Economy 7 electricity costs

shalis

My daughter lives in a small 2 bedroom apartment which has Economy 7. She rarely cooks or uses the washing machine in the premises. That's what parents are for isn't it. She has an electric shower. Her heating consists of TWO Economy 7 heaters. Now NIE want her to increase her Direct Debit to £93 per month. She has checked with neighbours some of whom are there all day (unlike her) with TV's Computers etc on all day. They also use the cooker and washing machine, and NONE OF THEM are paying what she is being asked to pay. Anyone have any ideas why this should be? I have found NIE in the past to be uninterested. She thought it was too high several months ago and NIE sent out a Contractor, who said her meter was faulty and was charging ALL her electric at Economy 7 rates. He promptly replaced the faulty component and this would seem to be the end result. Any help would be appreciated.

Wortle

Hi Shalis, sounds ridiculous to me, unless the economy 7 heaters are coming on too early or going off too late......she perhaps should guage the electric she uses during the summer when they are not on and try and see whats happening.

Wortle

Another thought, before she gets an electrician in to check...how about buying one of those gadgets that tells you what you are drawing....she could switch everything off and boil the kettle a several times, or put the washing machine on to see if the meter agrees with the gadget. Obviously the larger the sampling the more accurate it will be.

warmhands.coldheart

Firstly.. correct me if I'm wrong but aren't Economy 7 rates cheaper?? Maybe sincethe Contractor got his mits on the Meter Box nothing is being charged at Econony 7 rates now and it's all being charged at standard rates so her heating would be costing a clean fortune.

I think I made this point on another thread before also. Electric showers can be 7, 8 or 9kW Plus which draw SERIOUS power so if she's Showering twice a day (As some people do.. Morning & Night!! why is beyond me though) she could be using quite a bit of power if she's one of those girls who spends 30mins in the shower with the water belting out the whole time.. Just a thought!!

belfastgirl23

I would suggest that your daughter needs to properly research what's happening in her flat. She needs to take a read of the meter(s) and then have a normal week and read again. She also probably needs to turn off every single thing in the house and go away for a night and read to see is there any usage going on she can't account for (you do hear terrible stories about people who are paying for the electric for a neighbouring house etc). and she needs to try to identify whether there are any particular items she is using that might account for this - eg does she use a fan heater (but I'm sure you've talked her through this anyway).

it does sound like too much to me as well ... although it is probably worth her while checking with her neighbours whether they have economy 7 heating?

Oh the other thing that might be worth looking at is this website www.imeasure.org.uk - if you sign up you can log up your electric meter readings each week and compare with people who are in similar type properties. Worth a look. It's part of a cambridge uni research project so it's all legit...

shalis

Thanks to all who have posted since I raised this. Firstly she doesn't shower that much at home. She uses our shower. Also ALL of the small development (about 20 - 25 yrs old) have Economy 7 and none of the neighbours are apparently being billed as much as her. The comment by Warmhands Coldheart is indeed a possibility worth checking out, thanks. We ourselves live in a 4 bed detached house and our elect D/Debit has come down to around £57 per month. However we have Phoenix gas so this only covers items other than heating. She has queried this with NIE who are allegedly to ring her back.........................still waiting for the phone call. The suggestion re buying the little device which measures each appliances consumption is also worthy of consideration thankyou Wortle. I read about it on another similar thread on the NI Board. Another possibility is that the 2 Economy 7 storage heaters are inefficient or maybe faulty. I will look at all of these suggestions.