£20+ electric in 4 days.....really?!

Dontknowanymore

Hi
I am on a pre payment meter, almost everything runs on electric in my house, barring the cooker.
I have no gas central heating, instead it is ancient underfloor heating which takes over 12 hours to heat up, also costing me a fortune so I never use it.

My gas heater in the lounge has just been condemed so I can't even use that, so I have a couple of them blow heaters.

I didn't think the blow heaters cost that much to run? I have one in the hallway mainly in the evening before the children go to bed, as I have damp in the bedrooms and the council told me it's because I don't heat the flat properly (hmm wold they like to pay the bill?!) so have that on with the bedroom doors open, then one in the front room.

I don't have them on all the time, but I do have them on a fair bit when we are in all day, it gets that cold in her sometimes that my children's lips start turning blue! :eek:

Before I started needing heat, I was using £20 a week leccy, which I could cope with, but it seems to be using between £30 and £40 a week now, does this sound about right?

victor2

Heating bills have jumped significantly in the cold weather, so although your cost sounds a little expensive, it may not be that outrageous.
Having said that, £20 a week on electricity without heating does sound high, what are your big users of power?

A 1KW electric heater running for an hour will cost you whatever your rate is per kWh. Fan heaters tend to be at least 1KW. It's a good idea to use one with a thermostat control if you can, so that it will automatically switch off when the set temperature is achieved.
Can you just have the underfloor heating on a low setting to combat the damp - and give the fan heaters a bit less to do?

Make sure your house is as well insulated as possible either way. Loft insulation is not expensive and can make quite a difference if you don't already have adequate insulation up there.

Dontknowanymore

Sorry I missed out the 4 days, that's £20 in 4 days, had to put the key in for emergency this morning.

I suppose the tv, laptop when charging and lights are the main uses of power I have.

This is rented, temp accomodation through the council, so I cant get insulation etc, Can't put the underfloor heating on low, it only kicks in at just beofre 25 degrees and as I said, it takes over 12 hours to heat up, having it on constantly is not an option, I tried this when it was freezing cold and used £7 in 24 hours.

I used to live in a 2 bed house with 1 extra adult and only used about £10 a week leccy, I just don't understant it.

victor2

TV, laptop and lights (especially if you have energy saving bulbs) use very little. My 4 bed detached house used £8.29 worth of electricity over the last 7 days. No heating as it and the hot water are gas fired, and a gas hob. There is of course an electric pump driving the central heating, but that doesn't take an awful lot.
Don't know what you are paying for your electricity, but £20 in 4 days does sound a lot. You haven't got something like a faulty immersion heater or permanently running fridge have you?

I'd do a bit of detective work - look at your meter with the house in it's "normal" state and take a reading, including the decimal parts. After at least 30 minutes, take another reading and use the difference to calculate your daily usage. Not sure what figures your pre-payment meter may give, but there has to be something you can use there.
Then take a good look round and switch things off until you can take another reading. If you switch the fridge off, don't forget to switch it back on though!

Eventually you might get an idea what is costing you the most and can concentrate on economizing on that. You can get monitors that plug into individual sockets and show what attached appliances are using, but reading the meter can be quite effective and doesn't cost you anything.

Dontknowanymore

victor2 wrote: »

TV, laptop and lights (especially if you have energy saving bulbs) use very little. My 4 bed detached house used £8.29 worth of electricity over the last 7 days. No heating as it and the hot water are gas fired, and a gas hob. There is of course an electric pump driving the central heating, but that doesn't take an awful lot.
Don't know what you are paying for your electricity, but £20 in 4 days does sound a lot. You haven't got something like a faulty immersion heater or permanently running fridge have you?

I'd do a bit of detective work - look at your meter with the house in it's "normal" state and take a reading, including the decimal parts. After at least 30 minutes, take another reading and use the difference to calculate your daily usage. Not sure what figures your pre-payment meter may give, but there has to be something you can use there.
Then take a good look round and switch things off until you can take another reading. If you switch the fridge off, don't forget to switch it back on though!

Eventually you might get an idea what is costing you the most and can concentrate on economizing on that. You can get monitors that plug into individual sockets and show what attached appliances are using, but reading the meter can be quite effective and doesn't cost you anything.

Oh I forgot about the fridge freezer lol, that's on all the time, does it really use that much? it's an 'A' rating if that makes any difference? Also what is an emersion?
I'll try doing the reading then and see how I get on.

victor2

An "A" rated fridge is pretty energy efficient, so shouldn't cost much to run. I think the ratings go up to A++ now, but yours should be good. Bear in mind that a fridge compressor cuts in and out as required, so at times the fridge may be using a noticeable amount of power, but then almost nothing as the compressor switches off.
How do you get hot water? An immersion heater is an electric heating element in a hot water tank. They can use quite a lot of power, but are controlled by a thermostat, so only drawing electricity when the water requires heating.

penrhyn

Immersion heater: An electric element which is immersed in your hot water tank to heat the water therin.
They are usually rated at around 3Kilowatts.

You need to take daily meter readings to find out how many units you are using.

Swipe

It'll be the fan heaters that are the culprits, for sure.

penrhyn

I suspect you have hit the nail on the head.

Dontknowanymore

penrhyn wrote: »

Immersion heater: An electric element which is immersed in your hot water tank to heat the water therin.
They are usually rated at around 3Kilowatts.

You need to take daily meter readings to find out how many units you are using.

Thanks, what a dimwit not knowing what immersion is
I'll do the readings from tommorrow, it's back to normal routines, school etc so wil get a more accurate picture.

Dontknowanymore

I'll cut back on using the heaters then, hopefully wont be so bad now the boy is back at school and i'll be out a few times in the week.