Exorbitant electricity bills

shalis

Can anyone advise re a problem with electricity consumption. A small 2 bed flat with 2 storage heaters on Economy 7 tariff, yet the electricity consumption apparently merits a monthly direct debit of around £64 per month. Very few electrical appliances used other than an electric shower. This seems outrageous as we know others who pay £55 per month for electricity in a 4 bed detached house although it has gas central heating. Could something be incorrectly wired? Can anyone recommend someone, presumably an electrician, who would be competent to look at the whole setup, and tell us where the problem lies. Any help would be appreciated.

MrsBartolozzi

Sorry, I'm not sure what you are asking. Are you outraged that your DD is only £64, (only £9 more than a house without electric heating) or do you think £64 is too much?
I would think that £64 is about right for your electric usage, but you do need to take readings and work out how many units you use per day and scale up to a month to see if you are paying enough - you don't want to create a big deficit you would need to pay later.

seatzie

I've always been under the impression economy 7 and storage heaters are a costly nightmare when it comes to your electric bill

shalis

I am outraged that the D/D is so HIGH for what I see as small usage. The electric shower is only used once a day and not for very long. Unfortunately it has Econ7. No other means of heating available as it is a communal setting so gas and oil are non starters. I should add that other flats in same small complex are paying less and are always very warm, whereas this flat is absolutely arctic.

belfastgirl23

Are you in a ground floor flat? They're a lot harder to heat.

Alas econ 7 isn't small usage on electric

It's also worth asking other tenants how they manage their timing etc of their heaters...that can make a difference with econ 7

niceday999

mine is £30 per week an we are all out working.4 bed detached.
2 laptops, 5 plasma's, desktop, washing machine, dishwasher, 2 fridges, 2 freezers....NO TUMBLE DRYER THO.....
NO ELECTRIC HEATING so oil on top of that.

D.A.

You sure you have enough plasmas?

lazer

My quarterly bill was £163 this time - for a one bed ground floor flat with 3 Storage heaters.

Most of the time only one on though

If you check your bill there should be 3 readings
1 - Heating
2 - econ Low
3 - Econ Norm

The Heating will show how much you storage heater (plus Immersion Heater - if this is also on automatically during the 1am - 8am period)

The Econ 7 Low will is for other electricity used during 1am - 8am

And the Econ 7 Normal will show daytime electricity used

Hope this helps

penrhyn

Are your bills estimates, do you take regular meter readings to check on your consumption?
There can be a 25% ish difference between different suppliers lowest and highest tariffs.

jenheiffer

penrhyn wrote: »

Are your bills estimates, do you take regular meter readings to check on your consumption?
There can be a 25% ish difference between different suppliers lowest and highest tariffs.

This is the N.Ireland forum - we only have one electricity supplier so we have no choice.

penrhyn

OK didn't pick on that.