Ridiculously high electric bills! 1 bed flat!

liankirsti

I was wondering if anybody can help me, i live in a 1 bedroom flat with one working electric storage heater, we are all electric and have no gas, we have no hot water as our water heater costs 1p per minute and this is what got us into this mess in the first place we had our quarterly bill and was £900 for 3 months, we didnt realise that our water heater was charging us this much, we had to have a pre payment meter put into our property and we agreed to pay 12 per week off the charge, now 3 months later we have no hot water as i wash up using the kettle as we cant afford to put the hot water on, we have 1 storage heater and it is absolutly freezing yet we are putting £64 per week on our electric we both work full time, and i have called EDF ENERGY countless times and they keep telling me thats the average amount, i dont know how they can justify this and i have only paid off £200 off the bill, i was wondering if anybody can help me, does anybody else live the same way? thankyou

spiro

You are paying £64 per week of which £12 is debt so you are using £52 of fuel. However you say you have paid off £200 in 3 months which equates to £15.38 per week. From other threads they say all elec is very expensive. Are you on an E7 tariff (day & night rate) which you should be with storeage heaters.

liankirsti

thankyou, yes i understand what youare saying but £52 per week, with no hot water and one storage heater is alot, we jaut have the normal household, kettle, washing machine which is on every 2 days as only 2 of us, i put £12 on last nite at 8.30pm and have £7 left as of this min, not had any washing on, or heating apart from storage heate in bedroom is vey small, and this laptop, seems alot, x

liankirsti

yes we are on e7, sorry, new to this, x

djhworld

Are you putting your storage heater on every night? They use a lot of electricity. I put mine on at 12 last night and turned it off around 7:30am. That used around 13kWh of energy.

Try to put it on alternate nights and reduce the amount of heat it releases through the day - this will make the heat last longer. and reduce the amount of electricity you use for the week!

On the second night the place might cool down a bit but put on a jumper.

djhworld

In terms of your immersion heater (water heater), only put it on when you really need it.

I live on my own in a 1 bed flat and I only put the immersion on in the morning for around 20-30 mins before a shower, then turn it off. That's all I need.

For any other time when I really need hot water (washing dishes etc) just boil the kettle.

Wickedkitten

liankirsti wrote: »

I was wondering if anybody can help me, i live in a 1 bedroom flat with one working electric storage heater, we are all electric and have no gas, we have no hot water as our water heater costs 1p per minute and this is what got us into this mess in the first place we had our quarterly bill and was £900 for 3 months, we didnt realise that our water heater was charging us this much, we had to have a pre payment meter put into our property and we agreed to pay 12 per week off the charge, now 3 months later we have no hot water as i wash up using the kettle as we cant afford to put the hot water on, we have 1 storage heater and it is absolutly freezing yet we are putting £64 per week on our electric we both work full time, and i have called EDF ENERGY countless times and they keep telling me thats the average amount, i dont know how they can justify this and i have only paid off £200 off the bill, i was wondering if anybody can help me, does anybody else live the same way? thankyou

Are youletting the storage heater charge up overnight instead of running it all day? To run up £900 in 3 months even in an all electric dwelling is mental. Was your immersion heater on a timer at all?

Katie-Kat-Kins

You need to set a timer on your immersion, I set mine to come on for an hour at the end of the cheap rate. That water stays hot enough to use for washing pots and hands all day. Don't leave it on all the time, that is like having a kettle on all the time.

How do you wash if you don't use the immersion? Do you have an electric shower? These can be pretty electricity hungry too, depending upon make and model you may be cheaper using the immersion and having a bath! I try to have my shower during the E7 cheap rate! Use as many of your appliances as possible on your night rate, buy a few timer switches to help you with this. The washing machine, any rechargers etc can all use the night rate.

You are using your washing machine alot for just two of you. I only wash when I have a full load and use the coolest and shortest setting to keep costs down. For two of us I do two washes a week, maybe three at most. Does your washer dry too? Dryers are expensive to run, dry your washing on a rack in front of the storage heater.

Moniter your usage daily for a week or two to get an idea of what is costing you money. And keep an eye on that storage heater, check that it is operating at the right times, that it is using the cheap rate electric and that you are using it correctly. Do not use the boost button if it has one, do turn the output right down before bed and when you go out.

cm233lh

Katie-Kat-Kins wrote: »

You need to set a timer on your immersion,...Don't leave it on all the time, that is like having a kettle on all the time.

No it's not. An immersion heater will have a built-in thermostat. When the water gets up to temperature it will turn off. If you don't use the water it will kick in for short bursts occasionally to maintain the temperature. If you use up some of the water it will come on again to heat up some more. It's pretty efficient if the tank is properly lagged.

clarky_cat

Your set up sounds similar to mine. I posted a similar thread as I had thought my bills were expensive but now mine seem cheap compared, £900 for a quarter is a hell of a lot. Like yourself, I live in a 1 bed flat which is all electric. I'm currently averaging about £100 a month in the winter. During the majority of last year I let the immersion come on all night (as the timer is set to do so) but recently have tried tinckering with it, and just putting it on for an hour before I go to bed so its warm for a shower in the morning. To be honest I haven't noticed a massive difference in bills when I do this. I now put the heating on for a few hours in the evening also but usually only in the room I'm in (I have panel heaters).

Do you know what your charges are per Kwh? One thing I did do is switch my supplier earlier in the year. Last winter I was on Eon and did a uswitch and went over to Scottish Power. They do seem a lot cheaper and with the online account you can do meter readings when you want and it also shows a record of your usage which I find useful.