Are nPower wrong?

budokan

Hello,

I've read lots of the threads about Electric heating so sorry to start another, but I'm looking for some advice.

I've just moved into an old 1 bed mid floor converted flat above a shop.
The standard energy report I got when buying was pretty damning.

I have an old electric storage heater in the living room and bedroom, and tiny wall mounted fan heaters in the kitchen and bathroom.

There's also a massive (1.5m tall) old Megaflow immersion heater for the water - no idea why it's so big.

I can't convert to Gas - getting it into the old building will be a nightmare.

Just based on the size of the property, and assuming I use electric storage heaters on Economy 7, nPower have estimated that my total annual electricity bill will be £388.

That sounds good to me - but all the threads on here seem to suggest that Electricity is generally a pretty bad option. Could nPower be way off here?


Also - I'm thinking of doing the following - does this sound right, and is it worth it?

- Replace the two electric storage heaters with new ones.
- Have a new electric storage heater put into the kitchen.
- Have a heated towel rail put into the bathroom (on a timer?)

- Replace the immersion heater with a smaller one.

I hate the look of electric storage heaters and would much rather get some good looking standard electric radiators. Is this definitely a no no?

Any advice would be welcomed - buying for the first time has cost way more than I imagined - so any help would be great.

Thanks,

Sam

Premier_2

£388 sounds a bit low to me. I would suggest you budget for about £600 p.a. and keep an eye on your meter. Use imeasure site if it helps too

Replacing existing old existing storage heaters with newer versions may be worthwhile. They will probably be more controllable and will probably look nicer
You won't need a storage heater in the kitchen - not if you plan to cook in there!

I would prefer a fan heater in the bathroom, but a towel rail does look nicer and will keep the towels warm ... but will probably end up costing you more to run.

The 1.5m megaflow presumably refers to the size of the water tank. It is large to take advantage of the low rate electricity, and hence store your days usage of hot water that was heated up on cheap rate.

Richie-from-the-Boro

There are many different types of ' storage radiator ' but a 3.5kW will cost £350-£450 to replace and a little 1.7 will cost about £200 to replace, its unlikely to lead to any increase in efficiency whatsoever. A brick is a brick, and the insulated heater contains very dense engineering bricks designed to absorb and retain heat, usually 7 hours in 14 hours retention. The output depends on the size of the heater 1.7 / 2.5 / 3.4

The very old early electric storage heaters released heat at a set / fixed rate, the householder had no control over their output, I haven't seen any of these ever but I do know they existed. They were pretty useless because any sudden change ion the weather would leave the room with too much or far too little heat.

Most if not all of the units in the last 30 or more years, even the manual ones have thermostatically controlled input and a thermostatically controlled damper output. The new ones [ feolite blocks ] can be ' fan assisted or combination convector heater types, and are usually slimmer, and as ' Premier ' says more controllable, but as I stated earlier no more efficient.

A radiator certainly can be installed in a kitchen, you can always have it low, but its an insurance against those bleak days.

Simple bracket installation / no maintenance costs / last 50 years / cheap installation costs / no Carbon Monoxide poisoning. The lifetime cost of an electric heat system will be lower than heating using other fuels. storage radiators are ideal for those at home during the day / slow heat release throughout the day. Radiators should where possible always be on internal walls and never on external walls

The size of your Megaflow may be because its a combination vented type

undaunted

Sounds low for electric heating to me. Have you tried asking your new neighbours for a comparison?

HappyMJ

budokan wrote: »

Hello,

I've read lots of the threads about Electric heating so sorry to start another, but I'm looking for some advice.

I've just moved into an old 1 bed mid floor converted flat above a shop.
The standard energy report I got when buying was pretty damning.

I have an old electric storage heater in the living room and bedroom, and tiny wall mounted fan heaters in the kitchen and bathroom.

There's also a massive (1.5m tall) old Megaflow immersion heater for the water - no idea why it's so big.

I can't convert to Gas - getting it into the old building will be a nightmare.

Just based on the size of the property, and assuming I use electric storage heaters on Economy 7, nPower have estimated that my total annual electricity bill will be £388.

That sounds good to me - but all the threads on here seem to suggest that Electricity is generally a pretty bad option. Could nPower be way off here? Yes


Also - I'm thinking of doing the following - does this sound right, and is it worth it?

- Replace the two electric storage heaters with new ones. No..Not a big improvement.
- Have a new electric storage heater put into the kitchen. No..Use a fan heater or turn the cooker on whilst cooking for what 10-30 minutes a day?
- Have a heated towel rail put into the bathroom (on a timer?) For the 5-15 minutes you are in the hot shower...No..

- Replace the immersion heater with a smaller one. No..heats the same water but slower.

I hate the look of electric storage heaters and would much rather get some good looking standard electric radiators. Is this definitely a no no? Not a good idea...Might be if you only use heating for an hour or two every evening in winter.

Any advice would be welcomed - buying for the first time has cost way more than I imagined - so any help would be great.

Thanks,

Sam

I'd say an annual bill higher than that will be likely.