Now Very Worried about High Elec Bill

Avani

Hello,

I really hope someone can help. I own a 2 bed ground floor flat and have done for 4 years. Previous to this I was renting an identical flat.

My Electricity bill costs us around £95 a month. I think this is very high but all talks with our providers regarding my concerns has fallen on deaf ears. I had loads of problems with British Gas with regards to them swapping our meters without us knowing, disconnecting our Econ7 etc. There was also fears we were being charged for upstairs as well. This was all sorted and I left BG owing them another £350 on Elec. I have since joined Eon hoping to lower my Elec bill and also with the hope that maybe they could shed some light on why my electricity is so high, and maybe come accross some sort of meter fault.

The flat has 3 storage heaters - as I was concerned these would be very expensive, only the two small ones have been used for the cold spell in December and thats it, and they have been wired to econ7. We also have an electric shower used twice a day and a water heater that has no timer and just an on/off. We have not turned on the hot water for over a year in the hope that this will reduce our bill but we have not seen a significant decrease. We rely on heating a pan of water for washing and washing up (gas cooker) as I darent turn it on!

The only other electrical items are a computer - used between 5:30pm and 11pm weekdays, washing machine - used 5 times a week on econ7 and a drier - used once week on econ7. We also have smaller appliances such as hairdryers, irons, blenders etc - which are not used very often and we dont have a TV.

Although my previous (identical) flat was GSH - the bill was only around £25 for each a month. And having spoken to others on the estate with storage heaters we deffinately seem to have a very high bill.

I am now taking on a lodger to help with my bills, and will have to start turning on the hot water, although the thought of this scares the life out of me!

Does this amount seem very high? Or am I worried about nothing?

Our usage has been for the past 2.5 months:
Electricity

Up to 17 Jan 11
Day 1,738 kilowatt-hours (kWh) used
Day first units used 205kWh at 19.27p each - £39.50
Day next units used 1,533kWh at 9.3p each - £142.57

Night 1,278 kWh used f at 4.31p each 55.08

= total £237.15

penrhyn

Your daytimes usage is incredibly high, an annual consumption figure of 8342 Kwh, are you sure this is correct?
You would be paying around £1,300 alone for this excluding your night usage.

How long is your electric shower on per day, it would consume between 7 and 10Kilowatts/ hour?
Tumble driers take a lot of power as well.

Katie-Kat-Kins

And five loads of washing per week! That will use a fair bit! I never do more than three loads a week for two of us, and that includes sports kits.

The shower will be a high user of electric, are you having long showers? Could you cut back abit?

Other than that check that you are turning everything off when not in use.

Do you have any non-storage heaters? They are greedy on electric.

Have you checked that the storage heaters are in fact wired to the E7 meter? It is possible that they aren't storage heaters and are just electric heaters and you also happen to have E7.

Do your heaters have a boost? Is this being activated and drawing expensive daytime electric?

Pincher

Your day time usage is very high.
You just have to track down what is using it.

E.g. Economy 7 stops at 06:00, but your storage heaters keep heating till 07:00.

You have gas, so you can put in a combi, which does hot water and radiators.

Avani

This is what my bill states and the reading was taken yesterday Its bizare isnt it? Electric Shower is used twice in the morning - for a total of around 15/20 mins.

My 5 loads of washing is the maximum, but it does include the bedding for my elderley dog

Between 8.30am and 5.30pm - the only thing turned on in the whole flat is one energy efficiant light - so my dog is not left in the dark. And occasionally the computer and computer speakers, with the monitor turned off - so my dog can listed to the radio. Thats in. I would also say that the 1 load of drying a week is the maxiumum, as I only use it for jeans and large towels.

I am really concerned something is very wrong here, especially as we have banned hot water, and have only used 2 small storage heaters on a low setting for 4 weeks. B.G estimated our next elec bill would be £1400 per year based on usage?

Avani

Katie-Kat-Kins wrote: »

And five loads of washing per week! That will use a fair bit! I never do more than three loads a week for two of us, and that includes sports kits.

The shower will be a high user of electric, are you having long showers? Could you cut back abit?

Other than that check that you are turning everything off when not in use.

Do you have any non-storage heaters? They are greedy on electric.

Have you checked that the storage heaters are in fact wired to the E7 meter? It is possible that they aren't storage heaters and are just electric heaters and you also happen to have E7.

Do your heaters have a boost? Is this being activated and drawing expensive daytime electric?

I would say 2 x 10 min showers a day - is this long? I am not sure

No, no other heaters,

I beleive they are storage heaters, as they are full of bricks? The last engineer that came round said they had been wired to econ 7 - although I am not sure how I check this. They messed us around alot, and had, unknown to us, actually wired our new meter wrong so it wasnt E7 - but they (apparently) fixed it.

Katie-Kat-Kins

Well I'd consider taking daily readings at roughly the same time of day and using a site like i measure to moniter what you use. Hopefully if you can see what you are using day to day you will be able to cut down a bit.

I'd also not leave stuff on for the dog, he would be happier with a couple of toys than a light and a radio. In fact dogs have such good night vision I doubt he gives a nark whether you leave a light on or not, and couldn't you leave him in a room with natural light anyway?

Stop using the tumble dryer, it isn't necessary you can dry washing in the house, I dry everything that way, using doors to suppliment the airer.

penrhyn

Go and read your meter now.
Read it at the same time tomorrow and continue doing this for a few days.
You will then get any idea of your average daily consumption.

BTW try turning everything off......is the meter still moving or the light flashing?

Al 15 minute shower would probably take around 2 Kwh 32pence.

Do you know all your neighbours, do any of them enjoy horticulture?

Avani

I feel like crying I feel completely out of control of this bill. I feel like I am banging my head against a brick wall - and I am not sure how I contact. BG and even Eon now are digging their heals in with regards to coming to look at our property. I spoke to Eon a couple of days ago regarding my concerns and all they did was put my DD up by another £15 a month!


Unfortunately I cannot afford GSH to be honest - our last quote was £4000, and we are looking to move in a year or so

Avani

Thanks

Right, I will do this and see what happens. Will also try turning everything off. I am sick of living without heating or hot water and paying £90 a month for the privalege!

Katie-Kat-Kins

Do the daily monitering thing and see what happens. If you have time read the meter more than once a day.

Do the turn everything off and see if the meter is still moving thing too. It won't hurt for the freezer etc to be off for a little while. It would answer the question of whether there is something unknown using electric.

Do you own or rent? It would be worth considering whether something could have been incorrectly wired into your meter, like communal lighting, or something.