

Rian1988 wrote: »

Would Economy 10 not be best for you?

Isn't that just for use with the storage heaters?

Vestra

Well I thought it was for systems with wet heating or underfloor heating

This thread might have some advice

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=697621

jimexbox

jd87 wrote: »

You need to come off economy 7. This is easily done with a call to your elec supplier, and maybe a small charge for a meter change.

Ive just come off an Eon E7 tariff, you dont need to change your meter. They can switch you in a couple of minutes for nothing.

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Helena

jimexbox wrote: »

Ive just come off an Eon E7 tariff, you dont need to change your meter. They can switch you in a couple of minutes for nothing.

Hi,

That's right, they will.

You might also want to speak to the energy efficiency department as they can help to set the timer for your heating and water.

It sounds like you would be better off on a one rate tariff and then set the heating to come in the morning then in the evening when you get home.

Magentasue

jimexbox wrote: »

Ive just come off an Eon E7 tariff, you dont need to change your meter. They can switch you in a couple of minutes for nothing.

I'm 99% sure this is not true for all (most?) suppliers. Some just take readings from existing meters but others insist on changing meter and charge for it.

Definitely ditch Economy 7 - it's hard for anyone without storage heaters to make it pay. Almost impossible with electric heating that uses energy during the day - would only work with great effort and limited use of heating. Not worth even trying - find cheapest tariff for electric and switch.

jimexbox

Magentasue wrote: »

I'm 99% sure this is not true for all (most?) suppliers. Some just take readings from existing meters but others insist on changing meter and charge for it.

Ive no idea for other utility companies, the poster is using Eon, I use Eon, and yesterday I changed from their online E7 v8 to the non E7 online v12 in a few minutes.

For the new rate they simply add the readings from the night and day displays together. I dont know why other companies insist on a new meter.

gazzil

Hi all, many thanks for your responses... and so soon!

Yes, I think the fact that I have used 3,500 day units and only 450 night units suggests that I need to come off E7 and as I don't have storage heaters, there's pretty much nothing that will be used during the night.... except perhaps, the odd washing machine or dishwasher cycles.

Man.. I'm currently paying 17.7p for a day unit and 5.11p for night units. I've since found that there a far, far cheaper suppliers in my area and that I need to change. The only problem is that I will need to clear the £500 arrears before transferring.

Still don't know why I have this additional manual timer which is linked into the main Electric/Water control panel. Thought that might have something to do with using the system on my E7 tariff.

I'm pretty sure I can switch without changing the meter as they all look pretty new.

Many thanks again

jimexbox

gazzil wrote: »

I'm pretty sure I can switch without changing the meter as they all look pretty new.

If you switch utility companies, check first that they won't insist on a new meter. I dont know the cost, but it ain't going to be a fiver.