£170 electric bill for 1 month usage?!! - HELP!

oramgepekoe

DotNetter wrote: »

We have solid-fuel central heating with the central heating pump switched on 24hrs a day like most people. We also have an imersion heater which provides our hot water which is constantly on (again, we've spoken to friends and they have the same setup).

Do you have any timer controls you could use on the central heating and the immersion?

Cardew

DotNetter wrote: »

BG Fixed 2011 is expensive? I put my details into a comparison site only a couple of months ago and it came back as being pretty good if not equal to the others that were returned in the results?

Can you recommend any other suppliers/tariffs that might be better then?

Regards,


Wayne

I don't know where you live as that affects prices.

However for my area(Midlands) I entered 10,000kWh pa and paying by Direct Debit.

BG fixed to 2011 costs £1,224.

The cheapest(EDF) is £834 saving £390.

BG Websaver 6 costs £856 saving £368

JennyR68

DotNetter wrote: »

BG Fixed 2011 is expensive? I put my details into a comparison site only a couple of months ago and it came back as being pretty good if not equal to the others that were returned in the results?

Can you recommend any other suppliers/tariffs that might be better then?

Regards,


Wayne

It all depends on your area Wayne. For instance for me here in the North East Januarys bill would come out at £232.14 with BG Fixed 2011 as opposed to £148.90 with EDF online [EMAIL="s@ver"]s@ver[/EMAIL] 5. Quite a difference.

Though do make sure your putting actual kwh used in comparison sites and not going on what your spending.

JasX

DotNetter wrote: »

We have a plasma tv which I understand is cheaper than a CRT-based tv.

We also have an imersion heater which provides our hot water which is constantly on (again, we've spoken to friends and they have the same setup).

For info Plasma TVs are about the most energy hungry and expensive accross the board, CRTs are the most energy efficient at larger sizes but smaller sized LCDs just edge them out as they get more efficient than a CRT tube at smaller sizes.

having an immersion heater on 24/7 will be HUGELY expensive, I'd suggest you check these things by actually turning stuff off rather than vage notions of what your friends are up to.

how well insulated is your house, conservatories are often prime candidates for leaking large quantities of heat from your house.

DotNetter

JasX wrote: »

having an immersion heater on 24/7 will be HUGELY expensive

I thought that there were 2 schools of thought on this. If you keep it on all the time it's just 'simmering' away and not having to work too hard at heating the water once it' hot rather than having to heat cold water every morning when you turn it on.

I don't know for sure, just going on what I've heard.

Please feel free to provide any info you have on this though as I am keen to reduce my usage where possible.

Regards,


Wayne

DotNetter

oramgepekoe wrote: »

Do you have any timer controls you could use on the central heating and the immersion?

unfortunately not

savemoney

If you using 20kWh per day and you have immersion heater on that may account for the extra compared with my daily usage. We just use a combi boiler to heat water if and when required plus your plasma will be energy greedy

DotNetter wrote: »

I will have to check when I get home but I think we use in excess of 20 Kwh per day

Monday to friday we have on: 1 plasma tv, 1 computer on constantly (media server), laptop used for an hour each night by wife for facebook and emails, wii on for a couple of hours each night by kids or me and the wife.

Weekend: tv all day and evening with small lcd upstairs used for maybe a couple of hours, wii for a few hours again and laptop again.

washing machine is used every other day I would guess.

we don't have gas so we do have an electric cooker...but again, so do our friends who pay approx £180 a month (they live in the same village where we have no gas).

Regards,


Wayne

Cardew

DotNetter wrote: »

I thought that there were 2 schools of thought on this. If you keep it on all the time it's just 'simmering' away and not having to work too hard at heating the water once it' hot rather than having to heat cold water every morning when you turn it on.

I don't know for sure, just going on what I've heard.

Please feel free to provide any info you have on this though as I am keen to reduce my usage where possible.

Regards,


Wayne

There are 2 schools of thought on this - and one of them is an 'urban myth'.

With absolute certainty it costs more to have your immersion(and heating for that matter) on 24/7 than on timed.

Do you leave your kettle 'simmering away' 24/7 to save money?

If you went away from your house for a year, would you leave your immersion on 24/7 simmering away because it saves the heater having to work too hard to warm the water?

Well how about a month? A week? A day? it is all exactly the same principle. The longer it is off, the cheaper.

However!!!! Leaving on an immersion heater 24/7 does not make a huge difference in electricity costs provided you have a well lagged tank as the heater is thermostatically controlled.

Modern tanks are tested to a British Standard and a full tank of water at 65C will lose approx 2kWh in 24 hours. Even if you had it timed, there would be some heat loss, so the difference between timed and 24/7 is probably not much more than 1kWh a day.

Also the heat is not 'lost' as it warms the house!