Multiple Problems with Electric, Provider and Landlord - Would love advice if so kind

Vestra

Are the readings on your bill estimated or actual?

Magentasue

savemeup wrote: »

if theres a way to program this so its heats overnight etc i would love any advice.

So does anyone think that my bills dont seem that high or think that anything unusual is going on?
please also help me understand what is meant by "Normal Primary Units" and "Secondary Units" as my

- Storage heaters run overnight because they store heat. You can't do this with panel heaters and nor would you want to as you don't have Econ 7.

- I think your use is within normal limits for a property with electric heating - whichever way you look at it, it's expensive to run.

- All tariffs are either with or without standing charge. If you pay a standing charge, you pay a daily charge and then a kwh rate for units used. If you don't pay a standing charge (as you don't), your first x units are charged at a higher rate. By the time you've used these, you've paid the equivalent of a daily standing charge all quarter.

Madfish

Definatly a storage heater as its got a booster attached and floor mounts to support the bricks inside, using it in the day on that tarriff would definatly bump your bill up, as prevous posters have said its designed to store heat up at the cheap rate and bump it out during the day, best bet dont use it, change your tarrrif to a more sensible one, approx 10p-15p per unit depending on suppliers and invest in a couple of these:

http://tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/DXOFX1500.html

only use them when you need too and it should bring your costs down, but no matter what electric heating is the most expensive there is, theres no real way around it.

this is from 12 december to 11 feb, so divided by 60 days im gessing my daily rate is
28.8 kwh per day.

A quick google leads to me to belive this is huge?

You'd be surprised, we are a small 2 bed house and run approx 12-15 units a day with gas central heating.

savemeup

Are the readings on your bill estimated or actual?

Estimated, and i will be contesting - just waiting for my meter readings.

Storage heaters run overnight because they store heat. You can't do this with panel heaters and nor would you want to as you don't have Econ 7.

Im pretty much 100% sure that my Landlord told me that the heater in my living room with pics attached in the 2 posts above is a storage heater, and they definately told me that we are on economy 7 heating. I have never used economy 7, nor can i find a complete guide as to what to do to run my home energy properly with it, but if your sure that my heater isnt economy 7 and that my water heater also isnt heated this way then i dont know how to find out for sure.

if anyone knows of any guides to ecomomy 7/ or just home electric heating in genreral id be most grateful.

- All tariffs are either with or without standing charge. If you pay a standing charge, you pay a daily charge and then a kwh rate for units used. If you don't pay a standing charge (as you don't), your first x units are charged at a higher rate. By the time you've used these, you've paid the equivalent of a daily standing charge all quarter.

i dont really understand this to be honest but really appreciate the info and will ask Eon about this too tomorrow.

Im sure these bills are really expensive. In this thread people are complaining about electric bills alot (even more than half price) lower than mine:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=72789

savemeup

Thanks Madfish,

Do you need to install those oil filled radiators or just plug them in? I dont own the flat so could not have them installed.

Also, i see it runs at 1.5kW output, I'm a bit of a noob with these power settings etc. How much would one cost to run for say 1 hour in the morning and 2-3 at night (oh the luxury!!)

Thanks,

Magentasue

Well, madfish says it is a storage heater. You said earlier that you are not on Econ 7. With E7, you get cheap electricity overnight - you need it with energy-hungry storage heaters. The downside is that you pay more for daytime electricity. Your supplier has already calculated that you don't use enough night time electricity to make E7 viable.

If you're not on E7, to save money:

- Avoid using the storage heater.
- Heat just enought water when you want it.

If you're on E7:-
- use the storage heater but not the boost
- avoid other forms of electric heating
- try to use as much electricity at night as you can (washing machine maybe)
- heat water overnight

Madfish

Estimated, and i will be contesting - just waiting for my meter readings.

Really you need to get the actual reading first before complaining, your landlord is obliged to give you access as he's not the one paying the bill.

As regards your storage heater, if its just the one you have then its not really worth using unless you have a house or flat full of them it would not be cost effective, especially these days, better of getting a standalone heater as I linked to above, yu can get cheaper ones approx £30 but I found the ones I have fitted as linked too give a better heat.

Magentasue

savemeup wrote: »

Thanks Madfish,

Do you need to install those oil filled radiators or just plug them in? I dont own the flat so could not have them installed.

Also, i see it runs at 1.5kW output, I'm a bit of a noob with these power settings etc. How much would one cost to run for say 1 hour in the morning and 2-3 at night (oh the luxury!!)

Thanks,

Yes, you just plug them in.

1.5kw run for 4 hours would be 6kwh maximum. Say roughly 6x 13p = 78p.

Maybe less, as they'll have a thermostat and turn on and off. In reality, in a cold place, they'll probably be on flat out.

Madfish

The oil filled can plug into a wall socket and come with floor standing and wall mounts, as far as cost is involved it depends on when the higher rate applies in your tarriff it does look like its an economy 7 tarriff where the cheap leccy is at night...

but for example 1KWH @ 10p per unit

1500w x 1hr = 15p (1000w per hr = 1KWH)

But the heater would not run alll the time as soon as the room is at a comfortable level turn the stat down until it clicks and it will maintain the temp, as its like a radiator it will not instantlly go cold but contnue to pump out heat until the temp drops enough for the stat to kick in again so you may get 2hrs out of your 15p if that makes sense...

Fire_Fox

Communal electricity is usually paid for as part of the service charge, which is levied by the management company to the leaseholder (your landlord) on behalf of the freeholder. This is not usually charged to tenants as it also includes maintenance and buildings insurance, but check your letting agreement.

Stop communicating by telephone: it hasn't worked so far! You are clearly annoyed, and you may be in the wrong. So calm down and write a clear letter to each party detailing the problem, that the bill is in dispute and you require short-term access to the meter to check it on a hourly or daily basis to ensure that your meter is not faulty.

Pay something towards this bill along with the letter suggested above. The tariff you are on seems high (we pay only 5p/ KWH night-rate with SP) and your usage not OTT for storage heaters. We are pretty frugal with our panel heaters and use max 12KWH a day; my parents who are generous with their storage heating used 66KWH per day average through December:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=18898685#post18898685

You should be able to download an instruction manual for your heaters from the company website - are they Dimplex?